DANIEL ERBE, TENOR

Tenor, Daniel Erbe, a native of Lexington, KY, is known for his warm lyric tenor and his commanding presence on the operatic stage. From 2009 until 2022, he was a member of the Soldiers’ Chorus of the U.S. Army Field Band.  As a soloist with the U.S. Army Field Band, he has personally entertained millions of audience members in 48 states and Puerto Rico in styles of opera, musical theater, jazz, popular, and choral, as a musical ambassador for the U.S. Army. He has been entrusted to represent the Army by engaging with U.S. Presidents, Military Joint Chiefs of Staff, celebrities, VIPs, elected officials, and the American Public. 

In his tenure with the Army, he performed as a featured soloist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Pops, and Naples Symphony and has sung with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, Verdi Requiem with the New York Chorale at David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, Columbus Symphony, Boston Pops, Detroit Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, at Chicago Symphony Hall and many others. He has performed the National Anthem at Boston’s Fenway Park, Pittsburgh Pirates’ PNC Park, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Raymond James Stadium, Baltimore Orioles Camden Yards, and in his hometown of Lexington at Rupp Arena for his Kentucky Wildcats fans.

In 2021, Daniel was a featured soloist on the Grammy Award-winning Album for Immersive Audio,

“Soundtrack of the American Soldier” recorded at Skywalker Sound Studios at George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch.

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, he created and collaborated on social media performances that reached millions of national and international views and contributed to over 50% of the Army’s social media.  In 2019, he had the honor of singing with the Armed Forces Chorus for the funeral of President George H.W. Bush at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., with five living U.S. Presidents in attendance. He has also performed for Presidents Donald J. Trump and Barack Obama at the Ford Theater.  In 2018, he created the role of "Jumper" in the World Premiere of The Falling and the Rising, a new opera based on true stories of Wounded Warriors from Walter Reed National Medical Center. He reprised the role at the 2019 Opera America New Works Forum in NYC. He has also sung abridged roles of Beppe in I Pagliacci, Pedrillo in Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, and Ferrando in Cosi Fan Tutte at the Millenium Stage at the Kennedy Center.  In 2013, Daniel performed opera in Germany in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig, and Berlin.

Before his Army career, Daniel had a successful opera career. On the operatic stage, he has performed Don Jose in Carmen and Rodolfo with Boston Opera Collaborative, Gonzalve in Opera Hub’s production of Ravel’s L’heure espagnole, Sam Kaplan (Street Scene) with Kansas City Civic Opera, and created the role of First Settler in the World Premiere of Kirk Meechams’s John Brown with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City.  In 2008, Daniel performed roles with Lake George Opera, including Bobinet in Offenbach’s La vie parisienne, and appeared as Parpignol in La bohème. Notable past performances include Frederic (The Pirates of Penzance), Sesto (Giulio Cesare), and Sam Polk (Susannah), with the UMKC Conservatory of Music.  He has been a frequent presence at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City where he has been heard as Marcellus (Hamlet), The Official Registrar (Madame Butterfly), Cascada (The Merry Widow), Normanno (Lucia di Lammermoor) and El Remandado (Carmen).  Highlight roles also include Eurimaco (Il ritorno d’ Ulisse in patria), Don Basillio (Le Nozze di Figaro), Enrico Carauser (Too Many Sopranos), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), the title role in Albert Herring and Little Bat (Susannah).

Equally at home in the concert arena, Daniel sang Lukas in a performance of Haydn’s The Spring from The Seasons with the Chester River Chorale (four-hand piano), and orchestral performances of Schubert’s Mass in G major, Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Utah Festival Opera and Dubois’ The Seven Last Words of Christ in Tucson, AZ. He also performed at the Lake George Opera Ball, singing Rodolfo in the Act 4 duet from La bohéme. Daniel is also known for his crossover work in musical theater and operetta. He performed a concert performance of Dakota Sky singing Billy sponsored by KC Theater League, Piquillo in La Perichóle with Light Opera Oklahoma, and sang Shelly in a workshop production of John Mueter’s The Everlasting Universe with the Civic Orchestra of Kansas City (World Premiere, Fall 2007).  In the fall of 2004, he made his European debut in a recital of arias and duets in Dierbach, Germany. 

Daniel has sung for such opera companies as the New Orleans Opera, Lake George Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Civic Opera of Kansas City, Light Opera Oklahoma, Tulsa Opera, and Utah Festival Opera.  He has worked under conductors Everett McCorvey, Keith Lockhart, Steven Reineke, Jack Everly, Andy Anderson, James Bagwell, Carol Crawford, John Douglass, Ward Holmquist, Dr. Robert Olson, and Jerome Shannon, among others.  Notable stage directors include Garnett Bruce, Linda Ade Brand, Dottie Danner, James Marvel, Dale Morehouse, Nelson Sheeley, Thaddeus Strassberger, and Marc Verzatt. 

Daniel was a National Finalist in the 2008 National Opera Association Competition in Los Angeles and received a 2007 Kaplan Award from the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Daniel earned a Master of Music from the University of Arizona and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Kentucky and was the tenor apprentice at UMKC pursuing an Artist Certificate at the Conservatory of Music. 

Daniel cherished his time as a Sergeant First Class in the U.S. Army, sharing the Army Story throughout this great nation, whether it was in large arenas or elaborate concert halls, to singing at veteran’s homes for hospice patients, he served his country honorably and shared his love for freedom to the American Public.  He now enjoys national anthem performances for national, state, and local events and was honored to sing for CPAC 2023 in Washington, D.C.  He will be returning as a featured performer for CPAC 2024 in February.