Andrew Gangestad is known for both his dark rich sound and his strong musicality. After his performance of Il barbiere di Siviglia, the Kansas City Star wrote “Andrew Gangestad (Don Basilio) … demonstrated a glorious bass voice,” and, for his performance of Leporello in Don Giovanni with Opera Pacific, the Orange County Register wrote “Andrew Gangestad portrays the long-suffering Leporello with aplomb, crisp in accent, dark of voice and understated in comedy.”
In 2010-11 Andrew Gangestad returns to the Metropolitan Opera for its production of La fanciulla del West, sings Leporello in Don Giovanni with Sarasota Opera and the title role in Le nozze di Figaro in a return to Lyric Opera of Kansas City. He makes his debut with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Commendatore in Don Giovanni, and appears as soloist in Verdi's Requiem with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. He returned to Lyric Opera of Kansas City in 2009-10 to sing Leporello and to Arizona Opera as Colline in La bohème, sang Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with both the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, and the title role in Le nozze di Figaro at the Macau International Music Festival.
His 2008-09 season included his returns to both the Metropolitan Opera to sing Brander in La Damnation de Faust and to Minnesota Opera as Ferrando in Il trovatore. He also made his debut with Arizona Opera as Leporello in Don Giovanni; sang Ramfis in Aida with the Bregenz Festival in Austria; Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Cleveland; Méphistophélès in Scenes from Goethe's Faust with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra; and appeared as soloist in Haydn's The Creation with State College Choral Society.
Recent highlights included several return engagements: with the Metropolitan Opera as Tom in Un ballo in maschera, Opera Pacific as Colline in La bohème, Michigan Opera Theatre as Rodolfo in La sonnambula, and Kentucky Opera as Timur in Turandot. Additionally, he appeared as soloist in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with Columbus Symphony, and made his Welsh National Opera debut as Ramfis in Aida
Since his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2000-01 in Berg’s Lulu, Mr. Gangestad has returned each season. He has performed on the legendary stage as Colline in La bohème, Frate in Don Carlo, Truffaldino in Ariadne auf Naxos, Count Ceprano in Rigoletto, Lignière in the company premiere of Cyrano de Bergerac, Trojan Bass in Idomeneo, Vaudemont in I vespri siciliani, Cappadocian in Salome, the Commissioner in Madama Butterfly, Javelinot in Dialogues des Carmélites, and Timur in Turandot. Other past successes include his debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under James Levine singing Brander in La Damnation de Faust in Boston and at Carnegie Hall – a role which he reprised at the Beethoven Festival in Warsaw, Poland. In addition, he has sung Basilio with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Opera Omaha, and Connecticut Opera, Lodovico in excerpts from Otello for the 2006 Richard Tucker Gala, and performed the title role in Le nozze di Figaro with the Bellingham Music Festival.
Mr. Gangestad has appeared several times with Seattle Opera in such roles as Zuniga in Carmen, Tom in Un ballo in maschera, Alidoro in La Cenerentola, and Leporello. Other credits include Colline with New York City Opera, Kentucky Opera, and Syracuse Opera; First Nazarene in Salome with Glimmerglass Opera; the roles of both Leporello and Banquo in Macbeth for Sarasota Opera; Death in Der Kaiser von Atlantis with Cincinnati Opera; his debut with Opera Pacific as The Bonze in Madama Butterfly, and his subsequent returns to sing Leporello, Ramfis in Aida, and Angelotti in Tosca. He has performed with the Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall as The Monk in La Gioconda and as The Hermit in Der Freischütz.
Andrew Gangestad has appeared on the concert stage with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and with the Pacific Symphony in Handel's Messiah, with the Berkshire Choral Festival in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, with the Yakima Symphony Orchestra in their Opera Gala Concerts, and in L’Enfant et les sortilèges with the Minnesota Orchestra. He has also performed Tan Dun’s Theatre Orchestral II: Re with the Duluth Symphony Orchestra, and Mozart’s Coronation Mass with the State College Chorale Society (Pennsylvania).
Andrew Gangestad is the first place winner of the 2005 Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation Voice Competition and the recipient of the Robert Lauch Memorial Grant from the Wagner Society of New York.