links

www.harvardmagazine.com/2008/07/from-soaps-to-solos.html

www.classiclive.com/concerts/2008/december/the-magic-flute

recent

Sarastro Die Zauberfloete Theater Bremen, premier of Chris Alexander production, sang 12 shows.

Zaccaria Nabucco Theater Bremen,  role debut.  sang 3 perfomances.

Kardinal Rienzi Theater Bremen. Directed by Katherina Wagner. sang 4 performances.

Narrator  World Premier of Jonathan Keren's triple concerto for piano, clarinet, narrator and orchestra  at 92nd St. Y  with Ensemble Suedama conducted by Guy Feder, with Gilad Harel (clarinet) and David Greilsammer (piano). 

Alonso Der Sturm by Frank Martin conducted by Thierry Fischer at Concertgebouw, Amsterdam October 2008. This concert, part of the NPS opera matinee series, was broadcast live on radio, and released as a CD on the Hyperion label.

Osmin Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail, 7 & 8 September with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, in concert at Theater am Goetheplatz, Bremen conducted by Stefan Solyom. 

Sprecher Die Zauberfloete Rome at the Auditorium near the Vatican with Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma

Fafner Das Rheingold in Bari. returning there in 2009 & 10 to sing Hunding in Die Walkuere and Fafner in Siegfried at the newly reopened Teatro Petruzzelli.  May be a concert afterall depending on re-opening schedule of Petruzzelli. tba very soon. 

Insomnia at Guggenheim museum in New York, a new song written by David Felder
for my voice and percussionist Daniel Druckman of the New York Philharmonic. This was part of a program of songs setting the poems of Dana Gioia, sponsored by Hudson Review as part of their 60th anniversary April 27, 2008

March 2008 Don Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at BJU in Greenville South Carolina, where I sang the title role in Boito's Mefistofele in 2006.

Kommissarius in Rosenkavalier at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova, February 2008. (sang there in 2005, my first italian job, in Billy Budd.) I sang this Commissioner role in my first regional job in the US at Florentine Opera Milwaukee.

soon

Judge Turpin Sweeney Todd Bologna, Lugo, Modena, Piacenza 2009

Hunding Die Walkuere Teatro Petruzzelli, Bari 2009

Fafner Siegfried Teatro Petruzzelli, Bari  2010

biography

2007-2008 highlights include Fafner (Das Rheingold) in Bari, Puglia, Kommissarius (Rosenkavalier) in a return engagement at Teatro Carlo Felice (Genoa), and Sprecher (Die Zauberfloete) with www.orchestrasinfonicadiroma.com, and a return to Bob Jones University as Don Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
2006-2007 included King Marke in a debut at Teatro Regio di Torino, Sarastro at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Commendatore at the Florentine Opera in Milwaukee, Leporello in Brescia, Cremona, Como, and Paris, and Abimelech in Samson and Delila at Hawaii Opera
In the 2005-2006 season Ethan Herschenfeld sang Sarastro at Teatro la Fenice in Venice, Don Fernando in Fidelio at the Florentine Opera in Milwaukee, the title role in Ariane et Barbe-Bleue at New York City Opera, and the title role in Boito's Mefistofele in the Bob Jones University production where Jerome Hines and Samuel Ramey previously sang the role. In recent seasons he created the role of Butt the Busdriver/Butt the Hoopoe in the world premiere of Wourinen's Haroun and the Sea of Stories at New York City Opera, and sang Mephistopheles at Hong Kong Opera, Sarastro at the Stuttgart Staatsoper, Reverend Hale in The Crucible at Chautauqua Opera, Ratcliffe in Billy Budd at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova, both Rocco and Sparafucile with the New Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv and and Fafner in Wagner's Ring, and King Marke and Gurnemanz at the Tiroler Festspiele in Austria. Other appearances have included Indiana Elliot's Brother in The Mother of Us All at San Francisco Opera and Hunding with Eos Orchestra both directed by Christopher Alden, The Nose at the Bard Summerscape Festival directed by Francesca Zambello, Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd at Toledo Opera, Zuniga in Carmen at Mobile Opera, Colline in La Boheme at Chattanooga Opera, and King Zuoxian in Lam's Wenji in New York and Hong Kong.

At Carnegie Hall in New York he has sung the Mozart Requiem and Vesperae Solennes, Handel's Messiah, Haydn's Theresienmesse, and the world premier of Rittenhouse's Vision of the Apolcalypse. In his 2001 Lincoln Center debut he sang the arias of Gremin and Basilio with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra. A graduate of Harvard College, he won First Prize 2003 Friedrich Schorr Competition (Connecticut), Grand Prize 2002 Excellence in Arts Competition (Philadelphia), First Prize 2001 Sembrich Voice Competition (New York), and First Prize for Americans 2001 Moniuszko Competition (Warsaw). He was also a finalist in the Oratorio Society of New York Competition, singing from Verdi's Requiem, Haydn's Creation and Berlioz's L'Enfance du Christ, and won second prize in the DiCapo Opera competition. He began his vocal training with Franco Corelli and since 1997 has studied with Armen Boyajian. Since his professional debut as Sarastro in Sweden, he has sung more than forty roles in the US, Europe, and Asia.

oratorio

vesperae solennes & theresienmesse, carnegie hall
handel messiah carnegie hall, new york, usa; donald neuen
mozart requiem carnegie hall, new york
vision of the apocalypse, south africa tour; virginia rittenhouse

reviews/critica

Sparafucile, Basilio, De Beque

"Il piu agguerrito e temperamentoso nella vocalita e il basso Ethan Herschenfeld che ben si distreggia col musical South Pacific, un tempo cavallo di battaglia del celebre basso Ezio Pinza, e che ora Herschenfeld fa suo con canto elegante; poi nel duetto "Pari siamo" dal Rigoletto verdiano, e un intenso Sparafucile, ricco di un bel timbro profondo con un discreto fraseggio che spicca nella successiva "Calunnia" del Barbiere. "

L'Opera Aprile 2009

Judge Turpin 

"Apice dell'ambiguo e la fortissima scena del perfido giudice Turpin (Ethan Herschenfeld) che mentre sbircia la sua protetta Johanna, giacula e si fustiga, brama e si batte, finge pentimento e si da piacere." 

Libero 24 March 2009

"...eccezionale...giudice di Ethan Herschenfeld (che sembra Christopher Lee in Dracula)..." 

Classic Voice Aprile 2009    

(il mio bisnonno e immigrato a New York dalla Transylvania,  makes sense with my Transylvanian roots) 

"Ethan Herschenfeld brought a dramatic physical and vocal presence to Judge Turpin."
American Record Guide

"Ethan Herschenfeld was clarion in voice and emotional affect as the morally despicable Judge Turpin."
The Blade, Toledo Ohio

Don Basilio

"Bass Ethan Herschenfeld is well-suited for the role of Basilio, Rosina's music teacher and Bartolo's confidante. His defining number, 'La calunnia,' flows like dark chocolate."
The Greenville News  March 2008

Leporello
"...la nostra preferenza va...a Ethan Herschenfeld (Leporello)..."
La Provincia di Como

Barbe-Bleue
"...the strapping bass Ethan Herschenfeld made an impact in the role."
The New York Times

"...Ethan Herschenfeld made the most of it, giving a sharp portrait of a dark, wounded spirit."
The New Yorker

"...Ethan Herschenfeld gave a commendable performance of the role with his rich bass-baritone sound."
Opera Japonica Reports

Don Fernando
"... the uniformly effortless sound of the men (especially bass Ethan Herschenfeld, whose Fernando is a smooth-talking pol); and everyone's elegant, rounded phrases made for endearingly intimate music."
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Butt the Hoopoe / Butt the Busdriver
"The large cast was consistently impressive. Among the standouts...Ethan Herschenfeld as the mechanical bird Butt the Hoopoe."
The New York Times

"Ethan Herschenfeld (Butt), Joel Sorensen (Snooty Buttoo), Ryan MacPherson (Iff) and Wilbur Pauley (Mali) were consistently engaging as the most colorful of the exotics..."
New York Observer

"What an amazing cast.They were all passionately committed to the difficult score but none more so than Ethan Herschenfeld as both Butt the bus driver and Hoopoe. He seemed to be singing all of Wuorinen's notes and expressively so.He is a young and very promising singer."
Opera-L

"satisfying"
The New Yorker

"powerful voice..."
Indo-Asian News Service

King Zuoxian
"Ethan Herschenfeld, a booming basso. A singer of imposing stature, impressive voice."
The New York Times

"Herschenfeld sings a heart-wrenching finale."
South China Morning Post, Hong Kong

Osmin
"Herschenfeld is a true creature of the stage."
Yediot Ahronot, Tel Aviv

"The kudos belong to Ethan Herschenfeld for an Osmin whose low notes are still resonating on the Tsai Center stage and whose portrayal made you sorry he didn't get the girl."
Theater Mirror, Boston

"Herschenfeld gives you goose bumps."
Ha'Aretz, Tel Aviv

Hunding
"Herschenfeld's brilliant portrayal of Hunding as a simple minded exterminator was a hilarious portrayal of a loveless husband and a lousy lover."
Wagner Society, New York

"Emozionanti le voci del tenore Christian Elsner, del basso Ethan Herschenfeld e del soprano Anna-Katharina Behnke, sul palco rispettivamente Siegmund, Hunding e Sieglinde."

www.BariMia.info 

"Buona la prestazione dell’aitante basso Ethan Herschenfeld nel ruolo di Hunding, sposo di Sieglinde e antagonista di Siegmund. "

www.cannibali.it

"...cupo e amaro lo Hunding di Ethan Herschenfeld."

www.lagazzettadelmezzogiorno.it

" impressive..."
Gay City News


Commendatore
"Herschenfeld's Commendatore had gravitas."
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Bass Ethan Herschenfeld was an imposing, large-voiced Commendatore…he was an awesome presence."
Daily Progress, Charlottesville

Abimelech
"...bass Ethan Herschenfeld (Abimelech) sings a strong aria before being summarily dispatched by Samson..."
The Honolulu Advertiser, Hawaii

Cardinal Brogni

"Herschenfeld demonstrated a well-controlled basso down to some of the lowest notes in the score and acted so well with his voice."
www.operalover.net

rep.

opera
beethoven: rocco, don fernando
bellini: giorgio, oroveso
boito: mefistofele
borodin: konchak
donizetti: raimondo
lam: king zuoxian (created role)
mozart: commendatore, osmin, sarastro
mussorgsky: pimen, varlaam
ponchielli: alvise
puccini: colline, simone
gounod: mephistopheles
rimsky: tsar dodon
rossini: basilio
saint-saëns: abimelech, old hebrew
tchaikovsky: gremin
verdi: banquo, ferrando, fiesco, guardiano, inquisitor, sparafucile
wagner: fafner, fasolt, hunding, marke, gurnemanz
weill: frank maurrant
wourinen: butt the hoopoe (created role)

oratorio
beethoven: symph no.9
handel: messiah
haydn: creation, seasons, theresienmesse
mozart: requiem, vesperae solennes
rittenhouse: vision of the apocalypse
rossini: stabat mater
verdi: requiem