American Tenor Richard Croft at Salzburg Festival

SALZBURG, Austria (PRWEB) July 21, 2005

Richard Croft, whose clarion tenor is perfectly suited to the florid arias of Handel and Mozart returns to Austria for the Salzburg Festival (July 28-August 25) where he will sing the title role in Mitridate, fourteen-year-old MozartÂ’s first opera seria.

He is scheduled to reprise the role at the Festival in 2006.

Croft, who has recorded GluckÂ’s Orphée et Eurydice with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre, will tour with them in Fall 2005 for a program of Mozart arias. He returns to America in February 2006 to star in HandelÂ’s Rodelinda at the Dallas Opera.

Richard CroftÂ’s busy 2005-2006 season culminates at the Los Angeles Opera in the world premiere of Grendel by Academy-Award winning composer Elliot Goldenthal. The libretto, based on the 1971 novel by John Gardner which recounts the Beowulf story from the monsterÂ’s vantage point, was co-authored by Julie Taymor and J.D. McClatchy. Taymor, who won a Tony Award for The Lion King, will direct the premiere, a co-commission and co-production between the Los Angeles Opera and the Lincoln Center Festival. Richard Croft will star as the Blind Harpist in a cast that includes Denyce Graves as the Dragon and Eric Owens as Grendel. Croft will also sing the role at the Lincoln Center Festival in July 2006.

CroftÂ’s future plans include BrittenÂ’s Billy Budd at the Hamburg Opera (Winter 2007) where he will sing the role of Starry Vere, originally composed for Sir Peter Pears, under the baton of Simone Young.

About Richard Croft:

American tenor Richard Croft has performed to great acclaim around the world, including the Salzburg Festival, Glyndebourne Festival; Deutsche Oper Berlin, Netherlands Opera, Opéra National de Paris; the Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Dallas Opera; the Atlanta Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and the Minnesota Orchestra.

CroftÂ’s crystalline voice has been described as “godlike,” “refined and virtuosic,” in roles like Jupiter in HandelÂ’s Semele. His flexible instrument is uniquely suited to the intricate demands of Baroque and Classical roles, but his repertoire is far from limited to these. Critics hailed his Glyndebourne performance as Flamand the composer in StraussÂ’s Capriccio as “pure and ardent,” “thrilling to hear and watch.” He has also sung the title role in StravinskyÂ’s The RakeÂ’s Progress as well as DebussyÂ’s Pelléas et Mélisande (“impassioned, clear-toned and ideal”).

Croft made his debuts with the Houston Grand Opera and Washington Opera as Ferrando in MozartÂ’s Così fan tutte. He later sang the same role under James Levine at the Metropolitan Opera along with Belmonte in MozartÂ’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Almaviva in RossiniÂ’s ll barbiere di Siviglia. Other Mozartean leads include the title role in La clemenza di Tito for the Dallas and Santa Fe Operas, Mitridate at the Salzburg, Il ré pastore and Mitridate at the Netherlands Opera and Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) at the Opéra National de Paris.

In concert, Croft debuted with the Cleveland Orchestra in the title role of Pelléas et Mélisande in concerts led by Pierre Boulez. He also made his Carnegie Hall debut under Sir Neville Marriner in Mozart’s Requiem. Other concert appearances included Messiah with the Minnesota Orchestra.

In Europe, Croft appears frequently with the Netherlands Opera, Glyndebourne and Salzburg Festivals. His repertoire includes seldom-performed works such as Alessandro ScarlattiÂ’s Il primo omicidio in which he sang the role of Adam, and Florian Leopold GassmannÂ’s parody comic opera, LÂ’opera seria, in which he took the role of Sospiro the composer.

Richard Croft has recorded HandelÂ’s Ariodante and Hercules for Deutsche Grammophon/ARCHIV as well as GluckÂ’s Orphée et Eurydice, all with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre. Critics uniformly praised Orphée, calling CroftÂ’s performance “tremendous” and “ideal.” His performance in Hercules was lauded for its “beautiful timbre, brilliant enunciation and rhythmically stunning ornamentation.” His recording for Harmonia Mundi of ScarlattiÂ’s Il primo omicidio in the role of Adam won a 1999 Gramophone Award. For Erato, he recorded HandelÂ’s Theodora with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants. His Drottningholm performances of MozartÂ’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail and La finta giardiniera have been released on video and laserdisc by Philips Classics.

The musical gene is clearly dominant in the Croft family. RichardÂ’s brother, Dwayne, is also a world-class singer, but thereÂ’s no sibling rivalry between them; Dwayne is a baritone.

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