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The American tenor, Bryce Westervelt, obtained his Bachelor degree of Music Performance (1997) from the University of Georgia, where he was a student of Gregory Broughton, and his Master of Music degree in Opera Performance (2000) from the University of Maryland where he was a student of François Loup. He was a finalist in the 2000 Bethlehem Bach Festival Competition and received the prestigious Virginia Best Adams Fellowship at the Carmel Bach Festival in 2000. He was a member of the Berkshire Opera Young Artist Development program in 2001, and spent two summers as a member of the Brevard Music Center Opera Workshop. In the winter of 2007 he continued his training as a part of Sherrill Milnes’ V.O.I.C.Experience Foundation, which included a performance at the historic Players in New York City. In 2007-2008 he was an inaugural member of Opera Tampa’s Apprentice Artist Program.
Bryce Westervelt is sought after as a soloist with opera companies, orchestras and choral groups across the USA. He has been characterized as a “light tenor with a charming ease in the stylistic subtleties of early music” Washington Post, having a “delicately nuanced lyric voice” Washington Times, and as being both “vocally seductive and tonally impressive” Monterey Herald.
Bryce Westervelt’s concert repertoire spans over 50 major works including those of Monteverdi, J.S. Bach, George Frideric Handel, Haydn, W.A. Mozart, L.v. Beethoven, Felix Mendelssohn, Rossini, Verdi, Dvorak, Benjamin Britten and Blake. As concert soloist he has performed with several leading ensembles including the Albany Pro Musica, Annapolis Symphony, the Bach Festival of Central Florida, Bel Canto Chorus, Canterbury Choral Society, Cathedral Choral Society (Washington National Cathedral), Connecticut Choral Artists, the Florida Orchestra, Folger Consort, Hartford Symphony, National Chamber Orchestra, Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, Washington Bach Consort, and several other choral and orchestral groups throughout the USA. He has performed in several prestigious venues including the Washington National Cathedral, The National Building Museum, The German Embassy, the Smithsonian, and the Arts Club of Washington.
On the operatic stage, his roles include Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Ferrando in Cosí fan tutte, Don Ottavio in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni, Idamante in W.A. Mozart's Idomeneo, and Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. He has performed with Asheville Lyric Opera, Opera Naples, Opera Roanoke, FloriMezzo Opera, Opera Tampa, St. Petersburg Opera, Concert Opera of Philadelphia, Summer Opera Theater (Catholic University), the 20th Century Consort (Smithsonian Institute), the Washington Savoyards, and the Maryland Opera Studio.
In 2006-2007 season, Bryce Westervelt’s exciting season includes debuts in the Bach Festival of Central Florida in G.F. Handel’s Saul and with the Canterbury Choral Society in Oklahoma City as the tenor soloist in Dave Brubeck’s oratorio To Hope! He also has return engagements with the Washington Bach Consort in a staged performance of J.S. Bach’s Drama per Musica BWV 205, Lake Wales Chorale in Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Hodie, and as the featured soloist in Howard Blake’s Benedictus with the Southwest Florida Symphony, among others.
Recently, Bryce Westervelt has performed recitals in Bolzano, Italy as a resident artist at the Silver Bay Chamber Music Festival. While there he also presented a lecture on Oratorio and Sacred Classical Vocal Music. He has also appeared in recitals in Clearwater, FL, at the historic Players in New York on the Bechstein Recital Series, the Arts Club of Washington, and at the University of Evansville. As an educator and clinician he has given vocal performance master-classes at the University of Georgia and University of Evansville. This season (2009-2010?), he has been invited back for performances with the Florida Orchestra, Bach Festival of Central Florida, and the Canterbury Choral Society, among others. |
