Contact:

Sarah Ray

802-443-5794

sray@middlebury.edu

Posted: February 25, 2002

Praise for

David Daniels

“King of the

countertenors”

—-USA Today

“The sensual

countertenor … there’s a tremendous physicality to

Daniels’ thrillingly fast vibrato, an elusive sense of

the anima,

the female,the androgyne.”

—-Gramophone

MIDDLEBURY,

VT - David Daniels possesses a voice that is nothing

short of remarkable. Somewhere between tenor and

mezzo-soprano lies the sound of a countertenor—a unique

musical role on which Daniels’ work is shining a

spotlight and, in the process, dazzling opera, recital and

concert audiences around the world. Accompanied by pianist

Martin Katz, Daniels will perform in a Vermont recital at

Middlebury College at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 17, in the

Concert Hall of the Center for the Arts (CFA) on South Main

Street (Route 30). An informal reception sponsored by GLEAM

(Gay & Lesbian Employees at Middlebury) will take place

in the CFA lobby immediately after the concert.

Daniels’

United States tour follows a highly successful fall season

in Europe where he performed with the Netherlands Opera, and

across Eastern Europe with Europa Galante, an award-winning

chamber orchestra. Last fall, he won the Gramophone

Editor’s Choice Award for Album of the Year and a

Diapason D’Or—both for his performance in the

title role on Decca’s release of Handel’s

“Rinaldo.”

Daniels’

recital performances feature music by Handel and Poulenc as

well as new selections, including the world premier of a

song cycle he commissioned from composer Theodore Morrison

who first met him as a student at the University of Michigan

School of Music where Daniels sang as a tenor. It was there

in 1992 that Daniels emerged as a countertenor, a place

where he said he always knew his voice belonged. “I knew a

great and profound artist had arrived and would soon appear

on the world stage,” Morrison said.

Daniels’

sound has been described as uncommonly

compelling—powerfully

feminine

in a very masculine package. The New Yorker said it has a

“striking allure” that inspires “complicated reactions” in

an audience. “More than one opera fan has remarked on the

somewhat disquieting prospect that the much sought-after

‘next Pavarotti’ may turn out to be a young man

with tremendous onstage bravado who stirs inarticulate

passions by singing very much like a woman.”

New York

Magazine put it this way: “one hears a voice of remarkable

purity and tonal beauty along with a command of style and

color that any singer would kill for.”

Daniels

bristles at the term falsetto that is used to describe his

technique. He said it’s technically correct but that

there’s nothing false about his sound. He calls it a

gift. “It’s my voice. It’s me. It’s the way I

was meant to produce a singing voice.”

Indeed, in

less than a decade, the South Carolina native and son of two

voice teachers earned a 1999 Grammy nomination for his first

disc of Handel arias on Virgin/EMI and two awards: Musical

America’s 1999 Vocalist of the Year and the 1997

Richard Tucker Award, which is awarded annually by the New

York City-based Richard Tucker Music Foundation to an

American singer poised at the start of a major national and

international career.

Daniels’

operatic credits include his 1999 debut with the

Metropolitan Opera as Sesto in “Giulio Cesare.” Other roles

have taken him to Zurich, London, Cologne, San Francisco and

Chicago. He has given recitals in Paris, London, Munich,

Barcelona, Edinburgh, St. Louis and Boston.

His

recordings include arias by Mozart, Gluck and Handel as well

as cantatas by Scarlatti and a live recording from the

Bavarian State Opera.

Like

Daniels, Katz has received awards and praise. “Martin Katz

must surely be considered the dean of collaborative

pianists,” declared the Los Angeles Times during the

2000-2001 season. In 1999, the publication Musical America

created a new award for him: Accompanist of the

Year.

Daniels’

Vermont performance is sponsored by the Middlebury College

Performing Arts Series. Tickets are $10 for general

admission and $8 for seniors. For tickets and information,

contact the College box office at 802-443-6433. The

post-concert reception is free and open to the public.