Michael Austin is considered one of the most renowed tenors in the opera today. According to opera critics, there has been a lack of good classically trained black male opera singers. Hopefully, after reviewing some of the leading Black Male Singers here, it will at least sheld some light on this question.
Bio:
Reprinted from Dietsch Artist International
Michael Austin, Tenor
is one of the most renowned African American Otellos of his time. Having appeared as the dark moor on numerous occasions, he has made a reputation for himself in this role. He made his debut as Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana with the Staatstheater Stuttgart. As a His immense success led to performances of Nemorino in L'Elisir d’Amore , Narraboth in Salome, Radames in Aida , Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Gabriele Adorno in Simon Boccanegra , Max in Der Freischütz , Jimmy Mahoney in Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, Admetus in Gluck's Alceste , the tenor solo's in Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde and the title role in Wagner’s Parsifal. Mr. Austin is a frequent guest to the stages of Hamburg, Bilbao and Zürich performing the role of Alfredo in La Traviat a. He has been heard in Hanover as Ismaele in Nabucco, in Berlin, Brünn (the Czech Republic), Prague, Me tz and Karlsruhe as Pinkerton, in Regensburg as Turiddu, St. Petersburg and Moscow as Narraboth in Salome and in Basel and Bern as Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca ...
In America, his many operatic appearances include the world premiere of Philip Glass' Akhnaten which also served as the vehicle for his New York City Opera debut. Mr. Austin has performed Enzo Grimaldo in La Gioconda, the title role in Ernani and Avito in Montemezzi's rarely heard L’Amore de tre Re with Greater Miami Opera, Narraboth in Salome with Houston Grand Opera, and the New Orleans Opera. Alfredo in La Traviata with Opera Omaha and Ismaele and Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor for the National Grand Opera.
Mr. Austin made his South American debut in Rio de Janeiro as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly and has also sung Ismaele with Opera de Puerto Rico. His debut in Canada was with Opera Hamilton and in Toronto as Alfredo in La Traviata. He is frequently heard in concert. Most prominent is the Verdi Requiem which he has performed in Cologne, Helsinki, Rome, Marseille and Bern. He has also performed Das Lied von der Erde with Brigitte Fassbaender and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy as well as with the Cologne Philharmonic and London's Wigmore Hall. Mr. Austin has performed and recorded Schreker's Die Gezeichneten which was conducted by Edo de Waart. He subsequently made his Salzburg Festival recitaldebut at the ‘Grosse Aula’. Mr. Austin made his English National Opera debut as Joe in the Bizet/Hammerstein production of Carmen Jones directed by Simon Callowunder the musical direction of Henry Lewis. The production was subsequently recorded and released by EMI.
Recent engagements included an appearance with the Dallas Symphony as Cavaradossi under the baton of Andrew Litton with great acclaim. He returned to Stuttgart in Das Lied von der Erde which he also sang in Turin, and in Brünn he sang Radames in Aida and the title role in Wagner’s Lohengrin. Mr. Austin will perform Canio in I Pagliacci for the first time with Metz Opera. And with the radio symphony in Stuttgart he was the tenor soloist in Janacek's Glagolitic Mass. Further Engagements were Monastatos in Die Zauberflöte for Opera Lyons, the title role of Verdi's Otello and Pinkerton in Puccini&s Madama Butterfly for the Warsaw State Opera, and performances in Nabucco, Schönberg's Kreidekreis, a nd Erik in Der Fliegende Holländer all for Heidelberg. He also performed the tenor solos in Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde for Radio France in Paris and Janacek's Glagolitic Mass in Lisbon as well as the tenor solos in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Helsinki and Tokyo and in Verdi's Requiem in Marseilles. He appeared in the title role of Otello with the Cleveland Opera. Recently, Mr. Austin appeared in performances of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess which took him to Madrid, Detroit, Bregenz, New Orleans, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich and the new production at the New York City Opera. He has also sung Narraboth in Salome for the New Orleans Opera, Das Lied von der Erde in Milan, Verdi’s Requiem in Geneva and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Montreal, Lisbon, Baltimore, and Cleveland. In October 2006, he sang Radames in Aida with the Piedmont Opera in North Carolina. In June 2007, Mr. Austin sang
Otello with the Gdansk Opera where he received a thirty-minute standing ovation. After such success he was contracted to return to sing Jacobo in I Due Foscari. In December 2008, Mr. Austin became the first non-Chinese to sing a leading role in a Chinese opera (Mulan Palsm) in the Mandarin language.
A native of Wytheville, Virginia, Michael Austin received his musical education at Emory and Henry College, at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and with the Juilliard School of Music. He has been a member of the Santa Fe Opera Festival where he was named ‘Outstanding Apprentice Artist’. He received a BA in music from Emory and Henry college and a Master’s of Music from The Juilliard School in New York. In June 2005, Mr. Austin received the title ‘Doctor of Fine Arts’ from Emory and Henry College.
In 2009, Michael Austin appeared with San Francisco Opera, singing the role of Robbins in Porgy & Bess. He also performaned the title role of Otello with the Regensburg Stadt Theater, In 2010, he sang the Verdi Requiem with the Zurich Philharmonic.
This season, he will appear once again as Robbins in Porgy & Bess with the Seattle Opera immediately following, he will star in the title role of Otello with the Bratislava State Opera.
Dio! mi potevi scagliar
Michael Austin - Niun mi tema from OTELLO
Exultate
Michael Austin - Dio mi potevi from OTELLO
Michael Austin & Scott Bearden - Si, pel ciel marmoreo giuro! – OTELLO
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