Chad Shelton
Encyclopedia
Chad Shelton is an American opera
tic tenor
. Particularly associated with the acclaimed Houston Grand Opera
(HGO), Shelton has excelled in performances of contemporary American operas and in the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
and Giuseppe Verdi
. He has appeared in numerous world premieres with the HGO including Laurie in Mark Adamo
's critically acclaimed Little Women
(1998), Nico in Adamo's Lysistrata
(2005), and Ulises in Daniel Catán
's Salsipuedes: a Tale of Love, War and Anchovies (2004) among others. He also sang the role of Brigadier General Edward Alexander in the world premiere of Philip Glass
's Appomattox
at the San Francisco Opera
(2007).
Shelton has appeared with numerous opera companies throughout the United States, Europe, and in Australia. His signature roles include Laurie, Ferrando in Mozart's Così fan tutte
, Tamino in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Don Jose in Georges Bizet
's Carmen
, Alfredo in Verdi's La traviata
, and more recently the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto
. Not a stranger to the concert repertoire, he has made a number of recordings with the Minnesota Orchestra
and performed with numerous orchestras throughout the United States.
and then at Yale University
on the graduate level. He made his professional opera debut in 1994 while still at LSU as Tamino in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
's Die Zauberflöte with Baton Rouge Opera. That same year he played the roles of Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance
, the Second Composer in The Great Waltz
and the Second Waiter in Giuditta
with Ohio Light Opera
. In 1995 he sang the role of Dino in the world premiere of George Chadwick's The Padrone with the Waterbury Symphony at the Thomaston Opera House
.
In 1997 Shelton sang the role of Alfredo in Yale University's production of Giuseppe Verdi
's La traviata
. That same year he was awarded a Richard F. Gold Career Grant by the Shoshana Foundation
and became a member of the Young Artist Program at the Central City Opera
where he debuted in the role of Hayes in Carlisle Floyd
's Susannah
. He returned there in 1998 to sing the roles of Reverend Paris in Robert Ward's The Crucible
and Cavaradossi in Tosca
. He joined the Wolf Trap Opera Company
's Young Artist Program for the Summer of 1999, performing there in the roles of Tom Rakewell in The Rake's Progress
, the High priest of Neptune in Idomeneo
, and Monostatos in The Magic Flute
. That same year he sang the role of Laërte in Ambroise Thomas
's Hamlet
with Washington Concert Opera. In 2000 he was awarded a Richard Tucker Career Grant.
, remaining in the program through 2000. He made his debut with the company as Malcolm in the 1998 production of Verdi's Macbeth
. During his first season with the company he portrayed Count Elemer in Richard Strauss
's Arabella
with Renée Fleming
in the title role, and he was a last minute replacement of an ailing Peter Kazaras as Captain Vere in Billy Budd
. He also notably portrayed Laurie in the world premiere of Mark Adamo
's Little Women
alongside Stephanie Novacek
as Jo and Joyce DiDonato
as Meg. Shelton reprised the role in 2001 at the HGO in a performance that was recorded live for broadcast on PBS's Great Performances
and for commercial release on DVD and CD. He has since performed the role of Laurie numerous times, including productions with the Central City Opera
(2001), Opera Omaha
(2002), Chautauqua Opera
(2002), and New York City Opera
(2003).
Shelton's career has continued to be largely based at the HGO, although he often performs with other companies throughout the United States and Europe. Other notable roles with the company include Pinkerton in Giacomo Puccini
's Madama Butterfly
(1999), both Nereo and Wagner in Boito's Mefistofele
(1999), Nemorino in Gaetano Donizetti
's L'elisir d'amore
(2000), Ferrando in Mozart's Così fan tutte
(2001), Arcadio in Daniel Catán
's Florencia en el Amazonas
(2001), Janek in Leoš Janáček
's The Makropolous Case (2002), Camille de Rosillon in Franz Lehár
's The Merry Widow
(2003), Tamino in Mozart's The Magic Flute
(2004), and Don Jose in Georges Bizet
's Carmen
(2006). He has also sung roles in several more world premieres at the HGO, including Prisoner #1 in Tod Machover
's Resurrection (1999), Ulises in Catán's Salsipuedes: a Tale of Love, War and Anchovies (2004) and Nico in Adamo's Lysistrata
(2005). Shelton met his wife, soprano
Ana María Martínez
, while working at HGO and the two have often sung together on the HGO stage. They have one son together, born in 2007.
as Cassio in Verdi's Otello
, where he later returned to sing the role of Belmonte in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail
(2005).
In 2001 Shelton sang for the first time with Florida Grand Opera
as Leo Hubbard in Mark Blitzstein's Regina
. In 2002 he made his debut with Dallas Opera
as Jaquino in Beethoven's Fidelio
, later returning there to sing Alfred in Die Fledermaus
(2008). In 2003 he made his debut with Opera Colorado
as Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni
, his debut with Madison Opera
as Romeo in Charles Gounod
's Roméo et Juliette
, and his debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago
performing Leo Hubbard in Regina. That same year he returned to the Central City Opera
as Fernando in Goyescas
and the title role in Pagliacci
. He has since returned again to Central City Opera to sing Ottavio (2006) and Alfredo (2007).
In 2004 Shelton performed in an obscure opera, the role of Pilade in Rossini's Ermione
, in a joint production with the New York City Opera and Dallas opera. That same year he sang Sam Polk in Susannah with Chautauqua Opera
and Ferrando with Kentucky Opera
. In 2005 he made his debut with Arizona Opera
as Ferrando in Così fan tutte; later returning there to sing the role of Alfredo (2008). That same year he made his debut with both the Cincinnati Opera
and the Opera Company of Philadelphia
as George in Richard Danielpour
's Margaret Garner
. In 2006 he sang Alfredo again in his first performances with both the Nevada Opera and Utah Opera. Shelton reprised the role of Nico in Lysistrata in its New York debut at the New York City Opera in 2006 and at Opera Columbus in 2008. In 2007 he made his debut with Opera Pacific
as Don Jose in Carmen, returning there the following year to sing Tamino. He debuted at the San Francisco Opera
on October 5, 2007 as Brigadier General Edward Alexander in the world premiere of Philip Glass
's Appomattox
. In 2009 he sang the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto
with Austin Lyric Opera
.
Shelton is scheduled to sing the Duke of Mantua with Portland Opera and Don Jose with the Orlando Opera
later this year.
as Belmonte in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail
. This was followed by his European debut in 2002 as Mitch in André Previn
's A Streetcar Named Desire
at Opéra national du Rhin
in Strasbourg
In 2005 he made his debut with the Opéra national de Lorraine
as Tamino. He returned there in 2006 to sing the role of Guido Bardi in Alexander von Zemlinsky
's Eine florentinische Tragödie
, and again in 2008 to sing Lysander in Benjamin Britten
's A Midsummer Night's Dream
.
Future international engagements include the title role in Mozart's Idomeneo
with Opéra national de Lorraine (2009), Lysander with Théâtre de Caen (2009), and Don Ottavio with the Grand Théâtre de Genève
(2010) among others.
with whom he has made a number of recordings on the Reference label, including Dominick Argento
's Le Tombeau d'Edgar Poe (1999) and Ottorino Respighi
's Balkis, Queen of Sheba Suite (2001), the latter of which garnered a Grammy Award
nomination. His other performance with the Minnesota Orchestra include the title role in a concert performance of Leonard Bernstein
's Candide
, Mozart's Requiem
, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9
, and Janáček's Diary of One Who Vanished (2000).
Shelton has also sung in concert with the Pacific Symphony
, Rochester Philharmonic, and at the Colorado Music Festival
in performances of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. He has also sung Handel
's Messiah
with the Virginia Symphony and Mozart's Requiem with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
. His concert repertoire also includes Mozart's Solemn Vespers and Bach's Magnificat
.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
. Particularly associated with the acclaimed Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 through the joint efforts of Maestro Walter Herbert and cultural leaders Mrs. Louis G. Lobit, Edward Bing and Charles Cockrell...
(HGO), Shelton has excelled in performances of contemporary American operas and in the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
and Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
. He has appeared in numerous world premieres with the HGO including Laurie in Mark Adamo
Mark Adamo
Mark Adamo is an Italian American composer and librettist born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While he has composed the symphonic cantata "Late Victorians, "Four Angels: Concerto for Harp and Orchestra," and six substantial choral works, the composer’s principal work has been for the opera house:...
's critically acclaimed Little Women
Little Women (opera)
Little Women is the first opera composed by American composer Mark Adamo to his own libretto after Louisa May Alcott's tale of growing up in New England after the American Civil War, Little Women. The opera also includes text by John Bunyan , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Little Women (1998) is the...
(1998), Nico in Adamo's Lysistrata
Lysistrata (opera)
Lysistrata, or The Nude Goddess is an opera in two acts by composer Mark Adamo. The work is based on Aristophanes's fifth century play Lysistrata. The opera had its world premiere at the Houston Grand Opera on March 4, 2005. It was subsequently produced in March 2006 at the New York City...
(2005), and Ulises in Daniel Catán
Daniel Catán
Daniel Catán was a Mexican composer of Russian Sephardic Jewish descent known particularly for his operas and his creative friendship with the tenor Plácido Domingo.-Career:...
's Salsipuedes: a Tale of Love, War and Anchovies (2004) among others. He also sang the role of Brigadier General Edward Alexander in the world premiere of Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
's Appomattox
Appomattox (opera)
Appomattox is an opera in English based on the American Civil War, composed by Philip Glass, with a libretto by the playwright Christopher Hampton. The work had its world premiere at the San Francisco Opera on October 5, 2007, with a cast that included Dwayne Croft as Robert E. Lee, Andrew Shore as...
at the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
(2007).
Shelton has appeared with numerous opera companies throughout the United States, Europe, and in Australia. His signature roles include Laurie, Ferrando in Mozart's Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
, Tamino in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Don Jose in Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
's Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, Alfredo in Verdi's La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
, and more recently the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
. Not a stranger to the concert repertoire, he has made a number of recordings with the Minnesota Orchestra
Minnesota Orchestra
The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Emil Oberhoffer founded the orchestra as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, and it gave its first performance on November 5 of that year. In 1968 the orchestra changed to its name to the Minnesota Orchestra...
and performed with numerous orchestras throughout the United States.
Education and early career
Shelton studied voice with Robert Grayson at Louisiana State UniversityLouisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
and then at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
on the graduate level. He made his professional opera debut in 1994 while still at LSU as Tamino in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's Die Zauberflöte with Baton Rouge Opera. That same year he played the roles of Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
, the Second Composer in The Great Waltz
The Great Waltz
The Great Waltz is a musical conceived by Hassard Short with a book by Moss Hart and lyrics by Desmond Carter, using themes by Johann Strauss I and Johann Strauss II. It is based on a pasticcio by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Julius Bittner called Walzer aus Wien, first performed in Vienna in 1930...
and the Second Waiter in Giuditta
Giuditta
Giuditta is an operatic musikalische Komödie in five scenes, with music by Franz Lehár and a German libretto, by Paul Knepler and Fritz Löhner. Scored for a large orchestra, it was Lehár's last and most ambitious work, written on a larger scale than his previous operettas...
with Ohio Light Opera
Ohio Light Opera
The Ohio Light Opera is a professional opera company based in Wooster, Ohio that performs the light opera repertory, including Gilbert and Sullivan, American, British and continental operettas, and other musical theatre works, especially of the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
. In 1995 he sang the role of Dino in the world premiere of George Chadwick's The Padrone with the Waterbury Symphony at the Thomaston Opera House
Thomaston Opera House
The Thomaston Opera House in Thomaston, Connecticut was built in 1883. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.It has been restored....
.
In 1997 Shelton sang the role of Alfredo in Yale University's production of Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
. That same year he was awarded a Richard F. Gold Career Grant by the Shoshana Foundation
Shoshana Foundation
The Shoshana Foundation is a non-profit organization that was founded in 1986 upon the death of Richard F. Gold who was a long time administrator at both the New York City Opera and Chamber Opera Theater of New York. The foundation's work focuses on assisting promising opera singers at the start of...
and became a member of the Young Artist Program at the Central City Opera
Central City Opera
Central City Opera is the fifth-oldest opera company in the United States, founded in 1932. Each festival is presented in the 550-seat historic Central City Opera House built in 1878 in the gold mining era town of Central City, Colorado. Pelham G...
where he debuted in the role of Hayes in Carlisle Floyd
Carlisle Floyd
Carlisle Floyd is an American opera composer. The son of a Methodist minister, he based many of his works on themes from the South...
's Susannah
Susannah
Susannah is an opera in two acts by American composer Carlisle Floyd, who wrote the libretto and music while a member of the piano faculty at Florida State University. Floyd adapted the story from the Apocryphal tale of Susannah and the Elders, though the latter story has a more positive ending...
. He returned there in 1998 to sing the roles of Reverend Paris in Robert Ward's The Crucible
The Crucible (opera)
The Crucible is an English language opera written by Robert Ward based on the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller. It won both the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for Music and the New York Music Critics Circle Citation. The libretto was lightly adapted from Miller's text by Bernard Stambler.Ward received a...
and Cavaradossi in Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
. He joined the Wolf Trap Opera Company
Wolf Trap Opera Company
The Wolf Trap Opera Company produces a summer opera festival as part of the program of the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia....
's Young Artist Program for the Summer of 1999, performing there in the roles of Tom Rakewell in The Rake's Progress
The Rake's Progress
The Rake's Progress is an opera in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, written by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is based loosely on the eight paintings and engravings A Rake's Progress of William Hogarth, which Stravinsky had seen on May 2, 1947, in a Chicago...
, the High priest of Neptune in Idomeneo
Idomeneo
Idomeneo, re di Creta ossia Ilia e Idamante is an Italian language opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was adapted by Giambattista Varesco from a French text by Antoine Danchet, which had been set to music by André Campra as Idoménée in 1712...
, and Monostatos in The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
. That same year he sang the role of Laërte in Ambroise Thomas
Ambroise Thomas
Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas was a French composer, best known for his operas Mignon and Hamlet and as Director of the Conservatoire de Paris from 1871 till his death.-Biography:"There is good music, there is bad music, and then there is Ambroise Thomas."- Emmanuel Chabrier-Early life...
's Hamlet
Hamlet (opera)
Hamlet is an opéra in five acts by the French composer Ambroise Thomas, with a libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier based on a French adaptation by Alexandre Dumas, père and Paul Meurice of Shakespeare's play Hamlet.- Ophelia mania in Paris:...
with Washington Concert Opera. In 2000 he was awarded a Richard Tucker Career Grant.
Houston Grand Opera
In 1998 Shelton became a member of the Young Artist Program at the Houston Grand OperaHouston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 through the joint efforts of Maestro Walter Herbert and cultural leaders Mrs. Louis G. Lobit, Edward Bing and Charles Cockrell...
, remaining in the program through 2000. He made his debut with the company as Malcolm in the 1998 production of Verdi's Macbeth
Macbeth (opera)
Macbeth is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and additions by Andrea Maffei, based on Shakespeare's play of the same name...
. During his first season with the company he portrayed Count Elemer in Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
's Arabella
Arabella
Arabella is a lyric comedy or opera in 3 acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration. It was first performed on 1 July 1933, at the Dresden Sächsisches Staatstheater....
with Renée Fleming
Renée Fleming
Renée Fleming is an American soprano specializing in opera and lieder. Fleming has a full lyric soprano voice.Fleming has performed coloratura, lyric, and lighter spinto soprano repertoires. She has sung roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English. She also...
in the title role, and he was a last minute replacement of an ailing Peter Kazaras as Captain Vere in Billy Budd
Billy Budd
Billy Budd is a short novel by Herman Melville.Billy Budd can also refer to:*Billy Budd , a 1962 film produced, directed, and co-written by Peter Ustinov, based on Melville's novel...
. He also notably portrayed Laurie in the world premiere of Mark Adamo
Mark Adamo
Mark Adamo is an Italian American composer and librettist born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While he has composed the symphonic cantata "Late Victorians, "Four Angels: Concerto for Harp and Orchestra," and six substantial choral works, the composer’s principal work has been for the opera house:...
's Little Women
Little Women (opera)
Little Women is the first opera composed by American composer Mark Adamo to his own libretto after Louisa May Alcott's tale of growing up in New England after the American Civil War, Little Women. The opera also includes text by John Bunyan , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Little Women (1998) is the...
alongside Stephanie Novacek
Stephanie Novacek
Stephanie Novacek is an American operatic mezzo-soprano who has appeared at many of the world's opera houses. A regular performer at the Houston Grand Opera and Opera Atelier, Novacek is especially known for her performances in contemporary operas and in obscure operas, particularly baroque works,...
as Jo and Joyce DiDonato
Joyce DiDonato
Joyce DiDonato is an award-winning American operatic mezzo-soprano particularly admired for her interpretations of the works of Handel, Mozart, and Rossini...
as Meg. Shelton reprised the role in 2001 at the HGO in a performance that was recorded live for broadcast on PBS's Great Performances
Great Performances
Great Performances, a television series devoted to the performing arts, has been telecast on Public Broadcasting Service public television since 1972...
and for commercial release on DVD and CD. He has since performed the role of Laurie numerous times, including productions with the Central City Opera
Central City Opera
Central City Opera is the fifth-oldest opera company in the United States, founded in 1932. Each festival is presented in the 550-seat historic Central City Opera House built in 1878 in the gold mining era town of Central City, Colorado. Pelham G...
(2001), Opera Omaha
Opera Omaha
Opera Omaha is an opera company in Omaha, Nebraska. It is well known for premiering Wakonda's Dream, a contemporary opera about Native Americans set in the Niobrara....
(2002), Chautauqua Opera
Chautauqua Opera
The Chautauqua Opera is the resident summer opera company of the Chautauqua Institution. It is the oldest continuously active summer opera company in the U.S, having been founded in 1929, and it has produced several operas during the Institution's nine-week summer season every year since...
(2002), and New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
(2003).
Shelton's career has continued to be largely based at the HGO, although he often performs with other companies throughout the United States and Europe. Other notable roles with the company include Pinkerton in Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
's Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
(1999), both Nereo and Wagner in Boito's Mefistofele
Mefistofele
Mefistofele is an opera in a prologue, four acts and an epilogue, the only completed opera by the Italian composer-librettist Arrigo Boito.-Composition history:...
(1999), Nemorino in Gaetano Donizetti
Gaetano Donizetti
Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
's L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
(2000), Ferrando in Mozart's Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
(2001), Arcadio in Daniel Catán
Daniel Catán
Daniel Catán was a Mexican composer of Russian Sephardic Jewish descent known particularly for his operas and his creative friendship with the tenor Plácido Domingo.-Career:...
's Florencia en el Amazonas
Florencia en el Amazonas
Florencia en el Amazonas is an opera in two acts composed by Daniel Catán. It contains elements of magical realism in the style of Gabriel García Márquez and uses a libretto by Marcela Fuentes-Berain, one of his pupils...
(2001), Janek in Leoš Janáček
Leoš Janácek
Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...
's The Makropolous Case (2002), Camille de Rosillon in Franz Lehár
Franz Lehár
Franz Lehár was an Austrian-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas of which the most successful and best known is The Merry Widow .-Biography:...
's The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro–Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play,...
(2003), Tamino in Mozart's The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
(2004), and Don Jose in Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
's Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
(2006). He has also sung roles in several more world premieres at the HGO, including Prisoner #1 in Tod Machover
Tod Machover
Tod Machover , is a composer and an innovator in the application of technology in music. He is the son of Wilma Machover, a pianist and Carl Machover, a computer scientist....
's Resurrection (1999), Ulises in Catán's Salsipuedes: a Tale of Love, War and Anchovies (2004) and Nico in Adamo's Lysistrata
Lysistrata (opera)
Lysistrata, or The Nude Goddess is an opera in two acts by composer Mark Adamo. The work is based on Aristophanes's fifth century play Lysistrata. The opera had its world premiere at the Houston Grand Opera on March 4, 2005. It was subsequently produced in March 2006 at the New York City...
(2005). Shelton met his wife, soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
Ana María Martínez
Ana María Martínez
Ana María Martínez is a Grammy award–winning operatic soprano from Puerto Rico. "The most beautiful voice of Latin America", [Martínez] "requires ranking among the top lyric sopranos of the day...[with] immaculate musicality underpinning every utterance." -Early life:Ana María Martínez was born...
, while working at HGO and the two have often sung together on the HGO stage. They have one son together, born in 2007.
Other American companies
Shelton has performed with numerous opera companies throughout the United States. In 1999 he made his debut with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City as Ferrando in Così fan tutte. He has since returned to that company to perform Tom Rakewell in The Rake's Progress (2001), and Alfredo in La traviata (2009). In 2000 he made his debut with Portland OperaPortland Opera
Portland Opera is an American opera company based at The Hampton Opera Center in Portland, Oregon. Its mainstage performances take place in the Keller Auditorium, while the Portland Opera Studio Theater at the Hampton center is used for performances of chamber operas...
as Cassio in Verdi's Otello
Otello
Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....
, where he later returned to sing the role of Belmonte in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie...
(2005).
In 2001 Shelton sang for the first time with Florida Grand Opera
Florida Grand Opera
Florida Grand Opera is an American opera company based in Miami, Florida. FGO was created in 1994 from the consolidation of two opera companies in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale region:...
as Leo Hubbard in Mark Blitzstein's Regina
Regina (opera)
Regina is an opera by Marc Blitzstein, to his own libretto based on the play The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman. It was completed in 1948 and premiered the next year. Blitzstein chose this source in order to make a strong statement against capitalism...
. In 2002 he made his debut with Dallas Opera
Dallas Opera
The Dallas Opera is an opera company located in Dallas, Texas . The company was founded in 1957 as the Dallas Civic Opera by Laurence Kelly and Nicolà Rescigno, both of whom had been active with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the first as administrator, the second as artistic director.-The company's...
as Jaquino in Beethoven's Fidelio
Fidelio
Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
, later returning there to sing Alfred in Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
(2008). In 2003 he made his debut with Opera Colorado
Opera Colorado
Opera Colorado is an opera company located in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1981, it presents an annual season of three to four fully staged productions...
as Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, his debut with Madison Opera
Madison Opera
Madison Opera is a regional opera company based in Madison, Wisconsin. It was founded in 1961 as an extension of the and came to national prominence with the commissioning and premiering of Shining Brow, the opera about Frank Lloyd Wright by composer Daron Hagen and librettist Paul Muldoon. The...
as Romeo in Charles Gounod
Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
's Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette is an opéra in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. It was first performed at the Théâtre Lyrique , Paris on 27 April 1867...
, and his debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
performing Leo Hubbard in Regina. That same year he returned to the Central City Opera
Central City Opera
Central City Opera is the fifth-oldest opera company in the United States, founded in 1932. Each festival is presented in the 550-seat historic Central City Opera House built in 1878 in the gold mining era town of Central City, Colorado. Pelham G...
as Fernando in Goyescas
Goyescas (opera)
Goyescas is an opera in one act and three tableaux, written in 1915 by the Spanish composer Enrique Granados. Granados composed the opera to a Spanish libretto by Fernando Periquet y Zuaznabar with melodies taken from his 1911 piano suite, which was also called Goyescas...
and the title role in Pagliacci
Pagliacci
Pagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...
. He has since returned again to Central City Opera to sing Ottavio (2006) and Alfredo (2007).
In 2004 Shelton performed in an obscure opera, the role of Pilade in Rossini's Ermione
Ermione
Ermione is a tragic opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola, based on the play Andromaque by Jean Racine.- Performance history :...
, in a joint production with the New York City Opera and Dallas opera. That same year he sang Sam Polk in Susannah with Chautauqua Opera
Chautauqua Opera
The Chautauqua Opera is the resident summer opera company of the Chautauqua Institution. It is the oldest continuously active summer opera company in the U.S, having been founded in 1929, and it has produced several operas during the Institution's nine-week summer season every year since...
and Ferrando with Kentucky Opera
Kentucky Opera
The Kentucky Opera is the state opera of Kentucky, located in Louisville. The operas are accompanied by the Louisville Orchestra. Founded in 1952 by Moritz von Bomhard, it is the twelfth oldest opera company in the United States and has a more than $2 million budget. The Kentucky Opera is an...
. In 2005 he made his debut with Arizona Opera
Arizona Opera
Arizona Opera is an opera company which operates in both Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona.Arizona Opera was established in 1971 as the Tucson Opera Company, under founding general director James P. Sullivan, and presented its first production, of Rossini's The Barber of Seville, in 1972. By 1976 the...
as Ferrando in Così fan tutte; later returning there to sing the role of Alfredo (2008). That same year he made his debut with both the Cincinnati Opera
Cincinnati Opera
Cincinnati Opera is an American opera company based in Cincinnati, Ohio and the second oldest opera company in the United States .-History:...
and the Opera Company of Philadelphia
Opera Company of Philadelphia
The Opera Company of Philadelphia is an American opera company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is the city's only company producing grand opera. The organization produces four fully staged opera productions annually, encompassing works from the seventeenth through the 21st century...
as George in Richard Danielpour
Richard Danielpour
Richard Danielpour is an American composer.-Biography:Danielpour is born of Persian/Jewish descent. He studied at Oberlin College and the New England Conservatory of Music, and later at the Juilliard School of Music, where he received a DMA in composition in 1986...
's Margaret Garner
Margaret Garner (opera)
Margaret Garner is an American opera loosely based on actual events in the life of runaway slave Margaret Garner. It was co-commissioned by the Michigan Opera Theatre, Cincinnati Opera and Opera Company of Philadelphia. The music was composed by Richard Danielpour with a libretto in English by...
. In 2006 he sang Alfredo again in his first performances with both the Nevada Opera and Utah Opera. Shelton reprised the role of Nico in Lysistrata in its New York debut at the New York City Opera in 2006 and at Opera Columbus in 2008. In 2007 he made his debut with Opera Pacific
Opera Pacific
Opera Pacific was an opera company located in the Orange County, California, United States city of Santa Ana. It operated for 22 seasons before closing in 2008 after several seasons of deepening financial difficulties.-History:...
as Don Jose in Carmen, returning there the following year to sing Tamino. He debuted at the San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
on October 5, 2007 as Brigadier General Edward Alexander in the world premiere of Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
's Appomattox
Appomattox (opera)
Appomattox is an opera in English based on the American Civil War, composed by Philip Glass, with a libretto by the playwright Christopher Hampton. The work had its world premiere at the San Francisco Opera on October 5, 2007, with a cast that included Dwayne Croft as Robert E. Lee, Andrew Shore as...
. In 2009 he sang the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto
Rigoletto
Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on March 11, 1851...
with Austin Lyric Opera
Austin Lyric Opera
Austin Lyric Opera, founded in 1986, is an internationally known opera company based in Austin, Texas.It also operates the Armstrong Community Music School....
.
Shelton is scheduled to sing the Duke of Mantua with Portland Opera and Don Jose with the Orlando Opera
Orlando Opera
The Orlando Opera was Orlando, Florida's professional opera company. Based in the Dr. Phillips Center in Orlando, the Orlando Opera performed multiple times a year in the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre and other venues in the central Florida region....
later this year.
International opera career
Shelton made his international opera debut in 2000 with Opera AustraliaOpera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
as Belmonte in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie...
. This was followed by his European debut in 2002 as Mitch in André Previn
André Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
's A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire (opera)
A Streetcar Named Desire is an opera composed by André Previn with a libretto by Philip Littell in 1995. It is based on the play by Tennessee Williams and received its premiere at the San Francisco Opera during the 1998-99 season.-Cast:...
at Opéra national du Rhin
Opéra national du Rhin
LOpéra national du Rhin is an opera company which performs in Alsace, eastern France, and which includes the Opéra in Strasbourg, the company's ballet in Mulhouse , and the "Opéra Studio" , a training centre for young singers, in Colmar...
in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
In 2005 he made his debut with the Opéra national de Lorraine
Opéra national de Lorraine
Opéra national de Lorraine is an opera company and opera house located in the city of Nancy in the French province of Lorraine. Formerly named the Opéra de Nancy et de Lorraine, it was given the status of "national opera" in 2006....
as Tamino. He returned there in 2006 to sing the role of Guido Bardi in Alexander von Zemlinsky
Alexander von Zemlinsky
Alexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky was an Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher.-Early life:...
's Eine florentinische Tragödie
Eine florentinische Tragödie
Eine florentinische Tragödie , Op. 16 is an opera in one act by Alexander Zemlinsky to a libretto adapted by the composer from a German translation by Max Meyerfeld of a play by Oscar Wilde.-Performance history:...
, and again in 2008 to sing Lysander in Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
's A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream (opera)
A Midsummer Night's Dream is an opera with music by Benjamin Britten and set to a libretto adapted by the composer and Peter Pears from William Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream...
.
Future international engagements include the title role in Mozart's Idomeneo
Idomeneo
Idomeneo, re di Creta ossia Ilia e Idamante is an Italian language opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was adapted by Giambattista Varesco from a French text by Antoine Danchet, which had been set to music by André Campra as Idoménée in 1712...
with Opéra national de Lorraine (2009), Lysander with Théâtre de Caen (2009), and Don Ottavio with the Grand Théâtre de Genève
Grand Théâtre de Genève
Grand Théâtre de Genève is an opera house in Geneva, Switzerland.As with many other opera houses, the Grand Théâtre de Genève is both a venue and an institution. The venue is a majestic building, towering over Place Neuve, officially opened in 1876, partly destroyed by fire in 1951 and reopened in...
(2010) among others.
Concert work
Although Shelton's career has primarily focused within the field opera, he is no stranger to the concert repertoire. He has been particularly active with the Minnesota OrchestraMinnesota Orchestra
The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Emil Oberhoffer founded the orchestra as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, and it gave its first performance on November 5 of that year. In 1968 the orchestra changed to its name to the Minnesota Orchestra...
with whom he has made a number of recordings on the Reference label, including Dominick Argento
Dominick Argento
Dominick Argento is an American composer, best known as a leading composer of lyric opera and choral music...
's Le Tombeau d'Edgar Poe (1999) and Ottorino Respighi
Ottorino Respighi
Ottorino Respighi was an Italian composer, musicologist and conductor. He is best known for his orchestral "Roman trilogy": Fountains of Rome ; Pines of Rome ; and Roman Festivals...
's Balkis, Queen of Sheba Suite (2001), the latter of which garnered a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
nomination. His other performance with the Minnesota Orchestra include the title role in a concert performance of Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
's Candide
Candide (operetta)
Candide is an operetta with music composed by Leonard Bernstein, based on the novella of the same name by Voltaire. The operetta was first performed in 1956 with a libretto by Lillian Hellman; but since 1974 it has been generally performed with a book by Hugh Wheeler which is more faithful to...
, Mozart's Requiem
Requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead or Mass of the dead , is a Mass celebrated for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using a particular form of the Roman Missal...
, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9
Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)
The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, is the final complete symphony of Ludwig van Beethoven. Completed in 1824, the symphony is one of the best known works of the Western classical repertoire, and has been adapted for use as the European Anthem...
, and Janáček's Diary of One Who Vanished (2000).
Shelton has also sung in concert with the Pacific Symphony
Pacific Symphony
The Pacific Symphony is a symphony orchestra located in Orange County, California. The orchestra performs at the Renée and Henry Segerstom Concert Hall, part of the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, California...
, Rochester Philharmonic, and at the Colorado Music Festival
Colorado Music Festival
The Colorado Music Festival is a classical music festival in Boulder, Colorado. It was founded in 1976 by the Vienna-born conductor and violinist, Giora Bernstein and presents an annual summer season of concerts in Boulder's Chautauqua Auditorium performed by the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra...
in performances of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. He has also sung Handel
HANDEL
HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....
's Messiah
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
with the Virginia Symphony and Mozart's Requiem with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, sometimes colloquially referred to as MoTab, is a Grammy and Emmy Award winning, 360-member, all-volunteer choir. The choir is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . However, the choir is completely self-funded, traveling and producing albums to...
. His concert repertoire also includes Mozart's Solemn Vespers and Bach's Magnificat
Magnificat
The Magnificat — also known as the Song of Mary or the Canticle of Mary — is a canticle frequently sung liturgically in Christian church services. It is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn...
.