Projects
Lawrence Brownlee
Smetana hall at Prague's Municipal House
American tenor Lawrence Brownlee established himself as one of the best Rossini singers. He gained public recognition rather recently, yet, due do his professional debut (Almaviva at Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, Virginia in 2002) it was a very quick start. Almaviva is one of his signature roles. Following his triumphant MET debut (26th April 2007) he sang the role at the Vienna State Opera, Washington National Opera, German Opera in Berlin, Teatro Real in Madrid as well as La Scala in Milan. He was first seen at the Live from the MET Broadcasts in 2009 (Don Ramiro in Rossini’s Cenerentola) as well as in the following year (Rinaldo in Rossini‘s Armida), both to a great success. In Prague, he will perform arias of Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti. Mr. Brownlee’s tour is organized by Kapos s. r. o. and House of Music Košice – Bratislava – Praha.
In the 2011/12 season, Lawrence Brownlee returns to the Metropolitan Opera to perform the role of Tonio (Donizetti: La fille di regiment, in December/January – a role he already sang once in February 2010 when he stepped in for an ill college). In January 2012 he made his debut at Festival Fiorentino Maggio Musicale in Florence (Count di Libenskof at Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims) and in February he will sing Elvino at Bellini’s La sonnambula at the Vienna State Opera. In April, he will make his debut in Amsterdam De Nederlandse Opera where he will sing Narciso in Rossini’s Il turco in Italia. He will also introduce himself at Bavarian State Opera in Munich (Don Ramiro in Rossini’s Cenerentola in May, June and July). He will also expand his bel-canto repertoire with a French opera while singing the role of Nadir in Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles (concert production at the Tivoli Festival in Copenhagen).
The list of his operatic and concert performances on stages of the most upfront opera houses around the world is just as impressing as his discography. It includes Cenerentola from the MET with Elīna Garanča (Deutsche Grammophon), Armida from the MET with Renée Fleming (Decca) and a recording of Il barbiere di Siviglia with Elīna Garanča and the Munich Radio Orchestra (Sony).
Lawrence Brownlee was born in 1972 in Youngstown, Ohio. He graduated from Anderson University and Indiana University and he also took part at the young artists program at the Seattle Opera and Wolf Trap Opera Company in Virginia. In 2001 he won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and in 2006 he was awarded with the prestigious Marian Anderson and Richard Tucker Awards. In 2008 he was also named the Seattle Opera Artists of the Year.