|
The American bas-baritone and music pedagogue, Keith E. Kibler, obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in English & Music from Union College (1973) his Masters of Arts in Voice from New England Conservatory of (1976). He studied the song literature with the late Geoffrey Parsons as the recipient of a fellowship from the Frank Huntington Beebe Fund. Shortly thereafter he won first prize in the Jessie Kneisel Lieder Competition. Twice a Fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center, his doctorate was earned at Yale University and the Eastman School of Music.
Keith Kibler was cited as a promising singer while still an undergraduate by The New York Times and made his national debuts at the age of 24 with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa. He has since built a career of great versatility and is one of the region's best-known artists, having appeared with every major orchestral and choral organization in New England. He has sung leading roles internationally with some of the opera world’s best directors: Russian opera with Galina Vishnevskaya, W.A. Mozart with Peter Sellars, Benjamin Britten with David Alden and Lou Galterio, and George Frideric Handel with Tito Copobianco, to name a few. He has sung the concert repertoire with the finest soloists, including Seth McCoy, Jon Humphrey, Elly Ameling, and Thomas Paul among others. Roles have include: Superintendent Budd in Albert Herring (St Louis Opera Company, 1976); Marquis in La Traviata (Wolf Trap Company, 1976); Father in Die Kluge (Boston Lyric Opera Coompany, 1977); Hortensius in Daughter of the Regiment (Opera New England, 1978); Baron Kelbar in Un Giorno, etc. "The bright heft and fully-focused center of a Helden-baritone," "His aria could not have been more intense or eloquent," "A thrillingly centered voice with heroic ring," "The model of what a bass-baritone should be." These are just a few of the critical accolades Kibler has received for recent appearances.
Keith Kibler has sung a wide range of early music with period instrument ensembles and was a visiting artist with the Boston Camerata. He has sung opera and the concert repertoire internationally. He has appeared with the orchestras of New Hampshire, Vermont, Portland, Springfield, Worcester, Albany, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, and Boston, both in Symphony Hall and at Tanglewood. Summer festival appearances include Saratoga, Monadnock, Wolf Trap, Finger Lakes, Norfolk, Aldeburgh and Tanglewood, with pops concerts at the Finger Lakes Performing Arts Center and with the Boston Pops Orchestra in Symphony Hall, Boston, Harry Ellis Dickson conducting. He has premiered new compositions by Malcolm Peyton, Rodney Lister, Peter Homans, and he sang major roles in the Boston premiers of Alban Berg's Wozzeck and Arnold Schoenberg's Gurrelieder (May 1977), both conducted by Gunther Schuller. Recent engagements have included the L.v. Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 under conductors Kaziyoshi Akiyama and Kate Tamarkin.
Keith Kibler is an adjunct teacher of singing at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts (Artist Associate in Voice and Co-Director of the Williams Opera Workshop) and lectures frequently at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. He also teaches and in his private studio. He is one of the region’s most sought after teachers with students accepted at the New England Conservatory, Juilliard School, Peabody Conservatory, Hartt School of Music, Aspen Music School, and Tanglewood Institute. In May 2004, The New Opera, the company he co-founded, featuring rising young singers and conductors, produced its first event, a concert performance of Act II of Le Nozze di Figaro. Subsequent seasons have included concert performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni (Act I and Act II Finale), Act I of Così fan tutte, Act III of Puccini’s La Bohème, highlights from Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier. |
