Randall Scarlata, baritone
“A triumph – this baritone has in his keeping the vocal wherewithal to do just about anything he wants.” So exclaimed Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe after Randall Scarlata’s Boston debut, singing Schubert’s Winterreise. Hailed for his warm, expressive sound, consummate musicianship and winning way with the audience, baritone Randall Scarlata has become one of the most sought-after musical interpreters of his generation. His performances throughout the United States, Europe and South America have garnered raves from audiences and critics alike.
Randall Scarlata has appeared as soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra (singing Copland’s Old American Songs under David Alan Miller), the Philadelphia Orchestra (singing Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Geselle), the National Symphony (in the C-minor Mass and as Figaro in scenes from Le Nozze di Figaro under Chistopher Hogwood), the Birmingham Symphony (as Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte), the California Symphony (as Maximillian in Bernstein’s Candide), the Eugene Symphony (in the Brahms Requiem, under Marin Alsop), the Brooklyn Philharmonic (as Frère Leon in Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise, with David Wilson Johnson, Heidi Grant- Murphy and John Aler, under Robert Spano), the American Symphony (as Siskov in Janacek’s From the Book of the Dead, under Leon Botstein), and many others.
In recital, Mr. Scarlata has performed with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Alice Tully Hall, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, and concerts for the Vocal Arts Society in Washington, DC, in New York’s Morgan Library and Merkin Hall, at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, at Princeton University, for Cal Performances in Berkeley, CA, at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, the Academy of Music and the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, at the Cleveland Art Song Festival, Ravinia, Seattle Chamber Music and Marlboro Music Festivals, The Buffalo Chamber Music Society, and for the La Jolla Chamber Music Society. Abroad, he has performed in major concert halls of Vienna, Salzburg, Hamburg, Nice, Caracas, and for the Edinburgh International Festival (with pianist Richard Goode).
Mr. Scarlata has performed numerous opera roles including the Count in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Mercutio in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Maximillian in Candide, the role of Scrooge in Thea Musgrave’s A Christmas Carol with the Virginia Opera, the premiere of Musgrave’s The Mockingbird with Boston Musica Viva, and the U.S. premiere of HK Gruber’s Gloria: A Pigtale at the Aspen Music Festival. He has performed many of Bach’s Cantatas, as well as the St. Matthew and St. John Passions. A frequent performer of new music, Scarlata has given world premieres of works by Ned Rorem, Samuel Adler, Daron Hagen, Thea Musgrave, Lori Laitman, and Robert Capanna among others. In addition, Mr. Scarlata has recorded for the Albany, Gasparo and CRI labels.
Highlights of the 2003-2004 season include recitals for Seattle Chamber Music Society, Music at Mt. Gretna, the Austrian Cultural Forum (celebrating the centennial of Hugo Wolf’s death), CSU Chico, Siskov in Janacek’s From the House of the Dead with the American Symphony (part of Lincoln Center’s Great Performers Series), Leon Botstein conducting, The Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, recitals for Boston’s Gardner Museum and Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. In addition, Mr. Scarlata performed Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the New England Bach Festival, Schoenberg’s Ode to Napoleon on the Musicians from Marlboro tour, Castaldo’s Photograph of a Funeral for Philadelphia’s Network for New Music, and concerts with the Chiara and American String Quartets. In May 2004, Mr. Scarlata sang Mahler’s Rückert Lieder for the annual Irene Diamond Concert in Alice Tully Hall.
As an educator, Mr. Scarlata currently serves on the voice faculty of the School of Music at West Chester University. He has presented lectures, workshops and masterclasses at the Hartt School of Music, Williams College, California State University at Chico, Potsdam College of SUNY, Iowa State University, Southwest Missouri State University, Weber State University, Western Michigan University, University of Georgia, Mary Baldwin College, Southwest Texas State University, and at the University of Nebraska. Mr. Scarlata has also collaborated with the outreach programs of The Kennedy Center, Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Madison Civic Center, and the La Jolla Chamber Music Society in bringing classical music to those who might not otherwise be able to experience it.
Mr. Scarlata’s awards include First Prize at the 1997 “Das Schubert Lied” International Competition in Vienna, First Prize at the 1997 Joy in Singing Competition in New York, the 1998 Alice Tully Vocal Arts Debut Recital Award of The Juilliard School, and Second Prize at the 1999 Walter W. Naumburg Foundation International Vocal Competition.
Randall Scarlata earned a bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music and studied in Vienna on a Fulbright Grant. He received his master’s degree at The Juilliard School as a student of Beverley Johnson, and was a member of the Juilliard Opera Center. Mr. Scarlata has studied with Gérard Souzay and participated in masterclasses of Elly Ameling, Dalton Baldwin, Graham Johnson, Ernst Haefliger, Christoph Eschenbach, Roger Vignoles and Peter Schreier.