Alex McKissick
Opera News has hailed American tenor Alex Mckissick as possessing a “melting tone and poignant phrasing” and reviewed a recent performance saying “[his] soaring voice brought the evening to a sweeping conclusion.”
During the 2023-24 season Mr. McKissick will make his Irish National Opera debut singing Narraboth in Salome under the baton of Fergus Sheil with performances in Wexford and Dublin; revisits the role of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni for San Diego Opera led by Yves Abel; join the Des Moines Metro Opera to sing the role of Nicola d'Inverno in the world-premiere of Damien Geter’s American Apollo as well as revive his portrayal of Narraboth in their production of Salome. Mr. McKissick makse a special appearance with the Vallejo Festival Orchestra for an evening entitled: Three Tenors! -The Next Generation.
Mr. McKissick made role and house debuts in the 2022-23 season as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with North Carolina Opera and as Joe in La Fanciulla del West with the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Franz Welser-Möst. He also performed as tenor soloist in a concert of Liszt's piano transcription of Beethoven's Symphony #9 at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum with Christopher Taylor in Boston. Mr. McKissick continued to tour with acclaimed trumpeter Chris Botti to Toronto, Minneapolis, Nashville, and more cities across the United States.
The 2021-22 season was filled with concert and gala performances of Mr. McKissick. Highlights of the season included the world premiere of two Georgia Shreve oratorios, Lavinia and Anne Komnene, at Alice Tully Hall under the baton of Steven Mercurio; an appearance on 21c Liederabend Op. Senses, a collaboration between National Sawdust and Beth Morrison Project, where he sang an excerpt from Edward Tulane composed by Paola Prestini with libretto by Mark Campbell; a performance with Camerata Notturna of Beethoven Symphony #9 alongside soloists Meigui Zhang, Siphokazi Molteni, and Matthew Rose; as well as several aria-filled galas with North Carolina Opera, Opera Edwardsville, Berkshire Opera Festival, and Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle. He began accompanying Chris Botti on tour in Texas, Arizona, Utah, and California performing favorite selections of Satori and Puccini.
Mr. McKissick was scheduled to make his debut as Tamino in The Magic Flute with Opera San José under the baton of Donato Cabrera before the current pandemic forced its cancellation. In the summer of 2019, he covered the role of Rodolfo in La bohème with the Des Moines Metro Opera conducted by Michael Christie and in 2018 performed the title role in Roméo et Juliette with the Wolf Trap Opera led by Eric Melear. He has sung regularly with the Washington National Opera in such roles as Nikolaus Sprink in Kevin Puts’s Silent Night, Roderigo in Verdi’s Otello, The Governor of Montevideo in Bernstein’s Candide, the 1st Armored Guard in The Magic Flute, as well as covering the title role in Faust.
Past performance highlights include Alfredo in La traviata at the Aspen Music Festival; concerts with the Georg Solti Accademia in Venice, Italy; the tenor soloist in Handel's Messiah with the Richmond Symphony and Beethoven's Symphony #9 with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra; and the roles of Monostatos in Die Zauberflöte, Le Journaliste in Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias, Ein Soldat in Ullman’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis, and Brack Weaver in Kurt Weill’s Down in the Valley at the Juilliard School of Music. Mr. McKissick has worked with conductors Eun Sun Kim, Daniele Callegari, Keri-Lynn Wilson, Nicole Paiement, as well as stage directors David Alden, Francesca Zambello, Tomer Zvulun, Octavio Cardenas, Christopher Mattaliano, and Garnett Bruce. He has coached with Richard Bonynge, Carmen Giannattasio, Angela Gheorghiu, and Anthony Legge, in addition to participating in master classes with Fabio Luisi and Emmanuel Villuame.
Mr. McKissick is a highly sought-after recitalist in the Washington, D.C., metro area where he recently appeared at the Renwick Gallery, Dumbarton Oaks, the Cosmos Club, the Metropolitan Club, the United States Supreme Court, and a number of private concerts at various embassies and residences of important officials. His recording of Bernstein's Songfest, released on the Naxos label, is under consideration for a Grammy Award nomination and his CD Una notte a Napoli, recorded live at Switzerland’s Victoria Hall in Geneva, is available at select locations. Mr. McKissick is a 2018 Sullivan Foundation Career Grant Winner, a 2017 Sara Tucker Study Grant Winner, a 2018 Operalia quarterfinalist, and a Toulmin Scholar. He received his Bachelor’s of Music and Master’s Degree from the Juilliard School of Music. Mr. McKissick is an alumnus of the Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Washington National Opera.
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