bass

Thomas Paul, a celebrated basso, has been widely acknowledged as one of the most vocally resplendent and musically versatile singers of his generation. Since his Carnegie Hall debut in 1961, he has distinguished himself with enduring success in an enormous concert and operatic repertoire.

For more than four decades he has been a frequent guest soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic,the Philadelphia Orchestra, and every other major symphony in North America under the most eminent conductors. Festival affiliations include Aspen, Tanglewood, Mostly Mozart, Meadowbrook, Blossom, Caramoor, Carmel, Great Park, Hollywood Bowl, Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap, and Lincoln Center's "Great Performers Series."

International engagements have included operatic and concert performances in Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Mannheim, Zurich, Kiev, Helsinki, Shenyang, and Beijing in a wide repertoire including Bach's Passion According to St. Matthew, Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle, Handel's Jephtha, the Shostakovich Symphonies 14 and 13 ("Babi Yar"), and major works of Haydn and Beethoven.

His many recordings display a rare versatility with works by Bach, Beach, Beethoven, Berlioz, Carter, Handel, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Rands, Schoenberg, and Varèse. A Sony Classical CD with the Juilliard String Quartet of a unique solo vocal chamber version of Haydn's The Seven Last Words of Christ won a Grammy nomination for Best Chamber Music Recording of 1990.

A resident basso of New York City's Bach Aria Group, he developed the Bach Aria Study and Performance Festival at SUNY Stonybrook. He now devotes full attention to singing, private teaching, guest master classes, and solo recording projects.

Performances

Miller Theatre at Columbia University | March 23, 2000
Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | March 16, 2000

News and Press

[CD Review] Bernard Rands: Canti Trilogy

About a year ago, Arsis put a big advertising push behind a CD called Songs of Love that featured the music of Bernard Rands (b. 1934) and that of his wife, Augusta Read Thomas. I kind of blew hot and cold over that disc, but not this time. This is the real deal, a three-part work made up of what amounts to three independent song cycles, one for each of the vocalists, accompanied by either orchestra or, as here, a large chamber ensemble that is one of the most striking works I can recall hearing and one that only grows in my estimation each time I listen to it.

Fanfare Full review