Carroll Freeman

Carroll Freeman is an American operatic tenor, opera director, and music educator. He began his career as a prominent boy soprano in the 1960s. From the late 1970s through the mid 1990s he performed widely as a tenor with opera companies and orchestras in the United States. After that he worked as a director of opera productions with opera companies throughout North America. He is the former director of the opera program at the University of Tennessee, and currently directs the opera program at Georgia State University. He is also the former Artistic Director of the Mississippi Opera, the Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point, and opera studios at the Knoxville Opera and the Des Moines Metro Opera.

Life and career

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Freeman was a boy soprano in the Columbus Boychoir and attended the group's associated school in Columbus Ohio. With that group he toured the United States, Canada, and Japan.[1] Other performance opportunities as a child performer followed, including the lead role of Peter in “Peter, the Chorister” on the CBS-TV series Look Up And Live in 1966.[2] His other work as a boy soprano included being a soloist with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Leonard Bernstein, performances with the New York City Opera (NYCO), and an appearance on The Bell Telephone Hour.[1]

Freeman earned a Bachelor of Music in vocal performance from the University of Southern Mississippi and a Master of Performing Arts in opera performance from Oklahoma City University.[1] He then joined the Young Artist Program at the Houston Grand Opera where he made his debut as the Male Chorus in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia in 1979.[3] He had previously appeared as Little Bat McLean in Floyd's Susannah at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City in 1977.[4]

In 1980 Freeman portrayed Leo Hubbard in Marc Blitzstein's Regina at the HGO.[5] In June 1982 he created the role of Katz in the world premiere of Stephen Paulus's The Postman Always Rings Twice at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL).[6] He subsequqently performed the role of Katz at the Edinburgh Festival and the Boston Lyric Opera.[7] In 1984 he returned to the OTSL to portray Johnny Inkslinger in Britten's Paul Bunyan.[8]

In October 1982 he made his first appearance as an adult with the NYCO as Alfredo in Verdi's La traviata with Diana Soviero as Violetta.[9] He subsequently returned to the NYCO as Fritz in Jacques Offenbach's La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein.[10] In December 1982 he appeared at Carnegie Hall with the Houston Symphony as Leandro in Ferruccio Busoni's Arlecchino.[11] In 1984 he appeared as Zadok the High Priest and the Levite in Handel's Solomon with Musica Sacra.[12]

In 1990 Freeman recorded the role of Don Ottavio in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni for television with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Arnold Schoenberg Choir, and conductor Craig Smith for Decca.[13] The work reset Don Giovanni in 1990s South Bronx, was directed by Peter Sellars, and was broadcast internationally on PBS' Great Performances and BBC Television.[14]

Freeman's other performance credits as a tenor include appearances in leading roles with the Atlanta Opera, the Baltimore Opera, the Florida Grand Opera, the Kentucky Opera, the Michigan Opera Theater, the Minnesota Opera, the New Orleans Opera, Opera Omaha, Opera Pacific, the Portland Opera, and the San Diego Opera among others. He has also appeared in concerts with the Dallas Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the St. Louis Symphony among others.[1]

Freeman has directed operas for the El Paso Opera, the Lyric Opera of Dallas, Knoxville Opera, Mobile Opera, Nashville Opera, Opera Grand Rapids, Phoenix Metropolitan Opera, and Tulsa Opera among others.[1]

He is currently the Valerie Adams Distinguished Professor of Opera Studies at Georgia State University, where he also serves as artistic director for the Harrower Summer Opera Workshop.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "ISU to host Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions". Idaho State Journal. October 27, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Choirboy's Life Told In Story, Song". Daily Herald. April 25, 1966. p. 23.
  3. ↑ W. L. Taitte (July 1979). "Talent Clout". Texas Monthly. p. 158-160.
  4. ↑ Thomas Holliday (2013). Falling Up: The Days and Nights of Carlisle Floyd : the Authorized Biography. Syracuse University Press. p. 283.
  5. ↑ Margaret Ross Griffel (2012). Operas in English: A Dictionary. Scarecrow Press. p. 410.
  6. ↑ Donal Henahan (June 20, 1982). "Opera: 'Postman Always Rings Twice' In St. Louis". The New York Times.
  7. ↑ Edward Rothstein (March 11, 1994). "Review/Opera; Adultery, Murder and the Consequences". The New York Times.
  8. ↑ Donal Henahan (June 17, 1984). "Opera: Britten's 'Bunyan' Produced In St. Louis". The New York Times.
  9. ↑ Edward Rothstein (October 11, 1982). "City Opera: Diana Soviero". The New York Times.
  10. ↑ Tim Page. "Opera: Offenbach's 'Duchess'". The New York Times.
  11. ↑ John Rockwell (December 6, 1982). "Opera: Houston Troupe Offers Busoni 'Harlequin'". The New York Times.
  12. ↑ Donal Henahan (March 20, 1984). "Music: Handel's 'Solomon' Performed". The New York Times.
  13. ↑ Piero Mioli (2008). Un anno per tre filarmonici di rango. Pàtron. p. 267.
  14. ↑ John J. O'Connor (January 4, 1991). "TV WEEKEND; 'Don Giovanni' and 2 Virginia Woolf Lectures". The New York Times.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, February 17, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.