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William Stone: bio


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William Stone: Short Biography

William Stone has had an operatic career at the international level for over thirty five years. He has sung extensively in the major opera houses of Europe and especially in Italy, where he twice opened the May Festival in Florence, first as Wozzeck with Bruno Bartoletti, and then, as Orestes, in Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride under Riccardo Muti. His creation of the role of Adam for the Lyric Opera of Chicago's world premiere of Penderecki's Paradise Lost, was followed by his debut at La Scala in its European premiere and a performance at the Vatican for Pope John Paul II. With Sir Georg Solti, he toured with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in the role of the Count in Le nozze di Figaro. He has sung lead roles with the main opera companies in Rome, Genoa, Naples, Venice, Paris, Toulouse, Lille, Amsterdam, Bonn, Stuttgart, Brussels and Amsterdam.

His North American opera engagements included the Metropolitan Opera (Moses und Aron, Wozzeck, La traviata, Sly, Die Fledermaus, Romeo et Juliette, Lucia, Madama Butterfly), and title roles for over a decade at the New York City Opera, notably as the Count in Le nozze di Figaro in a Live from Lincoln Center telecast and the title role in new productions of Hindemith's Mathis der Maler, and Busoni's Doktor Faust.

As a concert artist, Stone has appeared with every major orchestra in the country, including the New York Philharmonic under Kurt Masur and the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Seiji Ozawa conducting the premieres of Takemitsu's My Way of Life, and Kirchner's Of Things Exactly as They Are. His long relationship with Robert Shaw resulted in acclaimed performances of the monumental choral works and over a dozen recordings, including the two Grammy Award recordings of Hindemith's When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd, and Walton's Belshazaar's Feast, and an Historic Live Performance Edition of Ein Deutches Requiem with the Cleveland Orchestra. Other recordings include The Songs and Arias of Robert Ward, and DVDs of Carnegie Hall's Performance Series of Hindemith's When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd, and Verdi's Falstaff with Jose van Dam.

Mr. Stone, Professor Emeritus of Voice and Opera at Temple University, was recently a voice teacher for the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program with the Washington National Opera, and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He served on the voice faculty at the Academy of Vocal Arts for 10 years, until 2019, and was the Head of the Voice Faculty for the Maryland Lyric Opera Young Artist Institute from 2017 to 2023. Mr. Stone continues to teach privately, and adjudicate for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and other vocal competitions.

January 2024

 

• For more information: www.baritonestone.com