Stephen Swanson, baritone
Stephen Swanson
has appeared in 92 roles in operas, operettas and musicals. Mr. Swanson has
sung on German, Dutch and Austrian radio broadcasts and has been a featured
soloist in the Berliner Festwochen, Assisi Festa Musica Pro, and Dresdner Tage der zeitgenössischen
Musik. He has an extensive concert repertoire ranging
from Baroque to avant-garde and has performed with many renowned conductors
including Sir Georg Solti,
Rafael Frübeck de Burgos, Margaret Hillis, and Vance George.
Born in Minneapolis, Mr. Swanson
earned his B.M. and B.M.Ed. from
North Park College,
Chicago, and
M.M. from Northwestern University. In 1971 he had his professional debut in Chicago and in New
York's Carnegie Hall with the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra in Arnold Schönberg's Moses and Aaron.
In 1975 he received a scholarship to study at the International Opera Studio in
Zurich, Switzerland,
and remained in Europe performing in opera
houses there until 1994. After nearly
twenty years singing opera full-time, Mr. Swanson accepted a position on the
music faculty at The University of Iowa. During the current academic year, he
is not only Professor of Voice at Iowa,
but also Interim Director of Opera.
Since moving to
Iowa, Stephen Swanson recorded Victor Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von
Atlantis, the title role of which he had sung at the United
States Holocaust Museum in Washington and the Los Angeles Holocaust
Memorial, as well as in Canada,
Austria, Sweden, and in Terezin. He has resumed singing recitals and oratorios, and
has sung Carmina Burana in Massachusetts, Florida, Texas, California, and
throughout the Midwest. A compact disc of his
recital “Was my brother in the battle? Songs of War” will be released in 2008.
rev. 11/17/2007