Ryan Allen

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Ryan Allen

Ryan Allen is an American bass singer known for his operatic character roles. He debuted at the Metropolitan Opera[1] in 1993 as Hans Foltz in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Richard Wagner. The singer has performed professionally in all 50 states, appeared with numerous American opera companies, and sung as a soloist in Russia, Israel, Poland, Norway and Sweden. Coming to Opera from the field of acting, the bass's repertoire favors roles with character development and stage movement. These roles range from the comic Don Basilio[2][3] in Il barbiere di Siviglia by Gioacchino Rossini to the pathetic Candy[4] in Of Mice and Men by Carlisle Floyd. Mr. Allen has also appeared as an oratorio soloist with various symphony orchestras and oratorio societies. In 1989 he debuted at Carnegie Hall, singing the bass solos in Mozart's Requiem.[5]

Mr. Allen is a lyric bass capable of singing the deepest pitches composed in opera. He has performed the role of Seneca[6] in L'incoronazione de Poppea by Monteverdi, which requires a low D.[7] He has also established himself as a versatile singer by performing not only in opera and oratorio, but also in the musical theater field (Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd)[8] and the operetta field in Gilbert and Sullivan roles, such as the title character in The Mikado.[9] Further versatility was demonstrated in the musical style of Kurt Weill, when he sang A Kurt Weill Cabaret with the late Martha Schlamme.[10] He has participated in several world premieres, including Holy Blood and Crescent Moon by Stewart Copeland with the Cleveland Opera, and The Cask of Amontillado by Russell Currie[11] at Golden Fleece, Ltd. in New York City. Caliban, a monodrama by Russell Currie using the words of the character Caliban from Shakespeare's The Tempest, was written for and dedicated to him. Ryan Allen can be heard as Elviro on a 1994 recording of Handel's Xerxes (Koch Schwann) and seen as Betto on a video of Gianni Schicchi (Metropolitan Opera Guild). He graduated with a B.A. in English from Austin College in Sherman, Texas and an M.M. from the University of Texas at Austin. The bass lives in the Greater New York vicinity in Edgewater, NJ.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The Metropolitan Opera Archives. Metopera Database: Keyword Search: Ryan Allen; performance date, January 23, 1993. Retrieved on 2008-02-13.
  2. ^ 'Barber of Seville' trims the sets for Austin performances
  3. ^ Elyse Sommer. Berkshire Opera Review. CurtainUp.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-03.
  4. ^ "Bleak story of shattered men makes edgy opera," D.T. Baker, Edmonton Journal, B6.
  5. ^ NYTimes.com, Review/Music, 10 Choruses From Across the Nation
  6. ^ milwaukeesfs: University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Opera, "The Coronation of Poppea."
  7. ^ Dutch Divas - the high C
  8. ^ "Indianola, IA," Derek M. Mills, Opera News, December 9, 1995, p. 56.
  9. ^ "'Mikado' opera is delightfully absurd," David Stabler, The Oregonian, May 15, 2000, Entertainment Section, p. 1.
  10. ^ "Schlamme and company do justice to Weill's genius," Arden Anderson Broeking, Darien News-Review, March 8, 1984, p. 10.
  11. ^ The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell, 2004. Copyright: Macmillian Publishers Limited, 1980

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