Bass-Baritone Eric Owens (’95) Performs at the Kimmel Center on January 17; Featuring Mikael Eliasen and Members of the Curtis Opera Theatre

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Bass-Baritone Eric Owens (’95) Performs at the Kimmel Center on January 17

Featuring Mikael Eliasen and Members of the Curtis Opera Theatre

PHILADELPHIA, PA—January 7, 2016—Curtis Presents features the exceptional talents of bass-baritone Eric Owens (’95) in recital with members of the Curtis community on Sunday, January 17 at 3 p.m. at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater. An inspiring array of intimate and innovative recitals, Curtis Presents honors the school’s unique performance culture with virtuosity and magnetism.

With a distinctive reputation as an esteemed interpreter of classic works and a champion of new music, Eric Owens is celebrated for his versatility and the “ability to wrap his deep voice around a text and create a distinct sense of character” (New York Times). He brings his powerful poise and acting faculties to the finest stages around the world—and comes home to Philadelphia for this intimate program with pianist Mikael Eliasen, artistic director of the Curtis Opera Theatre and Hirsig Family Head-of-Department Chair of Vocal Studies; and members of the Curtis Opera Theatre. The program includes works by Weill, Tchaikovsky, and Böhm, as well as Brahms’s whimsical and sophisticated Liebeslieder Waltzes for four singers.

 
The recital takes place at the Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, 300 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia. Single tickets are $25. To purchase tickets, contact the Kimmel Center Box office at (215) 893-1999 or kimmelcenter.org. The Curtis Presents season is sponsored by Blank Rome LLP.

About Eric Owens
Equally at home in orchestral, recital, and operatic repertoire, Eric Owens’ 2015–16 season features several collaborations with the New York Philharmonic as the Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence, including a tribute to legendary African-American singers and their legacy titled In Their Footsteps. Symphonic highlights of Mr. Owens’ recent season included performances of Verdi’s Requiem with the New York Philharmonic and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortileges with the Swedish Radio Symphony and Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Owens has created an uncommon niche for himself in the ever-growing body of contemporary opera works through his determined tackling of new and challenging roles. He received great critical acclaim for portraying the title role in the world premiere of Elliot Goldenthal’s Grendel with the Los Angeles Opera, and again at the Lincoln Center Festival, in a production directed and designed by Julie Taymor.

Mr. Owens’ career operatic highlights include Alberich in the Metropolitan Opera’s Ring Cycle directed by Robert Lepage; his San Francisco Opera debut in Otello conducted by Donald Runnicles; his Royal Opera, Covent Garden, debut in Norma; Vodnik in Rusalka at Lyric Opera of Chicago; the title role in Handel’s Hercules with the Canadian Opera Company; Aida at Houston Grand Opera; Rigoletto, Il trovatore, and La bohème at Los Angeles Opera; Die Zauberflöte for his Paris Opera (Bastille) debut; and Ariodante and L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the English National Opera. Mr. Owens has been recognized with multiple honors, including the 2003 Marian Anderson Award, a 1999 ARIA award, second prize in the Plácido Domingo Operalia Competition, the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition.

A native of Philadelphia, Mr. Owens began his musical training as a pianist at the age of six, followed by formal oboe study at age eleven under Lloyd Shorter of the Delaware Symphony and Louis Rosenblatt of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He studied voice while an undergraduate at Temple University, and then as a graduate student at the Curtis Institute of Music. He currently studies with Armen Boyajian. He serves on the Board of Trustees of both the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and Astral Artistic Services.

About Curtis Presents
Curtis Presents honors the school’s unique performance culture with this series featuring Curtis alumni and faculty in recital. As leading experts in their respective fields, featured performers represent the latest in a 90-year tradition of talent, mastery, and passion with a cross-continental reach. All proceeds directly benefit current Curtis students with the hope of inspiring and supporting future generations of virtuosity.

About the Curtis Institute of Music
Drawing upon 90 years of artistry, the Curtis Institute of Music pairs tradition and innovation, educating exceptionally gifted young musicians as artist-citizens who engage a local and global community through music-making of the highest caliber. Each year 175 students come to Curtis, drawn by a tuition-free, performance-inspired learning culture. In this intimate environment, they are nurtured by a celebrated faculty and inspired by the school’s distinctive “learn by doing” approach, offering more than 200 concerts each year in Philadelphia, as well as performances around the world through Curtis on Tour.

“One of the world’s finest music academies” (BBC Culture), Curtis reaches global audiences through Curtis Performs (curtis.edu/CurtisPerforms), the school’s dedicated HD performance video site. Online music courses and Summerfest programs offer lifelong learners further ways to listen, explore, and learn. And students hone 21st-century skills through social entrepreneurship programs that bring arts access and education to the community.

The extraordinary young musicians of Curtis graduate to join 4,000 alumni who have long made music history. Each season leading orchestras, opera houses, and chamber music series around the world feature Curtis students and alumni. They are in the front rank of soloists, composers, and conductors and hold principal chairs in every major American orchestra. When they graduate, they become musical leaders, making a profound impact on music onstage and in their communities. To learn more, visit www.curtis.edu.

Curtis Presents: Eric Owens and Friends
Sunday, January 17 at 3 p.m.
Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Broad and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia

BÖHM  “Still wie die Nacht,” Op. 326, No. 27
Kirsten MacKinnon, soprano
Eric Owens, bass-baritone
Mikael Eliasen, piano

BRAHMS  Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op. 52
Kirsten MacKinnon, soprano
Lauren Eberwein, mezzo-soprano
Evan LeRoy Johnson, tenor
Eric Owens, bass-baritone
Mikael Eliasen, piano
Danielle Orlando, piano

BRAHMS Vier ernste Gesänge, Op. 121
Eric Owens, bass-baritone
Mikael Eliasen, piano

CORNELIUS  “Scheiden,” Op. 16, No. 4
Eric Owens, bass-baritone
Vartan Gabrielian, bass-baritone
Mikael Eliasen, piano

ROSSINI “La Charité” from Trois Chœurs religieux
Kirsten MacKinnon, soprano
Lauren Eberwein, mezzo-soprano
Evan LeRoy Johnson, tenor
Vartan Gabrielian, bass-baritone
Mikael Eliasen, piano

TCHAIKOVSKY  “Tears,” Op. 46, No. 3
Evan LeRoy Johnson, tenor
Eric Owens, bass-baritone
Mikael Eliasen, piano

WEILL  “Lost in the Stars” from Lost in the Stars
Eric Owens, bass-baritone
Mikael Eliasen, piano

Tickets: $25; available from the Kimmel Center Box office at (215) 893-1999 or kimmelcenter.org

The Curtis Presents season is sponsored by Blank Rome LLP.

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