Jan Opalach

Biography

A Voice and Opera faculty member since 2008, Mr. Opalach has won the prestigious Walter M. Naumburg Vocal Competition, Metropolitan Opera National Auditions, s’Hertogenbosch International Vocalisten Concours as well as a National Endowment for the Arts Soloist Recital Grant. He has been heard in recitals in Alice Tully Hall, Morgan Library, Concertgebouw (Amsterdam, Netherlands), Library of Congress, Ambassador Auditorium (Pasadena), Hudson River Museum, Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum (Boston), Harvard University and the Eastman School of Music. He has been an adjudicator for The W.M. Naumburg, Joy in Singing and the Concert Artist Guild competitions.

He was a principal artist of the New York City Opera for thirty years. Among the many roles he performed with the company were the title role in Le nozze di Figaro, Dulcamara (L’elisir d’amore), Leporello (Don Giovanni), Bartolo (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Wesener (Alois Zimmerman’s Die Soldaten), the Forester (The Cunning Little Vixen), and the title role of G. Verdi’s Falstaff. He has appeared with the Metropolitan Opera (world premiere of Phillip Glass’ The Voyage, War and Peace), Opera Theater of St. Louis (Nixon in China), Santa Fe Opera (La Bohème), Seattle Opera (Cosi fan tutte, Xerxes, Ariadne auf Naxos), Washington Opera (Cendrillon), Canadian Opera Company (Il barbiere di Siviglia, Xerxes), Netherlands Opera (L’italiana in Algeri – TV broadcast; conducted by Alberto Zedda, directed by Dario Fo), Sweden’s Drottningholm Royal Court Theater (L. Rossi’s Orfeo – TV Broadcast; conducted by Paul O’Dette and Steven Stubbs) and English National Opera (British Isles premiere of Die Soldaten).

Among the many conductors with whom Mr. Opalach has collaborated are Marin Alsop, Daniel Barenboim, Herbert Blomstedt, Richard Bonynge, Semyon Bychkov, James DePriest, Charles Dutoit, Gunter Herbig, Christopher Hogwood, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Sir Roger Norrington, Sir Simon Rattle, Helmut Rilling, Robert Shaw, Leonard Slatkin, Edo de Waart, Richard Westenberg, Hugh Wolff and David Zinman.

Mr. Opalach has made recordings for a number of labels including Argo, Bridge, CRI, Decca, Delos, EMI, Koch International, L’Oiseau-Lyre, Lyrichord, Nonesuch, Teldec, Telarc, VoxBox and Vox Unique. Works recorded include Igor Stravinsky’s Renard/Pulcinella (St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; Hugh Wolff), J.S. Bach’s Solo Bass Cantatas 56, 82, 158; B-minor Mass (Bach Ensemble; Joshua Rifkin), Stefan Wolpe’s Quintet with Voice, Elliot Carter’s Syringa (Speculum Musicae), Robert Beaser’s Seven Deadly Sins (Premiere Recording, American Composers Orchestra; Dennis Russell Davies), L. von Beethoven‘s Der glorreiche Augenblick (World premiere recording – The Collegiate Choral; Robert Bass), G.F. Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring/Pulcinella (Seattle Symphony; Gerard Schwarz), Pulitzer Prize winner Aaron Kernis’ Mourningsongs, selected lieder of Franz Schubert, J. Haydn’s The Seasons; (Amor Artis Classical Orchestra; Johannes Somary) and two chamber opera’s by Paul Salerni, Caruso’s Final Broadcast and The Life and Love of Joe Coogan, a Karl Reiner authorized adaptation of a Dick van Dyke episode.