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The American tenor and music teacher, Timothy W. Sparks, received his Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Masster of Music degree with the Performer's Certificate in Voice from the Eastman School of Music. His teachers include Joel R. Adams, Dominic Cossa, Fredric Moses, Dr. Terry Rhodes, and John Maloy. Competitions/Awards include: in 1991 4th Place at Jessie Kniesel German Lieder Competition, Eastman School of Music; in 1995-1996 Emerging Artist Grant from City of Raleigh Arts Commission; in 2003-2004 Regional Artist Project Grant from United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County.
Timothy Rhodes has appeared with opera companies in the USA and Europe, including The Israel Vocal Arts Institute, Operafestival di Roma, Jacksonville Lyric Opera, First Coast Opera, Opera Company of North Carolina, Greensboro Opera Company, Triangle Opera, National Opera Company (A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute), Brevard Music Center, Capital Opera-Raleigh, and Durham Savoyards, Limited. His representative operatic roles include Anatol, Rodolfo, Don José, Nemorino, Don Ottavio, Ferrando, Prince Ramiro, Jaquino, Ralph Rackstraw, and Enoch Snow. With a commitment to contemporary music, Sparks has participated in the premiere of several new stage works by Joel Feigin, Benton Hess, Tom Lohr, and Zachary Wadsworth. Highlights of these performances include the role of Sebastian in Long Leaf Opera’s world premiere production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, by Joel Feigin, and during Long Leaf Opera’s inaugural 2007 Summer Festival, the role of Adonis in a premiere of Venus and Adonis by Zachary Wadsworth. His 2002 performance in Starbird, a children’s opera by Henry Mollicone, with The Opera Company of North Carolina was captured on videotape and rebroadcast on PBS in April of 2005.
In concert, Timothy Sparks has appeared with the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin, Canton Symphony Orchestra, Statesboro-Georgia Southern Symphony, North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, Eastern Music Festival, Belleayre Music Festival, Breckenridge Music Institute and Festival, University of Notre Dame, Duke Artists Concert Series, Smedes Parlor Concert Series at St. Mary's School, North Carolina Bach Festival, North Carolina Master Chorale, Concert Singers of Cary, Voices-The Chapel Hill Chorus, Choral Society of Greensboro, Greensboro Oratorio Society, Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, Tar River Orchestra and Chorus, Coastal Carolina Community Chorus, and Hillyer Community Chorus.
Timothy Sparks has performed the tenor solos in oratorio and concert works by J.S. Bach, L.v. Beethoven, Benjamin Britten, Charles Gounod, George Frideric Handel, Hayden, Gustav Mahler, Felix Mendelssohn, Mozart, Alice Parker, Puccini, Ottorino Respighi, Rossini, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Schubert. In April 2006, he returned to Ohio as the tenor soloist for the Canton Symphony Orchestra’s 25th Anniversary celebration performance of L.v. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. In January 2011, his recording of the Arnold Schoenberg chamber orchestra transcription of G. Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde was released by Centaur Records, Inc. In April 2012, he was a soloist with the European Youth Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy, in a performance of L.v. Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, Op. 80. Equally comfortable in operatic roles, oratorio, or as a recitalist, Sparks is active as a soloist throughout North Carolina and the USA.
Timothy Sparks currently serves as a Lecturer in Voice at UNC-Chapel Hill and was an Instructor of Voice at Meredith College for ten years. In addition, he is an active adjudicator, a member of N.A.T.S., having served as a state district officer and as the Mid-Atlantic Regional Governor, and is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda. |
