Tenor Nicholas Phan and pianist Myra Huang will step in to replace bass-baritone John Relyea and pianist Warren Jones on the Oberlin Artist Recital Series in Finney Chapel on Wednesday, February 3 at 8:00 pm. Relea has withdrawn from his entire tour, citing family issues. Phan will sing works by Robert Schumann, Benjamin Britten, Ned Rorem, and Jake Heggie. Relyea tickets will be honored at the door.
Oberlin Artist Recital Series April 2: A conversation with bass-baritone John Relyea
by Mike Telin
[Editor’s note: John Relyea was forced to cancel his appearance due to illness. Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe agreed to step in for him, but fell ill herself and cancelled shortly before the performance on April 2.] Choosing repertoire for a solo recital is not an easy task when you’re a bass-baritone. “The bass voice is often put into dramatic dark territory, and maybe that’s because of the way people heard the color of the voice lending itself to the mood of the poetry,” bass-baritone John Relyea said during a telephone conversation. “I’m always looking for songs to sing that have more positive, less depressing texts.”
On Thursday, April 2 at 8:00 pm in Oberlin College’s Finney Chapel, opera superstar John Relyea and pianist Warren Jones will present a recital featuring works by Richard Strauss, Jacques Ibert, Samuel Barber, Modest Mussorgsky and Peter Warlock. The concert is presented as part of Oberlin’s Artist Recital Series.
The Canadian-born and 2003 Richard Tucker Award winner John Relyea, has earned critical acclaim for his performances in opera houses around the world including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera (where he is an alumnus of the Merola Opera Program and a former Adler Fellow), Lyric Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Vienna State Opera, Theater an der Wien, and the Mariinksy Theater. A snapshot of his current opera schedule includes the roles of Henry VIII in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena and Landgraf in Wagner’s Tannhäuser, both for Lyric Opera of Chicago (January and February). In May, he will perform the title role in Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle with the Canadian National Opera. [Read more…]