Soloman Howard
Bass
Winner of the Kennedy Center’s 2019 Marian Anderson Vocal Award, Soloman Howard is a graduate of Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program and garners high praise from the press for his vivid performances on the great opera and concert stages of the world. Soloman Howard’s voice is described as “sonorous” by The New York Times, “superhuman” by The Denver Post, and “a triumph” by The Guardian.
Soloman Howard’s 2019-20 season features debuts at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in the company’s new production by Francesca Zambello of Luisa Miller conducted by Enrique Mazzola, at English National Opera in the same title in a new production by Barbora Horáková Joly conducted by Alexander Joel, and at the Gran Theatre del Liceu as Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia.
Additional credits of the season include a return to the Metropolitan Opera as Sarastro in The Magic Flute and Fafner in the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s presentation of a new production of Der Ring des Nibelungen directed by Sir David Pountney led by Sir Andrew Davis.
Last season Soloman Howard appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in Aida conducted by Nicola Luisotti, Los Angeles Opera in Don Carlo under the baton of James Conlon, Santa Fe Opera in La bohème conducted by Jader Bignamini, and at Washington National Opera reprising the title role he created for the company in The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me by Jeanine Tesori and J.D. McClatchy. He also achieved great success with the roles of Somnus and Cadmus during an international tour of Semele with Harry Bicket leading The English Concert.
Highlights of the recent past include performances of Jacopo Fiesco in a new production of Simon Boccanegra at the Opéra national de Bordeaux conducted by Paul Daniel, Timur in Turandot at San Francisco Opera for his debut led by Music Director Nicola Luisotti, Commendatore in Don Giovanni at Santa Fe Opera conducted by John Nelson, and Il Re in Aida for his debut at the Teatro Real. For the Washington National Opera, Soloman Howard bowed as Fafner in Der Ring des Nibelungen directed by Artistic Director Francesca Zambello and conducted by Philippe Auguin as well as in leading roles in The Magic Flute, Show Boat, Approaching Ali, Don Giovanni, and Nabucco. He was heralded for the roles of Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the world premiere of the revised edition of Appomattox composed by Philip Glass in a production by Tazwell Thompson.
On the concert stage, he has given performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic on a European tour and with Christian Arming and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra on tour in Asia. He has joined Harry Christophers and the Handel & Haydn Society for Mozart’s Requiem, Kent Tritle and the Oratorio Society of New York in performances of Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht at Carnegie Hall, and with Christoph Eschenbach and the National Symphony Orchestra in a concert presentation of Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier.
The Anti-Defamation League presented Soloman Howard with their “Making a Difference Award” in the summer of 2016 for raising awareness of voting rights though his performances of Appomattox at the Kennedy Center; and for bringing opera into the larger community. Soloman Howard is a proud graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and of Morgan State University.
