Heralded as “a bass-baritone of great sensitivity and even range” (Gramophone) possessing a “gloriously godly” voice (Dallas Morning News), Paul Max Tipton performs and records across oratorio, opera, and chamber music throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. A Bach singer of the first order, he has recorded as Christus in both the St. John Passion and the St. Matthew Passion, as well as the Mass in B minor, with Cantata Collective and Nicholas McGegan for Avie Records. He can additionally be heard as a soloist in Apollo’s Fire’s recording of the Bach Mass in B minor, also for Avie.

The 2026–27 season brings Mr. Tipton’s debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Handel’s Messiah under Masaaki Suzuki; a debut with A Far Cry in music by Bach; a return to Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue as Christus in the St. John Passion; Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with the Bach Society of Saint Louis; Pilate & aria soloist in the St. John Passion with Tenet Vocal Artists in New York and Philadelphia; and Bach cantatas with Cantata Collective. A second volume of Nicolaus Bruhns cantatas, recorded with Masaaki Suzuki at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music for BIS, is forthcoming. Recent seasons have included debuts with the Kansas City Symphony and Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue in Messiah, a return to the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Bach’s Ascension Oratorio and cantatas with Cantata Collective under McGegan, Cantatas 39 and 105 at the Carmel Bach Festival, the Mass in B minor with The Sebastians, and concerts with the Washington Bach Consort, Conspirare, and Tenet Vocal Artists.

Notable past engagements also include Tipton’s debut as Christus in Bach’s St. John Passion with the Seattle Symphony, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Handel’s Messiah with Bach Collegium Japan under Masato Suzuki in Tokyo, and Handel’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato alongside Filippo Ciabatti and Amanda Forsythe at Upper Valley Baroque. He has sung Raphael and Adam in Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with the Pacific Symphony and Robert Istad, Christus in the St. Matthew Passion for his Spoleto Festival USA debut, and covered the title role in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro at the Handel and Haydn Society under Raphaël Pichon.

On the operatic stage, Mr. Tipton has sung Jupiter in Eccles’s Semele with American Baroque Opera Company, the Street Singer in Bernstein’s Mass with Austin Opera and the Austin Symphony Orchestra under Peter Bay, Archibald Grosvenor in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience with Odyssey Opera and Gil Rose, Plutone in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo with Göteborg Baroque, and the First Judge in Stradella’s La Susanna with Heartbeat Opera, a performance prompting The New York Times to dub him “an imposing bass-baritone.” His appearance as Aman in Stradella’s Ester for Salon/Sanctuary Concerts, a role he learned in under two weeks as a last-minute replacement, earned praise for its “energy and emotional depth” (Seen and Heard International).

His discography also includes Phoebus in Bach’s Cantata 201, Geschwinde, ihr wirbelnden Winde, with Dana Marsh and the Washington Bach Consort (Acis), the first volume of Bruhns cantatas with Masaaki Suzuki (BIS), and several releases with Cut Circle and Jesse Rodin (Musique en Wallonie).

Mr. Tipton trained on full fellowship at the University of Michigan School of Music, where his mentors included Luretta Bybee, George Shirley, and Martin Katz. He is a 2010 graduate of the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, where he studied with James Taylor. In 2012, he was named a Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Fellow at Emmanuel Music in Boston. He lives in New York City.

BACH

Cantatas Nos. 39 & 105

Carmel Bach Festival · July 2026

“...Paul Max Tipton brought a strong compassionate baritone…”

— Richard S. Ginell, San Francisco Classical Voice

Cantata No. 201 “Phoebus”

Washington Bach Consort · September 2022

“Paul Max Tipton’s polished bass-baritone communicated all the vain assurance of Phoebus, whose blockbuster aria, “Mit verlangen,” is awarded the prize. With strong breath support, he plied a creamy legato tone to this poignant piece, negotiating the extremes of range with grace and musicality.”

— Charles T. Downey, Washington Classical Review

Mass in B minor, BWV 232

The Sebastians · April 2026

“Tipton eloquently held his own opposite Todd Williams’s golden-toned horn and Ezra Seltzer’s vigorous cello in ’Quoniam tu solus sanctus.’”

— David Wright, New York Classical Review

St Matthew Passion “Christus”

Cantata Collective (recording) · Avie · May 2026

“Tipton reveals the human side of the divine lead, quickening and darkening his voice to underscore Jesus’s impatience when he finds his sleeping disciples, and offering warm, coppery tones at other points.”

— Andrew J. Sammut, Early Music America

BRAHMS

Ein deutsches Requiem

The Jameson Singers · May 2019

“Baritone Paul Max Tipton generated a controlled, intense drama, singing the commencing solo of the third movement, Herr, lehre doch mich (Lord, teach me the measure of my days on earth), with richness and focus.”

— Geoffrey Wieting, The Boston Musical Intelligencer

BRUHNS

Cantatas, Vol. 1

Yale Institute of Sacred Music · Masaaki Suzuki (recording) · BIS BIS-2271 · February 2022

“The trio of male soloists are superb, with the lion’s share falling to Paul Max Tipton, a bass-baritone of great sensitivity and even range.”

— Malcolm Riley, Gramophone

ECCLES

Semele “Jupiter”

American Baroque Opera Company · November 2023

“Paul Max Tipton supplied a gloriously godly baritone for Jupiter.”

— Scott Cantrell, Dallas Morning News

STRADELLA

Ester “Aman”

Salon Sanctuary · March 2026

“The villain Aman (Haman) was sung with energy and emotional depth by bass-baritone Paul Max Tipton, who filled in for an indisposed colleague with less than two weeks to prepare the daunting role”

— Allan Altman, Seen and Heard International

La Susanna “First Judge”

Heartbeat Opera · May 2019

“…Paul Max Tipton, an imposing bass-baritone.”

— Joshua Barone, The New York Times

“The two judges were buffo characters, here performed by tenor Patrick Kilbride and bass-baritone Paul Max Tipton, both elegant singers well-versed in the style of the Baroque.”

— Rick Perdian, Seen and Heard International

“Bass-baritone Paul Max Tipton and tenor Patrick Kilbride were aptly smarmy and repellent as the two judges…”

— Charles T. Downey, Washington Classical Review

SULLIVAN

Patience “Archibald Grosvenor”

Odyssey Opera · June 2017

“In the principal male roles of the rival poets Bunthorne and Grosvenor, Aaron Engebreth and Paul Max Tipton were perfect foils for one another in their different “aesthetic” styles. … Tipton, as Grosvenor, plays his character’s amour-propre for all that it is worth, made all the funnier because it seems to be essentially innocent on his part.”

— Steven Ledbetter, The Boston Musical Intelligencer

GENERAL

An evening of 17th-century music

Third Coast Baroque · April 2017

“The male singers were excellent as well, notably bass-baritone Paul Max Tipton in a florid sacred song by Sances and a playful love duet by Purcell..”

— John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune