Guest Artist Bios

Nicole Cabell, soprano

Nicole Cabell, the 2005 Winner of the BBC Singer of the World Competition in Cardiff and Decca recording artist, is one of the most sought-after lyric sopranos of today. Her solo debut album, Soprano was named “Editor’s Choice” by Gramophone and has received an incredible amount of critical acclaim and several prestigious awards, including the 2007 Georg Solti Orphée d’Or from the French Académie du Disque Lyrique.

This season Ms. Cabell returns the BBC Proms for a concert of George Walker’s Lilacs, before performing the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro with the Pittsburgh Opera. Further opera performances will include Bess in Porgy and Bess with Opera Carolina and North Carolina Opera and concerts of Clara in the same opera with the NDR and Alan Gilbert at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. In concert, Ms. Cabell will sing Messiah with the Seattle Symphony, Vaughan-Williams’ Sea Symphony with the Atlanta Symphony and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Rochester Philharmonic. Future projects include a debut with the Royal Swedish Opera.

Nicole Cabell’s past season included a triumphant return to the San Francisco Opera in her role debut as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, performances in London and on tour in the United States with the London Symphony Orchestra and Simon Rattle performing George Walker’s Lilacs, a solo recital with Cincinnati’s Matinee Musicale and concerts of Barber’s Knoxville, Summer of 1915 and Mahler’s 4 th Symphony with the Tucson Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with the Philadelphia Orchestra and with the Apollo Chorus of Chicago on the occasion of their 150 th anniversary, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Cincinnati May Festival and Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem with the Buffalo Philharmonic. In the summer she joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons for Barber’s Knoxville, Summer of 1915 and for Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni before going to the Grand Teton Music Festival for Mimi in La bohème with Donald Runnicles.

Barbara Rearick, mezzo-soprano

American mezzo-soprano Barbara Rearick has been lauded by Opera News for her “tonal beauty” and Gramophone for her “charm and finesse.” Since her Carnegie Hall debut in Handel’s Messiah, she has performed internationally with such orchestras as the Houston, Indianapolis, Buffalo and Baltimore Symphonies, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

Recent successes include Handel’s Messiah with the Wichita Symphony; de Falla’s El amor brujo and Copland’s Old American Songs with the Southwest Florida Symphony; performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in their MusicNow series; Verdi’s Requiem with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and Huntsville Symphony; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Bozeman, Colorado, Syracuse, and Wichita symphonies; Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Canterbury Choral Society; Mozart’s Coronation Mass at the Spoleto Festival USA; Messiah with the symphonies of Baltimore, Buffalo, Indianapolis, Memphis, Nashville, Orange County and Syracuse; Mozart’s Requiem with Symphoria (Syracuse, NY); Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the South Dakota Symphony; Bach’s Magnificat and St. Matthew Passion with Voices of Ascension; Bach’s St. John Passion with the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, and Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Costa Rica; and Mahler’s Rückert Lieder at Princeton University. She has performed in Bach’s St. John Passion, under Kent Tritle in Musica Sacra at Lincoln Center, and at London’s Wigmore Hall, singing three songs written for her by Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, with the composer accompanying her at the piano.

Barbara Rearick has appeared on BBC World Service Radio, New York City’s WQXR, and National Public Radio and has recorded for Naxos, Gateway Classics, and ASV. Born in Pennsylvania, she serves on the voice faculty at Princeton University and is a founding member of the Britten-Pears Ensemble, a chamber group specializing in rarely heard contemporary works.

Aaron Crouch, tenor

An artist and activist, American tenor, Aaron Crouch has been described by the Huffington Post as “riveting vocally and as an actor.” Originally from Bowie, Maryland, he is a graduate of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

During the 2022/23 season, Mr. Crouch will debut with Opera Philadelphia in the role of Gondolier in their new production of Otello. Additionally, he will reprise the role of The Son in Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson’s award-winning opera, Blue, for his long awaited debut at Washington National Opera. He will also appear as Lindoro in Tulsa Opera’s production of L’Italiana in Algeri as well as Conte Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Florentine Opera. This season will also include performances with Opera America, Carnegie Hall, Parlando, & the Charlotte Symphony.

Most recently, Mr. Crouch thrilled audiences with his performance as Candide with The May Festival. He was also seen as Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola with Tri-Cities Opera and The Son in Blue with Pittsburgh Opera. This year, Mr. Crouch received 2nd prize at The Cooper-Bing Vocal Competition in Ohio.

In 2020, he was a winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions at the Michigan District. He was also chosen as one of nine finalists for the Houston Grand Opera’s Concert of Arias, the 33 rd Annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers in February 2021.

Mr. Crouch has been a soloist with the New World Symphony for their Ravel Journey Concert. He also performed in an all- Bernstein concert with the Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey for Bernstein’s centennial in 2019. In past summers, Mr. Crouch has attended the Glimmerglass Festival, performing the role of The Son in Blue, Giuseppe in La traviata, and Tamino in Kelly Rourke’s storybook adaptation of The Magic Flute.

Daniel Okulitch, bass-baritone

Canadian bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch is a frequent interpreter of the principal Mozart roles of Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva, Figaro and Leporello, at companies including Los Angeles Opera, Santa Fe Opera and Dallas Opera. His current season features house debuts at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow as Don Giovanni, and with Opernhaus Zürich in Le nozze di Figaro. Other highlights of recent seasons include debuts at Teatro alla Scala in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, at Washington National Opera in Peter Grimes and at Grand Théâtre de Genève in Charpentier’s Médée.

Showcasing an innate connection to the music of our time, Okulitch has created several principal characters, most notably Ennis del Mar in Charles Wuorinen’s Brokeback Mountain at Teatro Real Madrid, Seth Brundle in Howard Shore’s The Fly at Théâtre de Châtelet and Los Angeles Opera, Mark Rutland in Nico Muhly’s Marnie at English National Opera and LBJ in David T Little’s JFK at Fort Worth Opera and Opéra de Montréal. Further contemporary appearances include General Groves in John Adams’ Doctor Atomic, Joseph De Rocher in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking and in Kevin Puts’ Silent Night. He recently made a role debut as The Protector in George Benjamin’s Written on Skin at Opéra de Montréal, Benjamin’s Lessons of Love and Violence at Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.

Last season, Daniel joined the Houston Symphony Orchestra for Handel’s Messiah led by Bernard Labadie, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Vaughan-Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem with the Charlotte Symphony under Christopher Warren-Green, and South Dakota Symphony for Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. Okulitch’s career first garnered national attention as Schaunard in the original cast of Baz Luhrmann’s Tony Award-winning Broadway production of La bohème. His first solo recording, The New American Art Song, was released on GPR Records in 2011 and he can further be heard in Chausson’s Le Roi Arthus with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Pasatieri’s Frau Margot, and David DiChiera’s Cyrano de Bergerac.