Torlef Borsting
Second Apprentice

Hawaii-born baritone Torlef Borsting makes his debut with Ensemble Parallèle in the role of the Second Apprentice.

Mr. Borsting’s 2009-2010 season has included Sharpless with Verismo Opera, in locations all over the Bay Area. He will debut the role of Germont with the same company in January and returns to Pacific Repertory Opera as Marcello in La Bohème.

Torlef’s 2008 - 2009 season began as baritone soloist in Hadyn’s Mass in Time of War with the Oakland Symphony Chorus and Oakland Youth Symphony, and Sharpless in his debut with Pacific Repertory Opera in San Luis Obispo, California. He then accepted an invitation to participate in a Master Class with world famous soprano Evelyn Lear in May and continued with a new role, Horace Tabor in the Ballad of Baby Doe, with the Berkeley Opera in July.

Mr. Borsting’s 2007-2008 season included his creation of Wilmer McLean in the world premiere of Appomattox by Philip Glass at San Francisco Opera. He then portrayed Sgt. Belcore (Elixir of Love) with Berkeley Opera and made his debut as Prince Yamadori (Madama Butterfly) with the Martinez Opera, followed by Sharpless with the Capitol Opera in Davis, California, then as Henry (The Gift of the Magi) and Melchior (Amahl and the Night Visitors) with Trinity Lyric Opera.

Torlef’s 2007 summer season included his performance of A Scythian man (Iphigenie en Tauride) with the San Francisco Opera and Mr. Jenks (The Tender Land) with the Trinity Lyric Opera in Castro Valley, CA.

The 2006-2007 season included Mr. Borsting’s debut with the San Francisco Opera as a Soldier in The Maid of Orleans, his debut with Berkeley Opera as Jack Rance (La Fanciulla del West), as Streshniev in Khovanshchina with Kent Nagano, a concert production of Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins with Symphony Parnassus in San Francisco, Prince Yeletsky in the Queen of Spades with West Bay Opera, and the roles of the Captain and Zaretsky in North Bay Opera’s production of Eugene Onegin.