Richard Decker /Tenor
Richard Decker, a native of Pennsylvania, made his professional operatic debut in the role of Tamino in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte with the Bronx Opera while attending the Manhattan School of Music in New York.
The acclaimed American tenor first came to international attention in 1984 as a finalist in the first Rosa Ponselle International Vocal Competition held in New York, as well as in the third 'Concorso Enrico Caruso' for tenors in Milan, Italy. In the same year he attended the International Opera Studio at Zürich Opera in Switzerland where he made his European debut in the 1984 Eurovision broadcast of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg celebrating the re-opening of the newly renovated Zürich Opera house.
During a four-year spell at the State Theater in Saarbrücken Richard Decker was also a frequent guest at such international festivals as Aix-en-Provence and Macerata, appearing as Ferrando in Così fan tutte in 1990. In the same year he completed the transition to the dramatic repertoire with his Vienna State Opera debut in the role of Desportes in Harry Kupfer's production of Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Die Soldaten. Since then he has been engaged by many international opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Opéra National de Paris, Teatro La Fenice, other major Italian theaters such as Rome, Parma, Naples, Bologna, Reggio Emilia to name a few. He has also sung at the Royal Opera Stockholm, San Francisco Opera, Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Theatre du Capitole in Toulouse, Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Zürich Opera, De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam, Liceu in Barcelona, Flanders Opera in Antwerp, Cologne Opera, Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf and the Frankfurt Opera.
He has taken on a wide range of roles including Florestan (Fidelio); the title roles of Parsifal, Tristan, Samson, Tannhäuser and Otello; Erik (Der fliegende Holländer), Walther von Stolzing (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Siegfried (Götterdämmerung); the roles of Bacchus (Ariadne auf Naxos), Paul (Die tote Stadt), Alfonso (Violanta), the Drum Major (Wozzeck), Boris (Katja Kabanowa) and Alwa (Lulu).
Mr. Decker has sung concert performances of Tristan und Isolde with the Hallé Orchestra of Manchester, Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma and the Korean National Symphony Orchestra. In October 2002 Mr. Decker sang his 40th performance of the role of Otello creating a debut sensation at the San Francisco Opera.
Mr. Decker can be heard on recordings of Cosí fan tutte, Der Sturz des Antichrist and Parsifal. DVD recordings include Parsifal from Teatro La Fenice, Tristan from the State Theater in Dessau and, soon to be released, Siegfried in Götterdämmerung from Theater Lübeck.
Future engagements for Mr. Decker include Tristan with the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in Tokyo in July 2011, Parsifal with the Estonian National Opera in Tallinn in August 2011 as well as Tannhäuser with the Tampere Opera in Finland in March 2012.
Richard Decker, a native of Pennsylvania, made his professional operatic debut in the role of Tamino in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte with the Bronx Opera while attending the Manhattan School of Music in New York.
The acclaimed American tenor first came to international attention in 1984 as a finalist in the first Rosa Ponselle International Vocal Competition held in New York, as well as in the third 'Concorso Enrico Caruso' for tenors in Milan, Italy. In the same year he attended the International Opera Studio at Zürich Opera in Switzerland where he made his European debut in the 1984 Eurovision broadcast of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg celebrating the re-opening of the newly renovated Zürich Opera house.
During a four-year spell at the State Theater in Saarbrücken Richard Decker was also a frequent guest at such international festivals as Aix-en-Provence and Macerata, appearing as Ferrando in Così fan tutte in 1990. In the same year he completed the transition to the dramatic repertoire with his Vienna State Opera debut in the role of Desportes in Harry Kupfer's production of Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Die Soldaten. Since then he has been engaged by many international opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Opéra National de Paris, Teatro La Fenice, other major Italian theaters such as Rome, Parma, Naples, Bologna, Reggio Emilia to name a few. He has also sung at the Royal Opera Stockholm, San Francisco Opera, Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Theatre du Capitole in Toulouse, Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Zürich Opera, De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam, Liceu in Barcelona, Flanders Opera in Antwerp, Cologne Opera, Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf and the Frankfurt Opera.
He has taken on a wide range of roles including Florestan (Fidelio); the title roles of Parsifal, Tristan, Samson, Tannhäuser and Otello; Erik (Der fliegende Holländer), Walther von Stolzing (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Siegfried (Götterdämmerung); the roles of Bacchus (Ariadne auf Naxos), Paul (Die tote Stadt), Alfonso (Violanta), the Drum Major (Wozzeck), Boris (Katja Kabanowa) and Alwa (Lulu).
Mr. Decker has sung concert performances of Tristan und Isolde with the Hallé Orchestra of Manchester, Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma and the Korean National Symphony Orchestra. In October 2002 Mr. Decker sang his 40th performance of the role of Otello creating a debut sensation at the San Francisco Opera.
Mr. Decker can be heard on recordings of Cosí fan tutte, Der Sturz des Antichrist and Parsifal. DVD recordings include Parsifal from Teatro La Fenice, Tristan from the State Theater in Dessau and, soon to be released, Siegfried in Götterdämmerung from Theater Lübeck.
Future engagements for Mr. Decker include Tristan with the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in Tokyo in July 2011, Parsifal with the Estonian National Opera in Tallinn in August 2011 as well as Tannhäuser with the Tampere Opera in Finland in March 2012.
