A recent graduate of Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program, a program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Soloman Howard garners high praise from the press for his vivid performances on the great opera and concert stages of the world. Soloman Howard’s voice is described as “sonorous” by The New York Times, “superhuman” by The Denver Post, and “a triumph” by The Guardian.
Soloman Howard’s 2018-19 season features returns to the Metropolitan Opera as The King in Aida conducted by Nicola Luisotti; to Los Angeles Opera as the Frate in Don Carlo under the baton of James Conlon; Santa Fe Opera as Colline in La bohème conducted by Jader Bignamini; and to Washington National Opera to reprise the title role he created for the company in The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me by Jeanine Tesori and J.D. McClatchy. He makes a Canadian operatic debut on the stage of Opéra de Montréal as Fafner in Das Rheingold under the baton of Michael Christie. Soloman Howard brings the roles of Somnus and Cadmus into his repertoire in an international tour of Semele with Harry Bicket leading The English Concert and makes a debut with the Handel & Haydn Society in performances of Mozart’s Requiem conducted by Music Director Harry Christophers.
Last season international opera house debuts were celebrated on three continents: at San Francisco Opera in Turandot conducted by Music Director Nicola Luisotti; at the Teatro Real in Aida; and at the Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Chile in Don Giovanni. Other notable opera performances included Aida at the Washington National Opera, Rigoletto at North Carolina Opera, and Madama Butterfly at Santa Fe Opera. In concert, Soloman Howard gave his first performances of Hunding in Die Walküre at the Miami Music Festival; he also sang Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony both with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic on a European tour and with Christian Arming and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra on tour in Asia.
Highlights of the recent past include performances of Aida at the Metropolitan Opera; the role of Jacopo Fiesco in a new production of Simon Boccanegra at the Opéra national de Bordeaux conducted by Paul Daniel; Don Giovanni at Santa Fe Opera conducted by John Nelson; La traviata at the Los Angeles Opera under the baton of Music Director James Conlon; The Magic Flute and Macbeth at the Glimmerglass Festival; and the title role of Approaching Ali at North Carolina Opera and the Washington National Opera. For the Washington National Opera, Soloman Howard bowed as Fafner in Der Ring des Nibelungen directed by Artistic Director Francesca Zambello and conducted by Music Director Philippe Auguin; as well as in leading roles of The Magic Flute, Show Boat, Don Giovanni, and Nabucco. He was heralded for the roles of Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the world premiere of the revised edition of Appomattox composed by Philip Glass in a production by Tazwell Thompson.
On the concert stage, he has been featured in performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra in debut appearances on many of Europe’s most famous stages. These include El Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg; the Musikverein in Vienna as well as in Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht at Carnegie Hall with Kent Tritle and the Oratorio Society of New York; Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier – opposite Renée Fleming – with the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christoph Eschenbach; Handel’s Messiah; Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass; and the Fauré Requiem with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
The Anti-Defamation League presented Soloman Howard with their “Making a Difference Award” in the summer of 2016 for raising awareness of voting rights though his performances of Appomattox at the Kennedy Center; and for bringing opera into the larger community. Soloman Howard is a proud graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and of Morgan State University.
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