Vern Sutton

Last updated

Vern Sutton (born April 8, 1938) is an American operatic tenor, opera director, and academic. A founding member of the Minnesota Opera, he has created roles in the world premieres of several contemporary operas with that company; including works composed for his voice by Dominick Argento, Libby Larsen, Eric Stokes, Conrad Susa, and Robert Ward. He was also a regularly featured singer on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion for three decades, beginning with its first broadcast in 1974. [1]

Contents

From 2002 to 2005, he was director of Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point. For 36 years, he taught on the voice faculty; further, for 30 years, he directed the opera program of the music school at the University of Minnesota. [2]

Education and career

Raised in Oklahoma City, Sutton earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Austin College in 1960 where he was a voice student of Ethel Rader and Bruce Lunkley. He then pursued graduate studies in musicology at the University of Minnesota (UM) where he earned both a M.A. in Music and Doctorate of Music. At the UM he studied voice with Roy Schuessler, and later studied singing at the Rome Opera House with Luigi Ricci through a Fulbright scholarship in 1966–1967. [3]

While a student at the UM, Sutton created the role of the Lord in the world premiere of Argento's Christopher Sly at the Scott Hall Theater on 31 May 1963. [4] That same year he began performing with the newly formed Minnesota Opera. His performances with the company have included roles in several world premieres, including Argento's The Masque of Angels (1964), Argento's The Revelation of Saint John the Divine (1967), Argento's Postcard from Morocco (1971), Susa's Transformations (1973), Susa's Black River (1975), Argento's The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe (1976), Argento's Water Bird Talk (1977), Hiram Titus' Rosina (1978), Ward's Hedda Gabler (1978), Stokes' The Jealous Cellist (1979), Lars Johan Werle's Animalen (1985), and Argento's Casanova's Homecoming (1985) among others. [5]

Sutton also performed as a guest artist with several American opera companies. In 1971 he made his debut at the San Francisco Spring Opera in the title role [Faust Counter Faust]. He returned their in 1973 to sing Mr. Owen in Postcard from Morocco. [6] Other companies he has performed leading roles with include the Houston Grand Opera and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. [3]

In 1967 Sutton joined the voice faculty of the University of Minnesota where he served as the long time director of the opera program until his retirement in 2003. During this time he also served as the director of the music school from 1991 to 1998. [7]

Recordings

Related Research Articles

<i>La damnation de Faust</i> Opera by Hector Berlioz

La damnation de Faust, Op. 24 is a work for four solo voices, full seven-part chorus, large children's chorus and orchestra by the French composer Hector Berlioz. He called it a "légende dramatique". It was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 6 December 1846.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominick Argento</span> American composer (1927–2019)

Dominick Argento was an American composer known for his lyric operatic and choral music. Among his best known pieces are the operas Postcard from Morocco, Miss Havisham's Fire, The Masque of Angels, and The Aspern Papers. He also is known for the song cycles Six Elizabethan Songs and From the Diary of Virginia Woolf; the latter earned him the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1975. In a predominantly tonal context, his music freely combines tonality, atonality and a lyrical use of twelve-tone writing. None of Argento's music approaches the experimental, stringent avant-garde fashions of the post-World War II era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvard Glee Club</span> Choral ensemble

The Harvard Glee Club is a 60-voice, Tenor-Bass choral ensemble at Harvard University. Founded in 1858 in the tradition of English and American glee clubs, it is the oldest collegiate chorus in the United States. The Glee Club is part of the Harvard Choruses of Harvard University, which also include the treble voice Radcliffe Choral Society and the mixed-voice Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum. All three groups are led by Harvard's current Director of Choral Activities Andrew Gregory Clark.

The Tender Land is an opera with music by Aaron Copland and libretto by Horace Everett, a pseudonym for Erik Johns.

Neil Shicoff is an American opera singer and cantor and known for his lyric tenor singing and his dramatic, emotional acting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Marriott</span> American composer

Richard Marriott is an American composer and performer. He has composed for film, television, dance, theater, opera, installations and video games. He is the founder and artistic director of the Club Foot Orchestra, an important modern ensemble for live music performance with silent films. His teachers include Dominick Argento and Paul Fetler at the University of Minnesota, Pauline Oliveros at UCSD, North Indian sarod master Ali Akbar Khan, shakuhachi master Masayuki Koga, and Balinese composers Nyoman Windha and Made Subandi. Marriott was a member of Snakefinger's History of the Blues and has recorded with The Residents, Brazilian Girls, "Singer at Large" Johnny J. Blair, and many others. He performs on brass and woodwind instruments, Western and Asian.

Grant Gershon is a Grammy Award winning American conductor and pianist. He is Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, formerly Resident Conductor of the Los Angeles Opera, member of the Board of Councillors for the USC Thornton School of Music and a former member of the Chorus America Board of Directors.

Postcard from Morocco is an opera in one act composed by Dominick Argento and libretto written by John Donahue that was commissioned by the Center Opera Company. It is based on A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. The setting is a train station in an exotic place, 1914. The world premier of the opera was on October 14, 1971, at the Cedar Village Theater, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Conducted by Philip Brunelle and stage direction by John Donahue. The set and costume designer was Jon Barkla and the lighting designer was Karlis Ozols. It was a huge success and went on to be produced in New York and around the world. This was Argento’s first international success. A masterpiece, it exemplifies Argento’s abilities as a composer. “Argento’s Music speaks to his audience with a singular freshness and ardour”. Postcard is a moving and artful piece, which asks us to think about our motivations in life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Brunelle</span> American choral [[scholar]], [[Conductorless orchestra|conductor]] and organist

Philip Brunelle is an American choral scholar, conductor and organist. He is the founder of VocalEssence. In the course of an international career as a choral and opera conductor Brunelle has been awarded Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit and made an Honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire as well as receiving Hungary's Kodály Medal, the Ohtli medal from Mexico, and Sweden's Royal Order of the Polar Star. He has received honorary doctoral degrees from Gustavus Adolphus College, St. John's University, St. Olaf College, United Theological Seminary, and the University of Minnesota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VocalEssence</span> Non-profit choral music organization

VocalEssence is a non-profit choral music organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Each year the organization presents a series of concerts featuring the 130-voice VocalEssence Chorus and its core group, a 32-voice professional mixed chorus called the Ensemble Singers, along with guest soloists and instrumentalists.

Never Stop Singing is a one-hour public television documentary film produced by Peter B Myers about choral music in Minnesota that premiered on Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) on June 7, 2009. The film was produced by Peter Myers and co-produced and edited by Skip Davis between February 2008 and April 2009. The documentary includes video from more than 40 interviews with well-known Minnesota composers, conductors, and singers.

Mark A. Thomsen is an American operatic tenor. He is also a professor and artist in residence at Florida Southern College. His performance repertoire includes the history of opera, from Cavalli, Bach, and Mozart, to Puccini, Verdi, and Richard Strauss, and the premieres of operas by composers such as Dominick Argento, Leonard Bernstein, Carlisle Floyd and Lowell Liebermann.

Brian Mulligan is an American operatic baritone who has performed in major opera houses and concert halls all over the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rossen Milanov</span> Bulgarian conductor

Rossen Milanov is a Bulgarian conductor. He is Music Director of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra & New Jersey's Symphony in C. He is also Principal Conductor of Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias, in Spain and the former Music Director of Bulgaria's New Symphony Orchestra. He is the Music Director of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra.

Miss Havisham's Fire is an opera in 2 acts by composer Dominick Argento with an English language libretto by John Olon-Scrymgeour. The work is loosely based on Charles Dickens' 1861 novel Great Expectations, and centers on an investigation of the circumstances surrounding the death of Aurelia Havisham. Commissioned by the New York City Opera, the work premiered on March 22, 1979, at the New York State Theater at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in Manhattan.

Ilana Davidson is an American operatic soprano who has had an active international singing career in operas and concerts. She has sung on several recordings, including as a soloist on a recording of William Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and of Experience with Leonard Slatkin and the University of Michigan chorus and orchestra which won four Grammy Awards including Best Classical Album in 2006. She is the co-artistic director of the Chamber music series ClassicalCafe.

Christopher Sly is an opera in one act and two scenes and an interlude by composer Dominick Argento. The work uses an English language libretto by John Gay Manlove that is based on William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. Commissioned by the Mu Phi Epsilon fraternity, the opera was given its world premiere at the Scott Hall Theater at the University of Minnesota on 31 May 1963 under the baton of William Johnson. The premiere cast included tenor Vern Sutton as the Lord.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elliot Madore</span> Canadian opera singer

Elliot Madore is a Canadian lyric baritone with an international operatic career.

Edward Foreman was an American operatic bass, scholar of singing technique, and teacher. He was founder and editor of the Pro Musica Press (Minneapolis), which reprinted historical treatises in facsimile and transcription, and also translated them into English. According to Richard Wistreich, these translations offer a uniquely comprehensive and valuable collection of Bel Canto pedagogy in English. He argues that "a growing number of influential singing teachers […] agree [with Foreman]", that there should be a revival of those old, healthy, singing practices.

Barbara Brandt is an American spinto soprano, known especially for her association with contemporary opera.

References

  1. ↑ Bickal, Jim (February 26, 2016). "First Prairie Home show recalled as Keillor passes torch". Minnesota Public Radio. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  2. ↑ Dan Olson (April 2, 2003). "Local opera legend, Vern Sutton, retires from UM". Minnesota Public Radio .
  3. 1 2 "Vern Sutton". Operissimo concertissimo . Retrieved October 22, 2015.
  4. ↑ Dominick Argento (2004). "Catalogue Raisonnâe as Memoir: A Composer's Life". University of Minnesota Press. pp. 34–36. ISBN   9781452907260.
  5. ↑ Margaret Ross Griffel (2012). Operas in English: A Dictionary. Scarecrow Press. ISBN   9780810883253.
  6. ↑ "Vern Sutton". San Francisco Opera Archives. Retrieved October 22, 2015.
  7. ↑ Stanford Eugene Lehmberg (2001). The University of Minnesota: 1945–2000 . University of Minnesota Press. pp.  154–155. Vern Sutton.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.