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| Rockwell Blake, tenor... | |
b i o g r a p h y...........back to roster....up June 2002 "Cavaliere Ufficiale" in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic" for his "outstanding services to Italian music", "Officer" in the Order of Arts and Letters of the French Republic" for his outstanding contribution "to culture in France and in the world", Doctor of Music, Honoraris from the University of the State of New York for "his extraordinary contribution to the art of bel-canto"; these are but a few of the recent honors bestowed on Rockwell Blake in his more than year 25 year career. During those years Mr. Blake has been acclaimed for opera, concert and recital performances in all the major theaters of the world. He has appeared across North and South America, Israel, Japan and Europe, performing regularly at the Metropolitan Opera, the San Francisco Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, La Scala, Vienna State Opera, the Grande Theatre de Geneve, the Teatro La Fenice, the opera houses of Rome, Turin, Parma, Florence, Bologna, Palermo and Naples, the Paris Opera, Chatalet, Theatre Champs Elysees and Opera-Comique the opera companies of Marseilles, Nice, Lyon, Toulouse, Aix-en-Provence, Montpelier, Bordeaux, Avignon and Strasbourg, Brussels' La Monnaie, the Liceu in Barcelona , the Teatro Real and Teatro Zarzuela in Madrid, and the theaters in Zurich, Hamburg, Munich and Lisbon. Since 1983 he has been a regular guest of the Rossini Festival held annually in the composer's birthplace of Pesaro. With his extraordinary vocal technique, a two-and-one-half octave range, and an elegant and graceful style tenor Rockwell Blake continues to lead the revival of rarely heard operatic masterpieces by Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini. Mr. Blake has sung the leading role in over 50 operas from this highly specialized repertoire, including such little-known works as Mozarts Mitridate, Re di Ponto and Zaide, Haydn's L'Infedelta Delusa, Donizettis Il Furioso all'Isola San Domingo and Marin Faliero Bellini's Il Pirata, and Meyerbeers Il Crociato in Egitto & Robert le Diable. As the number one exponent of Rossini's tenor roles, Mr. Blake includes 20 operas, 10 concert works and numerous songs, by that composer, in his repertoire. Trained in singing by Renata Carisio, tenor Rockwell Blake studied music in Plattsburgh, New York, the city where he was born. He began his professional singing career at the age of 23. As the winner of two George London Awards (1974 & 1975) he was immediately invited by George London to make his solo operatic debut as Lindoro in Rossinis Italiana in Algeri, a production which opened the 1976-1977 season at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Hailed by critics as "what the world has been waiting for since the Rossini revival began" he became the first winner of the prestigious Richard Tucker Award in 1978. Soon thereafter he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera, at the side of Marilyn Horne, once again as Lindoro in Rossinis Italiana in Algeri. Other Met roles include Lord Arthur Talbot in Bellini's I Puritani, Don Ottavio in Mozarts Don Giovanni and the Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. It was as Almaviva that the Met restored, especially for him, the daunting eight -minute tenor aria of the last act, "Cessa di piu resistere", written by Rossini for the legendary Manuel Garcia, but, due to it's extreme difficulty, usually absent from productions since the opera's 1816 world premiere. Finally the New York audiences heard Rossinis masterpiece as Rossini himself intended. Today, thanks to Mr. Blake and his insistance to include this aria whenever he sings Almaviva in Barbiere productions, a new generation of young tenors now has the opportunity to sing this aria around the world. Eight years ago Mr. Blake turned his attentions, in part, to a long-neglected repertoire of early French operas, composed for a kind of tenor voice which rarely exists today. He has been credited with their revival and has notably demonstrated this in recordings for the EMI label. His first recording with EMI, Rockwell Blake, Airs d'Opéras français with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo won the prestigious Diapason d'Or de l'Aneé, distinguishing it as the best operatic release for the year 1994 and his recording of Boieldieus La Dame Blanche, won the distinction as the Best French classical recording of 1997 by Les Victoire de la Musique. Other record awards included that the "Grand Prix du Disque" of the "Academie Charles Cros", the "Grand Prix du Palmares des Palmares", Frances two top awards in the recording field and Opera Internationals "Timbre Platine". Most recently, and between singing engagements, Mr. Blake has begun to develop a new facet to his career, as a teacher of young singers. For the past five years he has happily accepted invitations from As.Li.Co. to teach Masterclasses with the young artists in this Milan based Italian Opera training center. He has also taught young singers in Masterclasses at the Conservatoire Nationale de Paris, at Santa Cecilia in Rome, Duke University of North Carolina, the State University of New York, the Hamburg Staatsoper, and at the Chicago Lyric Opera young artists program. Other recordings by Mr. Blake include Arabesque's The Rossini Tenor, on which he is heard in a handful of never-previously-recorded Rossini arias with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Ambrosian Choir under John McCarthy; The Mozart Tenor, offering a collection of unusual Mozart opera and concert arias with the London Symphony under Nicholas McGegan, Encore Rossini, another recording of Rossini rarities with the London Symphony and Ambrosian Choir under Maximiano Valdes and Rossini Mélodies (EMI) with Maestro Antonio Pappano at the piano. b i o.....o p e r a - r e p e r t o i r e.....o r c h e s t r a - r e p e r t o i r e back to roster...up . . . |
. o p e r a - r e p e r t o i r e...........back to roster....up Adam Le Postillon de Longjumeau Bellini Il Pirata Bellini La Sonnambula Boieldieu La Dame Blanche Cimarosa Il Matrimonio Segreto Delibes Lakmé Donizetti Anna Bolena Donizetti Don Pasquale Donizetti Il Furioso all Isola di San Domingo Donizetti La Fille du Regiment Donizetti Alina, Regina di Golconda Gluck Armide (Rénaud) Gluck Orpheé Handel Alcina Handel Arminio Handel Poro Handel Semele Lalo Le Roid'Ys Massenet Le Jongleur de Notre Dame Meyerbeer Il Crociato in Egitto Meyerbeer Robert le Diable Mozart Cosi fan Tutte Mozart Die Entführung aus dem Serail Mozart Die Zauberflöte Mozart Don Giovanni Mozart Idomeneo (Idamante) Mozart La Clemenza di Tito Mozart La Finta Giardiniera Mozart Mitridate, Re di Ponto Pergolesi Il Flaminio Rimsky-Korsakov Le Coq d'Or Rossini Adina Rossini Armida Rossini Elizabetta, Regina d'Inghilterra Rossini Ermione (Oreste) Rossini Il Barbiere di Siviglia Rossini Il Viaggio a Reims Rossini La Cenerentola Rossini La Donna del Lago Rossini L'Italiana in Algeri Rossini L'Occasione fa ll Ladro Rossini La gazza Ladra Rossini Le Comte Ory Rossini Mosé in Egitto Rossini Otello (Rodrigo) Rossini Semiramide Rossini William Tell (Pescatore) Rossini Zalmira b i o.....o p e r a - r e p e r t o i r e.....o r c h e s t r a - r e p e r t o i r e back to roster...up . . . |
. o r c h e s t r a - r e p e r t o i r e..........back to roster....up Bach Magnificat Bach St. John Passion Bach St. Matthew Passion Beethoven Mass in C Major Beethoven Missa Solemnis Beethoven Ninth Symphony Berlioz L'Enfance du Christ Berlioz Nuits d'Eté Berlioz Requiem Berlioz Te Deum Britten Les Illuminations Britten Saint Nicolas Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings Britten War Requiem Elgar Dream of Gerontius Handel Acis and Galatea Handel Alexander Balus Handel Alexander's Feast Handel Foundling Hospital Anthem Handel Israel in Egypt Handel Jephtha Handel Joseph Handel Joshua Handel Judas Maccabaeus Handel L'Allegro, Il Penseroso, ed Il Moderato Handel Messiah Handel Occasional Oratorio Handel Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne Handel Ode on St. Cecilia's Day Handel Saul Handel Sing unto God Handel Solomon Handel Theodora Handel Utrecht Te Deum Handel Wedding Anthem Haydn The Seasons Mendelssohn Elijah Mendelssohn Paulus Mozart Requiem Orff Carmina Burana Rossini Argene e Melania Rossini Cantata da Esiguirsi la Sera del di 9 Maggio 1819 Rossini Il Pianto d'Armonia in Morte d'Orfeo Rossini Il Pianto delle Muse in Morte di Lord Byron Rossini La Riconoscenza Rossini Messa di Gloria Rossini Messa Solennelle Rossini Stabat Mater Saint-Saëns Christmas Oratorio Stravinsky La Pulcinella b i o.....o p e r a - r e p e r t o i r e.....o r c h e s t r a - r e p e r t o i r e back to roster...up . . . . |