Oct 11, 2022 7:30 pm

Lauded by The New York Times as a “terrific singer” with a “deep, rich timbre” and the San Francisco Chronicle as an “opera powerhouse” with a “weighty and forthright” sound, Sidney Outlaw was the Grand Prize winner of the Concurso Internacional de Canto Montserrat Caballe in 2010 and continues to delight audiences in the U.S. and abroad with his rich and versatile baritone and engaging stage presence. A graduate of the Merola Opera Program and the Gerdine Young Artist Program at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, this rising American baritone from Brevard, North Carolina recently added a GRAMMY nomination to his list of accomplishments for the Naxos Records recording of Darius Milhaud’s 1922 opera trilogy, L’Orestie d’Eschyle in which he sang the role of Apollo.

Last season for Mr. Outlaw included his Dandini in La Cenerentola with Greensboro Opera, appearances with the Charlotte Symphony, the Bridgehampton Chamber Music and Colour of Music Festivals, his Spoleto Festival debut as Jake in Porgy and Bess, and Madison Opera’s Opera in the Park. The 2016-2017 season includes Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette with Madison Opera, Vaugh Williams’ Dona nobis pacem with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, a recital with Warren Jones, and a return to the New York Philharmonic.

Mr. Outlaw has been a featured recitalist with Warren Jones at Carnegie Hall and performed Elijah with the New York Choral Society. He traveled to Guinea as an Arts Envoy with the U.S. State Department, where he performed a program of American music in honor of Black History Month and in remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Mr. Outlaw made his English National Opera debut in the 2011-12 season as Rambo in The Death of Klinghoffer and joined the Metropolitan Opera roster in 2014-2015 also for The Death of Klinghoffer. Recent engagements include Dallapiccola’s Il Prigioniero with the New York Philharmonic, Schaunard in La bohème with the Ash Lawn Festival, and Guglielmo in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte with North Carolina Opera. Other mainstage roles include Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Atlanta Opera, the title role in Moses with the American Symphony Orchestra, Malcolm in Malcolm X at New York City Opera, Prince Yamadori in Madame Butterfly at Opera on the James, the cover of Dandini in La Cenerentola with Florida Grand Opera, Ariodante in Handel’s Xerxes and Demetrius in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the International Vocal Arts Institute, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte and a sensational international debut as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, in both Germany and Israel.

A sought-after concert singer and recitalist, Mr. Outlaw made his Schwabacher Recital debut at the San Francisco Opera center with pianist John Churchwell and collaborates regularly with renowned pianists Warren Jones, Carol Wong, Steven Blier, and Michael Barrett. His concert and recital appearances include debuts of renowned works at major concert halls: Haydn’s The Creation and Handel’s Messiah at Carnegie Hall, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at Avery Fisher Hall, Mahler’s Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen with Music Academy of the West and “Wednesday At One” at Alice Tully Hall, John Stevens in the world premiere concert of H. Leslie Adam’s opera Blake at the prestigious Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, and the world premiere of Wayne Oquin’s A Time to Break Silence: Songs inspired by the Words and Writings of Martin Luther King, Jr., commissioned by The Juilliard School.

Mr. Outlaw won 2nd Prize in the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation’s International Competition, 2nd Prize in the 2011 Gerda Lissner Foundation Awards, National semi-finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, semi- finalist in the Francisco Viñas International Singing Competition, finalist in both Concours International Musical de Montreal and George London Foundation, and grand prize in the Florida Grand Opera/YPO Vocal Competition. He holds a Bachelor in Music Performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a Master of Vocal Performance from The Julliard School. Professor Outlaw is currently a member of the voice faculty at Ithaca College and for the Opera Institute at The Brevard Music Center Festival. He was a voice faculty member at The Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College CUNY from 2014- 2021

WARREN JONES–pianist, master teacher, chamber musician, conductor, and vocal coach—was born in Washington, DC and grew up in North Carolina. A resident of New York City, Mr. Jones is a former member of the Collaborative Piano Faculty at the Manhattan School of Music. He has served as Artist-in-Residence in Music at the Mason Gross School of Music at Rutgers University, and Artist-in-Residence in Opera at New England Conservatory and at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. For many years he was the head of the Vocal Piano program during summers at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, CA.

His credentials as a musical jurist are impeccable: he was on the jury of the First China International Piano Competition in Beijing in 2019 as well as the Montreal International Vocal Competition in 2018, and has served on the juries of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the Naumberg Awards, and the Metropolitan Opera Auditions.

Having enjoyed a long performing career, he occupied the Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Chair in Principal Piano at Camerata Pacifica, and has been recital partner for Stephanie Blythe, Anthony Dean Griffey, Eric Owens, Andrew Garland, Kathleen Battle, Sidney Outlaw, Samuel Ramey, Dame Kiri TeKanawa, Christine Brewer, Barbara Bonney, James Morris, Martti Talvela, Thomas Hampson, Marilyn Horne, Carol Vaness, Richard O’Neill, and Lynn Harrell. Mr. Jones has toured with both the Juilliard Quartet and the Borromeo Quartet, and has performed several times with members of the Takacs Quartet in varied repertory.

Mr. Jones has been invited three times to the White House in Washington to perform at state dinners, and he has been a guest at the United States Supreme Court for their annual musicales on three occasions.

As a conductor Mr. Jones has led opera performances of Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Mascagni, Bernstein, and Menotti, as well as the 2014 world premiere at Houston Grand Opera of Iain Bell’s setting of A Christmas Carol, starring Jay Hunter Morris and directed by Simon Cowell.

His discography includes 32 recordings on every major label, featuring diverse content, styles, and periods. Most recently his newly-released recording with Sidney Outlaw, “Lament”, is garnering critical acclaim and reflects their ongoing interest in Black American music and poetry.

In his spare time, Mr. Jones enjoys cooking, history, politics, exercise, and music……

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