External links
- www.gordon-hawkins-baritone.com/
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Gordon Hawkins (born November 22, 1958) is an American baritone known for his work on both the operatic and concert stage, particularly as one of the foremost interpreters of the roles of Porgy and Crown in Porgy and Bess. [1] [2] [3] [4] His music career began in the 1980s with him singing major concert repertoire and opera roles in his native Maryland. [2] Since then, Hawkins has performed for national and international opera houses and venues, including the Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and more. [2] [4] [5] [6] [7] In addition to performing, he is currently on the voice faculty at Arizona State University. [8]
Hawkins was born the youngest of seven siblings in Clinton, Maryland to father, Thomas N. Hawkins, a minister, and mother, Edith Mae Ridgley Hawkins. [1] [9] Music was an inherent part of his life, and as a child he played clarinet and piano, in addition to singing. [1] Another hobby of his was baseball, and he was a pitcher during his high school years. [5] He entered University of Maryland on a baseball scholarship but his sports career was cut short after he tore his rotator cuff. [5] After that, he decided to focus on music, taking voice lessons in undergraduate and graduate studies. [5] He started out singing bass repertoire but with the help of voice faculty member Linda Mabbs, Hawkins began to focus on the baritone repertoire. [1]
Gordon Hawkins began to show signs of a promising career after his first operatic role, Count Almaviva, in a production of The Marriage of Figaro at the University of Maryland in 1981. [2] From there, he entered and placed in various local competitions and won a scholarship to study voice and opera at the Aims Institute in Graz, Austria. [2] He made important debuts with his local music organizations, Prince George Opera Company and Prince George Philharmonic, for the latter, singing the bass part in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony . [5] Hawkins then sang concert repertoire with major symphonies and opera companies in Baltimore, Orlando, South Carolina, and more. In 1986, he won the prestigious Metropolitan Opera Council auditions and on September 27, 1989 he made his debut with the company as Jake in Porgy and Bess. [5] [10] Following his debut at the Met, Hawkins began to achieve success, making debuts with the National Symphony and at Carnegie Hall. [11] Following his success with the Metropolitan Opera, he also performed the role of Amonasro in a grand-scale production of Aida in Los Angeles with Grace Bumbry in the title role. [12] Also, during this time, Hawkins performed the titular role in the Marriage of Figaro for the Opera Festival of New Jersey, which featured period instruments and was performed in English. [13]
During this era, Hawkins began to perform with some of opera's major houses. He made his New York City Opera debut as the bullfighter, Escamillio, in the opera Carmen . [5] In October 1990, he performed the role Marcello in La Boheme at the Metropolitan Opera, opposite Placido Domingo and Mirella Freni. [5] [14] [9] For the next few years with the company, he sang leading but mainly ensemble roles in Un Ballo in Maschera , Rigoletto , and Billy Budd. [6] [14] He also began to expand his repertoire, singing major baritone roles in Italian repertoire of Donizetti, Bellini, and Verdi. [5] Also, during that time, he performed in Porgy and Bess in concert and fully staged productions around the world, alternating between Porgy, the leading role, and Jake, a supporting role. [1] In 1993, he portrayed the role of Jake to Bruce Hubbard's dubbed voice in the television adaptation of the 1989 EMI recording with conductor Simon Rattle. [15] [16] In an interview, he has noted that he has sung the leading role of Porgy from "Australia to Atlanta." [3] He also noted that he often would reject offers to perform the role so that his career would not based on that role alone. [3]
In 1992, Gordon Hawkins won the prestigious Luciano Pavarotti Competition in Philadelphia. [14] This granted him the opportunity to study under and perform with the Pavarotti in Italy in La Boheme and La Favorita . [14] Also in 1992, Hawkins began a long and prosperous relationship with Seattle Opera singing Amonasro in Aida. [7] From there, he performed a variety of leading Italian, French, and German operatic roles, including Rodrigo in Don Carlos , the Herald in Lohengrin , the title role of Rigoletto, Donner in Das Rheingold , Gunter in Götterdämmerung , Germont in La Traviata , and Count di Luna in Il Trovatore. [7] Also, during this time, Hawkins expanded his concert repertoire, adding the leading protagonist in Mendelssohn's Elijah, [17] and the baritone solo in Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. [18]
The early 2000s brought more opportunities for Hawkins to expand his repertoire, particularly with works by Verdi and Wagner. [19] In 2005, he had the opportunity to lead a new production of Porgy and Bess for the Washington National Opera, led by acclaimed director Francesca Zambello. [4] In that same season, he added another important Wagnerian role in his career, the villainous Alberich in Das Rheingold. [19] In 2006, he was awarded "Artist of the Year" for the Washington National Opera for his many contributed roles for the company. [8] During this time, he began to add more roles to his repertoire including George in Of Mice and Men, [20] the title roles in Simon Boccanegra , Nabucco, and Macbeth , Scarpia in Tosca, and Jack Rance in La Fanciulla del West. [14] [1] [2] In 2007, Hawkins returned to the Metropolitan Opera after a fifteen-year long absence to perform the role of Thaos in the company's premiere production of Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride. [6] Four years later, he was featured on the Live-in-HD broadcast of the same opera and production. [6]
In addition to singing repertoire of Verdi, Puccini, and Wagner, Hawkins has forayed into the repertoire written in the 21st century. This includes, most recently, his portrayal and creation of the role of the Reverend in Blue by Jeanne Tesori in 2019. [21] This role has taken him to the stages of Glimmerglass Opera, Washington National Opera, Seattle Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, and he has recorded the opera for Pentatone Records. [22] Other contemporary opera roles include Alvaro in Florencia del Amazonas [7] and The Warden in Dead Man Walking. [7] In April 2023, he premiered in the new opera, Proximity, for the Lyric Opera of Chicago. [23]
In addition to performing, Hawkins is currently Professor of Voice at Arizona State University, a position he has held since August 2015. [8] In April 2023, Hawkins performed the bass solo in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Arizona State University Choirs and Orchestra. [24]
Selected discography of Gordon Hawkins available through audio CD, VHS, DVD, and audio streaming services.
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The 19th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 19, 1977, and were broadcast live on American television (CBS). It was the seventh and final year Andy Williams hosted the telecast. The ceremony recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1976.
Porgy and Bess is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play Porgy, itself an adaptation of DuBose Heyward's 1925 novel Porgy.
Lorin Varencove Maazel was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in the concert halls of Europe by 1960 but, by comparison, his career in the U.S. progressed far more slowly. He served as music director of The Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic, among other posts. Maazel was well-regarded in baton technique and possessed a photographic memory for scores. Described as mercurial and forbidding in rehearsal, he mellowed in old age.
Adele Addison is an American lyric soprano who was a figure in the classical music world during the 1950s and 1960s. Although she did appear in several operas, Addison spent most of her career performing in recital and concert. Her performances spanned a wide array of literature from the Baroque period to contemporary compositions. She is best remembered today as the singing voice for Bess in the 1959 movie, Porgy and Bess. Known for her polished and fluent tone, Addison made a desirable Baroque vocal artist. She can be heard on numerous recordings, of which her Baroque performances are perhaps her best work. Many of her recordings were made with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Leonard Bernstein.
Angela M. Brown is an American dramatic soprano particularly admired for her portrayal of Verdi heroines.
Karen Williams is an American concert and opera soprano. In 1985 she won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions; making her stage debut at the Metropolitan Opera later that year as Serena in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. She sang that role at the Met again in 1989–1990. She has also performed Serena at Symphony Hall, Springfield with the Boston Concert Opera (1986), the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (1998), the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (1999), the Utah Symphony Orchestra (1999), and the Philadelphia Orchestra (2000) among others. In 1986 she made her debut with the Opera Company of Philadelphia as Amelia in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera.
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Nicole Cabell is an American opera singer. She is best known as the 2005 winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.
Sir Willard Wentworth White, OM, CBE is a Jamaican-born British operatic bass baritone.
Florence Quivar is an American operatic mezzo-soprano who is considered to be "one of the most prominent singers of her generation." She has variously been described as having a "rich, earthy sound and communicative presence" as "always reliable" and as "a distinguished singer, with a warm, rich voice and a dignified performing presence." From 1977 to 1997 she was a regular performer at the Metropolitan Opera where she gave more than 100 performances.
Gloria Davy was a Swiss soprano of American birth who had an active international career in operas and concerts from the 1950s through the 1980s. A spinto soprano, she was widely acclaimed for her portrayal of the title role in Verdi's Aida, a role she performed in many of the world's top opera houses. She was notably the first black artist to perform the role of Aida at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1958. While she performed a broad repertoire, she was particularly admired for her interpretations of 20th-century music, including the works of Richard Strauss, Benjamin Britten and Paul Hindemith.
The Oakland East Bay Symphony (OEBS) is a leading orchestra based in Oakland, California. Michael Morgan held the position of music director and conductor from September 1990 until his death in August 2021. The Paramount Theatre has been the home of the Symphony since 1995. Bryan Nies has been Associate Conductor since 2002. The Symphony presents six programs of music during the season.
Donnie Ray Albert is an American operatic baritone who has had an active international career since 1976.
John McHenry Boatwright was an American operatic bass-baritone and singing teacher.
Marquita Lister is an American operatic soprano. She has sung with major companies in the U.S. and abroad, specializing in the lirico-spinto repertoire. Lister is considered one of the leading interpreters of Bess in Porgy and Bess, having performed the role hundreds of times in companies across the globe, and she is also renowned for her portrayals of Aida and Salome, two signature roles.
Robert Mosley was an American operatic bass-baritone. Part of the first generation of African-American opera singers to achieve wide success, he performed in numerous opera productions, recitals, and in concerts from the 1950s through the 1990s. In 1957 he won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He drew particular acclaim for his portrayal of Porgy in George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, a role which he portrayed in the landmark 1976 Houston Grand Opera production, on Broadway, and at the Metropolitan Opera among other opera companies both in the United States and in Europe.
Camellia Johnson was an American concert and opera singer. She began her career performing works from the mezzo-soprano repertoire, but after encouragement from the staff at the Metropolitan Opera retrained her voice as a soprano. She successfully made that transition after winning the Young Concert Artists competition in 1993. She went on to perform as a leading soprano with orchestras and opera companies internationally.
Tichina Vaughn is an American operatic dramatic mezzo-soprano active internationally in opera, concert halls and recitals. Starting at the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera, her American career expanded into Europe, as member of the permanent ensembles of the Semperoper in Dresden and the Stuttgart Opera, where she was awarded the title of Kammersängerin in 2006. She has been a regular at the Arena di Verona and other major theaters worldwide, singing a wide repertoire span, with a "voluminous and dark mezzo" voice the dramatic Verdi roles such as Amneris in Aida, Eboli in Don Carlo, Azucena in Il trovatore and Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera, Wagner's Ortrud Lohengrin, Venus Tannhäuser, Fricka Die Walküre, Waltraute in Götterdämmerung and Strauss, Herodias in Salome and Klytemnestra in Elektra. According to Opernglas, Vaughn has a natural "great intensity" on stage, with an ample "voice, which flows richly, even in the low registers." The Neue Zürcher Zeitung describes her voice as an "enchanting satisfyingly rich mezzosoprano". Bernard Holland of The New York Times called hers "A voice of quality", which had "the presence and personality that might well fit the Met... a mezzo-soprano whose strong upper register gave hints of a dramatic soprano to come".
Fredrick Redd is an operatic baritone and businessman. He is the currently Vice President of Operations at PACO Group and has held numerous positions prior, including President/CEO of Project Management Resource Group, PMO Director for the Port Authority of NY & NJ, Principal with North Highland among others. As an operatic baritone and performing artist, Mr. Redd has performed in concert, opera, musical theatre, recitals, radio, television and film. As a lead baritone singer, he has performed over 20 roles including the Metropolitan Opera Guild, New York City Opera, Opera North, Opera Carolina, Connecticut Grand Opera, Teatro Grattacielo, New York Grand Opera, Harrisburg Opera, Verismo Opera, Piedmont Opera, and Houston Opera Ebony, among others.
Lester Lynch is an American operatic baritone.
