|
The American tenor, Joseph Gaines, studied singing with Joseph Evans at the University of Houston (Bachelor of Music degre in Vocal Performance in 2001, University Honors & Summa Cum Laude), with Christina Wartenberg at the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Leipzig, Germany (Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Fellowship, 2001-2002), and with Leyna Gabriele in New York. Among his awards and grants are: The Sullivan Foundation (2007); The Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Fellowship (2001-2002); The Jensen Foundation (2009); The Anna Sosenko Assist Trust; The Pittsburgh Concert Society (2011); The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council; The Charles A. Lynam Voice Competition (2010); and Central City Opera’s McGlone Award for Outstanding Young Artist (2006).
The years 2008-2013 were marked by a wide array of operatic and concert performances, including several debuts and return engagements. A past apprentice artist with Central City Opera, he returned in 2010 as a guest artist for the first time to perform Goro in Madama Butterfly; the Denver Post described Joseph Gaines as "well-cast as Goro, the creepy and conniving marriage broker." Other concert performances included W.A. Mozart's Coronation Mass and the W.A. Mozart's Requiem, Igor Stravinsky's Pulcinella, and Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers, performed in its 400th anniversary year. Gaines returned to The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra to perform in The Rake's Progress (Sellem), Edo de Waart conducting; to Indianapolis Opera (Scaramuccio in Ariadne Auf Naxos), and reprised George Frideric Handel's Messiah with the Saint Thomas Choir of Men & Boys (Gaines is the featured soloist on St. Thomas's 2007 recording of the same piece).
Notable debuts during this time included Pittsburgh Opera (Caius in Falstaff); Opera Philadelphia (Monostatos in W.A. Mozart's The Magic Flute); Chatham Baroque (featured soloist in “A Continental Christmas”); The Erie Chamber Orchestra (Benjamin Britten’s Serenade, for Tenor, Horn, and Strings); Apollo's Fire (Director: Jeannette Sorrell) (The Magic Flute); and New York's Teatro Grattacielo (Cicillo in Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's I Gioielli Della Madonna), which also marked Joseph Gaines’ Lincoln Center Debut. A favorite guest artist of Pittsburgh Opera, further performances with the company have included W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro (Opera News wrote "in the double assignment of Basilio/Curzio, Joseph Gaines's bright tenor cut through the crowd"), Pong in Giacomo Puccini's masterpiece Turandot, Pedrillo in W.A. Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio, and Goro in Madama Butterfly. Gaines returned to Teatro Grattacielo for their double-bill of Il Re and I Compagnacci, again at Lincoln Center. He also returned to Houston for a recording project with the Grammy ®-nominated ensemble Ars Lyrica for the label Sono Luminus. A Winner of the 2011 Pittsburgh Concert Society Competition, he was presented in a winner’s concert with pianist Glenn Lewis.
For the 2013-2014 season, company and role debuts included: Opera Omnia, as Iro in Monteverdi's Return Of Ulysses at New York's Baryshnikov Arts Center; Resonance Works, Pittsburgh's newest site-specific opera, concert and chamber music ensemble, presenting Verdi's Macbeth (as Malcolm); The Erie Philharmonic (Carmina Burana/tenor soloist); The Philadelphia Orchestra, presenting a concert version of SALOME (Gaines performed the 3rd Jew) in collaboration with Opera Philadelphia; and Utah Opera, where he reprised Pong in the Doucet/Barbe production of Turandot, premiered at Pittsburgh Opera in 2011. He also joined the artist roster of The Metropolitan Opera, covering Caius in Verdi's Falstaff from 2013 into 2014. Joseph Gaines returned to Opera Theater of Pittsburgh's SummerFest to sing the Four Servants in Offenbach's The Tales Of Hoffmann, as well as Belfiore in W.A. Mozart's The Secret Gardener. In Spring 2014 he rejoined Philadelphia's Lyric Fest for a concert of new works celebrating American Women Poets in song, and also joined a cast of distinguished alumni, students, and faculty of The University of Houston's Moores School of Music for a concert gala performance of Candide in the title role.
For the 2015-2016 season, Joseph Gaines was a featured soloist on two programs with the Brooklyn Art Song Society (an October concert celebrating Ned Rorem at Bargemusic, and a March program of works by Benjamin Britten, including The Holy Sonnets of John Donne); other solo appearances included performances of W.A. Mozart's Requiem with Colorado Pro Musica and Carmina Burana with the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony, and concert appearances with both the Colorado Bach Ensemble and the Off the Hook Arts Festival, in a program featuring excerpts from The Origin, an opera-in-progress composed by Bruce Adolphe with a libretto by Richard Powers . In December, Gaines performed Kaspar in Amahl And The Night Visitors with Central City Opera. He returned to Utah Opera, closing their 2015-16 season in as both Basilio and Curzio in Le Nozze Di Figaro. Returning to Opera Philadelphia in May, he helps create the role of Dan Leno in the first workshop of Elizabeth Cree, a new opera being developed by composer Kevin Puts and librettist Mark Campbell, and based on the novel The Trial of Elizabeth Cree by Peter Ackroyd.
In 2014-2015 Joseph Gaines returned to Central City Opera's 2014 Festival for both Le Nozze di Figaro (Basilio) and Dead Man Walking (Howard Boucher). He also appeared again at Utah Opera, where he performed Goro in Madama Butterfly (Opera News wrote that "Character actor/singer Joseph Gaines was compelling as the wily marriage broker Goro.) He returned to The Erie Chamber Orchestra as Monostatos in Die Zauberflöte, and had company debuts with both Opera Colorado (W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte) and Opera Las Vegas (Madama Butterfly). He also performed roles in OSCAR with Opera Philadelphia, a co-commission and co-production of The Santa Fe Opera, marking both the work’s East Coast premiere and the premiere of the revised edition, as well. Other engagements included multiple performances of G.F. Handel's Messiah, a recital and master-class at West Texas A&M University, as well as reprising works of Daron Hagen in a concert with the Brooklyn Art Song Society.
Engagements for Joseph Gaines in 2016-2017 and beyond include a production of Turandot (Pong) with Opera Philadelphia and also La Fanciulla del West (Trin) with Opera Colorado, a recording project with Lyric Fest of selected works by composer Daron Hagen, a return to Resonance Works Pittsburgh for Falstaff (Caius), his debut with a major west coast American opera company, as well as solo concert appearances with the Charlotte Symphony and Ars Lyrica Houston. In 2017 Gaines returns to Opera Philadelphia to cover Dan Leno in Elizabeth Cree as part of the company's inaugural O17 Festival.
Of his 2013 performances in The Return of Ulysses with Opera Omnia, The New York Times wrote, “you had no reason to want to spend so much time with the glutton Irus on his way to his suicide: no reason, that is, apart from the fine singing of Joseph Gaines.” Recognized nationally and internationally as a highly energetic, vibrant, and eversatile singer and actor, tenor Joseph Gaines is known for beautifully sung and richly detailed interpretations of character roles, and has been described as "such an exuberant performer you couldn't help but smile" (The Minneapolis Star-Tribune).
A favorite of a number of opera companies large and small across the USA in recent years, Joseph Gaines has been a regular guest artist at Opera Philadelphia, Utah Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Central City Opera, Indianapolis Opera, and many others. An alumnus of the apprentice training programs at Sarasota Opera, Central City Opera, and Glimmerglass Opera, he joined the artist roster of The Metropolitan Opera for the first time in 2013, covering Caius in Verdi’s Falstaff, conducted by James Levine.
A voracious musician with a love of repertoire from many distinct styles and periods, Joseph Gaines has been a featured soloist with some of the finest American orchestras, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and a number of chamber and baroque ensembles throughout the USA and abroad. While he is a favorite on the operatic stage for the character roles of W.A. Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Richard Strauss, and works by contemporary composers, he also possesses a very strong background in historically informed performance; Gaines is a noted interpreter of Monteverdi, G.F. Handel, and Alessandro Scarlatti, and also especially the Evangelist roles of J.S. Bach.
His broader concert repertoire spans hundreds of years, from Hildegaard von Bingen forward through W.A. Mozart and Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, and Wolf, to Francis Poulenc, Rorem, Igor Stravinsky, Britten, Bernstein, and contemporary works by Robert Avalon, Theo Morrison, Jake Heggie, and many others. An avid recitalist, collaborator, and chamber musician, he has performed frequently with The Pittsburgh Song Collaborative, The Erie Chamber Orchestra, and Philadelphia’s Lyric Fest, with whom he presented the world premiere of two song cycles by composer Daron Hagen in recent years. His commercial recordings (from both Ars Lyrica Houston, and New York’s famed Saint Thomas Choir of Men & Boys) and live performances have been broadcast domestically and internationally by NPR and Public Radio International, most recently with solo excerpts from the St. Thomas Choir’s Messiah: The Mozart Orchestrations, heard nationwide on With Heart And Voice.
Joseph Gaines' commercially available recordings include "G.F. Handel's Messiah -- The Mozart Orchestrations" (The Saint Thomas Choir of Men & Boys, John Scott, conductor); and Ars Lyrica Houston's recording of the music of Alessandro Scarlatti, distributed by Naxos Records; and Ars Lyrica's recording of Domenico Scarlatti's comic intermezzo La Dirindina, produced by Sono Luminus records.
Joseph Gaines is represented worldwide by John Miller of Pinnacle Arts Management in New York. |
