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The American tenor Rockwell Blake was born on January 10, 1951 in Plattsburgh, New York. He studied music first at the State University of New York (Fredonia) and then at the Catholic University of America. On leaving Catholic University, he served for three years in the United States Navy as a member of the Sea Chanters male chorus and later as a soloist with the US Navy Band. During that time, he continued his voice training with Renata Carisio Booth, who had been his teacher since his school days in Plattsburgh.
He made his solo opera debut in 1976 at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. as Lindoro in L'italiana in Algeri, and made his debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera House in 1981 in the same role, with Marilyn Horne as his Isabella. He went on to become one of the outstanding Rossini singers of his generation, singing regularly at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro since 1983. He made his La Scala debut in 1992 as Giacomo in La donna del lago. It was La Scala's first production of the opera in 150 years and was staged to mark the bicentenary of Rossini's birth.
His superb vocal technique, two-and-a-half octave range, and elegant style have also made him a highly successful interpreter of Mozart operas, the bel canto operas of Donizetti and Bellini and baroque opera. He has sung the leading tenor role in over 50 operas including such rarities as Rossini's Zelmira, Mozart's' Zaide, Donizetti's Il Furioso all'Isola San Domingo, and L'Infedelta Delusa by Haydn. Blake has also sung with distinction in both orchestral works and oratorio. His repertoire in this area includes works by Bach, Beethoven, Berlioz, Britten, Handel, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Rossini, Saint-Saëns, and Stravinsky.
Since 2001 he has increasingly devoted himself to teaching young singers and has given master classes at the Associazione Lirica Concertistica Italiana in Milan, the Conservatoire Nationale de Paris, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Duke University in North Carolina, the State University of New York, the Hamburg Staatsoper, and the Chicago Lyric Opera young artists program.
Prizes and Distinctions
Cavaliere Ufficiale, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana 1994
Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres de la République Française 2000
Honorary Doctorate of Music, State University of New York
Richard Tucker Award 1978
Diapason d'Or de l'Aneé 1994
Victoire de la Musique 1997
Grand Prix du Palmares des Palmares 2004
Discography
Operas
Boieldieu - La Dame blanche (CD Angel Records)
Donizetti - Alina (CD Nuova Era)
Mozart - Mitridate Re di Ponto (DVD Euro Arts)
Rossini - Il barbiere di Siviglia (CD Nuova Era)
Rossini - La Donna del Lago, Conductor: Riccardo Muti (CD Philips)
Rossini - La Donna del Lago, Conductor: Riccardo Muti (DVD La Scala Collection)
Rossini - La Donna del Lago, Conductor: Claudio Scimone (CD Ponto)
Rossini - Elisabetta Regina d'Inghilterra (DVD Hardy Classic)
Recitals
Airs d'Opéras Français (CD EMI)
Encore Rossini (CD Arabesque)
The Mozart Tenor (CD Arabesque)
Rossini Melodies (CD EMI)
The Rossini Tenor (CD Arabesque)
Links
IMG Artists - Rockwell Blake Page
Thea Dispeker Artists Management - Rockwell Blake Page (includes his complete repertoire in both opera and orchestral/choral works)
Interviews on WNIB Radio - 13 January 1991 and 14 January 1996 (with commentary by the interviewer, Bruce Duffie)
References
Official biography - IMG Artists
The Metropolitan Opera Data Base
The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, Oxford University Press
The Richard Tucker Music Foundation
'Rockwell Blake' by Simi Horwitz, Opera Monthly, 1991