baritone

Baritone Aaron Engebreth enjoys a varied solo career in opera, oratorio, recital and devotes considerable energy to the performance of established music and contemporary premieres, frequently collaborating with many of today’s preeminent composers.  In addition to his recent Carnegie Hall debut with the New England Symphonic Ensemble, he has been featured as a concert soloist in performances from Sapporo Japan’s Kitara Hall and Boston’s Symphony Hall, to Le Theatre de la Ville in Paris and the AmBul festival of Sofia, Bulgaria.  Mr. Engebreth made his debut at Washington’s Kennedy Center in 2012, and has been a guest of the Tanglewood, Ravinia, Rockport and Monadnock Music Festivals as well as many fine symphony orchestras, among them Portland, Virginia, San Diego and Charlotte.  Recent appearances include concerts and commercial recordings with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Lexington, Bangor and Boston Landmarks’ Symphony Orchestras, Vancouver International Song Institute, St. Louis Art Museum and the Firebird Ensemble.

This concert season features a New York City Opera debut as monodrama soloist in Argento’s A Waterbird Talk, a Bernstein Centenary recital In collaboration with Boston Symphony Orchestra and Museum of Fine Arts, as well as performances with Le Central de Lyon (France), Concert de l’Hostel Dieu, Rutter’s Messe des enfants with Écully Musical, Bunthorne in Patience with Odyssey Opera, Boston Camerata, and recitals in Lyon, Paris and San Francisco.

Mr. Engebreth’s work with award-winning composer and conductor Lukas Foss cultivated a passion for premiering new works:  he has since collaborated with composers John Harbison, Libby Larsen, Thea Musgrave, Ned Rorem and Daniel Pinkham, among many others.  Also recognized for his interpretation of early music, he is a frequent soloist with many of the finest organizations including American Bach Soloists, Handel and Haydn Society, Miami Bach Society, Boston Baroque, Boston Camerata and Santa Fe Pro Musica.  He was a regular soloist with Emmanuel Music for six seasons, joining a longtime tradition of performances of Bach’s cantatas under the direction of the late Craig Smith.

In demand as a recording artist, he is featured with the Boston Early Music Festival and Radio Bremen, both nominated for Grammy Awards for Best Operatic Recording: Th
ésée and Psyché, by Lully.  In 2016 he produced and recorded the first complete catalogue of The Complete Songs of Virgil Thomson with Florestan Recital Project and New World Records, which is garnering international acclaim. Other releases: the world premiere of Six Early Songs of Samuel Barber and Larsen’s The Peculiar Case of Dr. H. H. Holmes, both for Florestan Records; Jon Deak’s The Passion of Scrooge with the Firebird Ensemble and Conrad Susa’s Carols and Lullabies; a multi-disc project recording The Complete Songs of Daniel Pinkham with Florestan Recital Project, the first volume of which was named one of the five best contemporary music releases of the year by NPR and American Public Media.  As a frequent soloist with Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Mr. Engebreth can be heard on their recordings of Foss’s Griffelkin and The Prairie, Harbison’s A Winter's Tale, Eric Sawyer’s Our American Cousin, Virgil Thomson’s Four Saints in Three Acts, and Argento's A Waterbird Talk, in collaboration with Odyssey Opera.

Performances

Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | February 1, 2020
Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | January 19, 2019
Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | November 16, 2013
Distler Performance Hall at Tufts University | September 27, 2009
Distler Performance Hall at Tufts University | September 27, 2009
Distler Performance Hall at Tufts University | September 26, 2009
Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | March 20, 2009
Buckley Recital Hall at Amherst College | March 31, 2007
Ozawa Hall at Tangelwood | July 25, 2002
Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | March 29, 2002

News and Press

[Concert Review] Florestan, BMOP offer sublime tribute to vocal music

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project had a good idea last weekend. They paired with the Florestan Project, a superb vocal group, to present three days of concerts named “Voice of America” at Tufts University’s Distler Performance Hall. Florestan presented the complete songs of Samuel Barber, some 75 in number. The Sunday afternoon concert I attended then featured a chamber-music-sized BMOP with concerted songs of Samuel Barber and Virgil Thomson. Florestan and BMOP together offered a sublime tribute to the voice.

The Boston Musical Intelligencer Full review
[Concert Review] Big themes, big performances boost "Our American Cousin"

NORTHAMPTON - It is rare to encounter an opera premiere outside the big cities or big festivals but Amherst composer Eric Sawyer and Berkeley poet John Shoptaw have done the almost-impossible. They raised $100,000 (from foundations and generous individuals), enlisted the talent (some of it from Opera Boston), and produced their new opera, Our American Cousin, on Friday at the Academy of Music in this town. This was its first fully staged performance. The Boston Modern Orchestra Project was in the pit, led by Gil Rose.

The Boston Globe Full review
[News Coverage] American tragedy receives a lyrical touch

President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and the surrounding events are seen through the prism of musical drama in the world premiere of Our American Cousin, a new opera by Amherst College composer Eric Sawyer and librettist John Shoptaw.

The Republican Full review
[CD Review] BMOP's recording of Foss's Griffelkin receives perfect score

Artistic Quality: 10 Sound Quality: 10

Lukas Foss composed Griffelkin for the NBC television network, which broadcast the opera on November 6, 1955. Although Griffelkin is based on a children’s fable, Foss wanted it to appeal to listeners ages “8 to 80,” so he wrote in a very accessible though not simplistic musical style—and the story has enough of a mature subtext to interest adults as well as children (as all good “children’s” music must).

ClassicsToday Full review