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The American baritone, music pedagogue and musicologist, Michael Hix, obtained his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Theory from Furman University (1994-1998); his Master of Music degrees in both Voice Perfiormance (1998-2001) and Historical Musicology (2006) from Florida State University; and his Doctorate of Music in Voice Performance from Florida State University (2006).
Michael Hix has been praised by critics for his "expressive voice" and "commanding stage presence." His career highlights include performances at Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood Music Center, Boston’s Symphony Hall, and Vienna’s Musikverein. He is a sought-after performer of concert and orchestral works with over 70 oratorio, cantata, and concert roles in his repertoire. In 2019 he was awarded 3rd Place in the American Prize Competition for Oratorio and Art Song Performance. Past concert and oratorio solo engagements have included Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah; J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244), St. John Passion (BWV 245), B Minor Mass (BWV 232), Magnificat (BWV 243), Weihnachts-Oratorium (BWV 248); George Frideric Handel’s Messiah; Johannes Brahms’ Requiem; Gabriel Fauré's Requiem; Haydn's Creation; Orff’s Carmina Burana; Ralph Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem, Hodie and Five Mystical Songs; and Gustav Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Kindertotenlieder and Des Knaben Wunderhorn, among others. European performances include the bass solos in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and Heligmesse at the International Haydn Festival in Vienna, Austria and song recitals in Leipzig, Dresden, Loebau, Lindlar, and Dürsheid, Germany. He has been featured as a soloist in concerts with the Oregon Bach Festival, Arizona Bach Festival, Boston Pops Orchestra, Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Georgia Symphony, New Mexico Philharmonic, True Concord Voices and Orchestra, Tallahassee Symphony, Highland Park Chorale, Northwest Mississippi Symphony, Montgomery Symphony, Brevard Symphony Orchestra, New York City’s Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity and the Tallahassee Bach Parley among others.
Included among his over 20 stage roles are Falke in Die Fledermaus, Melchior in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Noye in Benjamin Britten's Noye's Fludde, the Drunken Poet in The Fairy Queen, Grosvenor in Patience, Lord Mountararat in Iolanthe, Germont in La Traviata, Don Alfonso in W.A. Mozart's Cosí fan tutte, Nick Shadow in Igor Stravinsky's The Rake’s Progress, and Bertouf in the world premiere of A Friend of Napoleon by Pulitzer Prize winning composer Robert Ward. Michael Hix has sung with Ohio Light Opera, Amherst Early Music Festival, Opera Birmingham, Ashlawn-Highland Opera, Greenville Light Opera Works, and Opera del Sol.
As a musicologist, Michael Hix recieved the American Musicological Society Thomas Hampson Award in 2014. This award, generously donated by the Hampsong Foundation, funded his continued research on the Lieder of Paul Dessau. In addition he is a DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Research Grant Recipient and a Simonton Literary Prize winner. His research has been published in The Journal of Singing, VoicePrints: The New York Singing Teachers' Association Journal, The Choral Journal, College Music Society Symposium, and The American Theater Organ Society Journal. Hix also contributed numerous entries to the New Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd edition published by Oxford University Press. His book An American Organist in Paris: The Letters of Orville Lee Erwin 1930-1931 was published by Scarecrow Press in 2012. He has presented lecture recitals on Paul Dessau’s Lieder at the national conventions of the American Musicological Society, the College Music Society, and at the Texoma Regional NATS Conference.
Michael Hix is a respected vocal pedagogue with over 20 years of teaching experience. He is an active member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS). In 2007 he was selected for the NATS Intern Program where he worked under the tutelage of Dr. Stephen King (Rice University/Houston Grand Opera). He previously taught at the School of Fine Arts in Dothan, Alabama; The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville, Florida; and Troy University in Troy, Alabama (2007-2012). His students have enjoyed great success over the years appearing in opera, musical theatre, and concert performances across the USA with Opera Southwest, Mississippi Opera, Opera in the Ozarks, Emerald City Opera, Steamboat Opera, Berlin Opera Academy, Lyric Opera Studio Weimar, Red River Lyric Opera, Mississippi Symphony, New Mexico Philharmonic, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Quintessence: Choral Artists of the Southwest, Polyphony: Voices of New Mexico, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Festival South, and The Lost Colony among others. His students have continued on to graduate and post-graduate degree programs at the Manhattan School of Music, Florida State University, University of Missouri Kansas City, University of Southern California, Baylor University, University of Florida, and the University of Southern Mississippi. Since 2012, he is an Associate Professor of Vocal Studies, the Coordinator of Vocal Studies, and the Associate Department Chair at the University of New Mexico. He is also Artistic Director together with and Matthew Greer of The St. John’s Bach Project in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He currently lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. |
