24/25 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
• Role debut as Jan in Breaking the Waves at Houston Grand Opera
• Title role in Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman in company debut with Des Moines Metro Opera
• Title role in Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman in company debut with Ópera National de Chile
• Filmed performance of Dead Man Walking at Met’s Summer in HD Festival
• Concerts in Denver, Houston, Toledo, and Philadelphia
BIOGRAPHICAL INFO
• Born in Los Angeles, California, on November 22, 1980
• Earned Artist Diploma in Vocal Performance from The Juilliard School
• Lives in Asheville, North Carolina, with his wife Tonya and two children, ages 17 and 13
Photo by Jiyang Chen
ANECDOTES
• Grew up on film sets with his father, who served as Director of Photography for Beverly Hills 90210 and Perry Mason series
• Ran a 50k ultramarathon – despite not really considering himself a runner
• Can speed-solve a Rubik’s Cube in ~20 seconds
• Is a long-time volunteer and current member of President’s Leadership Council for Search for Common Ground, which works to end violent conflict and build healthy, safe, and just societies
• Eats a plant-based diet and volunteers with Food Not Bombs, an all-volunteer movement that shares free vegan and vegetarian meals with the hungry in over 1,000 cities
• Teams up with his wife Tonya to homeschool their kids so the family can stay together when he travels for singing engagements
• In his downtime, bakes bread, rock-climbs, and sails
Photo of Hullabaloo 50K Ultramarathon by Boulder Filming
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
• Starring in a Peter Sellars production of Oedipus Rex with the LA Philharmonic in Esa-Pekka Salonen’s last performance as Music Director
• Making Bayreuth debut as Amfortas in Parsifal
• Representing USA in BBC Cardiff Singer of World Competition
• Winning the first-ever Birgit Nilson Prize for singing Wagnerian repertoire at Operalia
• Singing Kurwenal opposite Ben Heppner and Nina Stemma as Tristan und Isolde
• Jumping in as Kothner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Met
• Singing Bernstein’s Mass with LA Phil under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel
Photo of Parsifal at Teatro Colón by Máximo Parpagnoli
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
“McKinny unspooled smooth, stylish sound, a forceful snarl lurking beneath a suave veneer.”
— Washington Post
“An indelible performance... McKinny proves at once menacing and charismatic. An acting tour de force buttressed by a warmly inviting voice.”
— Chicago Tribune
“McKinny is magnetic – tall, lithe, and dangerously charismatic. His serenade is so meltingly beautiful, so luminous, that we forget how insincere the whole thing really is.”
— Houstonia Magazine
“The center of it all is McKinny. In a brilliant performance, his breakdown was Shakespearean, the madness of Lear.”
— Los Angeles Times
“One of the finest singers of his generation. McKinny’s dark but burnished resonance made each iteration something to savor, and the high-ranging parts added an intensity and crucial vulnerability to the role.”
— Opera News
“An excellent Dutchman… McKinny’s rich bass-baritone and imposing presence brought unusually human, sexy and even pitiable depths.”
— Wall Street Journal
Photo of Der fliegende Holländer at Glimmerglass Festival by Karli Cadel