Daniel Belcher

Vocalists — Baritone

• Manager: Ken Benson
  Management Territory: Worldwide

About

Described as having a voice “of beautiful melting sweetness…”(Süddeutsche Zeitung) and the theatrical talent “to create a first-rate portrayal that drew the listener more and more into the hopes and despair of his character” (The Houston Chronicle).

In the 2009-10 season, Daniel Belcher will appear as Captain Corcoran in HMS Pinafore with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Taddeo in L’Italiana in Algeri with Utah Symphony & Opera, Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Portland Opera as well as returns to Houston Grand Opera and a debut with Opera Colorado in future seasons . . . . He recently recorded Kaija Saariaho’s L’Amour de Loin with Harmonia Mundi, conducted by Kent Nagano, scheduled for release in the U.S. later this season. The critically acclaimed recording received the Diapason d'Or award from Diapason Magazine for October 2009

Last season, Mr. Belcher performed Marcello in La Bohème with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Taddeo in L’Italiana in Algeri with Opera Company of Philadelphia, and Ned Keene in Peter Grimes in Geneva. In concert he performed with Kansas City Chamber Orchestra and the baritone soloist in Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem with New York Choral Society at Carnegie Hall.

Recent notable engagements include: a return to San Francisco Opera for performances of Papageno in Die Zauberflöte and also debuts at the Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Austria, as Orfeo in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, followed by the role of Dandini in Rossini’s La Cenerentola with Utah Opera, Dandini with Opera Company of Philadelphia, Il Barbiere di Siviglia in both Kansas City and Milwaukee, concerts with the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, and a role debut as Britten’s Billy Budd with Houston Grand Opera, for which he received critical acclaim.

Past engagements also include Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Tokyo with Japan’s New National Theater, the Fauré Requiem for Seiji Ozawa’s Saito Kinen Festival to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Hiroshima, the title role of Handel’s Imeneo for Opera Ireland, John Brooke in Adamo’s Little Women with Kentucky Opera. Mr. Belcher created this role in Little Women at the Houston Grand Opera Studio, and he has sung it at several companies since then, including New York City Opera, Fort Worth Opera, and Central City Opera. (The Houston performance was taped for a Great Performances national telecast and for a release on the Ondine recording label.) Also, Jaufre in L’Amour de Loin by Kaija Saariaho with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Théâtre du Châtelet, and the title role Monteverdi’s Orfeo with Opera Atelier, a company with which he has performed Mozart’s Figaro, and the role of Orestes in Marshall Pynkoski’s Iphigénie en Tauride, as well as Figaro with Utah Opera.

Additional engagements include his Paris debut at the Châtelet as Prior Walter in the Peter Eötvös opera Angels in America, his UK debut as Guglielmo in Così fan Tutte at both the Garsington Festival and at the Barbican Mostly Mozart Festival, and Mercutio in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette at Houston Grand Opera.
Mr. Belcher has a very close relationship with Houston Grand Opera. He was a member of the HGO Studio as a young artist, and during that period, sang a number of various roles in several operas, including such works as Tod Machover’s Resurrection, Billy Budd, A Little Night Music, Michael Daugherty’s Jackie O (released by Decca on the Argo label), Carmen, Madama Butterfly, and Arabella. Additionally, he has performed the roles of Papgeno in Die Zauberflöte, Schaunard in La Bohème, and the title role in Monteverdi’s Orfeo with that company.

Mr. Belcher is one of the premiere interpreters of Rossini performing today, and he is particularly closely associated with the roles of Dandini in La Cenerentola, and Figaro in Il Barbiere di Sivigla. He has performed Danadini with San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Opera Company of Philadelphia. He has performed Figaro with Arizona Opera, Lake George Opera, Opera Festival of New Jersey, and the Wolf Trap Opera.

In addition to these Rossini performances, he sings a wide repertoire at several opera companies such as Guglielmo in Così fan Tutte with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos with San Francisco Opera, Prince Paul in La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein with Opera Company of Philadelphia, Henry Cuffe in the American premiere of Britten’s Gloriana, Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus at Opera Columbus, Antonio in Reinhard Keiser’s Masaniello Furioso at the Stuttgart Opera, marking his European opera debut, and Gunther in Oscar Strauss’ operetta Sacre Siegfried at Opèra de Montpellier, which was the occasion of his French debut.

Active in concert work, Mr. Belcher has performed the baritone solos in Carmina Burana with the Pacific Symphony in a program that also featured Copland’s Old American Songs. He has performed Gounod’s St. Cecilia Mass and Vaughan Williams’ Hodie in New York City. He was featured with the Houston Symphony Orchestra in 1997 and 1999 concerts of Opera Favorites and made his National Symphony Orchestra debut in a 1998 concert titled “A Night in Vienna.” He returned to the National Symphony Orchestra in 1999 to perform an all-Bernstein concert. In the 2002-2003 season he performed Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis for the first time with the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra, and appeared with his hometown orchestra, the St. Joseph Symphony, in a program of opera highlights.

Mr. Belcher is a recent recipient of a 1997 Robert Jacobson Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, a 1998 Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation for his work with Wolf Trap Opera and a 1997 winner of the Sullivan Foundation Award. He received the Apprentice Grant Award from the Santa Fe Opera following his 1996 apprenticeship. While at Central City Opera in summers 1993 and 1994 he received the Young Artist Award and Outstanding Studio Artist Award.

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