Quinn Kelsey

Quinn Kelsey (born 7 March 1978) is an American baritone,[1] who is particularly noted for his performances in the operas of Verdi.

Early life and training

Kelsey was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and began performing opera in 1991 as a chorus member of the Hawaii Opera Theatre.[2] He received his bachelor’s degree in music with a major in vocal performance from the University of Hawaii at Manoa under John W. Mount.[3] He has studied in the following programs: Chautauqua Institute with Marlena Malas, San Francisco’s Merola Opera Program under Sherry Greenwald and Mark Morash, and three years at Chicago's Lyric Opera Center for American Artists (now known as the Ryan Opera Center), during which he sang Wagner in Gounod's Faust and Yamadori and the Registrar in Puccini's Madama Butterfly.[1] He was also on the roster of the Marilyn Horne Foundation for two years,[2] won a scholarship from the Solti Foundation of Chicago in 2003, was a finalist of the Plácido Domingo Operalia Competition in 2004, and represented the United States in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in 2005.[4]

Operatic career

Kelsey made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City as Schaunard in Puccini's La bohème on 29 March 2008. Other roles at the Met have included Monterone in Verdi's Rigoletto (role debut on 13 January 2011), Marcello in Puccini's La bohème (23 September 2014), Germont in Verdi's La traviata (11 December 2014), Peter in Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel (18 December 2017), the Count di Luna in Verdi's Il trovatore (23 January 2018), Enrico in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor (25 April 2018), and Amonasro in Verdi's Aida (26 September 2018).[5]

He made his debut at the Royal Opera House as Germont in La traviata in 2016 and has also performed there the Count di Luna in Il trovatore. He has also appeared at the Santa Fe Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Zürich Opera, Hawaii Opera Theater, Norwegian National Opera, Semperoper Dresden, Rome Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Frankfurt Opera, the Bregenz Festival and the Edinburgh Festival.[4]

He sang the title role in Verdi's Rigoletto at the Opéra Bastille in a production by the Opéra National de Paris on 2 May 2016, a performance in which he is said to have "electrified the capacity audience".[6] He also sang the role at the San Francisco Opera[7] and the Chicago Lyric Opera in 2017.[8] Other roles include Zurga in Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles, the Forester in Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen, Athanaël in Massenet's Thaïs, and Sancho Panza in Massenet's Don Quichotte.[4]

Kelsey sang the role of Germont in La traviata at the Metropolitan Opera on 4 December 2018, a new production and the first appearance of Yannick Nézet-Séguin as the Met’s new music director. Violetta was sung by Diana Damrau, and Alfredo, by Juan Diego Flórez. F. Paul Driscoll, in his review of the performance in Opera News, wrote: "All of the leading roles were sung with distinction, but Quinn Kelsey’s splendid Giorgio Germont was the most satisfactory of the three principal performances. Kelsey’s hefty, mahogany-colored baritone is ideal for Germont’s music, and his shrewd, dignified command of the drama made his Act II meeting with Violetta eminently affecting..."[9] The fourth performance with this cast (15 December) was simulcast as part of the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD series.[10]

Personal life

Kelsey met his wife, soprano Marjorie Owens, originally from Chesapeake, Virginia, when both were resident at the Ryan Opera Center in Chicago.[11] Chicago remains their home base, but the couple have occasionally sung together on tour, performing Il trovatore in Dresden[12] and giving duo recitals, for instance, in Honolulu (25 January 2015);[13] in Santa Fe (2 August 2015), where Kelsey was performing in Rigoletto;[14] and in New York City (10 December 2017) at the Morgan Library's Gilder Lehrman Hall.[15]

Awards

Kelsey was the recipient of the Met's Beverly Sills Artist Award in 2015.[16]

Videos

Streaming videos are available at Met Opera on Demand of his performances in the following roles:

  • Amonasro in Verdi's Aida (6 October 2018)
  • Germont in Verdi's La traviata (15 December 2018)

References
  1. "BBC Cardiff Singer of the World: USA (baritone): Quinn Kelsey", BBC website. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  2. "Quinn Kelsey biography" at QuinnKelsey.com. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  3. Quinn Kelsey biography" at Musical World. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  4. "Quinn Kelsey biography", Royal Opera website. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  5. "Kelsey, Quinn" at the Met Opera Archive. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  6. Steven J. Mudge, "Rigoletto, Paris, Opéra National de Paris, 5/2/16", Opera News, vol. 81, no. 1 (July 2016).
  7. Ilana Walder-Biesanz (2 June 2017). "Quinn Kelsey Makes an Arresting Jester in S.F. Opera Rigoletto", San Francisco Classical Voice. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  8. Santosh Venkataraman (2018). "Lyric Opera of Chicago 2017-18 Review – Rigoletto: Matthew Polenzani, Quinn Kelsey and Rosa Feola Dazzle in Verdi’s Tragedy", Opera Wire. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  9. F. Paul Driscoll, "La traviata, New York City, The Metropolitan Opera, 12/4/18", Opera News, vol. 83, no. 9 (March 2018).
  10. "La traviata: Alfredo [Flórez, Juan Diego]", Met Opera Archive. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  11. Sarah Bryan Miller, "Soprano Marjorie Owens takes the title role in Ariadne", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 28 May 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  12. Louise T. Guinther, "Girls of Summer", Opera News, vol. 76, no. 12 (June 2012).
  13. Ruth Bingham, "Baritone returns to Hawaii, delivers encore-worthy show", Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 26 January 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  14. James M. Keller, "Listen Up: Songs and small ensembles", The Santa Fe New Mexican, 14 August 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  15. Joanne Sydney Lessner, "Marjorie Owens, Quinn Kelsey & Myra Huang, New York City, George London Foundation, Morgan Library’s Gilder Lehrman Hall, 12/10/17", Opera News, vol. 82, no. 9 (March 2018).
  16. "Soprano Lisette Oropesa Wins The Met's 2019 Beverly Sills Artist Award", 7 May 2019, Broadway World. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
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