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The American bass, Walter DuMelle, obtained his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Performance, General from North Park College (1985-1989); and his Master of music degree in the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York (1990-1993).
Walter DuMelle has been active as a freelance singer/actor since January 1985. He has been engaging audiences both in the USA and abroad for over thirty years with his wide range of vocal styles and genres. Representative of over fifty roles, his operatic repertoire has included Leporello, Osmin, Sarastro, Colline, Basilio, Alidoro and Rev. Hale with companies and festivals which include San Diego, Skylight, Des Moines Metro, Central City, Chautauqua, Natchez, Intermountain, Bronx, Connecticut Grand, Utah Festival, Ash Lawn and the Opera Theaters of Chicago, Rochester and Connecticut. Local engagements include performances with Lyric Opera SD (Sulpice, Dr. Bartolo, Basilio, Sergeant of Police, Prince Joachim) and in their premiere of the Reveles/Montgomery setting of Rumpelstiltskin as the King. With the La Jolla Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, he has sung the bass solos in their Sing-Along Messiah and Igor Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex. With Bach Collegium San Diego he was a soloist in Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610. He has performed frequently with Opera de Tijuana, singing such roles as Timur in Turandot, Frère Laurent in Charles Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, Bartolo in Il barbiere de Seville, Sacristano in Tosca and Bonze in Madama Butterfly.
Walter DuMelle has been a long time section leader with the St. James by-the-Sea Choir (since April 2010). In January 2012 he co-founded with his wife Diana DuMelle Bodhi Tree Concerts, a performing arts non-profit, presenting concerts and donating profits to charitable organizations, with whom he’s performed the G&S roles Pooh-Bah, Dick Deadeye, Arac, Usher, and Don Alhambra and presented Voices of the Spirit, Songs of Love, A Lenten Journey, Best of Bodhi Tree, and Jacques Brel Cabaret.
Other recent engagements include the roles of the Boatman/Charles Redmond in ion theater's production of the San Diego premiere of Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George, as well as his debut with CabaretCaccia singing the protest songs of Hanns Eisler & Bertolt Brecht. Walter DuMelle returned to the San Diego Opera stage performing the role of Baron Douphol in Verdi’s La traviata, Male Ensemble in Maria de Buenos Aires and All Is Calm. In 2017 he performed the title role in Bodhi Tree Concerts’ production of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ 8 Songs for a Mad King, winning “Best in Fest” and “Best Actor in a Musical/Opera” at the San Diego International Fringe Festival. In 2018 he was seen as Benjamin Stone in Coronado Playhouse's production of Follies. Upcoming engagements include the role of the Colonel in The Falling and the Rising with San Diego Opera.
Walter DuMelle has also worked as Administrative Assistant at Century Managment Services, Inc. in New York City (October 1999-June 2008); Director of Administration at St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in La Jolla, California (since April 2010). |
