Tenor Eric Mellum makes his role debut with Opera San José as 1st Priest in The Magic Flute. Eric moved to the Bay Area in 2021 after more than 20 seasons with The Minnesota Opera. There he was featured in the world premieres of Silent Night and The Grapes of Wrath, and the North American premiere of The Handmaid’s Tale. He performed several principal roles with The Gilbert & Sullivan Very Light Opera Company in Minneapolis, including Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance, Ralph in HMS Pinafore, Paris in La Belle Hélène, and Prince Hilarion in Princess Ida. He has also appeared with Out of the Box Opera, The Minnesota Orchestra, Colorado Opera Festival, and numerous Mill City Summer Opera and Skylark Opera productions.
Locally Mr. Mellum has appeared with Pocket Opera in The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein and as Dr. Blind in Die Fledermaus, and also with Lamplighters Music Theatre in San Francisco, as Lord Tolloller in Iolanthe, Edgar in Choirstarter!, and Jean de Grand Jean in By Georges! A Day in the Life of the Legendary Chevalier de Saint-Georges. He has also performed on local musical theatre stages, recently as Father in Ragtime at Lyric Theatre, as well as Steven Kodaly in She Loves Me and Joe in 9 to 5 The Musical at Coastal Repertory Theatre.
Eric is a graduate of Colorado College and holds a B.A. in Mathematics, cum laude. He also looks forward to appearing as Parpignol in Opera San José’s production of La Bohème this fall.
