Lyric tenor Alek Shrader '07 in recital at Oberlin Conservatory March 1

OBERLIN, OH — Lyric tenor Alek Shrader ’07 will return to Oberlin Conservatory on March 1 for a recital accompanied by Keun-A Lee, piano. Shrader, hailed as “a gifted young tenor” by the Washington Post, will perform at 7:00 pm in Warner Concert Hall at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, 77 W. College Street. Admission is free.

Shrader’s program will include lyric French songs by Fauré, Turina’s Poema en forma de canciones, Handel’s “Un momento di contento” from Alcina, and selected works by Strauss, Rossini, Ethelbert Nevin and Virgil Thomson. The performance will also include the world premiere of Iain Bell’s the Undying Splendour, a song cycle setting of the wartime poems of Sgt. John William Streets inspired by his service as a British soldier during World War I. Iain Bell is known as a prolific young composer whose song cycles have been performed by singers such as Diana Damrau, and in venues from Wigmore Hall to the Munich Opera Festival.

The 2012–13 season has been an eventful one for Shrader. His debut at the Metropolitan Opera was met with glowing praise, as he opened the season with a production of Thomas Adés’s the Tempest, conducted by the composer. The New York Times called his performance “sweet-voiced,” “bright,” and “appealing,” and the Washington Post described him as “a gifted young tenor.” Shrader returned to the Metropolitan Opera in December to sing Almaviva in the Barber of Seville. On March 8, Shrader will give his Carnegie Weill Hall debut.

Shrader’s involvement with the Metropolitan Opera began in 2007, when he was selected as one of six finalists out of 1,500 participants in the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions. He made his U.S. main stage debut in 2008 with the San Francisco Opera’s production of L’Eliser d’Amor, where his performance was described as “natural and effortless.” (San Francisco Classical Voice) His European debut occurred with the 2009–10 season performance of Die Zauberflöte with the Grande Theatre de Bordeaux. He has since performed in numerous productions with companies that include the Opera Theater of St. Louis, Sante Fe Opera, and Bavarian State Opera, as well as concert appearances with the Cleveland Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, and St. Louis Symphony.

During his time at Oberlin, Schrader was a student of Professor of Voice Salvatore Champagne. Following Shrader’s win in the Met Council Auditions in 2007, Champagne said, “I knew it wouldn’t be long before Alek returned to the Met as a full-fledged leading artist.”

He adds, “Alek’s expert vocalism and superb musicianship will serve the Met well and represent what the Conservatory’s vocal studies division has to offer.”

Fact sheet

Friday, March 1, 2013, 7:00 p.m.

Alek Shrader ’07, tenor
Keun-A Lee, piano
Warner Concert Hall
77 W. College St., Oberlin, Oh 44074

Free and no tickets are required.

Program:

Rossini: La danza (Pepoli)                                                                
Bellini:  La ricordanza (Pepoli)                                                              
Mercadante:  La serenata del marinaro (Pepoli)                                            
Fauré:  Lydia (de Lisle)
          Apres un reve (Bussine) 
          Spleen (Verlaine)
Strauss: Vier Lieder, Op. 27
                  Ruhe, meine Seele! (Henckell)
                  Cäcilie (Hart)
                  Heimliche Aufforderung (Mackay)
                  Morgen! (Mackay)
Turina: Poema en forma de canciones, Op. 19 (Campoamor)
                  Dedicatoria
                  Nunca olvida
                  Cantares
                  Los dos miedos
                  Las locas por amor
Händel: Un momento di contento
                  from Alcina
Vicente Martin y Soler: Oh ciel! Che duro passo… Seguir degg’io chi fugge?
                  from Una cosa rara (da Ponte)
 Iain Bell: The Undying Splendour (Streets)
                  *world premiere
Virgil Thomson: Was this fair face the cause (Shakespeare
                   Love Song (Koch)
           English Usage (Moore)
Ethelbert Nevin: Buona Notte
                     ‘Twas April (Pailleron)                                                                
                      Stars of the Summer Night (Longfellow)
                      Nocturne (Aldrich)

About Alek Shrader
Brilliant lyric tenor Alek Shrader continues to impress audiences worldwide with the “luxury of his phrasing, the clarity of his diction, and the sensitivity and expressiveness of his characterizations.” In addition to his Metropolitan Opera debut last fall, Shrader has performed in top opera houses across the globe including those in Chicago, Los Angeles, Santa Fe, San Francisco, Salzburg, Munich, and Bordeaux, among others.

Called “vocally flawless” (Munich Merkur, Germany) and praised for possessing  “a youthful vibrant tenor and … superb vocalism” (Classical Review), Shrader’s 2012–13 season highlights include two engagements at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He made his house debut as Ferdinand in Thomas Adès’ modern masterpiece, the Tempest, conducted by the composer himself, and returned to sing Almaviva in the English version of the Barber of Seville. Abroad, he sang Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola at the Hamburgische Staatsoper before returning to the U.S. for a North American recital tour. Shrader closes the season with the tenor solo in Britten’s War Requiem at the Cincinnati May Festival with James Conlon conducting, followed by his role debut as Ernesto in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale at the Glyndebourne Festival.

The “strapping star” (Vogue magazine) is also highly acclaimed by the San Francisco press as a recitalist who is “natural and effortless, so different from just about everybody else.” He has made guest appearances at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara and at Santa Monica College for the Performing Arts (Broad Stage), both sponsored by the Marilyn Horne Foundation. Concert appearances have included Handel’s Messiah with the Cleveland Orchestra and Mozart’s Requiem with the Pittsburgh and St. Louis symphonies.

Shrader is the recipient of a Sarah Tucker grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation and a winner of the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He is a 2007 graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.