Gary Briggle is a versatile singer-actor, director and teacher with 30 years of professional experience in the full range of Music - Theater genres.  Born in Minnesota in 1953, he was raised in Maryland and received his Bachelor of Music/Speech-Theater degrees from St. Olaf College in 1975.  While there he received the ACTF’s Irene Ryan Award for Best Actor (“Jesus” in Godspell) and upon graduation was chosen by revolutionary director and teacher H. Wesley Balk (“The Complete Singer Actor”, etc.) for his Studio training program, in conjunction with The Minnesota Opera Company.
            For the next decade Gary performed as a member of the Opera’s resident ensemble in works ranging from the premieres of Argento’s The Voyage of Edgar Allen Poe, Susa’s Black River and Mayer’s A Death in the Family to classics including Mozart’s The Abduction from the  Seraglio, Humperdinck’s Hansel & Gretel and Weill’s Mahogany and Three Penny Opera.  Gary did MFA work in Vocal Performance at the University of MN while a member of the adult acting/teaching staff at the world-renowned Children’s Theater Company of Minneapolis, under the visionary guidance of John Clark Donahue (librettist for Postcard from Morocco, etc.) While at CTC he worked with one of the founders, Wendy Lehr, and together they make the Twin Cities their home.
            In 1982 Gary embarked on the peripatetic career of a freelance artist in regional theaters and opera companies nationwide, quickly establishing himself as an artistic associate with Seaside Music Theater (FLA) and principal tenor with Lyric Opera Cleveland.  (He served as artistic director of LOC from 1995-98.)  He continued his affiliation with Wesley Balk and associates through Nautilus Music Theater, creating roles with La Theatre de la Jeune Lune (Lulu, Don Juan Giovanni), and has an ongoing association with The Arizona Theatre Company, where he served in the resident ensemble for several years.  He has created roles in the premieres of Libby Larsen’s Mrs. Dalloway and Barnum’s Bird to international acclaim, and gained rich fulfillment from the challenges of Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, Into the Woods, Follies and Sweeney Todd, Weill’s Street Scene and Three Penny Opera.  Gary's "personal best" experiences include Tateh in Ragtime, Voltaire in Candide, Beadle Bamford in Sweeny Todd, playing both Mozart and Salieri in productions of Amadeus during the Bicentennial Celebration of the composer’s death, and performing in Britten’s chamber operas Albert Herring, The Rape of Lucretia and The Turn of the Screw. He recently starred in the Skylight Opera Theater's production of The Mikado as KoKo, which was taped for PBS- TV.
            In recent years he has been highly sought-after as an exponent of the Gilbert & Sullivan canon, completing the circle to his initial childhood inspiration to perform.  Directorial credits include Sacramento Opera (Romeo et Juliette, Faust, Carmen, Falstaff), The National Opera Company (The Rake’s Progress), Seaside Music Theater (La Perichole, La Belle Helene, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Pirates of Panzance), CTC (The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Good Person of  Setzuan, A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Florida Rep (Oh, Coward!, Sleuth, Patience) and The National Theatre of Hungary/Miskolc (the premiere of A Little Night Music).  Gary has  taught throughout the Upper Midwest, at his alma mater and The University of MN, Valparaiso University, The Colleges of St. Thomas and St. Catherine, MacPhail Center for the Arts,  Boston University, Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory, The Artist's Crossing and the University of Ohio/Miami.