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The American bass-baritone, David Ripley, is an honors graduate of Harvard College (Bachelor of Arts). He earned his Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston as a student of Mark Pearson.
Since then David Ripley has been widely heard in oratorio, recital, chamber opera, and early and contemporary programs and cabaret as well. In his performances throughout the USA he has been soloist with the Boston Camerata, Waverly Consort, Boston Baroque, Boston Cecilia, Cantatas Singers, and others, as well as performing in leading roles in many new operatic works. His appearances have included Monteverdi's Coronation of Poppea at Aston Magna, the songs of Stephen Foster with the American Ballet Theatre at the Metopolitan Opera House and Kennedy Center, Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass in the Connecticut Early Music Festival, soloist with the Springfield Symphony and a national tour of American Journey with the Waverly Consort. He was selected (spring 2000?) to give a series of 13 two-hour lectures on the history of Western Music he titled "The World's Chime" at the Nashua library, and performed Schubert's Winterreise at the University of New Hampshire
Recent performance highlights include a trip in March 2008 with Boston Musical Theater to South Korea, the world premieres of Lori Dobbins’ The Rage of Achilles at Jordan Hall, and Kaddish, by Lawrence Siegel at the Cohen Center for Holocaust Studies. A new solo release of Ne Point Passer (To Never Pass Away) on Centaur Records with pianist Arlene Kies, featuring the melodies of Gabriel Fauré and Henri Duparc earned fine praise in the American Record Guide. Concerts with BMT featuring the American Song Book have been given in Paris, Brussels, Moscow and St. Petersburg, along with recordings All That Jazz, live from Rachmaninoff Hall, We’ll Meet Again and just released in 2008 Fly Me to the Moon.
David Ripley has frequently toured nationally in The Christmas Story with the Waverly Consort, and presented Schubert’s Die Winterreise and Die Schöne Müllerin cycles. As a champion of contemporary music, he was featured in Peter Childs' one act opera Embers, on the play by Beckett. Richard Dyer, Boston Globe wrote: "Baritone David Ripley… gave an impressive demonstration of vocal skill, musicianship, stamina, memory and imagination." David Ripley’s recording of J.S. Bach Cantata BWV 82, Ich habe Genug with Aston Magna Festival players (Centaur) was recently released with critical praise. His first solo CD, A New Season, with Kies, features works of Charles Ives, Gabriel Fauré, Schubert and Johannes Brahms. He has regularly appeared at the Aston Magna Festival since 1990 and was for many years a frequent soloist with the New England Bach Festival. He has appeared with the Blanche Moyse Chorale on numerous occasions, beginning in 1984.
David Ripley currently assistant professor of music at the University of New Hampshire, teaching voice. Now a full professor, in 2007 he was winner of the ‘Outstanding Associate Professor Award’ at the University of New Hampshire. His main area of teaching is voice with secondary areas of music literature and choral conducting. He is the current director of the UNH Opera Workshop, which this spring of 2009 will present W.A. Mozart’s The Magic Flute. |
