Chris Merritt

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Chris Merritt as Otello in Rossini's Otello (Rossini Festival Pesaro 1986)

Chris Merritt (born September 27, 1952 in Oklahoma City , Oklahoma , USA ) is an American opera singer ( tenor ).

Life

Chris Merritt studied piano, singing, dance and acting at the University of Oklahoma City, where he also made his first stage appearance as Hoffmann in Les Contes d'Hoffmann . His official opera debut followed in 1975 at the Santa Fe Opera House as Fenton in Falstaff , after continuing his studies there.

From 1978 to 1981 he was engaged at the Salzburg State Theater and from 1981 to 1984 at the Augsburg City Theater. Afterwards he only worked freelance.

Since the singer had a phenomenal height (his vocal range reached up to the high E flat ) and a profound singing technique, he finally specialized in the parts of the belcanto repertoire, especially in the difficult tenor roles in the opera seria works by Gioacchino Rossini . In this repertoire, from the early 1980s onwards, he celebrated triumphs at almost all leading opera houses around the world for more than a decade. The singer was particularly valued in Italy . At the renowned Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro , the city ​​of Rossini's birth , he performed for years with great success as a partner of such prominent singers as Marilyn Horne , Montserrat Caballé and June Anderson . At La Scala in Milan , he sang two season opening premieres, the roles of Arnoldo in Guglielmo Tell (Rossini) and Arrigo in I vespri siciliani (Verdi) , conducted by Riccardo Muti . He also had a great success as Rodrigo di Dhu - again under Riccardo Muti - in the Scala premiere of La donna del lago (Rossini).

Change of repertoire

In the mid-1990s he began a change of subject and to this day sang almost exclusively repertoire from the 20th century. Above all his Aron in Arnold Schönberg's Moses und Aron and his Mephistopheles in Ferruccio Busoni's Doctor Faust were highly praised by the critics.

Meaning: new tenor type created

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Chris Merritt, together with his tenor colleagues Rockwell Blake and William Matteuzzi , created the new type of Rossini tenor and thus created the basis that especially Rossini's operas - after more than a hundred years - can be performed again as the composer did (with all the singing requirements) for his tenor roles. In contrast to the two aforementioned, Chris Merritt was also able to revive the “heroic” Rossini subject. He was the tenor who sang most of the performances of the “voice-killing” part of Arnoldo in the 20th century (63!). A subsequent generation of singers, the most outstanding representatives of which are Juan Diego Flórez and Bruce Ford , shows that this development continues.

Discography

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Merritt, Chris
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American opera singer (tenor)
DATE OF BIRTH September 27, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Oklahoma City , Oklahoma , USA