Stephen Salters, baritone, David Zobel, piano
Wednesday, May 26, 2010, 7:30 PM, Terrace Theater

Stephen Salters’ passionate and impeccably articulated performances of a wide range of repertoire have won him acclaim throughout Europe, the UK, Asia and the United States. He works regularly with leading conductors including Christoph Eschenbach, James Conlon, Seiji Ozawa, Robert Spano, Nicholas McGegan, Keith Lockhart, Ivor Bolton, Will Crutchfield, Leonard Slatkin, Hugh Wolff, Bobby McFerrin, Jane Glover, Jeff Tyzik, and Martin Haselboeck. On the opera stage with over 30 roles, he excels equally in contemporary works and standard repertory. He received superlative praise in the role of the Minotaur in the world premiere of Philippe Fenelon’s Les Rois for Opera National in Bordeaux, and when he created the title role in Elena Ruehr’s Toussaint Before the Spirits for Opera Boston, The Boston Globe called his performance “Astounding…Salters is a fearless and exhaustingly honest performer and a thrilling singer.” He has most recently been acclaimed in roles by Mozart (Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva/Le nozze di Figaro and Guglielmo/Cosi fan tutte), Donizetti (Malatesta/Don Pasquale) (Belcore/L’Elisir d’Amore, Gluck (High Priest and Hercules/Alceste), Handel (Melisso/Alcina and Achilla/Guilio Cesare), Leoncavallo (Silvio/I Pagliacci) and as Captain Balstrode in Britten’s Peter Grimes at Tanglewood on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the piece’s American premiere. He just appeared in the 2006-07 season in the critically acclaimed Opera Boston production as Bill in Kurt Weill’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. This 2007-2008 season, Mr. Salters will appear as Dandini in Rossini’s beloved La Cenerentola, with the Joffrey Ballet in Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder, in recital at the Carnegie Hall, at the Kennedy Center for an important event for Veteran’s Day with Tom Brokaw hosting for distinguished government officials and dignitaries singing Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem and Hadyn’s Mass in a Time of War and opera aria concerts in the US, Belgium, and other unfolding projects in France and Spain. Mr. Salters has demonstrated his versatility on the concert stage in such diverse works as Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8. In the past couple of seasons alone, he was seen in performances of Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer, Copland’s Old American Songs, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Vaughan- Williams’ Sea Symphony, Britten’s War Requiem, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah a concert performance of Der Freischutz; Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater, Zemlinsky’s Symphonic Songs, and the Brahms Requiem as well as Handel’s Messiah. He has appeared with symphonies in Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco and with the Chicago Symphony at Ravinia, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Radio Symphony Orchestra Frankfurt, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and the Tokyo Philharmonic. A versatile stylist, he also appears in Pops programs, including with the Boston Pops on their national holiday tour and twice at Bravo! Vail with the Rochester Philharmonic. A celebrated recitalist, Mr. Salters has thrilled and moved audiences all over the world and is a much sought-after interpreter and advocate of ‘New Music’. His most recent collaborations include a dance/recital program under the combined auspices of Ravinia and the Luna Negra Dance Theatre, featuring the world premiere of a song cycle by Ana Lara; the commission of a cycle by William Bolcom; and another by French composer Pierre Ruscher. He conducts masterclasses and has a residency called Until Now for young singers as well. His recordings include a recital CD of French mélodie, German lieder and spirituals with pianist Sheila Kibbe for Cypres, and Telarc’s award-winning recording of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride and the dance opera entitled Toussaint Before the Spirits which was just released on the Arsis label. There will soon be a DVD of Feneon’s Les Rois also available. Stephen Salters first gained wide attention in 1996, when he took first place in Belgium’s Queen Elisabeth International Competition of Singing; first place in the International Puccini-Licia Albanese Competition; was a Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions National Finalist; and received a George London Foundation Award in memory of Bruce Yarnell. Shortly thereafter, he won the prestigious Walter N. Naumburg Prize and was well on his way to becoming one of the most sought-after singers of his generation.

French pianist David Zobel earned a Master of Music Degree in   accompanying  from The Juilliard School in 1996 (recipient of a Fullbright Scolarship and Sony ES award of music excellence) and in singers coaching from the Conservatoire National   Supérieur de Musique  de paris.

During two summers (1994-95), he appeared at the Tanglewood Music Festival where he was awarded the CD Jackson Memorial Prize and worked in the summer of 1996 as a young coach for the Merola Opera Program. He has also  collaborated with the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Gilmore Young Artists Festival and the Juilliard Opera Center. With baritone Stephen Salters he was invited in 2000 to take part in the Steans Institute Program of the Ravinia Festival(Chicago) and returned the year after  as a staff member.

Meanwhile he has been achieving a career as an opera coach and pianist at venues such as the Wiener Staatsoper in Vienna, le Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, de Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam,The Stanislawski Theater in Moscow, l’Opéra Français in New York and the Festival Lyrique de St Céré.

As an opera coach,he collaborates a lot with le Théâtre du châtelet in Paris where he partipates in major productions under conductors such as Christoph von Dohnànyi, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir John Eliot Gardiner,Marc Minkovski. With the latest,he created last spring Pelleas and Melisande in Moscow staged by Olivier Py ,production which received the National Theatre Award “Golden Mask”of best opera production and best conductor of the year in Russia.
His future projects are a creation of Renée Koering at l’opéra de Montpellier in February 2008,Die Feen in Châtelet and  Idoménée in Aix-en Provence in 2009.

He accompanies singers at world renown competitions such as the Domingo competition,le concours de la ville de Paris,the Reine Elisabeth in Brussels or the Belvedere in Vienna.
In july 2000, David Zobel won the First Prize at the first edition of the Belvedere Competition for Accompanists in Vienna. In 2002 and for two seasons he has been engaged as a permanent coach for French repertoire at the Wiener Staatsoper.

He also made his recital debut at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center with baritone Stephen Salters in 2002,at the Concertgebow in Amsterdam with counter tenor Brain Asawa in 2003.He’s been playing more recently with the young acclaimed mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato at the Pesaro Rossini festival,and last october at La Scala in Milan.
His future concerts will take place in NYC Lincoln Center,Quebec and Philadelphy,as well as the Opéra Comique in Paris and at the opening season of the Wigmore hall in London,next September.

One can hear him accompanying the  Mezzo Joyce DiDonato on their first solo album of American songs by Bernstein,copland and jakkie Heggie,Cd praised by a “Diapason d’or de l’année”,Opera Diamant and several other best critics.