 |
Gualtiero Negrini (born January 24, 1961) is an American singer of Irish-Italian heritage. [1]
Contents
|
Gualtiero Negrini (born January 24, 1961) is an American singer of Irish-Italian heritage. [1]
Gualtiero Negrini was born to Luciano Negrini (a former Catholic Priest and bass opera singer from Milano, Italy), and Clare Mary Negrini (née Young, an Irish-American mezzo-soprano opera singer from Chicago). His great uncle, the tenor Carlo Negrini, created the role of Gabriele Adorno for Giuseppe Verdi, in the premiere of Simon Boccanegra in Venice in 1857. Throughout his youth, Negrini used to say that he had been born in Milano as a tribute to his father who had always lamented that none of his four sons had been born in Italy. Although he spent time there as a child and in subsequent years, he was actually born at the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in California, and considers himself a proud Angeleno. He attended St Casimir's Elementary School, Daniel Murphy High School, and USC Opera Workshop, all in Los Angeles.
Gualtiero Negrini began his studies at a very early age as a pianist and conductor under former Berlin Philharmonic conductor Fritz Zweig, and Dr. George Dawson of California State University, Long Beach. He conducted his first performances at the age of 13, a two-piano performance of Madama Butterfly with a small local amateur opera company. In his subsequent teen years, he continued conducting productions with full orchestra of Don Pasquale, Faust, and Lucia di Lammermoor.
In the early 1990s, he co-founded the Opera Orchestra of Los Angeles, [2] conducting critically acclaimed performances of Puccini's Turandot with Metropolitan Opera stars Ghena Dimitrova and Giuliano Ciannella. With the same orchestra, Negrini also conducted Verdi's Attila, and An Evening with Jerry Hadley – a gala concert featuring the Metropolitan Opera tenor Jerry Hadley. He would go on to conduct Los Angeles productions of Tosca, La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, and Carmen.
In 2000, Negrini conducted and produced the popular recording, Broadway Classic, featuring the renowned musical theater soprano, Lisa Vroman. [3] In 2010, he was approached to be the resident conductor of the Opera Arts Festival in Palm Desert, California, a post he held for six seasons.
Negrini is also an internationally respected vocal coach. He began with the USC Opera Workshop, after being offered a position as a repertoire coach there at the tender age of 16, and has maintained private teaching studios in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City. Through the years, he has coached Metropolitan Opera singers Jerry Hadley, Thomas Hampson, Suzanna Guzman, tenor Raul Hernandez, and many others. He also coached actress and Jazz singer Bettina Devin of the movie Rent, Franc D'Ambrosio of The Godfather Part III fame, TV and stage star Nancy Dussault, Broadway singing actresses Lisa Vroman, Aneka Noni Rose, Rachel Eskenazi-Gold, Karen Morrow, and the Tony Award-winning Dame Edna.
Negrini made his singing debut at age 15, as Dr. Malatesta in a production of Don Pasquale mounted by a small company known as L'Opera Comique of Los Angeles that was founded by his father. At the age of 17, he made his tenor debut as Paolino in USC Opera's production of Il Matrimonio Segreto.
Soon afterward, at age 19, he became a finalist in the 1980 Lyric Opera of Chicago auditions. There, he was mentored by Walter Baracchi, the noted pianist-conductor who had been with Lyric Opera of Chicago for a decade, and previously with Milan's La Scala since the late 1950s. This launched a professional singing career for Negrini. In Chicago, he would go on to share the stage, and learn from Luciano Pavarotti, Mirella Freni, Alfredo Kraus, Jon Vickers, and scores of other notables. Among his most successful performances were his portrayal of the "rock star" Nanki-Poo in Peter Sellars's updated production of The Mikado, and his rendition of Don Ramiro in the Gian-Carlo Menotti production of La Cenerentola at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. – a role he would eventually perform over 100 times with many different opera companies. During this period he also performed the role of David in excerpts of Die Meistersinger with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Erich Leinsdorf.
He made history at Lyric Opera of Chicago when in 1982, at the age of 21, he replaced Gösta Winbergh as Ferrando in Così fan tutte, making him the youngest tenor ever to sing a leading role there.[1] Negrini has also been a finalist in the 1984 San Francisco Opera Auditions, where he was a member of the Merola Opera Program. [4]
In the late 1980s, while continuing to sing throughout the United States, in such roles as Hoffmann in The Tales of Hoffmann, Lord Percy in Anna Bolena and Dick Johnson in La fanciulla del West, he was approached by Hal Prince to re-create the role of Ubaldo Piangi in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera for its Los Angeles premiere. [5] This would take Negrini through 8 years and over 3,000 performances of that role, in both Los Angeles and San Francisco.
With noted soprano Lisa Vroman he sang the role of Martin in Aaron Copland's The Tender Land for the Cabrillo Music Festival in 1999, [6] and in 2000 they both sang in A Gala Vienna New Year's Eve with the San Francisco Symphony under conductor Yves Abel. In March 2010 he played Tony in Frank Loesser's The Most Happy Fella to great acclaim with the Silicon Valley Symphony (formerly San Jose Symphony), once again with Lisa Vroman as his Rosabella.
In 2011 he performed the role of William Randolph Hearst in the musical W.R. & Daisy, for which he also recorded excerpts.
In more recent years, he has appeared as a guest star on television shows such as the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm [7] and the Fox Television series Bones (TV series), [8] in roles showcasing his talents as both singer and actor. In February 2018, he will be featured in a new episode of the hit FX series Baskets , sharing the screen with Zach Galifianakis, and the Emmy Award – winning Louie Anderson.
Negrini had dabbled in filmmaking with his high school friends as a teen, even producing a few film shorts, but it would not be until 1991 that he would revisit this genre. While in Los Angeles performing in The Phantom of the Opera , he was asked to appear in period comedy The Marrying Man , starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger, in a scene as Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia . In 2009, he appeared as the amiable opera-singing restaurateur who is rudely interrupted by Larry David in an episode of Curb your Enthusiasm, and as an opera-singing sanitation engineer in a 2012 episode of Bones. In 2013 he began production of Fairlane Road, [9] a slow-burning thriller in which he directed, acted, and co-wrote with Anthony Sherritt. The movie went on to be picked up by Netflix in 2016. In the last weeks of 2017, Negrini appeared on Conan (TV Show) as Donald Trump in a short sketch, and ended the year on a high note as a featured guest in the upcoming season of Baskets (TV series). His voice has also been heard in countless commercials.
Gualtiero Negrini lives just outside of Joshua Tree, California with his wife Lucy, to whom he has been married since 1989. They share three children together – Gina, Charles, and Sophia.
José Plácido Domingo Embil is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, German, Spanish, English and Russian in the most prestigious opera houses in the world. Although primarily a lirico-spinto tenor for most of his career, especially popular for his Cavaradossi, Hoffmann, Don José and Canio, he quickly moved into more dramatic roles, becoming the most acclaimed Otello of his generation. In the early 2010s, he transitioned from the tenor repertory into exclusively baritone parts, most notably Simon Boccanegra. As of 2020, he has performed 151 different roles.
Michael Tilson Thomas is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of the San Francisco Symphony, and Conductor Laureate of the London Symphony Orchestra. He gave his last performance with the San Francisco Symphony in January 2024 while fighting brain cancer.
Esa-Pekka Salonen is a Finnish conductor and composer. He is the music director of the San Francisco Symphony and conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra in London and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2024, he announced his resignation from the San Francisco Symphony upon the expiration of his contract in 2025.
James Conlon is an American conductor. He is currently the music director of Los Angeles Opera and principal conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra.
Jake Heggie is an American composer of opera, vocal, orchestral, and chamber music. He is best known for his operas and art songs as well as for his collaborations with internationally renowned performers and writers.
Maria Louise Ewing was an American opera singer. In the early part of her career she performed solely as a lyric mezzo-soprano; she later assumed full soprano parts as well. Her signature roles were Blanche, Carmen, Dorabella, Rosina and Salome. Some critics regarded her as one of the most compelling singing actresses of her generation.
Jerry Hadley was an American operatic tenor. He received three Grammy awards for his vocal performances in the recordings of Jenůfa, Susannah, and Candide. Hadley was a leading American tenor for nearly two decades. He was mentored by soprano Joan Sutherland and her husband, conductor Richard Bonynge. Leonard Bernstein chose Hadley for his 1989 recording of Candide on Deutsche Grammophon. Aside from singing opera and operetta, Hadley also sang on Broadway.
Laura Claycomb is an American lyric coloratura soprano singer.
Calvin Eugene Simmons was an American symphony orchestra conductor. He was the first African-American conductor of a major orchestra.
Henry Kimball Hadley was an American composer and conductor.
James W. Sample was an American conductor.
José Francisco Araiza Andrade is a Mexican operatic tenor and lied singer who has sung as soloist in leading concert halls and in leading tenor operatic roles in the major opera houses of Europe and North America during the course of a lengthy career. Born in Mexico City, he studied singing at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música de México and later in Germany, with Mozartian tenor Richard Holm, and lieder interpretation with Erik Werba. He made his operatic debut in 1970 in Mexico City as First Prisoner in Beethoven's Fidelio. Araiza initially came to international prominence singing in Mozart and Rossini operas, but in the 1980s broadened his repertoire to include Italian and French lyric tenor roles and Wagnerian roles such as Lohengrin and Walther von Stolzing. He was made a Kammersänger of the Vienna State Opera in 1988. Now retired from the opera stage, he teaches singing and serves on the juries of several international singing competitions.
Katherine Ann Merriman was an American operatic mezzo-soprano.
Mark Grey is an American classical music composer, sound designer and sound engineer.
William L. Lewis is an American operatic tenor and academic.
Anthony Dean Griffey is an American opera tenor. He is a regular presence on the stages of opera houses and concert halls around the world. Griffey has also been noted for his acting talent in addition to his voice.
Andrew McKinley was an American operatic tenor, violinist, arts administrator, music educator, and school administrator. Although he mainly performed in the United States, he had an active international singing career with major opera companies and symphony orchestras from the 1940s through the 1960s. His repertoire spanned a wide range, from leading tenor parts to character roles.
Wendy White is an American mezzo-soprano who has had an active international singing career in operas and concerts since the late 1970s. She has performed annually with the Metropolitan Opera since her debut with the company in 1989, and as of April 2011 has appeared in a total of 505 performances at the Met.
Benjamin Shwartz is an American-Israeli orchestral and opera conductor, and music director of the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, Koblenz (Germany). Formerly he held the position of music director of the Wrocław Philharmonic known for his interest in and commitment to new music. Born in Los Angeles and raised there and in Israel, he attended the Idyllwild Arts Academy in California before enrolling in the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied composition with James Primosch. He continued his composition studies in Germany with Karlheinz Stockhausen. As a conducting student at the Curtis Institute of Music, he studied with Otto-Werner Mueller and worked closely with Christoph Eschenbach and Ned Rorem. Shwartz won numerous awards including the Presser Award, and Third Prize in the 2007 International Mahler Conducting Competition in Bamberg, Germany.
Thomas Warburton Paul is an American bass and voice teacher who had an active performance career during the second half of the 20th century. While more frequently heard in oratorios and other concert literature, Paul also appeared in operas during his career with companies like the New York City Opera, the San Francisco Opera, and Washington National Opera. In 1964 he created the role of Jack Spaniard in the world premiere of Robert Ward's The Lady From Colorado at the Central City Opera. In 1976 he portrayed Jared Bilby in the world premiere of Carlisle Floyd's Bilby's Doll at the Houston Grand Opera. He was a full time professor of voice at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester from 1973 through 1998, and also taught at the Aspen Music Festival and School.