BIOGRAPHIES — Weill • Dallapiccola • Orff

Baritone DAVID KRAVITZ has received wide critical acclaim for his singing, acting, and careful attention to text, on both the operatic and the concert stages. In addition to his many performances with the Cantata Singers under David Hoose, his concert appearances include his Carnegie Hall debut in Handel’s Messiah and, last season, his Symphony Hall major role debut as Apollo in Handel’s Apollo e Dafne with the Handel & Haydn Society under Grant Llewellyn, as well as major works by Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Fauré, Berlioz, Britten, and Prokofiev, with conductors Seiji Ozawa, Roger Norrington, Craig Smith, Martin Pearlman, Gil Rose, and others.  Mr. Kravitz’s opera roles include Leporello and the title role in Don Giovanni, Figaro in The Barber of Seville, Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Papageno in The Magic Flute, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress, and Captain Corcoran in HMS Pinafore. He has performed with Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Lake George Opera Festival, Granite State Opera, Opera Aperta, and others.  Mr. Kravitz has presented world and regional premieres of numerous contemporary works, including Edward Cohen’s opera The Bridal Night and Andy Vores’ song cycle Goback Goback with Collage New Music, John Harbison’s Four Psalms with Cantata Singers (recently released on CD by New World), Tod Machover’s Resurrection with Boston Lyric Opera, Thomas Whitman’s opera The Black Swan with Orchestra 2001, and Andy Vores’ Welsh Songs with pianist Kayo Iwama. Mr. Kravitz can be heard on Koch International Classics’ recordings of Bach’s Cantata BWV 20 and St. John Passion (1725 version) with Emmanuel Music, and on New World’s recording of Peter Child’s Estrella with Cantata Singers. This season’s highlights include Messiah in Avery Fisher Hall, the St. John Passion with Cantata Singers, and debut performances with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Opera Boston.  Mr. Kravitz is currently in his twelfth season with the Cantata Singers.

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Tenor ROCKLAND OSGOOD has distinguished himself in a wide variety of musical idioms from the baroque to contemporary compositions. Upcoming performances include Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the Pennsylvania Sinfonia, Messiah at Avery Fisher Hall with the Peniel Concert Choir and at Carnegie Hall with John Rutter conducting. He will also be heard in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at the Northwest Bach Festival with Gunther Schuller conducting. Last season’s concerts included an all Beethoven concert at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York and in Handel’s Ode to St. Cecilia in St. Ignatius Loyola’s Sacred Music in a Sacred  Place series. In Mendelssohn’s  Paulus, the New York Times stated that Mr. Osgood “proved to be a solid and expressive tenor” after appearing on one day’s notice.  Highlights of previous years have included Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony,  Berlioz’ L’Enfance du Christ with Chorus pro musica, Verdi’s Requiem, Britten’s War Requiem, Carmina Burana at Mechanics Hall, and, at the Northwest Bach Festival,  Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Bach’s Mass in b minor.  He has appeared at New York’s Lincoln Center in Vivaldi's L'Olimpiad and Arsilda, Regina di Ponto, and Carmina Burana as well as Mozart's Mass in c-minor.  Carnegie Hall performances have included Haydn's The Creation and Messiah.   Mr. Osgood has been a featured soloist with the Monterey County Symphony, Berkshire Choral Festival, Spectrum Singers, Voices of Ascension, North Carolina Symphony, Hartford Symphony, Back Bay Chorale, West Virginia Symphony, Boston Cecilia, Sioux City Symphony, Fredonia Chamber Players, Jacksonville Symphony, New York Choral Society, Masterworks Choral, Oregon Symphony, Brevard Music Festival, Newport Music Festival, and the Spoleto Festival USA.  His operatic roles include Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, andTamino in Die Zauberflöte with opera companies including Anchorage, Mobile, and Syracuse Opera. He and his wife, Deanna Dalrymple, live in Bedford, MA with their children, Olivia and Tristan.

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Soprano JANET BROWN has been praised by critics for her warm, clear voice and direct expression.  She is equally at home on the concert and operatic stages.  She has performed roles with the Syracuse Opera Company, the American Repertory Theatre, the Boston Early Music Festival, and the Pepsico Summerfare Festival.  On the concert stage she has performed the major oratorio roles with the Syracuse Symphony, the West Virginia Symphony, the Cantata Singers, the Spectrum Singers, the New England Bach Festival, the Northwest Bach Festival, Handel & Haydn Society, Emmanuel Music, and the Tallahassee Symphony.  Ms. Brown is also a frequent recitalist with the Skaneateles Chamber Music Festival, and has appeared in concerts of new music with the Syracuse-based Society for New Music and Boston’s Collage New Music.

Recent engagements include a performance of Mozart’s Exsultate, Jubilate and Mahler’s 4th Symphony with the Syracuse Symphony; an Albany Pro Musica performance of Voices of Light by American composer Richard Einhorn; music by Charles Fussell with Collage New Music; and Carmina Burana with the Syracuse Symphony and West Virginia Symphony.  

Janet Brown has premiered works by composers Gunther Schuller, Andrew Imbrie, Philip Glass, Nicolas Scherzinger, Edward Cohen, Howard Boatwright, and Ernst Bacon.  In addition to her critically acclaimed CD release of selections from Spanisches Liederbuch of Hugo Wolf, she can be heard on a recording entitled "Fond Affection: Music of Ernst Bacon.”  Ms. Brown serves as Instructor of Voice and Academic Coordinator at Syracuse University’s Setnor School of Music.

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