STEPHEN
SWANSON is a concert and opera singer, a teacher of singing, and opera stage
director. He earned degrees from North Park College and Northwestern University
and served a two-year AGMA apprenticeship with the Wolf Trap Company. After an
internship at the International Opera Studio of the Zurich Opera, Swanson sang
in opera houses in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, amassing
a repertoire of 91 roles in operas, operettas, and musicals. Since 1994, he has
been Professor of Voice at The University of Iowa.
Swanson has
performed as a soloist with many of the world’s leading conductors including
Sir Georg Solti, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Giuseppe Patanè, Nello Santi,
Ferdinand Leitner, Margaret Hillis, and Vance George. An extremely versatile performer,
he sings works from the Baroque to the avant-garde as well as standard baritone
concert repertoire, such as Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and his
signature piece, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Swanson has
toured extensively in North America and Europe, singing the title role in
Victor Ullmann’s Der
Kaiser von Atlantis. This historical reconstruction of the original
orchestration and vocal score was documented on a compact disc recording
produced by Studio Matouš and ARBOS, Company for
Music and Theater (Austria). In 2008 Albany Records released Was
my brother in the battle? Songs of War, a solo compact disc recording with composer/pianist
David Gompper which has received critical acclaim in print and electronic media.
rev. 3/24/2011