William Burden is an American opera singer (tenor). Since his professional debut at the San Francisco Opera in 1992, he has performed in lead roles in North America and Europe.
William Burden is an American opera singer (tenor). Since his professional debut at the San Francisco Opera in 1992, he has performed in lead roles in North America and Europe.
Burden was born in Miami. As an undergraduate he studied at Middlebury College and then entered the Indiana University School of Music where he received his master's degree in Vocal Performance working with Margaret Harshaw. Burden participated in a number of summer programs, the Merola Program of the San Francisco Opera, the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice program, and the Wolf Trap Young Artists’ Program. [1]
In 1992 Burden was called to the San Francisco Opera to sing Count Lerma in Don Carlo and Janek in The Makropoulos Case . [1] He has appeared in lead roles at major opera houses, including Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Santa Fe Opera, New York City Opera, La Scala, Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Paris Opera, Munich State Opera, Canadian Opera Company, and the Saito Kinen Festival.
Burden has performed in a number of world premieres: [2] Gilbert Griffiths in Tobias Picker's An American Tragedy (Metropolitan Opera, 2005), Dodge in Daron Hagen's Amelia (Seattle Opera, 2010), Nikolaus Sprink in Kevin Puts's Silent Night , Dan Hill in Christopher Theofanidis's Heart of a Soldier (San Francisco Opera, 2011), [3] Peter in Mark Adamo's Gospel of Mary Magdalene (San Francisco Opera, 2013), [4] and Frank Harris in Theodore Morrison's Oscar (Santa Fe Opera, 2013). He performed the role of Antonin Scalia in the revised version of Derrick Wang’s Scalia/Ginsburg (Glimmerglass Festival, 2017). [5] [6] While singing the title role in Leonard Bernstein's Candide in 1992 at the Skylight Opera Theater in Milwaukee, he met his future wife, Carol Chickering, who was singing the role of Cunegonde. Bill and Carol went on to have two children, a daughter, Claire, and a son, Jaxon.
His repertoire includes many lead roles, including: [7]
Burden also sang in concert with Les Arts Florissants, the BBC Orchestra, and the Berlin Philharmonic, among others. He is currently a faculty member at Mannes School of Music, where he serves as Chair of the Voice Department, and The Juilliard School. Burden has also studied with Arthur Levy. [9]
Anthony Tommasini wrote about one of his performances that his “(s)ubdued emotional intensity permeates every line of his singing. His English diction is a model of clarity”. [10]
Kevin Burdette is an American bass who has worked as a soloist with the Metropolitan Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, Teatro Colón, Dallas Opera, San Diego Opera, Washington National Opera, New York City Opera, Opéra de Montréal, Boston Lyric Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Philadelphia, and the Spoleto Festival USA, as well as many regional opera companies including Florentine Opera, Opéra de Québec, Portland Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Atlanta Opera, Virginia Opera, Wolf Trap Opera Company, Chicago Opera Theater, Opera Memphis, Gotham Chamber Opera, Knoxville Opera, Opera Grand Rapids, Toledo Opera, and the Lyric Opera of San Antonio. In 2015, he created the roles of Beck Weathers in Joby Talbot's Everest, Blindman and Stobrod Thewes in Jennifer Higdon's Cold Mountain, Eric Gold and the Ghost of Bazzetti in Jake Heggie's Great Scott, and Ob in Mark Adamo's Becoming Santa Claus.
Theodor Uppman was an American operatic baritone. He is best known for his creation of the title role in Benjamin Britten's opera Billy Budd.
Susan Graham is an American mezzo-soprano.
Rodney Gilfry is a leading American operatic baritone. After launching his career at Frankfurt Opera in 1987, Gilfry quickly established a reputation for stylish singing and acting. A renowned Mozart specialist, he has given acclaimed performances as Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva, Guglielmo, and Papageno, and is also known for his work in roles from the standard baritone repertoire.
Nathan T. Gunn is an American operatic baritone who performs regularly around the world. He is an alumnus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he is currently a professor of voice.
Vinson Cole is an American operatic tenor.
Michael Chioldi is an American opera singer who has performed leading baritone roles in the opera houses and festivals of North and South America, Europe and Asia. He first appeared at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1995 when he was a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Competition.
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.
Michelle DeYoung is an American classical vocalist who has an active international career performing in operas and concerts.
Bryan Hymel is an American operatic tenor who was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana and graduated from Jesuit High School and Loyola University New Orleans.
Jennifer Zetlan is an American operatic soprano who has sung leading roles with many opera companies in the United States, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Seattle Opera, and the Santa Fe Opera among others. She has performed in the world premieres of operas by composers Matthew Aucoin, Daron Hagen, Nico Muhly, and Ricky Ian Gordon.
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Steven Cole is an American opera singer. He is particularly known for his portrayal of tenor character roles in an international career spanning more than 30 years. He sang in the world premieres of Jean Prodromides's La Noche Triste, Gavin Bryars's Medea, and the revised version of György Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre.
Philip Booth is an American operatic bass who is chiefly associated with the basso profundo repertoire. Now retired from performance, he was particularly active with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City where he gave more than 400 performances from 1975–1995.
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Kevin Paul Anderson is an American operatic tenor. He has had a national and international singing career since the late 1980s, and in 1988 appeared as Don Alvar alongside Placido Domingo and Shirley Verrett in the San Francisco Opera's televised production of L'Africaine.
Elliot Madore is a Canadian lyric baritone with an international operatic career.
Orphée is a chamber opera in two acts and 18 scenes, for ensemble and soloists, composed in 1991 by Philip Glass, to a libretto by the composer, based on the scenario of the eponymous film (1950) by Jean Cocteau. Commissioned by the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, this is the first part of a trilogy in honour of the French poet. The world premiere of the work took place on 14 May 1993 under the direction of Martin Goldray and the European premiere in London on 27 May 2005 in the Royal Opera House's Linbury Studio Theatre.
Scalia/Ginsburg is a 2015 comic opera by composer-librettist Derrick Wang about the relationship between United States Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Called "a dream come true" by Justice Ginsburg, the opera has been broadcast nationally on the radio in the United States, produced in the United States and internationally, and featured on Live with Carnegie Hall.
