Evan Hughes
Vocalists
— Bass-Baritone
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Manager: Michael Benchetrit
Management Territory: Worldwide
“In this production, featuring young artists, the Alfonso was, naturally, young: Evan Hughes, an appealing, trim, rich-voiced bass-baritone.” —Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, November 16, 2012 - Così Fan Tutte with the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program
“Evan Hughes, the baritone soloist, projected the three songs with gracefulness and clarity.” —Allan Kozinn, The New York Times, December 13, 2011 - World Premiere of Three Explorations by Eliot Carter with Axiom
About
American Bass-Baritone Evan Hughes has been praised for his “appealing clarity and emotional heft” (NY times) and his “burnished tone” (Opera News).
A current member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development program, Mr. Hughes started the season with a personal success as Don Alfonso in a production of Così Fan Tutte directed by Stephen Wadsworth and conducted by Alan Gilbert at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Lincoln Center. Later this season he will make his Metropolitan Opera debut as Crebillon in La Rondine. Further engagements . . . include his return to the St Paul Chamber Orchestra in performances of Schoenberg’s Serenade conducted by Oliver Knussen and the premiere of a piece by emerging composer John Glover for the 50th anniversary gala of the New York Youth symphony at Carnegie Hall.
Mr. Hughes was recently seen as Aronte in Gluck’s Armide presented by the Met in collaboration with the Juilliard School; he also performed Don Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, Italy with Lorin Maazel and reprised the role in the summer at the Castleton Festival, where he also sang the bass solo in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, both projects being conducted by Mr. Maazel. In concert he appeared in Schubert’s Mass No. 6 with San Diego Symphony, followed by Matthias Pintscher’s Songs from Solomon’s Garden with the BBC Scottish Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Aspen Music Festival.
A champion of contemporary music, Mr. Hughes appeared in Elliott Carter’s Syringa with the Met Chamber Ensemble at Zankel Hall (Carnegie) and the Tanglewood Music Festival, conducted both times by James Levine, and more recently he premiered Mr. Carter’s Three Explorations at Alice Tully Hall with the Axiom Ensemble and Jeffrey Milarsky. Another milestone in the bass-baritone’s exploration of Elliott Carter’s music was On Conversing with Paradise as part of a festival of cultural exchange entitled Ascending Dragon in Los Angeles, Hanoi and in other parts of Vietnam.
Evan Hughes appeared as Leporello in Don Giovanni at the Curtis Opera Theatre and the Tanglewood Music Festival (conducted by James Levine). At the Curtis Institute he was also seen as Lord Sidney in Il Viaggio a Reims, the title role in Don Giovanni, and Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress, José Tripaldi in the Philadelphia premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar and Argento’s Postcard from Morocco, which was released on Albany Records.
After winning the grand prize in the Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition, Evan Hughes gave critically acclaimed recitals in NYC for the “On Wings of Song” series, and for “The Song Continues” Gala, marking his Carnegie Hall debut. The New York Times called him a “naturally communicative artist.” Returning to Carnegie Hall in collaboration with Dawn Upshaw and Ensemble ACJW, Mr. Hughes sang David Bruce’s Klezmer-inspired Piosenki, led by Stephen Prutsman. He also performed the work alongside Ms. Upshaw with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He made his European recital debut in Denmark with pianist Mikael Eliasen in Skagen’s Sommermusik series. He has also given recitals for the William Walton Foundation at La Mortella in Ischia, Italy, and with the American Academy in Berlin, Germany. He has been heard in Puccini’s Messa di Gloria with the Santa Barbara Symphony and in collaboration with the Mark Morris Dance Group in Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer.
Mr. Hughes attended the Curtis Institute of Music and was a regional winner and a national Semi-Finalist in the 2010 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
Updated December 2012
