Anthony Michaels-Moore

Anthony Michaels-Moore (born 8 April 1957) is an English operatic baritone. After beginning studies in singing in 1981 and attending the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama from 1984–85, his career has focused on the Italian repertoire throughout Europe where, in addition to the standard repertoire, he has sung the baritone roles of some of the less-known 19th Century Italian operas.

In North America he has appeared at most of the major houses, sometimes tackling some of the less familiar roles or appearing in a world premiere such as his 2009 appearances at the Santa Fe Opera's summer festival. He currently lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.^[1]

Biography

Early years

Michaels-Moore was born in Essex. Between 1975 and 1978, he was a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Tank Regiment while studying at Newcastle University, and, after a year at teacher training college, he became a primary school teacher. He studied singing privately from 1981 onwards, was a member of the chorus at the English Bach Festival from 1982-4, and in 1984-5 attended the Royal Scottish Academy. In 1985 he was the first British winner of the Luciano Pavarotti Competition and sang the roles of Messenger (Oedipus rex) for Opera North and Scarpia in Tosca for Scottish Opera Go Round.^[2]

Subsequent career

His career has been centred on the Italian repertoire, starting with lyric roles, but now focused on the great Verdi baritone roles. A review of his 2009 performances of Rigoletto with English National Opera noted his ability to be both "gloriously lyrical and terrifyingly baleful at the same time", combining beautiful Italianate legato with "monstrous power".^[3] Another reviewer of that production opined that "he is [Britain's] leading Verdi baritone".^[4] Performances in Canada as Rigoletto ("performing with amazing presence, his dark voice suited the character perfectly… brought a remarkable breadth of expression to the role") and in Europe as Scarpia ("he is obsequiously, sadistically, loathsomely mellifluous") as well as Falstaff in 2010 have also drawn high praise.^[5]

Michaels-Moore made his début at London's Royal Opera House in 1987 and has subsequently appeared in many productions there including L’elisir d'amore, La Bohème, Pagliacci, The Barber of Seville, Tosca (2000), Macbeth (2002), The Marriage of Figaro, Andrea Chénier, Il trovatore (2007), Falstaff, Lucia di Lammermoor and La traviata. He has also appeared with all the other major British companies: English and Welsh National Operas, Opera North, Scottish Opera and Glyndebourne Festival Opera.^[6]

In Europe he has appeared at major houses such as the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, Milan, the Opéra National de Paris, Munich's Bayerische Staatsoper, the Staatsoper and Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Barcelona's Liceu, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Madrid's Teatro Real, Zurich Opera House, Oper Köln, and Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.

He also appears regularly in North America, and has performed at New York's Metropolitan Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Colorado and Florida Grand Opera.

In the USA, Michaels-Moore has a particularly strong relationship with the Santa Fe Opera; in their summer festivals he has appeared in classic Verdi parts such as Simon Boccanegra, Falstaff in 2008 and Germont pere, as well as creating the role of Robert Crosbie in Paul Moravec's The Letter (2009), which brought him particular critical approval. ^[7][8]

The baritone has also appeared in Andrea Chénier at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires^[9][10] and in Aida at the Theatro Municipal in São Paulo.^{[11] [12]}

Repertoire

Verdi

Puccini

Donizetti

Other Italian repertoire

Repertoire in other languages

Recordings

Complete operas

Other recordings

References