Daniel Okulitch (born January 30, 1976) is a Canadian bass-baritone. He first came to attention on Broadway as Schaunard in Baz Luhrmann's production of La bohème in 2002/03 – a role he repeated when the production traveled to Los Angeles the following year, for which he received the Ovation Award for Best Ensemble Performance from the Los Angeles Stage Alliance. He has since begun an international career with opera companies and orchestras throughout Europe and North America, and is admired for both his singing and powerful stage presence. He is sought after for many contemporary operas and world premieres, as well as the roles of Mozart, including Figaro and Don Giovanni. Education and early career Okulitch was born in Ottawa, Ontario, and was raised in Calgary, Alberta, where he had his operatic debut at the age of 12 while still a boy soprano in the role of Amahl in Amahl and the Night Visitors with Calgary Opera, followed by one of the 3 spirits in The Magic Flute. He continued to perform throughout his teens, and at age 19 transferred to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music to study with acclaimed pedagogue Richard Miller, where he gained a Bachelor of Music and a Masters in Opera Theater. He then continued his education at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, under the tutelage of William McGraw. During these years he apprenticed with the Des Moines Metro Opera, the Cincinnati Opera, and in the San Francisco Opera Merola Program. In 2002, Okulitch was cast as Schaunard in the Baz Luhrmann production of Puccini's La bohème, which premiered at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, and performed on Broadway for 228 performances. Career Okulitch is an interpreter of Mozart roles, most notably Don Giovanni, Almaviva and Figaro, which he has performed at New York City Opera, Teatro Colón, Los Angeles Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Opera Warsaw, Vancouver Opera, Dallas Opera, Portland Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, Hawaii Opera, Manitoba Opera, Lyric Opera Kansas City, and the Milwaukee Symphony. Okulitch has also created leading roles in contemporary opera, most notably the roles of Ennis del Mar in Charles Wuorinen's Brokeback Mountain at Teatro Real in Madrid, Seth Brundle in Howard Shore's The Fly at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and at Los Angeles Opera, Willy Wonka in Peter Ash's The Golden Ticket at Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Atlanta Opera, and