 |
David Daniels | |
|---|---|
 Daniels in concert with the U. S. Army Chorus and Orchestra | |
| Born | March 12, 1966 |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Spouse | Scott Walters |
| Website | www |
David Daniels (born March 12, 1966) is an American countertenor. He was one of the most prominent classical stars to face criminal charges during the MeToo movement and pled guilty to sexual assault in 2023. [1]
Daniels was born in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the son of two singing teachers. He began to sing as a boy soprano, moving to tenor as his voice matured. His father, baritone Perry Daniels, was one of the pre-eminent members of the performing faculty during each summer at Brevard Music Center, linked to the School of Music at Converse College in Spartanburg; his mother was an operatic soprano. Daniels studied music at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. Dissatisfied with his achievements as a tenor, Daniels switched to singing countertenor during graduate studies at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance (Master of Music in 1992) under the guidance of his teacher, George Shirley.
Daniels made his professional singing debut in 1992. In 1997, he won the Richard Tucker Award. In 1999, he made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera, as Sesto in Handel's Giulio Cesare .
His repertoire has grown to include other major Handel roles, including Arsace in the comedy Partenope at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and San Francisco Opera in 2014; the title role in Tamerlano ; and Arsamene in Xerxes . At the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Daniels played the title roles in Rinaldo and Orlando , as well as David in Saul . He interpreted Ottone in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea and recorded the role of Nero in the same work; it was also his debut role at San Francisco Opera in 1998. [2] In Vivaldi's opera Bajazet , he sang the role of Tamerlano. In 2013, he sang the title role in Giulio Cesare at the Metropolitan Opera.
Daniels has also branched out from the baroque roles usually associated with countertenors to include Oberon in Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Metropolitan Opera, and as Orfeo in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In July 2013 he created the role of Oscar Wilde in Oscar at the Santa Fe Opera, written for him by Theodore Morrison; [3] he then sang Oscar again in Opera Philadelphia's production in 2015. The same year he made his debut at the Vienna State Opera as Trinculo in Thomas Adès' opera The Tempest . [4]
From Fall 2015 to March 2020, Daniels joined the faculty of his alma mater, the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, as Professor of Music in Voice. [5]
In the fall of 2018, Daniels was placed on leave by the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance after allegations of sexual assault. [6] Following the allegations, a second student – a countertenor who studied with Daniels at the University of Michigan — accused Daniels of sexual assault, bringing civil lawsuits against both Daniels and the University of Michigan, in October 2018. In response to the second lawsuit, Daniels filed a counter-claim, but his and his accusers' lawsuits were mutually dismissed. [7] However, Daniels's accusers' Title IX lawsuit remained against the University of Michigan for failing to protect himself and other students from Daniels, reaching a settlement in 2023. [8] [9]
The San Francisco Opera removed Daniels from its 2019 production of Orlando "after considerable deliberation given the serious allegations of sexual assault". [10] In January 2019, Texas filed charges of second-degree sexual assault against Daniels and his husband, who were then arrested in Ann Arbor, Michigan. [7] On March 26, 2020, at the recommendation of U-M President Mark Schlissel and in a unanimous vote by the Board of Regents, Daniels was dismissed from U-M effective immediately and without severance pay. [11]
On August 4, 2023, both Daniels and his husband, conductor Scott Walters, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting another singer in Houston in 2010. [12] As part of the plea agreement, both will be spared prison time. [1] [12] Daniels will face eight years of probation, a lifetime requirement to register as a sex offender and an order that he refrain from contact with the singer he assaulted. [1] [12]
Daniels married conductor Scott Walters at Dumbarton House in Washington, DC, on June 21, 2014; the ceremony was conducted by United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. [4] [13]
A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist (a specific kind of countertenor) may match the soprano's range of around C4 to C6. Countertenors often have tenor or baritone chest voices, but sing in falsetto or head voice much more often than they do in their chest voice.
Sean John Combs, also known by his stage name Diddy, formerly Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, record producer and record executive. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he is credited with the discovery and development of artists including the Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, and Usher. In September 2024, he was arrested on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking by force, and transportation for purposes of prostitution.
Cuba Mark Gooding Jr. is an American actor. After his breakthrough role as Tre Styles in Boyz n the Hood (1991), he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor playing a football star in Jerry Maguire (1996). His other notable films include Outbreak (1995), As Good as It Gets (1997), What Dreams May Come (1998), Men of Honor (2000), Pearl Harbor (2001), Rat Race (2001), The Fighting Temptations (2003), Radio (2003), American Gangster (2007), The Tuskegee Airmen (1995), The Butler (2013), and Selma (2014). He voiced Buck the Horse in the animated feature film Home on the Range (2004).
Orfeo ed Euridice is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck, based on the myth of Orpheus and set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the azione teatrale, meaning an opera on a mythological subject with choruses and dancing. The piece was first performed at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 5 October 1762, in the presence of Empress Maria Theresa. Orfeo ed Euridice is the first of Gluck's "reform" operas, in which he attempted to replace the abstruse plots and overly complex music of opera seria with a "noble simplicity" in both the music and the drama.
A breeches role is one in which an actress appears in male clothing. Breeches, tight-fitting knee-length pants, were the standard male garment at the time these roles were introduced. The theatrical term travesti covers both this sort of cross-dressing and also that of male actors dressing as female characters. Both are part of the long history of cross-dressing in music and opera and later in film and television.
Bruno Langley is an English musician and former actor. He is known for his roles as Darren Michaels and Todd Grimshaw in Coronation Street and Adam Mitchell in Doctor Who (2005).
Tamerlano is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel. The Italian libretto was by Nicola Francesco Haym, adapted from Agostino Piovene's Tamerlano together with another libretto entitled Bajazet after Nicolas Pradon's Tamerlan, ou La Mort de Bajazet. The opera was staged by the Royal Academy of Music in the King's Theatre at the Haymarket, London.
Michael Chance CBE is an English countertenor and the founder and Artistic Director of The Grange Festival.
Bajazet is an Italian opera in 3 acts composed by Antonio Vivaldi in 1735. Its libretto was written by Agostino Piovene. It was premiered in Verona, during the Carnival season of that year. It includes a three-movement sinfonia as an introduction. The story is about the fate of Bajazet after being captured by Tamerlane. The famous aria "Sposa son disprezzata" is from this opera.
Bejun Mehta is an American countertenor. He has been awarded the Echo Klassik, the Gramophone Award, Le Diamant d’Opera Magazine, the Choc de Classica, the Traetta Prize, and been nominated for the Grammy Award, the Laurence Olivier Award, and the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. Writing in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Michael Stallknecht called him "arguably the best counter tenor in the world today."
Vito Giuseppe Millico, called "Il Moscovita", was an Italian soprano castrato, composer, and music teacher of the 18th century who is best remembered for his performances in the operas of Christoph Willibald Gluck.
Derek Lee Ragin is an American countertenor.
Baritenor is a portmanteau (blend) of the words "baritone" and "tenor". It is used to describe both baritone and tenor voices. In Webster's Third New International Dictionary it is defined as "a baritone singing voice with virtually a tenor range". However, the term was defined in several late 19th century and early 20th century music dictionaries, such as The American History and Encyclopedia of Music, as "a low tenor voice, almost baritone [sic]."
Jan Betrand Latham-Koenig, is a British conductor and sex offender. He conducted all of the BBC ensembles, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He was appointed an OBE for services to Russian-United Kingdom cultural relations and music in 2020. Latham-Koenig founded the Koenig Ensemble in 1976 and studied at the Royal College of Music.
Andrew Watts is a British classical countertenor.
Anthony Roth Costanzo is an American countertenor. He began his career in musical theatre at the age of 11. Costanzo is a graduate of Princeton University and of the Manhattan School of Music. In 2012, he won first place at the Operalia competition. In 2009, he was a Grand Finals Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He has been an actor in film and a producer and curator. He is the designated general director and president of Opera Philadelphia.
The USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal relates to the sexual abuse of hundreds of gymnasts—primarily minors—over two decades in the United States, starting in the 1990s. It is considered the largest sexual abuse scandal in sports history.
Lawrence Gerard Nassar is an American serial child rapist and former family medicine physician. From 1996 to 2014, he was the team doctor of the United States women's national gymnastics team, where he used his position to exploit and sexually assault hundreds of young athletes as part of the largest sexual abuse scandal in sports history.
Tamerlano (Tamerlane) is a tragic opera in three acts by Francesco Gasparini based on a libretto by Agostino Piovene. It was first performed at the Teatro San Cassiano in Venice on 24 January 1711.
Bajazet is an opera by Francesco Gasparini, a revision of his 1711 work Tamerlano. It was first performed at the Teatro Pubblico in Reggio Emilia in 1719, with designs by Pietro Righini.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
