A birthday tribute to composer Clint Borzoni

Composer Clint Borzoni

There are a number of composers who have had an amazing gift for writing for the baritone voice. In an earlier era, Verdi, Wagner, Poulenc and Carl Loewe all wrote timeless music for baritones. In contemporary times, Jake Heggie, Ricky Ian Gordon and Clint Borzoni have kept the tradition alive, with all three writing baritone leads for almost every new opera.

Borzoni's latest opera, When Adonis Calls," which debuted on May 11, 2018 at the Asheville Lyric Opera is written for for bass-baritone and baritone, string quartet, percussion and two dancers. The opera already has second performance scheduled in Chicago with the Thompson Street Opera Company this Fall and discussions are underway for a West Coast premiere next year.

Marco Vassalli sings Clint Borzoni's "Stüfen" with Musica Marin:

Borzoni, who is the Composer-in-Residence at Musica Marin, has written highly acclaimed music low male voice. For those on the West Coast, you'll be able to enjoy his latest song cycle "The Hidden Singer," written for German bass Malte Roesner and string quartet. The cycle revolves around seven poems by Wendell Berry all associated with birds, which are normally correlated with high soprano voices. The piece will debut on June 3, 2018 with Musica Marin at the historic Ansel Adams home in San Francisco. Tickets are available online. The song cycle will be paired with Mendelssohn's String Quartet in A minor.

Randal Turner sings Clint Borzoni's "I Dream'd in a Dream"

Borzoni has written another song cycle for bass-baritone Tim Hill, several songs for bass-baritone Randal Turner (based on Walt Whitman's poetry) and penned two pieces for String Quartet and baritone for Marco Vassalli based on German settings. He also wrote the two-act opera “Antinous and Hadrian,” which features a baritone lead. His opera The Copper Queen,  won Arizona Opera's Sparks Competition for new works, and is based on a true story about the alleged ghost of a prostitute haunting a historic hotel in Bisbee, Arizona.