Michael Chioldi
Encyclopedia
Michael Chioldi is an American opera
tic baritone
who has performed at many major American opera houses and festivals, including the Metropolitan Opera
, San Francisco Opera
, Washington National Opera
, Houston Grand Opera
, San Diego Opera
, Santa Fe Opera
, Los Angeles Opera
, Palm Beach Opera
, Long Beach Opera
, Minnesota Opera
, Spoleto Festival USA
, Arizona Opera
, Utah Opera, New York City Opera
, Fort Worth Opera
, Chautauqua Opera
, Glimmerglass Opera
, Hawaii Opera Theatre
, Santa Fe Concert Association, and Lyric Opera of Kansas City.
was in April 1995 in the National Council Winners Concert. He made his official opera debut there as Fléville in Andrea Chénier
in April 1996, and subsequently appeared as Pâris in Roméo et Juliette
(1996), Wagner in Faust
(1997), Yamadori in Madama Butterfly
(1997), and Moralès in Carmen
.
He made his San Francisco Opera
debut as Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus
in 1996 and the following year appeared as Shaunard in La bohème
and in the roles of Jack, Supervisor Kopp, and Stonewall Girl, in the West Coast
premiere of Stewart Wallace
's opera Harvey Milk, based on the life of the San Francisco politician and gay rights activist Harvey Milk
, who was assassinated in 1978. (He also appears on the sole commercial recording of the opera.)
Chioldi made his debut with the Washington National Opera
in 1995 in Il barbiere di Siviglia. He has appeared in Andrea Chenier
, in Billy Budd
, in the title role of Hamlet
, as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly
, and as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor
. Chioldi debuted at New York City Opera
in 1999 in L'enfant et les sortilèges
and was a regular performer with the company, most notably as Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Escamillo in Carmen, Doctor Malatesta in Don Pasquale
, Belcore in L'elisir d'amore
, Peter in Hansel and Gretel and Sharpless in the 2008 Emmy Award winning Madama Butterfly
. He has also sung with the Opera Orchestra of New York
in their concert performance of Der Freischütz
, with Opéra Français de New York in Debussy & Poe: Fall of the House of Usher & Devil in the Belfry, and with UrbanArias in its First Festival performance of Glory Denied.
Internationally, Chioldi has appeared in the title role of Der fliegende Holländer at Germany's Pforzheim Opera, with Toronto
's Opera Atelier
as Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, as Méduse in Lully
's Persée
, and in the title role in Don Giovanni
. He has also appeared in Japan with Seiji Ozawa
and the New Japan Philharmonic as Papageno in a touring production of Die Zauberflöte, in São Paulo, Brazil in the South American premiere of Lennox Berkeley
's A Dinner Engagement, in France with the Opéra National de Montpellier for the concert performance and recording of Cilea
's L'arlesiana
, in Spain as Scarpia in Opera de Oviedo's Tosca, and at the Macau International Music Festival as Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro with the San Francisco Opera.
Orchestra appearances include the New York Philharmonic
, Washington's National Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, New Haven Symphony, and Houston Symphony.
. Following his graduation from Yale, he received further training at the Houston Grand Opera
Studio and San Francisco Opera's Merola Opera Program He has been the recipient of many awards and honors including: The Metropolitan Opera National Council Competition (Winner 1995), the MacAllister Competition, The Licia Albanese-Puccini Competition, The Miami Opera Competition, The Sullivan Foundation, and the Anna Case-Mckay Award.
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 baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
who has performed at many major American opera houses and festivals, including the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
, 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...
, Washington National Opera
Washington National Opera
The Washington National Opera is an opera company in Washington, D.C., USA. Formerly the Opera Society of Washington and the Washington Opera, the company received Congressional designation as the National Opera Company in 2000. Performances are now given in the Opera House of the John F...
, 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...
, San Diego Opera
San Diego Opera
The San Diego Opera Association is a professional opera company located in the city of San Diego, California and is a member of OPERA America. It was founded in 1950 to present productions by San Francisco Opera in the San Diego area...
, Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera
The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...
, Los Angeles Opera
Los Angeles Opera
The Los Angeles Opera is an opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, part of the Los Angeles Music Center.-Current leadership:...
, Palm Beach Opera
Palm Beach Opera
Palm Beach Opera, a professional opera company in West Palm Beach, Florida resident at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, was founded in 1961 as "Civic Opera of the Palm Beaches." Over its history, the company has presented a season of fully staged operas ranging from a single production...
, Long Beach Opera
Long Beach Opera
Long Beach Opera is a Southern California opera company serving the greater Los Angeles and Orange County metroplex. Founded in 1979, it is the oldest established professional opera company in the L.A. area...
, Minnesota Opera
Minnesota Opera
The Minnesota Opera is a performance organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was founded in 1963 by the Walker Art Center, and is known for premiering such diverse works as Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak and Frankenstein by Libby Larsen...
, Spoleto Festival USA
Spoleto Festival USA
Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the world's major performing arts festivals. It was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy...
, 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...
, Utah Opera, 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...
, Fort Worth Opera
Fort Worth Opera
According to the company, Fort Worth Opera is the oldest, continually performing opera company in the state of Texas and among the oldest in the United States. While originally presenting operas one at a time over a fall/winter season, it changed to a "festival" format in 2007...
, 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...
, Glimmerglass Opera
Glimmerglass Opera
Glimmerglass Festival is an opera company which was founded in 1975 by Peter Macris and presents an annual season of operas at the Alice Busch Opera Theater on Otsego Lake eight miles north of Cooperstown, New York, United States.The summer-only season usually consists of four operas performed in...
, Hawaii Opera Theatre
Hawaii Opera Theatre
The Hawaii Opera Theatre is an opera company located in Honolulu, Hawaii, which became active in 1961. The company typically performs three operas during February and March in Blaisdell Concert Hall...
, Santa Fe Concert Association, and Lyric Opera of Kansas City.
Career
Chioldi's first appearance at the Metropolitan OperaMetropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
was in April 1995 in the National Council Winners Concert. He made his official opera debut there as Fléville in Andrea Chénier
Andrea Chénier
Andrea Chénier is a verismo opera in four acts by the composer Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. It is based loosely on the life of the French poet, André Chénier , who was executed during the French Revolution....
in April 1996, and subsequently appeared as Pâris in 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...
(1996), Wagner in Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
(1997), Yamadori in 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...
(1997), and Moralès in 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...
.
He made his 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...
debut as Dr. Falke 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 :...
in 1996 and the following year appeared as Shaunard in La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
and in the roles of Jack, Supervisor Kopp, and Stonewall Girl, in the West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
premiere of Stewart Wallace
Stewart Wallace
Stewart Wallace is an American composer and cantor. He has spent much of his career composing experimental operas, from the dance-centered Kabbalah to the surrealist Hopper's Wife...
's opera Harvey Milk, based on the life of the San Francisco politician and gay rights activist Harvey Milk
Harvey Milk
Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
, who was assassinated in 1978. (He also appears on the sole commercial recording of the opera.)
Chioldi made his debut with the Washington National Opera
Washington National Opera
The Washington National Opera is an opera company in Washington, D.C., USA. Formerly the Opera Society of Washington and the Washington Opera, the company received Congressional designation as the National Opera Company in 2000. Performances are now given in the Opera House of the John F...
in 1995 in Il barbiere di Siviglia. He has appeared in Andrea Chenier
Andrea Chénier
Andrea Chénier is a verismo opera in four acts by the composer Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. It is based loosely on the life of the French poet, André Chénier , who was executed during the French Revolution....
, 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...
, in the title role of Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
, as Sharpless in 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...
, and as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
. Chioldi debuted at 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...
in 1999 in L'enfant et les sortilèges
L'enfant et les sortilèges
L'enfant et les sortilèges: Fantaisie lyrique en deux parties is an opera in one act, with music by Maurice Ravel to a libretto by Colette. It is Ravel's second opera, his first being L'heure espagnole...
and was a regular performer with the company, most notably as Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Escamillo in Carmen, Doctor Malatesta in Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale
Don Pasquale is an opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The librettist Giovanni Ruffini wrote the Italian language libretto after Angelo Anelli's libretto for Stefano Pavesi's Ser Marcantonio ....
, Belcore in 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...
, Peter in Hansel and Gretel and Sharpless in the 2008 Emmy Award winning 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...
. He has also sung with the Opera Orchestra of New York
Opera Orchestra of New York
The Opera Orchestra of New York specializes in the performance of opera in concert form. It is particularly known for its work in presenting rarely performed repertory...
in their concert performance of Der Freischütz
Der Freischütz
Der Freischütz is an opera in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind. It premiered on 18 June 1821 at the Schauspielhaus Berlin...
, with Opéra Français de New York in Debussy & Poe: Fall of the House of Usher & Devil in the Belfry, and with UrbanArias in its First Festival performance of Glory Denied.
Internationally, Chioldi has appeared in the title role of Der fliegende Holländer at Germany's Pforzheim Opera, with Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
's Opera Atelier
Opera atelier
Opéra Atelier, a Canadian Baroque opera company was founded in 1985 in Toronto by husband and wife duo Marshall Pynkoski and Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg. The company mounts operas from the 17th and 18th centuries which are presented at the Elgin Theatre....
as Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, as Méduse in Lully
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Jean-Baptiste de Lully was an Italian-born French composer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is considered the chief master of the French Baroque style. Lully disavowed any Italian influence in French music of the period. He became a French subject in...
's Persée
Persée
Persée is a tragédie lyrique with music by Jean-Baptiste Lully and a libretto by Philippe Quinault, first performed in 1682 at the Paris Opéra.-Roles:-Synopsis:...
, and in the title role in 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...
. He has also appeared in Japan with Seiji Ozawa
Seiji Ozawa
is a Japanese conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of large-scale late Romantic works. He is most known for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera.-Early years:...
and the New Japan Philharmonic as Papageno in a touring production of Die Zauberflöte, in São Paulo, Brazil in the South American premiere of Lennox Berkeley
Lennox Berkeley
Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley was an English composer.- Biography :He was born in Oxford, England, and educated at the Dragon School, Gresham's School and Merton College, Oxford...
's A Dinner Engagement, in France with the Opéra National de Montpellier for the concert performance and recording of Cilea
Francesco Cilea
Francesco Cilea was an Italian composer. Today he is particularly known for his operas L'arlesiana and Adriana Lecouvreur.-Biography:...
's L'arlesiana
L'arlesiana
L'arlesiana is an opera in three acts by Francesco Cilea to an Italian libretto by Leopoldo Marenco. It was originally written in four acts, and was first performed on 27 November 1897 at the Teatro Lirico di Milano in Milan...
, in Spain as Scarpia in Opera de Oviedo's Tosca, and at the Macau International Music Festival as Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro with the San Francisco Opera.
Orchestra appearances include the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
, Washington's National Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, New Haven Symphony, and Houston Symphony.
Education
Michael Chioldi received his bachelor's degree from West Virginia University and his master's degree in Music from Yale UniversityYale 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...
. Following his graduation from Yale, he received further training at the 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...
Studio and San Francisco Opera's Merola Opera Program He has been the recipient of many awards and honors including: The Metropolitan Opera National Council Competition (Winner 1995), the MacAllister Competition, The Licia Albanese-Puccini Competition, The Miami Opera Competition, The Sullivan Foundation, and the Anna Case-Mckay Award.
Recordings
- Anthony Brandt: The Birth of Something (Karol Bennett (Soprano), Michael Chioldi (Baritone); Brian Connelly (Piano)). Albany Records B002NGD2WC
- Charles WuorinenCharles WuorinenCharles Peter Wuorinen is a prolific Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. His catalog of more than 250 compositions includes works for orchestra, opera, chamber music, as well as solo instrumental and vocal works...
: The Haroun Songbook (Elizabeth Farnum (Soprano), Emily Golden (Mezzo Soprano), James Schaffner (Tenor), Michael Chioldi (Baritone); Philip Bush (Piano)). Albany Records 664 CD - Gian Carlo MenottiGian Carlo MenottiGian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
: The ConsulThe ConsulThe Consul is an opera in three acts with music and libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, his first full-length opera. Its first performance was on March 1, 1950, at the Shubert Theatre in Philadelphia with Patricia Neway as the lead heroine Magda Sorel, Gloria Lane as the secretary of the consulate,...
(Beverly O’Regan Thiele, Michael Chioldi, Joyce CastleJoyce CastleJoyce Castle is an American mezzo-soprano who has had an active opera career for the last four decades. She earned degrees in music from The University of Kansas and the Eastman School of Music. She made her professional opera debut in 1970 at the San Francisco Opera as Siebel in Charles Gounod's...
, Emily Golden, John Cheek; Berkshire Opera Company, Camerata New York Orchestra; Conductor: Joel Revzen). Newport Classic 85645 CD - Francesco Cilea: L'arlesiana (Marianne Cornetti, Angela Maria Blasi, Gaëlle Le Roi, Giuseppe Gipali, Stefano Antonucci, Michael Chioldi, Enrico Iori; Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de MontpellierOpéra national de MontpellierThe Opéra national de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon is an opera company located in the Place de la Comédie in Montpellier, France. The company was established in 1755 and was granted the status of "National Opera" in 2002 by the French Ministry of Culture....
; Conductor: Friedemann Layer) Accord 476 7644 CD - Stewart Wallace: Harvey Milk (Robert Orth, Jill Grove, Gidon Saks, John Relyea, Elizabeth Bishop, Bradley Williams, Michael Chioldi, et al.; San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus; Conductor: Donald Runnicles) Teldec 678463