Bejun Mehta

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Bejun Mehta (2010)

Bejun Mehta (born June 29, 1968 in Laurinburg , North Carolina ) is an American opera singer ( countertenor ).

Life

Bejun Mehta is a son of the pianist Dady Mehta of Parish origin , who is in turn a cousin of the conductor Zubin Mehta , and the American soprano Martha Ritchey Mehta. Bejun grew up in Ann Arbor and later studied German literature at Yale , where he wrote a thesis on the interpretation of Heinrich Heine's poems. From the age of ten he sang as a soloist at concerts and recordings, among others with Leonard Bernstein . After changing his voice at the age of fifteen, he played the cello , both as a soloist and in an orchestra. He also worked as a conductor. Mehta also worked as a freelance production manager at various companies such as Delos International or BMG / RCA , where he was responsible for the 1998 Grammy- winning recording of Johann Sebastian Bach's suites for violoncello solo No. 1–6 by cellist János Starker .

At the same time, the dissatisfied with his baritone , inspired by a report on David Daniels , began to train the voice as a countertenor first in self-study, then with his singing teacher Joan Patenaude-Yarnell of the Manhattan School of Music . Sponsored by Marilyn Horne , he made his debut as such in 1998 with Handel's Partenope at the New York City Opera and has since made guest appearances at many major opera houses and festivals. His most important operatic roles include Orlando , Giulio Cesare , Orfeo ( Orfeo ed Euridice ), Telemaco , Oberon ( A Midsummer Night's Dream ), Farnace ( Mitridate ), Didymus ( Theodora ), Arsamenes ( Serse ) and Ottone ( Agrippina ).

Mehta made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2005 as Farnace in Mozart's Mitridate, re di Ponto under Marc Minkowski . In 2009 he sang Didymus there in a staged version of Handel's Theodora . In 2012 he was heard , alongside Plácido Domingo , Julia Lezhneva and Franco Fagioli , in the title role of a concert version of Handel's opera Tamerlano , in which Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble performed under Minkowski. In 2014 he sang the male title role of the opera Orfeo ed Euridice in a production for the Salzburg Mozart Week .

In March 2009 he made a guest appearance as altus in the oratorio Messiah in a staged version in a production by Claus Guth at the Theater an der Wien . In 2014 he appeared in May at the Wiener Festwochen as Orfeo in the opera Orfeo ed Euridice in a production by Romeo Castellucci . In the Hamburg premiere of Toshio Hosokawa's opera Stilles Meer in January 2016 he sang Stephan under the direction of Kent Nagano . In 2016 he again played Gluck's Orfeo at the State Opera in the Schiller Theater in Berlin. It staged Juergen Flimm , it conducted by Daniel Barenboim .

Mehta is also involved in a film version of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice as artistic advisor and interpreter of Orfeo, which was filmed in 2013 in the Castle Theater in Český Krumlov ( Czech Republic ) together with Eva Liebau as Euridice.

Discography (selection)

  • Ombra Cara, arias by Georg Friedrich Händel , Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, René Jacobs, Harmonia Mundi .
  • Georg Friedrich Handel: Theodora (Didymus) , Freiburger Barock Orchester, Ivor Bolton, The Salzburg Festival, Unitel / Classica.
  • WA Mozart: Mitridate (Farnace) , Les Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski, The Salzburg Festival, Decca.
  • Georg Friedrich Händel: Messiah (Alto / Middle Brother), Claus Guth, Ensemble Matheus, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Unitel / Classica.
  • Georg Friedrich Handel: Giulio Cesare , Les Musiciens du Louvre, Marc Minkowski, archive production.
  • Georg Friedrich Händel: Rinaldo (Mago cristiano) , The Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood, Decca.
  • Bejun, Arias and Songs , Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Delos.
  • Georg Friedrich Handel: Belshazzar (Cyrus) , Academy for Early Music Berlin, RIAS Chamber Choir, René Jacobs, Harmonia Mundi HMD 9909028.29, 2008 (DVD).
  • Down by the Salley Gardens - Mehta sings Britten, Finzi and other composers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Century ; Piano: Julius Drake ; Harmonia Mundi, 2011.
  • Che puro ciel - The Rise of Classical Opera ; with René Jacobs , 2014.
  • El Maestro Farinelli , Concerto Köln, Archiv Production, 2014.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Tobias Roth : “I want to depict passions” - Bejun Mehta on music and literature, change and the discovery of a voice. on Klassik.com, November 2010.
  2. ^ Ljubiša Tošić: In the maze of self-discovery . In: Der Standard from March 18, 2011 (conversation with Mehta).
  3. ^ Andrew L. Pincus: Musicians with a Mission. Keeping the classical tradition alive. Northeastern University Press, Boston 2002, ISBN 155553516X , p. 82.
  4. ↑ a b Bejun Mehta on klassik.com.
  5. ^ Robert Hilferty: Counter Culture. An acclaimed boy soprano who was put out of business by puberty, Bejun Mehta remained silent for fifteen years. Now, at 30, the countertenor is again hitting the high notes. New York Magazine
  6. ^ Program 2008/09 Theater an der Wien, cast by Messiah
  7. ↑ Program details ( Memento of the original from July 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. the Wiener Festwochen to Orfeo ed Euridice  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.festwochen.at
  8. ↑ Program of the Hamburg State Opera from January 24, 2016
  9. ^ TV film Orfeo ed Euridice , adaptation of the opera of the same name by Christoph Willibald Gluck ( Euridice ). Broadcast on July 19, 2014 in 3sat .
personal data
SURNAME Mehta, Bejun
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American opera singer (countertenor)
DATE OF BIRTH June 29, 1968
PLACE OF BIRTH Laurinburg , North Carolina