Michael Sylvester
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Michael Lane Sylvester (born 21 August 1951), is an American operatic tenor (now retired). In the course of his 25 year career on the opera stage, he appeared in leading tenor roles at many of the world's opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, La Fenice, the Paris Opera, and London's Royal Opera House. He was described by Elizabeth Forbes as "a powerful actor" who has "a strong bright-toned voice, with an authentic italianate ring."[1]
Life and career
Sylvester was born in Noblesville, Indiana and received a Bachelor of Music degree from Westminster Choir College and a Master of Music degree from Indiana University, where he studied under Margaret Harshaw. He made his professional singing debut as the tenor soloist in the Verdi Requiem in 1975 and his operatic debut as Riccardo in Ballo in Maschera. He initially sang in smaller American opera houses before embarking on an international career, making his debut at the Paris Opera as Polione in Norma, his La Scala debut in 1990 as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, and his Royal Opera House debut in 1991 as Don José in Carmen.[1][2][3]
A Metropolitan Opera National Council winner in 1986,[4] Sylvester made his Met debut on 12 April 1991 as Rodolfo in Luisa Miller. His other roles with the company included the title role in Don Carlos, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Radames in Aida, Calaf in Turandot, and Gabriele Adorno in Simon Boccanegra. His last appearance there was on 20 October 2000 as Calaf.[5]
Since his retirement from the opera stage in May 2001,[6] Sylvester has directed Aida for Indianapolis Opera and teaches singing both privately and as a faculty member at DePaul University School of Music.[7][8]
Recordings
- Verdi: Don Carlo (as Don Carlo). Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, James Levine (conductor). Label: Sony Classical (CD)
- Messiaen: La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ (as tenor soloist). National Symphony Orchestra and the Westminster Symphonic Choir, Antal Doráti (conductor). Label: Decca Records (CD)
- Puccini: Turandot (as Calaf). San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Donald Runnicles (conductor). Label: Arthaus (DVD)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Forbes, Elizabeth (2008). "Sylvester, Michael (Lane Sylvester)". The Grove Book of Opera Singers, pp. 479–480. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195337654
- ↑ Bagnoli, Giorgio (1993). "Sylvester, Michael". The La Scala Encyclopedia of the Opera, p. 336. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0671870424
- ↑ Kutsch, Karl-Josef and Riemens, Leo (2004). "Sylvester, Michael". Großes Sängerlexikon, Vol. 4, pp. 4619–4620. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 359844088X (German)
- ↑ Page, Tim (22 April 1986). "11 Met Winners Introduced in Concert". New York Times. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- ↑ Metropolitan Opera Performance Archives. "Sylvester, Michael (Tenor)". Retrieved 4 November 2015.
- ↑ The Michael O'Neal Singers. Biography: Michael Sylvester (Archived version retrieved 4 November 2015.)
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ West, Evan (October 2004}. "The Soprano". Indianapolis Monthly, p. 92
