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The American baritone, Aaron Engebreth, studied at Viterbo College and received a Master's Degree from Boston University.
Acclaimed for his “exemplary diction and rich baritone voice” (Boston Phoenix), Aaron Engebreth enjoys an active solo career in opera, oratorio and recital. and has devoted considerable energy and time to the performance of new music, often collaborating with many of today’s foremost composers.
Along with his 2014 Carnegie Hall debut with the New England Symphonic Ensemble, Aaron Engebreth has been featured as a concert soloist in performances from Sapporo Japan's Kitara Hall and Boston's Symphony Hall, to Le Theatre de la Ville in Paris and the AmBul festival of Sofia, Bulgaria. He gave his debut at Washington's Kennedy Center in 2012, and he has been a guest of the Tanglewood, Ravinia, Rockport and Monadnock Music Festivals as well as many of our country’s fine symphony orchestras, among them Portland, Virginia, San Diego, Charlotte and the Melrose Symphony. His 2014-2015 season performances include concerts and recordings with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project , Odyssey Opera, the Portland, Lexington, Bangor and Boston Landmarks’ Symphony Orchestras, Vancouver International Song Institute, St. Louis Art Museum, and the Firebird Ensemble. He will also perform solo recitals at the Schubert Club of Minnesota, the Eastman School of Music, The University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin. He has also been featured with groups as the Providence Singers, Opera Aperta, Red House Opera Group, Boston Cecilia, Back Bay Chorale, Rhode Island Civic Orchestra and Chorus, Orchestra of St. Peter's and the Boston Academy of Music.
A committed interpreter of contemporary music, Aaron Engebreth works closely with both established and young composers. As a student, his work with the composer Lukas Foss fostered a passion for premiering new works and he has since collaborated with composers John Harbison, Libby Larsen, Thea Musgrave, Ned Rorem, Daniel Pinkham, Scott Wheeler, Lee Hyla, Jon Deak and many others, and often has the privilege of working with young composers on their vocal works. He worked in preparation with Ned Rorem on the Boston premiere of his evening-length song cycle Evidence of Things Not Seen with the Florestan Recital Project. The critically acclaimed performance, noting Engebreth's "beauty of voice and eloquence,"(Boston Globe) was repeated in June 2003 in Providence, Rhode Island as part of the Red House Festival.
Aaron Engebreth has been recognized for his interpretation of early music and is a frequent soloist with many of the country’s finest early-music organizations including the American Bach Soloists (Director: Jeffrey Thomas), Handel and Haydn Society (debut in September 2003 as a soloist in ther production of Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610), Miami Bach Society, Boston Baroque (Director: Martin Pearlman), Boston Camerata, Santa Fe Pro Musica, and Musicians of the Old Post Road. He was a regular soloist and core member of Emmanuel Music from 2002-2008, joining a thirty-five year tradition of weekly performances of Emmanuel Music: Sunday Cantata Series under the direction of the late Craig Smith. He considers this experience a highlight of his musical life thus far. He has also appeared at the Boston Early Music Festival. He has received significant recognition for his interpretation of early music, as a national finalist and place-winner in the 2002 American Bach Society/Bethlehem Bach Competition. As a 2000 fellow with the Pacific Music festival in Sapporo, Japan, he was featured in their performances of George Frideric Handel's Alexander's Feast and J.S. Bach's Magnificat (BWV 243).
Other notable solo engagements include Haydn's Creation under the baton of the late Robert Shaw and recently, the role of Lidio in Cavalli's L'Egisto under the musical direction of Martin Pearlman. Mr. Engebreth has performed extensively as a recitalist on the concert series of the Longy School of Music, Marsh Chapel at Boston University, the Boston Public Library, King's Chapel, the Old South Church of Boston where he took part in an acclaimed performance of the rarely heard AIDS Quilt Songbook, and recently with WCRB's Concerts at Copley Square, at which he appeared with Keith Lockhart, conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra performing works of Richard Rogers with Keith Lockhart at the piano.
On the operatic stage, Aaron Engebreth has performed a variety of roles ranging from Count Almaviva in W.A. Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro to Schaunard in La Boheme. His performance of Sid in the Red House Opera Group's 2002 performances of Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring was described by the Boston Globe as, "nearly perfect in voice, characterization and appearance," and Opera News hailed his recent performance as Masetto in Opera Aperta's W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni as "consistently strong."
As a recording artist, Aaron Engebreth is featured on two operatic recordings with the Boston Early Music Festival and Radio Bremen, both nominated for Grammy Awards for Best Operatic Recording: the 2007 release of Lully's Thésée (also nominated for a 2008 Gramophone Award), and the 2008 release of Lully's Psyché. He has recorded the world premiere release of Six Early Songs of Samuel Barber, and Libby Larsen’s The Peculiar Case of Dr. H.H.Holmes, both for Florestan Records. He is featured in recordings of John Deak's The Passion of Scrooge with the Firebird Chamber Ensemble, John Harbison’s Winter’s Tale and Lukas Foss' oratorio The Prairie with Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) and Providence Singers, and he created the role of Jack Matthews in the premier recording of Eric Sawyer's opera Our American Cousin, again with BMOP. In addition, he can be heard as the Policeman in Lukas Foss' opera Griffelkin on Chandos records, and as a soloist in Conrad Susa's Carols and Lullabies on the Arsis Label. He began a multi-disc project in 2009 recording The Complete Songs of Daniel Pinkham with the Florestan Recital Project on Florestan Records, the first volume of which was named one of the five best contemporary music releases of the year by NPR and American Public Media. He is featured in the role of St. Ignatius in an upcoming release of Virgil Thomson’s Four Saints in Three Acts with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.
Aaron Engebreth is on the music faculties of Tufts University and the Community Music Center of Boston and is a founding member and co-artistic director of the Florestan Recital Project. While on the music faculty of Tufts University, he was twice awarded faculty development grants to study music of the French Baroque in Paris. Aaron has also served on the music faculty of the Boston Conservatory and is Artistic Co-Director of the Florestan Recital Project. |
