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The Filipino-American bass-baritone, Enrico Lagasca, was named as such purely out of preference, not in reference to any of the great Italian-born vocal icons. He started singing at age 16 when he joined the world renowned Philippine Madrigal Singers and have sung with the group in concert tours and competitions winning top prizes (including two-time champions of the European Gran Prix for Choral Music and UNESCO Artists for Peace) around the world for almost 6 years (2003-2009). “The choral tradition is huge for us," Enrico explains. “We went on tour, and we got to see the world. It captivated my love for what I'm currently doing right now.” He also sang in Ateneo Chamber Singers from Quezon City (August-September 2008). He studied at San Beda College Manila (1999-2003) and at University of the Philippines, Diliman in Quezon City (2003-2008). In 2008, he moved to New York City and continued his studies at the Mannes College of Music. In 2013, he was privileged to be a finalist in the Das Lied International Song Competition in Berlin headed by acclaimed baritone Thomas Quasthoff in Berlin, Germany. In 2014 he was also a finalist in the 24th International Vocal Competition Le Centre Lyrique in Clermont-Ferrand, France. In 2019, he participated in Renée Fleming's inaugural Song Studio at Carnegie Hall.
Enrico Lagasca is enjoying a career in Oratorio, Opera, Chamber Music, and Recitals with a repertoire spanning from Early to Contemporary music. Critically acclaimed for his “beautiful sound” (New York Times), “powerful and rich bass” (East Hampton Star) and “Impressive, deep, dark instrument” (Superconductor), his career comprises 16 oratorios, 17 new-music works, seven opera roles plus 13 song cycles and collections. Heard on four Grammy Award-nominated recordings, he sings as soloist and chorister across America, including New York’s mission-specific TENET Vocal Artists (Director: Jolle Greenleaf), Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola with music director K. Scott Warren (since 2010) and the Bach Choir of the Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church with Donald Meineke (since 2014). He also frequently sings with Saint Thomas Choir of Men & Boys, Fifth Avenue, Musica Sacra New York, The Cathedral Choir of St. John the Divine, The Choir of Trinity Wall Street (Director: Julian Wachner), New York Choral Artists (since 2012), The Bard Festival Chorus (2010-2015), The Collegiate Chorale, New York Virtuoso Singers, Oratorio Society of New York, Extra Chorus of The Metropolitan Opera (since 2018). Across America, he performs with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale in New Mexico (since 2016), Ensemble VIII in Austin, Texas (since 2014), Skylark Vocal Ensemble in Massachusetts (since 2018), Bach Collegium San Diego (Director: Ruben Valenzuela) in California (since 2018), Seraphic Fire (Director Patrick Dupré Quigley) in Miami, Florida (since 2017), Conspirare (Director: Craig Hella Johnson) in Austin, Texas (since 2018). He has also sung with chamber groups as Clarion and the LEONIDS. He has appeared with several notable orchestras as soloist and chorister, including the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, American Classical Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and have toured with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, to name a few, under conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, Pablo Heras-Casado, Nicholas McGegan, Jane Glover, John Butt, John Nelson, Matthew Halls and Carl St. Clair. He continues moving between solo and ensemble, with ensemble plans to sing Sergei Rachmaninov's Vespers and St. John of Chrysostom in Old Church Slavonic.
Some of his most recent performance highlights include his role as a soloist in L.v. Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, J. Haydn's The Creation, Charpentier's Le reniement de Saint Pierre, J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) and Mass in b minor (BWV 232), Dietrich Buxtehude's Musikalisches Exequien & Ihr Lieben Christen, J. Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass, W.A. Mozart's Requiem, Mass in D, Solemn Vespers, Bruckner's Te Deum and Rossini's Stabat Mater. His operatic roles include L’arbre/Fauteuil in Ravel’s L’enfant et les Sortileges, Collatinus in Benjamin Britten's Rape of Lucretia, Lautsprecher/Tod in Ullman’s Der Kaiser Von Atlantis, Blansac in Rossini’s La Scala di Seta, Lorenzo in Vincenzo Bellini's I Capuleti e I Montecchi, among others. His need to take risks onstage has led him to forward-looking directors such as Thaddeus Strassberger, RB Schlather and Kevin Newbury. Festival appearances include the Salzburg Festival, Oregon Bach Festival (since 2017), Virginia Arts Festival, Mostly Mozart Festival, Twelfth Night Festival, and the Bard Summerscape Festival.
Amid the wide-ranging demands of his repertoire, critics note that Enrico Lagasca is readily heard: “Bass-baritone Enrico Lagasca summoned nearly as much volume as everyone else onstage put together, and matched that visceral force with vivid phrasing,” wrote Baltimore’s Tim Smith regarding the USA premiere of the Jonathan Dove opera The Monster in the Maze by the Baltimore Choral Arts Society. Other performances have been noted for their emotional magnitude. “Lagasca’s singing was an outpouring of devotion and grief as elegant as it was moving.” wrote Rick Perdian in Seen and Heard International regarding J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244) at New York's Saint Thomas Church in New York.
Concert repertoire is where he started and continues spending the much of his time, especially in the two hybrid presentations that frame his 2022-2023 season -Tyshawn Sorey’s Monochromatic Light (afterlight) directed by Peter Sellers in September 2022 at the Park Avenue Armory and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra’s premiere of Julia Wolfe’s multi-media unEarth in June 2023. Between those two world premieres, he sings Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass with Voices of Ascension in New York, George Frideric Handel's Messiah at Ann Arbor's University Musical Society, J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) with Washington Bach Consort, and Felix Mendelssohn's Walpurgisnacht with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. "Whether it's opera or oratorio, it's storytelling to me," he says, "even when singing the oftenheard words Kyrie Eleison."
As much as the great sacred works of J.S. Bach, G.F. Handel, Haydn and W.A. Mozart remain in his bones, Enrico Lagasca is increasingly inclined to seek out music by living composers such as Wolfe, Dove, Caroline Shaw, and Reena Esmail. He has sung Sarah Kirkland Snider's Mass for the Endangered, Jake Heggie's The Moon is a Mirror and Nico Muhly's The Last Letter. He has premiered performances of works by Gerald Cohen, Sharon Farber, Denise Hofmann, Stanislav Fridman, Lowell Lieberman, Joel Mandelbaum, Joseph Rubinstein, Joshua Cerdenia, Nilo Alcala, Eudenice Palaruan. Joby Talbot's Path of Miracles will figure repeatedly in his 2022-2023 season, along with Craig Johnson's Considering Matthew Shepard - the latter reflecting Enrico’s particular interest in works that address the LGBTQ+ community. He is a member of the Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble, which is dedicated to diversity and social justice.
In recitals, Enrico Lagasca’s program mostly consist of Schubert (Winterreise), R. Strauss, Gustav Mahler (Rückert Lieder), Robert Schumann (Dichterliebe), Johannes Brahms, J.S. Bach, Heinrich Schütz, Debussy, Hensel, Nadia Boulanger, interspersed with New Works by Filipino and American composers. In 2018-2019, he embarked on a recital concert tour with acclaimed Steinway Artist Victor Asuncion in Chicago, New York, Miami, Los Angeles in the USA, and across the world in Philippines and Singapore. An advocate of promoting Filipino classical music in New York City, he is one of the Music Directors of San Lorenzo Ruiz Choir - a New York based Filipino volunteer choir devoted to serving the Filipino community through Eucharistic celebrations. He recently extended his talents as founder and conductor of the Philippine American Choral Project that was launched in the Fall of 2016.
Enrico Lagasca has appeared as guest vocalist in concert tours of the Mark Morris Dance Company and Idan Cohen Dance Company, guest soloist with Baltimore Choral Arts, Choral Society of the Hamptons, Fairfield County Chorale, Westchester Choral Society, Danbury Orchestra and Chorus, Bedford Chamber Orchestra, Crescendo Early Music Ensemble. He has recorded discs with the Philippine Madrigal Singers, ACRONYM, Bach Choir of Holy Trinity, Choir of Trinity Wall Street, American Symphony Orchestra, and Santa Fe Desert Chorale.
An educator himself, Enrico Lagasca maintains a small private vocal studio, and conducts visiting artist residencies in schools such as Southern Virginia University and Amherst College. He lives in New York City with his domestic partner of several years. |
