Episode 34: Baritones Do it Better

Justin Austin

Praised in The Wall Street Journal  for his "mellifluous baritone" and Opera News  as “ Vocally impressive, verbally elegant, and duly seductive” Justin Austin has been a principal artist at the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Metropolitan Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Landestheater Linz, Lincoln Center Theater, Teatro di San Carlo, and the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Originally from Stuttgart Germany, Mr. Austin received his training at the Choir Academy of Harlem, Fiorello H. LaGuardia HS of Performing Arts, Internationales Musikfestival Heidelberger, the Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Saratoga, Opera Theater of Saint Louis, Caramoor, and Manhattan School of Music holding the bachelor of music and master of music degrees. Mr. Austin is under the tutelage of Catherine Malfitano.

Jorell Williams

Jorell Williams is an American operatic baritone with a wide variety of experience from standard repertoire to contemporary works. Praised for his “magnificent, rich-toned” Baritone (The New York Times), Mr. Williams begins the 2018-19 season with the American premiere of Frank London’s Cuban-Yiddish Opera Hatuey: Memory of Fire (produced by Music-Theatre Group and Peak Performances), returns to Victory Hall Opera as Mr. Gobineau in Menotti’s The Medium, and reprises the role of Hannah-Before in a Co-Production of Laura Kaminsky’s critically acclaimed chamber opera As One with American Opera Projects and New York City Opera at Merkin Hall in New York City.

 Jorell has performed as a young artist with the Santa Fe Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Caramoor Bel Canto Program, Opera North, the Steans Institute of Music at the Ravinia Festival, Songfest-Los Angeles, Des Moines Metro Opera, and the Westchester Vocal Institute. Recent performances include the American premiere of Rameau’s Sympathie as Le Genie Oroes̀ with Victory Hall Opera, Nardo in On-Site Opera’s production of La finta giardiniera, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus with Finger Lakes Opera, and Crossing at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, directed by Diane Paulus.

Lester Lynch

Dramatic baritone Lester Lynch is known for his work in opera, particularly in works by Verdi and Puccini, and in recitals of art songs and spirituals. He has performed at Teatro alla Scala, Covent Garden, the San Francisco Opera, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and appeared in concert with the Berlin Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra, and the Houston Symphony Orchestra and countless others. Lynch has worked with many conductors, notably Sir Simon Rattle in Puccini's Manon Lescaut, Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, and Schoenberg's Gurrelieder, and with Steven Mercurio in a performance of The Summer King composed by Daniel Sonenberg. He has also performed with Sir Andrew Davis, Plácido Domingo, Ulf Schirmer, Edward Gardner, and Tomas Netopil for Busoni's Doktor Faust at the famed SemperOpera in Dresden, Germany. Lynch has sung roles in Gordon Getty's Plumpjack and Joan and the Bells and will soon appear as Merrivale in the opera, Goodbye, Mr. Chips.. Lynch is the recipient of many awards, including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the George London Vocal Competition, the Sullivan Award, McCallister, D'Angelo award, and the Richard Gaddes Award. His debut solo album On My Journey Now, a collection of spirituals, was released in 2017 to much acclaim. Lynch continues to record for the PentaTone Classics label and can be heard on several recent recordings. Il Tabarro, as Michele, Cavalleria Rusticana as Alfio, Iago in Otello, Jack Rance in La Fanciulla del West and Sharpless in Madama Butterfly. His upcoming recording include, Germont in La Traviata and Renato in Un Ballo in Mascera.

Lester will revive the role of the Prisoner in Dallapiccolla's Il Prigioniero this summer and also sing Germont in a concert performance with Daniel Oren and the Dresdener Philharmonie.

During the pandemic Lynch focused on helping family and friends get through the pandemic, and volunteering for the BLM movement and the democratic party.

Nmon Ford

Panamanian-American baritone Nmon Ford begins a new artistic chapter this season as the composer and librettist of Orfeus, A House Music Opera, which has its world premiere at London’s Young Vic Theatre in April 2020; he will also sing the title character. (postponed due to Covid-19) Nmon has enjoyed success in increasingly challenging and dramatic repertoire, recently with London’s English National Opera in his company and role debut as Crown (Porgy and Bess), preceded by his role and festival debut at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival as The Celebrant in Leonard Bernstein’s MASS, Iago (Otello) and Pizarro (Fidelio) with the Atlanta Symphony, Jochanaan (Salome) at Pittsburgh Opera, and the Celebrant (MASS) at Salzburg’s Grosses Festspielhaus with the Salzburg Mozarteumorchester. He appeared with the Dallas Symphony in Vaughn Williams’ Sea Symphony, Chicago Opera Theater in the title role of a new production of Ernest Bloch's Macbeth, Atlanta Symphony at Carnegie Hall (Brahms' Requiem), St. Louis Symphony (Carmina Burana), and Milwaukee Symphony (Brahms' Requiem).

After performing Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire (ONPL) conducted by John Axelrod, Nmon was immediately re-engaged by the ONPL for Mahler's Kindertotenlieder and Fauré's Requiem.

Norman Garrett

American baritone Norman Garrett, whose performances have been called “scene-stealing” by the New York Times, is enjoying a varied and exciting career. In the 2019/20 season, Mr. Garrett will return to Washington National Opera where he will perform Masetto in Don Giovanni, as well as Jake in Porgy and Bess. He will also make his Metropolitan Opera debut, singing Jim in Porgy and Bess.

In the 2018/19 season, Mr. Garrett made his house debut at Houston Grand Opera as Ríolobo in Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas and returned to Washington National Opera as Lieutenant Gordon in Silent Night. He also made his mainland Europe debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich as Larkens in La Fanciulla del West, as Jochanaan in Salome with Dayton Opera, and as Crown in Porgy and Bess with Fort Worth Opera. High profile concert appearances included Carmina Burana with Bramwell Tovey and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl as well as at the Toronto Symphony with Donald Runnicles.

In recent seasons, Norman Garrett has appeared numerous times with Washington National Opera, where he was a Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist. Performances there include Ríolobo, Papageno in The Magic Flute, Masetto in Don Giovanni, the Father in Hansel and Gretel, a Steersman in Tristan und Isolde, Captain Gardiner in Jake Heggie’s Moby Dick, and the world premiere of Jeanine Tesori’s The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me. Other operatic appearances include his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Jake in Porgy and Bess, the title role in Delius’ rarely heard Koanga with Wexford Festival in Ireland, Escamillo in Carmen with both Austin Opera and Opera Columbus, Crown with Glimmerglass Festival and University of Michigan, Minksman in Jonathan Dove’s Flight at Des Moines Metro Opera, and Mandarino in Turandot with Cincinnati Opera.

Will Liverman

Called “one of the most versatile singing artists performing today” (Bachtrack), baritone Will Liverman will star in the Met Opera’s reopening production of Fire Shut Up In My Bones in fall 2021 in addition to reprising his roles in Akhnaten (Horemhab) and The Magic Flute (Papageno) during the Met’s 21-22 season.

In the 2020-2021 season, Liverman is scheduled to make his debut at LA Opera as Leporello in Don Giovanni and appear in a solo recital at The Kennedy Center. He is the recipient of the 2020 Marian Anderson Vocal Award, and additionally recently received a 2019 Richard Tucker Career Grant and Sphinx Medal of Excellence. His new opera, The Factotum—

a reimagining of The Barber of Seville—will be developed in partnership with Lyric Opera of Chicago this year.

Performance highlights include the Metropolitan Opera’s holiday production of The Magic Flute, in addition to its premiere of Akhnaten; The Barber of Seville (Figaro) with Seattle Opera, Virginia Opera, and Madison Opera; Pagliacci (Silvio) with Opera Colorado; The Love of Three Oranges (Pantalone) with Opera Philadelphia; Charlie Parker’s Yardbird (Dizzy Gillespie) with Opera Philadelphia and English National Opera; The Little Prince (The Pilot) with Tulsa Opera; and La bohème (Schaunard) with Opera Philadelphia, Santa Fe Opera, and Dallas Opera.