Hailed by The New York Times for a voice that is “fully powered and persuasively expressive,” baritone Matthew Worth and critically acclaimed pianist, conductor and clinician Tyson Deaton partner to explore the powerful collaborative relationship between pianist and vocalist.
PROGRAM
Alan Louis Smith: Daniel Boone Sings to the Night Sky
Charles Ives: At the River
Charles Ives: The Housatonic at Stockbridge
Charles Ives: The Children’s Hour
Charles Ives: The Things our Fathers Loved
Charles Ives: The Circus Band
Samuel Barber: Three Songs, op. 10
Andrew Staniland: Peter Quince at the Clavier
Lowell Liebermann: Six Songs on Poems by Raymond Carver, op. 80
MEET THE ARTISTS
Hailed by The New York Times for a voice that is “fully powered and persuasively expressive,” Matthew Worth is quickly becoming the baritone of choice for innovative productions and contemporary works on the operatic leading edge. Last season, he created the role of the Narrator in the world premiere of The Passion of Yeshua with the Oregon Bach Festival. The Register-Guard praised, “Baritone Matthew Worth sang the critical role of Narrator. His voice was rich and vibrant, his diction clear and his delivery earnest.” This season he will return to the role at Royce Hall in Los Angeles and again with the Buffalo Philharmonic.
The 2018/19 season also included Worth’s return to Boston Lyric Opera as Figaro in Rosetta Cucchi’s zany production of Il barbiere di Siviglia and a workshop performance of Laura Kaminsky and Kimberly Reed’s Postville, commissioned by Santa Fe Opera and San Francisco Opera.
Along with The Passion of Yeshua in the 2017/18 season, Worth performed the title role in David T. Little and Royce Vavrek’s JFK with Opéra de Montréal, Bernstein’s Arias & Barcarolles with the New York Festival of Song at Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Laura Kaminsky and Mark Campbell’s As One with Cincinnati Opera, and recitals at the University of Cincinnati and Austin Peay University.
Highlights of recent seasons include the title role in the world premiere of JFK with Fort Worth Opera, the world premiere of The Manchurian Candidate with Minnesota Opera, and Moby Dick at Washington National Opera. Also lauded for his work in the standard operatic repertoire, Worth’s Guglielmo (Così fan tutte) was deemed “vocally impeccable…open and incisive” by Boston Classical Review. Other notable appearances include the title role in Don Giovanni, Dottore Malatesta (Don Pasquale), Mercutio (Roméo et Juliette), Valentin (Faust), Harlequin (Ariadne auf Naxos), and Tarquinius (The Rape of Lucretia). He has performed leading roles at Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Castleton Festival, Tanglewood Festival, Pittsburgh Opera, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, under such luminary conductors as James Levine, Lorin Maazel, and Sir Andrew Davis.
Worth is a committed recitalist and active concert soloist. He performed Schumann’s Dichterliebe and Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and was praised by The New York Times as “simply superb, singing with exquisite sensitivity.” He made his Carnegie Hall debut in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem under James DePriest while still a student at the Juilliard Opera Center. He made his Alice Tully Hall debut with the Richmond Choral Society in Carmina Burana and has since been featured in concerts with the Atlanta Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Boston Pops Orchestra, and has performed with conductors Donald Runnicles, Robert Spano and James Conlon.
Visit www.matthewworthbaritone.com to learn more.
Known for his broad range of repertoire and versatility of style, American conductor Tyson Deaton has established a reputation for leading energetic and inventive performances. With his musical roots firmly planted in the traditions of the standard operatic repertoire from the Baroque Era to Puccini and beyond, his affinity for contemporary works is also acclaimed by audiences and critics.
Deaton is frequently entrusted with the development and premieres of new works as a musical authority, specifically with vocal and orchestral writing. He led workshops for The Falling and the Rising, by Zach Redler and Jerre Dye, co-commissioned by the United States Army Soldiers’ Chorus and Field Band, and conducted the premiere of this work along with subsequent performances in New York City earlier this season. He has also worked on Matthew Peterson’s Voir Dire and Libby Larsen’s technologically innovative operatic version of Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. Other recent premieres include The Companion and Safe Word from Robert Paterson and David Cote’s opera triptych, Three Way, and Tarik O’Regan and Anna Rabinowitz’s The Wanton Sublime, both with American Opera Projects in New York City.
Additional highlights include Hal Prince’s production of Candide with New York City Opera, American Modern Ensemble’s productions of Robert Paterson and Mark Campbell’s The Whole Truth, and Stewart Copeland and David Bamberger’s version of The Cask of Amontillado. Deaton has opened the Anchorage Opera conducting Lucia di Lammermoor, while two other pinnacles of the Bel Canto canon, Norma and Guillaume Tell, rounded out his season.
He joined San Francisco Opera for their production of Sweeney Todd, soon followed by his debut at Opera Birmingham with L’elixir d’amore. As guest conductor, he also played continuo for Le Nozze di Figaro at The Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center.
Tyson Deaton made his Fort Worth Opera debut in the inaugural production of the Opera Unbound series with Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied, and is heard on the premiere recording this work on the Albany label. Lauded as Best of 2013 in the Washington Post, it was also rated among the 12 Best Full-Length Opera Recordings of 2014 by OperaNews. Other digital releases include the Offenbach rarity L’île de Tulipatan (Albany), and with Julia Kogan, In Jest, (First Hand Records – UK) recorded at Champs Hill.
Adept on the concert stage as well as in the orchestra pit, Tyson Deaton has partnered with artists including Denyce Graves, Michael Norsworthy, Talise Trevigne, Linda Wang, Judith Kellock, Julie Landsman, Victoria Livengood, Craig Mumm, Othalie Graham, and Sherrill Milnes, among many others. Along with Steven LaBrie, he collaborated with the Jessica Lang Dance Company on a staged version of Die Schöne Müllerin at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, “render[ing] the score with compelling artistry,” according to The New York Times.
Deaton has been presented in recital alongside Matthew Grills at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which included Benjamin Britten’s Canticle I, one of the featured events celebrating that composer’s centenary. He performs regularly with baritone Matthew Worth: their most recent program touches three centuries of the American musical heritage. A fervent advocate for the music of our time, Deaton has commissioned a number of works including David T. Little’s setting of To a Stranger, co-commissioned by The Walt Whitman Project of New York.
Deaton’s academic appointments have included those at the University of the Pacific and Lawrence Conservatory, and as an artist-in-residence at McGill University in Montreal. The singers he has coached occupy the rosters of The Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, New York City Opera, San Francisco Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Houston Grand Opera, Paris Opera, The Barbican, Oper Frankfurt, La Scala and other major opera houses throughout the world.
As a clinician for both pianists and singers, he is often invited to give masterclasses and lectures on collaborative and operatic literature. For Opera America he has served as a panelist for Making Connections and Career Blueprints workshops, commissioning grants, and is a featured contributor to their ArtistLink publication. He has adjudicated the ASCAP Plus Composer Awards, and was a primary interviewee for an article centered around post-secondary classical vocal music education for ClassicalSinger magazine in the September 2013 issue.
Deaton’s extensive experience as a pianist, coach, recitalist, chamber musician, and his training and work as a singer, give him a unique perspective in understanding the demands of the whole performance as a conductor: offering advice, compelling, or following as needed and, above all, encouraging individual artistry at the highest level.
Visit www.tysondeaton.com to learn more.
ACCESSIBILITY
Accommodations for disabilities may be arranged by contacting the Box Office at least three days prior to the performance.
Photos courtesy of artists
