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| Richard Zeller, baritone... | |
b i o g r a p h y...........back to roster....up March 2012 One of America's foremost baritones, Richard Zeller is internationally acclaimed for both his concert and opera roles. He is known for his sonorous dramatic voice, a compelling stage presence and outstanding musicianship. Zeller’s full 2011/12 season include Carmina Buranas with the Buffalo Philharmonic and Huntsville Symphony, as well as a Missa Solemnis with the Charlotte Symphony, Bach’s Magnificat with Winter Park Bach Festival and a Beethoven Ninth with the San Diego Symphony. Season 2010/11 featured a Brahms Requiem with the Jacksonville Symphony, and an evening of opera arias at the Dvorak Festival in Bohemia, among other engagements. Highlights of the prior season included the B minor Mass with Charlotte Symphony, a Carmina Burana wih Richmond Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Elijah at Winter Park Festival, the Brahms Requiem with Portland Symphonic Choir and an Opera Gala in Lodz, Poland. During season 2008/09, Mr. Zeller returned to Scottish Opera to sing Germont in David McVicar’s new production of La Traviata, a role he reprised with Portland Opera in the US. He also performed the title role of Verdi’s Falstaff in Portland at PSU Opera directed by Tito Capobianco and appeared at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall with American Symphony Orchestra as the lead role of Signor Rivière in Dallapiccola’s opera Volo di notte and at Lincoln Center Jazz with Deborah Voigt and the Collegiate Chorale as Grand-Pretre/Hercule in Gluck’s Alceste. Mr. Zeller’s concert engagements during that season included Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Seattle Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, and Spokane Symphony, and Carmina Burana with the Buffalo Philharmonic at Artpark. Mr. Zeller’s opera engagements have included 12 seasons at the Metropolitan Opera; in 2002/03 Mr. Zeller appeared at the Met in three new productions; as Ernesto in Bellini’s Il Pirata with Renée Fleming; in the lead role of Eddie in William Bolcom's opera, A View from the Bridge, based on Arthur Miller's play; and as Chorebe in Berlioz's Les Troyens, conducted by Maestro James Levine. His other performances and assignments at the Met have included the title role in Verdi’s Macbeth, the title role in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin , Marcello in Puccini’s La Bohème, Barak in R. Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, Don Carlo in Verdi’s Ernani, Rangoni and Schelkalov in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov in two different productions, Thoas in Gluck’s Iphigenie en Tauride, Kothner in Wagners’s Die Meistersinger, Sprecher in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, as well as performances of smaller roles in other operas including Giordano’s Andrea Chénier, Gounod’s Faust, and Verdi’s Rigoletto. Mr. Zeller was featured in Scottish Opera's widely heralded, award-winning production of Macbeth directed by Luc Bondy at its Edinburgh Festival premiere in 1999/00 and revival at the Vienna Festival. Other highlights of past seasons include performances in Chicago Lyric Opera’s Boris Godunov and Andrea Chénier, Gluck’s Alceste at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin and Gluck’s Iphigenie en Tauride in Madrid. He has also sung the title role of Rigoletto in many venues including New York City Opera. Mr. Zeller also appeared as Athanaël in Massenet's Thaïs with the English National Opera at the Barbican in London and in the title role in Verdi's Macbeth with Opera de Bordeaux, Opera de Vichy and Portland Opera. Mr. Zeller’s has sung the role of Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata with Hamburgische Staatsoper, San Diego Opera, Scottish Opera, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Portland Opera, and in many other opera and concert venues with orchestras in Europe and the US. His frequently performed Verdi baritone roles include Falstaff, Rigoletto, Macbeth, Conte Di Luna, Amonasro, Rodrigo, Don Carlo, Renato, and Simon Boccanegra. He has appeared with many regional opera companies in the US including the Chicago Lyric Opera, New York City Opera, Philadelphia, Minnesota, Cincinnati, San Diego, Portland, New Orleans, and New Jersey Opera companies. Mr. Zeller is highly regarded in the concert field and has sung with virtually all the major orchestras in the US, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, the Boston Symphony, National Symphony, and the symphonies of San Francisco, Dallas, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Minnesota, Baltimore, Seattle, Oregon, San Diego, to name a few. International orchestra credits include Toronto Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Vancouver Radio Orchestra, Winnipeg, Ottowa, the Nord Deutscher Rundfunk (Hanover), MDR Symphony Orchester (Leipzig), Dresden Staatskapelle, Czech Philharmonic (Prague Autumn Festival), Tokyo Philharmonic, Cesky Krumlov Festival (Czech Republic), Korea Philharmonic, Rotterdam, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra (Norway), Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo (in a command performance for Prince Rainier and Prince Albert of Monaco), as well as a performance for the Spanish Royal Family in Madrid with conductor Helmut Rilling. He is celebrated for his interpretation of the title role in Mendelssohn’s Elijah which he has sung with the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, and many others throughout the US, Europe, and Asia, and he has given over 100 performances each of Orff’s Carmina Burana, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and Handel’s Messiah. Highlights of past seasons include appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the baton of James Levine in Berlioz’s Les Troyens, and the title role in Mendelssohn’s Elijah with both the Chicago Symphony at Ravinia and in a nationwide radio broadcast with the Cleveland Orchestra as well as Handel’s Messiah with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Mr. Zeller was also featured in 2001 in a nationwide TV Broadcast of Live from Lincoln Center singing the Mozart Requiem with the Mostly Mozart Festival, conducted by Gerard Schwarz. His performances at New York’s Carnegie Hall include Orff’s Carmina Burana, Handel’s Messiah, Verdi’s Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem, Bloch’s Sacred Service, Catalani’s La Wally, and many others.Richard Zeller’s recordings include the critically acclaimed Merry Mount by Howard Hanson for Naxos, Deems Taylor’s Peter Ibbettson with Naxos, and the world premiere of Henri Lazarof's Fifth Symphony on Centaur Records – all recorded with Gerard Schwartz and the Seattle Symphony. He has recorded Dvorak's Te Deum with Zdenec Macal and the New Jersey Symphony for Delos, and David Schiff’s Gimpel the Fool for Naxos, as well as Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 for Centaur Records, and Virgil Thompson's Lord Byron and Aaron Copland's The Tender Land for Koch International.
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. o p e r a - r e p e r t o i r e...........back to roster....up Beethoven – FIDELIO – Don Fernando Bizet – CARMEN – Escamillo Bizet – THE PEARL FISHERS – Zurga Britten – THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA – Junius, Collatinus Debussy – PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE – Golaud Donizetti – DON PASQUALE – Don Pasquale, Malatesta Donizetti – L'ELISIR D'AMORE – Belcore Donizetti – LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR – Enrico Giordano – ANDREA CHÉNIER – Gerard, Rocher Gluck – ALCESTE – High Priest, Hercule Gluck – IPHIGENIE EN TAURIDE – Thoas Gounod – FAUST – Valentin Leoncavallo – I PAGLIACCI – Silvio Mascagni – IL PICCOLO MARAT – Il Carpentiere Moore – BALLAD OF BABY DOE – Horace Mozart – COSÌ FAN TUTTE – Guglielmo Mozart – DON GIOVANNI – Don Giovanni Mozart – LE NOZZE DI FIGARO – Figaro, Count Almaviva Mozart – DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE – Papageno, The Speaker Mussorgsky – BORIS GODUNOV – Rangoni, Schelkalov Offenbach – TALES OF HOFFMAN – Four Villians Puccini – TOSCA – Scarpia Puccini – LA BOHÈME – Marcello, Shaunard Puccinit – MADAMA BUTTERFLY – Sharpless Puccini – TURANDOT – Ping Rossini – LA CENERENTOLA – Dandini, Alidoro Rossini – L' ITALIANA IN ALGIERI – Taddeo Saint-Saïns – SAMSON ET DALILA – High Priest Stravinsky – THE RAKE'S PROGRESS – Nick Shadow Verdi – DON CARLO – Rodrigo Verdi – FALSTAFF – Falstaff Verdi – MACBETH – Macbeth Verdi – SIMON BOCCANEGRA – Simon Boccanegra Verdi – IL TROVATORE – Count di Luna Verdi – LA TRAVIATA – Germont Verdi – RIGOLETTO – Rigoletto Verdi – ERNANI – Don Carlo Verdi – AIDA – Amonasro Verdi – UN BALLO IN MASCHERA – Renato Wagner – DIE MEISTERSINGER – Kothner Wagner – TANNHAEUSER – Wolfram 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 r e v i e w s... 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 – CHRISTMAS ORATORIO Bach – MASS IN B MINOR Bach – ST. MATTHEW PASSION Bach – ST. JOHN PASSION Bach – MAGNIFICAT Bach – CANTATA 56 Bach – CANTATA 82 "ICH HABE GENUG" Dvorak – TE DEUM
Haydn – THE CREATION Schubert – MANFRED |
. r e v i e w s...........back to roster....up Bach — St. Matthew Passion “. . . Richard Zeller, who sang with a richly resonant voice.” - Albert H. Cohen — Orlando Sentinel Bach — St. John Passion “Richard Zeller sang the part of Jesus honestly, surely and without bombast. The singer who takes this role has a more demanding task than in the ‘St. Matthew’ Passion, where the orchestra strings surround his words. Zeller highlighted his character without spotlighting it, relying on understatement more than assertion to make his point.” - Michael Fleming, St. Paul Pioneer Press “Zeller, a commanding figure physically, brought a sense of grandeur to his role. His long duet as Adam with Schellenberg’s Eve achieved a sense of exaltation as much for its humanness as for its spirituality. - Neil Harris, Winnipeg Free Press Beethoven — Symphony No. 9 “Soloist, Richard Zeller clearly felt the music in his soul. His powerful baritone resonated throughout the Carpenter Center, bearing Beethoven’s magnificent message to the masses: Be embraced, ye millions! This kiss is for the entire world!” Debussy — Pelleas et Melisande “Richard Zeller was a commanding Golaud, showing a character with a tender streak encased by a stony exterior. His character’s growth, from hopeful bridegroom to betrayed husband, to broken widower, was traced with variety of tone color and carefully shaded delivery.” - Michael Fleming, Saint Paul Pioneer Press Donizetti — Don Pasquale ”Baritone Richard Zeller was a first-rate straight man in the role of Dr. Malatesta, the friend of Ernesto and Norina who cooks up the scheme to foil Don Pasquale. His acting and singing styles were similar: straightforward, easy to follow, sans excess embellishment. Vocally, he revealed pleasant, solid tones that fit an authority figure well. - Robert A. Masullo, The Sacramento Bee Dvorak — Te Deum “Baritone Richard Zeller was a resonating, dominating presence in the Te Deum. . . “ - Willa J. Conrad — Star-Ledger “. . . baritone Richard Zeller was grandly stentorian.” - Henry Wyatt - Classical New Jersey Society Journal “ . . . baritone Richard Zeller, whose rich baritone cut cleanly through the ensemble’s mass.” - Jerry Ben-Asher — NJJN “. . . baritone Richard Zeller, both of whom have extraordinarily rich and mature voices.” - Andrew Braid — The Times Hanson, Howard - Merry Mount “Richard Zeller was masterful in the role thoroughly deserving of the warm applause he got. . .” - Gavin Borchert, Seattle Weekly “It would be hard to find a more sympathetic advocate for that role than the excellent baritone Richard Zeller, whose big, lyrical voice and suave inflections brought a great deal of variety to his powerful performance.” - Melinda Bargreen, Seattle Times Haydn — Creation “But Zeller was not far behind, his smoothly produced baritone encompassing even the lower reaches of Raphael’s music, then lightening a bit for Adam. (I specially enjoyed the touch of humor he brought to Haydn’s depiction of the animals. . .).” - William S. Goodfellow, Deseret News Mendelsshon — Elijah “Zeller was confident as Elijah, his voice full of sharp nuance and shading, but always free of sentiment. . .” - Kurt Loft, The Tampa Tribune “[Richard] Zeller, an opera singer, brought unusual expressiveness to Elijah. His prophet was not just an ornery, wrathful character; he was sensitive, and comforting when he promised ‘the Lord will send rain again upon the earth.’” - John Fleming, St. Petersburg Times “Richard Zeller stepped in and proved the search to be an unqualified success.” “Zeller, on loan Thursday and tonight from Lyric Opera of Chicago, embodied the Old Testament hero from the moment he stepped forth in the introduction. His declamation was forceful throughout, his baritone lustrous from top to bottom and his ability to express the myriad nuances in Mendelssohn’s score complete.” “Elijah travels a long psychological road in this oratorio, and Zeller’s compelling artistry kept the man’s humanity in fresh, eloquent focus. How lucky that Cleveland secured such a charismatic replacement. - Donald Rosenberg, The Plain Dealer “Zeller consistently displayed a seamless sound throughout his voice, and a magnificent expressive range with seemingly limitless nuance. His voice was sheer pleasure to hear, particularly in ‘Ego sum baas.’” - Margaret M Barela, Albuquerque Journal “. . . baritone Richard Zeller’s strong yet sensitive handling of Elijah’s music. The prophet’s bitter sarcasm in the scene with the priests of Baal came through vividly, as did his profound despair and longing for death (‘Es ist genug’).” - John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune Orff — Carmina Burana “Baritone Richard Zeller’s solo was pure and controlled as the strings accompanied his song of a boy’s lusty springtime desires (‘April shows her face; the confident heart rushes to love, and over all delights, the boyish god rules’).” - Anne Voegtlin, The Oregon Columbian “Adding enormously to the sensuality of the performance, was baritone Richard Zeller’s often ravishing vocalism. Shading his voice with one suggestive nuance after another, he tapped the deepest of each solo. His smooth, warm tones in ‘Omnia sol temperat’ were especially compelling.” - Tim Smith, Miami Sun-Sentinal “Perhaps the most bite was injected by the compelling presence of bass-baritone Richard Zeller/ He displayed an impressive repertoire of expression and vocal color in ‘Omnia sol temperat,’ and continued to impress with his admirable attention to word and detail.” - Janelle Gelfand, The Cincinnati Enquirer “Zeller, no stranger to Cincinnati concert-goers, is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He delivered this tremendously witty music with unusual skill and managed to negotiate the incredible falsetto passages along with the velvet true bass baritone sounds.” - Betty Dietz Krebs, The Cincinnati Post Verdi — La Traviata “[Richard Zeller’s]. . . voice, comparatively light-hued, is warm and attractive and he is a poetic singer, rising to a touching level of passion and sadness when his son is stricken by the fateful letter.” - Raymond Monelle , Opera Verdi — Rigoletto “Richard Zeller, the baritone as Rigoletto . . . dominated the dialogue with fine and complimentary vocal efforts.” “Zeller played him like a Hollywood hunk, who, in the end, emerges as a hero who can hold to honesty and sincerity.” - The Patriot- News 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 r e v i e w s... back to roster...up . . . . |