Daniel Okulitch
Encyclopedia
Bass-baritone
A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende...
. He first came to attention on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
as Schaunard in Baz Luhrmann
Baz Luhrmann
Mark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann is an Australian film director, screenwriter, and producer best known for The Red Curtain Trilogy, which includes his films Strictly Ballroom, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!...
's production of La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
in 2002/03 – a role he repeated when the production traveled to Los Angeles the following year, for which he received the Ovation Award for Best Ensemble Performance from the Los Angeles Stage Alliance. He has since begun an international career with opera companies and orchestras throughout Europe and North America, and is admired for both his singing and powerful stage presence. He is sought after for many contemporary operas and world premieres, as well as the roles of Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
, including Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
and Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
.
Education and early career
Okulitch was born in OttawaOttawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Ontario and was raised in Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, Alberta, where he had his operatic debut at the age of 12 while still a boy soprano
Boy soprano
A boy soprano is a young male singer with an unchanged voice in the soprano range. Although a treble, or choirboy, may also be considered to be a boy soprano, the more colloquial term boy soprano is generally only used for boys who sing, perform, or record as soloists, and who may not necessarily...
in the role of Amahl in Amahl and the Night Visitors
Amahl and the Night Visitors
Amahl and the Night Visitors is an opera in one act by Gian Carlo Menotti with an original English libretto by the composer. It was commissioned by NBC and first performed by the NBC Opera Theatre on December 24, 1951, in New York City at NBC studio 8H in Rockefeller Center, where it was broadcast...
with Calgary Opera
Calgary Opera
The Calgary Opera is a Canadian professional opera company in Calgary, Alberta, originally known as the Southern Alberta Opera Association. It performs in the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, accompanied by the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and the Calgary Opera Chorus...
, followed by one of the 3 spirits in The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
. He continued to perform throughout his teens, and at age 19 transferred to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music
Oberlin Conservatory of Music
The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, located on the campus of Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, was founded in 1865 and is the oldest continuously operating conservatory in the United States. Students of Oberlin Conservatory enter a very broad network within the music world, as the school's alumni...
to study with acclaimed pedagogue Richard Miller
Richard Miller (singer)
Richard Miller was a professor of singing at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and the author of numerous books on singing technique and vocal pedagogy....
, where he gained a Bachelor of Music and a Masters in Opera Theater. He then continued his education at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, under the tutelage of William McGraw. During these years he apprenticed with the Des Moines Metro Opera, the Cincinnati Opera
Cincinnati Opera
Cincinnati Opera is an American opera company based in Cincinnati, Ohio and the second oldest opera company in the United States .-History:...
, and in the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
Merola Program.
In 2002, Okulitch was cast as Schaunard in the Baz Luhrmann production of Puccini's La bohème, which premiered at the Curran Theatre
Curran Theatre
The Curran Theatre is located in San Francisco and was named by its first owner, Homer Curran. The theatre is currently owned by Carole Shorenstein Hays and is operated by SHN - Overview :...
in San Francisco, and performed on Broadway for 228 performances. He made his debut in 2003 at the San Francisco Opera in the role of Donald Gallup in The Mother of Us All
The Mother of Us All
The Mother of Us All is an opera by Virgil Thomson to a libretto by Gertrude Stein. It chronicles the life of Susan B. Anthony, one of the major figures in the fight for women's suffrage in the United States...
, and in 2004 he performed again in Los Angeles as Schaunard in La bohème.
Career
In 2004 Okulitch performed a season opening gala for the Connecticut Grand OperaConnecticut Grand Opera and Orchestra
The Connecticut Grand Opera and Orchestra is a non-profit, professional opera company and orchestra based in Stamford, Connecticut in the United States...
alongside international opera diva Verónica Villarroel
Verónica Villarroel
Verónica Villarroel González is a Chilean soprano. In 1989 she won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She studied singing with Ellen Faull at the Juilliard School.Villarroel was born in Santiago, Chile to Gueraldo Villarroel and Luisa González...
. For his Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
début in April 2004, he performed Ralph Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem
Dona nobis pacem (Vaughan Williams)
Dona nobis pacem, , is a cantata written by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1936 and first performed on 2 October 1936. The work was commissioned to mark the centenary of the Huddersfield Choral Society. Vaughan Williams produced his plea for peace by referring to recent wars during the growing fears...
, and was lauded for his performance of Lev Nikolaevich in the world premiere of Guest from the Future by Mel Marvin at the Bard Music Festival
Bard Music Festival
The Bard Music Festival is an annual classical music festival held during the month of August on the campus of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Founded in 1990, the festival was created with the intention of finding ways to present the history of music in innovative ways to...
.
Okulitch's 2004/05 season began with his return to San Francisco Opera as The Bosun in Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd
Billy Budd
Billy Budd is a short novel by Herman Melville.Billy Budd can also refer to:*Billy Budd , a 1962 film produced, directed, and co-written by Peter Ustinov, based on Melville's novel...
, followed by a recording of Chausson's Le roi Arthus
Le roi Arthus
Le roi Arthus is an opera in three acts by the French composer Ernest Chausson to his own libretto. It was composed between 1886 and 1895, but only first performed on 30 November 1903 at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels, after long delays...
with the BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
in London, and by the roles of Friedrich Baeher in Little Women
Little Women (opera)
Little Women is the first opera composed by American composer Mark Adamo to his own libretto after Louisa May Alcott's tale of growing up in New England after the American Civil War, Little Women. The opera also includes text by John Bunyan , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Little Women (1998) is the...
at Fort Worth Opera
Fort Worth Opera
According to the company, Fort Worth Opera is the oldest, continually performing opera company in the state of Texas and among the oldest in the United States. While originally presenting operas one at a time over a fall/winter season, it changed to a "festival" format in 2007...
, Demetrius in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream (opera)
A Midsummer Night's Dream is an opera with music by Benjamin Britten and set to a libretto adapted by the composer and Peter Pears from William Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream...
with Utah Opera, Masetto in Don Giovanni with Opéra de Marseille
Opéra de Marseille
L’Opéra de Marseille, known today as the Opéra Municipal, is an opera company located in Marseille, France. In 1685, the city was the second in France after Bordeaux to have an opera house which was erected on a tennis court....
, and Laski in Chabrier's Le roi malgré lui
Le roi malgré lui
Le roi malgré lui is an opéra-comique in three acts by Emmanuel Chabrier with an original libretto by Emile de Najac and Paul Burani. The opera is revived occasionally, but has not found a place in the repertory, mainly because of the poor libretto...
at Avery Fisher Hall
Avery Fisher Hall
Avery Fisher Hall is a concert hall, in New York City and is part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex. It is the home of the New York Philharmonic, with a capacity of 2,738 seats.-History:...
with the American Symphony Orchestra
American Symphony Orchestra
The American Symphony Orchestra is a New York-based American orchestra founded in 1962 by Leopold Stokowski, then aged 80. Following Maestro Stokowski's departure, Kazuyoshi Akiyama was appointed Music Director of the American Symphony Orchestra from 1973-1978. Music Directors during the early...
.
Okulitch's 2005/06 season began with Schaunard in La bohème with Manitoba Opera
Manitoba Opera
Manitoba Opera is an opera company in Winnipeg, Manitoba that was founded in 1969. Its first production was a concert of Giuseppe Verdi's Il Trovatore in 1972. Manitoba Opera is one of several western Canadian opera companies that flourished under the inspired leadership of Irving Guttman,...
, immediately followed by Schlemil in Offenbach's Les contes d'Hoffmann at Dallas Opera
Dallas Opera
The Dallas Opera is an opera company located in Dallas, Texas . The company was founded in 1957 as the Dallas Civic Opera by Laurence Kelly and Nicolà Rescigno, both of whom had been active with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the first as administrator, the second as artistic director.-The company's...
, the critically acclaimed title role debut of Joseph De Rocher in Dead Man Walking
Dead Man Walking (opera)
Dead Man Walking is the first opera by Jake Heggie, with a libretto by Terrence McNally; it premiered on October 7, 2000 at the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco Opera.-Roles:...
at the Calgary Opera, Masetto with Vancouver Opera
Vancouver Opera
Vancouver Opera is the second largest performing arts organization in British Columbia and the largest opera company in western Canada.It performs in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre accompanied currently by the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, one of two specialized opera orchestras in Canada...
, and Blitch in Floyd's Susannah
Susannah
Susannah is an opera in two acts by American composer Carlisle Floyd, who wrote the libretto and music while a member of the piano faculty at Florida State University. Floyd adapted the story from the Apocryphal tale of Susannah and the Elders, though the latter story has a more positive ending...
with the Boheme Opera in New Jersey. He closed the season with his long-awaited role debut as Don Giovanni at the French festival Lyrique-en-Mer in Belle Île
Belle Île
Belle-Île or Belle-Île-en-Mer is a French island off the coast of Brittany in the département of Morbihan, and the largest of Brittany's islands. It is 14 km from the Quiberon peninsula.Administratively, the island forms a canton: the canton of Belle-Île...
.
In 2006/07 Okulitch was heard again as Giovanni with Opera Ontario and Hawaii Opera Theatre
Hawaii Opera Theatre
The Hawaii Opera Theatre is an opera company located in Honolulu, Hawaii, which became active in 1961. The company typically performs three operas during February and March in Blaisdell Concert Hall...
, and created the role of Inspector Gert Osterland in the world premiere of Thomas Pasatieri's Frau Margot
Frau Margot
Frau Margot is an opera in 3 acts by composer Thomas Pasatieri. The work uses an English language libretto by Frank Corsaro which is based on Corsaro's play Lyric Suite. The opera's premiere was presented by the Fort Worth Opera on June 2, 2007. Corsaro directed the production which used sets by...
at the Fort Worth Opera.
Okulitch's career continued to grow in the 2007/2008 season in which he made his role debut at the Detroit Opera House
Detroit Opera House
The Detroit Opera House is an opera house located in Detroit, Michigan. It is the venue for all Michigan Opera Theatre productions and it hosts a variety of other events. It opened on January 22, 1922....
in the title role of Le nozze di Figaro, performed Schaunard in La bohème in Phoenix, Colline in the same opera in Vancouver, and the world premiere of David DiChiera's Cyrano
Cyrano (opera)
Cyrano is an opera in three acts by David DiChiera to a libretto in French by Bernard Uzan, based on the play Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. The opera premiered on 13 October 2007 at the Michigan Opera Theatre. It was then given February 8–17, 2008 at the Opera Company of Philadelphia...
at the Michigan Opera Theatre
Michigan Opera Theatre
Michigan Opera Theatre is Michigan's principal opera company. The company is based in Detroit, where it performs in the Detroit Opera House. Each year it presents an opera and dance season. The company usually presents five operas in their original language with English supertitles and hosts five...
.
In 2008 Okulitch created the role of Seth Brundle in Howard Shore
Howard Shore
Howard Leslie Shore is a Canadian composer, notable for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, for which he won three Academy Awards. He is also a consistent collaborator with director David Cronenberg,...
's opera The Fly
The Fly (opera)
The Fly is an opera in two acts by Canadian composer Howard Shore to a libretto by David Henry Hwang. It was commissioned by the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, where it premiered on 2 July 2008, and by Edgar Baitzel, then director of the Los Angeles Opera, where the opera was first performed on 7...
at the Los Angeles Opera
Los Angeles Opera
The Los Angeles Opera is an opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, part of the Los Angeles Music Center.-Current leadership:...
, directed by David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg
David Paul Cronenberg, OC, FRSC is a Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror or venereal horror genre. This style of filmmaking explores people's fears of bodily transformation and infection. In his films, the...
, conducted by Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
.
In March 2011, he released his first solo album, The New American Art Song, featuring world premiere songs songs by Ricky Ian Gordon
Ricky Ian Gordon
Ricky Ian Gordon is an American composer of songs, stage musicals and opera. The death of his lover from AIDS inspired Dream True and Orpheus and Euridice...
, Jake Heggie
Jake Heggie
Jake Heggie is an American composer and pianist.Jake Heggie is the composer of the operas Dead Man Walking , The End of the Affair , At The Statue of Venus , To Hell and Back , and Moby-Dick , as well as the stage work For a Look or a Touch...
, Lowell Liebermann
Lowell Liebermann
Lowell Liebermann is an American composer, pianist and conductor.At the age of sixteen, Liebermann performed at Carnegie Hall, playing his Piano Sonata, op. 1...
and Glen Roven
Glen Roven
Glen Roven is an Emmy Award-winning composer, lyricist, and conductor. One of his notable compositions include a violin concerto based on the children's book The Runaway Bunny. Another notable composition is "Goodnight Moon, An Aria for Singer and Orchestra" which Lauren Flanigan performed in...
who all accompany Okulitch on piano. Simultaneous with the record release, the songs were performed in a concert at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, again with the composers accompanying (except Heggie).
Awards
Daniel Okulitch is the recipient of numerous awards and prizes, including First Prize from the George London Foundation in 2004, a grant from the Sullivan Foundation 2004, 2nd Prize from the Licia AlbaneseLicia Albanese
Licia Albanese is an Italian-born American operatic soprano. Noted especially for her portrayals of the lyric heroines of Verdi and Puccini, Albanese was a leading artist with the Metropolitan Opera of New York from 1940 to 1966...
/Puccini Foundation Competition, First Prize from the Joyce Dutka Arts Foundation in 2004, a Grant from the Singers Development Fund in 2003, 5th Prize in the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition in 2002, and was a Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions in 2000 and 2001. He is a 2006 and 2008 recipient of a Canada Council Grant for Professional Musicians and received the Andrew White Memorial Award and a Corbett Award while a student at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.
Recordings
- Baz Luhrmann's La bohèmeLa bohèmeLa bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
(Highlights from the 2002 Original Broadway Cast) DreamWorks 2002 - Le roi ArthusLe roi ArthusLe roi Arthus is an opera in three acts by the French composer Ernest Chausson to his own libretto. It was composed between 1886 and 1895, but only first performed on 30 November 1903 at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels, after long delays...
(Ernest ChaussonErnest ChaussonAmédée-Ernest Chausson was a French romantic composer who died just as his career was beginning to flourish.-Life:Ernest Chausson was born in Paris into a prosperous bourgeois family...
) Telarc 2005 - Frau MargotFrau MargotFrau Margot is an opera in 3 acts by composer Thomas Pasatieri. The work uses an English language libretto by Frank Corsaro which is based on Corsaro's play Lyric Suite. The opera's premiere was presented by the Fort Worth Opera on June 2, 2007. Corsaro directed the production which used sets by...
Thomas PasatieriThomas PasatieriThomas Pasatieri is an American opera composer.He began composing at age 10 and, as a teenager, studied with Nadia Boulanger...
Albany Records 2007 - The New American Art Song, GPR Records (2011)