Neil Rosenshein (born November 27, 1947 in New York City) is an American operatic

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

, who sang leading tenor roles in the major American and European opera houses. He created the roles of Aspern in

Dominick Argento Dominick Argento (October 27, 1927 – February 20, 2019) was an American composer known for his lyric operatic and choral music. Among his best known pieces are the operas '' Postcard from Morocco'', '' Miss Havisham's Fire'', ''The Masque of An ...

's '' The Aspern Papers'' and Léon in Corigliano's ''

The Ghosts of Versailles ''The Ghosts of Versailles'' is an opera in two acts, with music by John Corigliano to an English libretto by William M. Hoffman. The Metropolitan Opera had commissioned the work from Corigliano in 1980 in celebration of its 100th anniversary, ...

''.

Biography

Following studies in his native city, he made his debut as Count Almaviva in ''

Il barbiere di Siviglia ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( it, Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione ) is an ''opera buffa'' in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based ...

'', with Florida Opera in 1972. Noted particularly for his musicianship and abilities as a singing-actor, he went on to appear with the

Chicago Lyric Opera Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1954, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicola Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria ...

San Francisco Opera San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when h ...

, Covent Garden (Lenski in ''Eugene Onegin'', and Števa in ''

Jenůfa ''Její pastorkyňa'' (''Her Stepdaughter''; commonly known as ''Jenůfa'' ) is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play ''Její pastorkyňa'' by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed ...

''),

Paris Opéra The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be k ...

Hamburg Opera The Hamburg State Opera (in German: Staatsoper Hamburg) is a German opera company based in Hamburg. Its theatre is near the square of Gänsemarkt. Since 2015, the current ''Intendant'' of the company is Georges Delnon, and the current ''Gener ...

, The Netherlands Opera, Teatro alla Scala (as Narraboth in ''Salome'', in Robert Wilson's production, 1987),

Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the ''Opera Association of New Mexico'' in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby, oversaw the building of the first opera house on a newl ...

Dallas Opera The Dallas Opera is an American opera company located in Dallas, Texas. The company performs at the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, one venue of the AT&T Performing Arts Center. History The company was founded in 1957 as the Dallas Civi ...

(world premiere of ''The Aspern Papers''), and the New Israeli Opera. In 1992, he appeared in

Luca Ronconi Luca Ronconi (8 March 1933 – 21 February 2015) was an Italian actor, theater director, and opera director. Biography Ronconi was born in Sousse, Tunisia. After growing up in Tunisia, where his mother was a school teacher, Ronconi graduated ...

's production of ''La damnation de Faust'', in Turin. He also sang with many of the great orchestras, under Leonard Bernstein, Sir Colin Davis, Seiji Ozawa,

James Levine James Lawrence Levine (; June 23, 1943 – March 9, 2021) was an American conductor and pianist. He was music director of the Metropolitan Opera from 1976 to 2016. He was terminated from all his positions and affiliations with the Met on March 1 ...

, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and

Riccardo Muti Riccardo Muti, (; born 28 July 1941) is an Italian conductor. He currently holds two music directorships, at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and at the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. Muti has previously held posts at the Maggio Musicale ...

. Rosenshein made his debut with the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...

in 1987, as Alfredo Germont in ''La traviata'', opposite

Diana Soviero Diana Soviero (born March 19, 1946, in Jersey City) is an American operatic soprano of international stature, a recipient of the Richard Tucker Award in 1979. Soviero studied at the Juilliard School of Music with Florence Berggren, Marinka Gurew ...

and

Sherrill Milnes Sherrill Milnes (born January 10, 1935) is an American dramatic baritone most famous for his Verdi roles. From 1965 until 1997 he was associated with the Metropolitan Opera. His voice is a high dramatic baritone, combining good legato with an in ...

, conducted by Thomas Fulton. He was also seen there in ''Die Fledermaus'' (as Alfred, conducted by

Julius Rudel Julius Rudel (6 March 1921 – 26 June 2014) was an Austrian-born American opera and orchestra conductor. He was born in Vienna and was a student at the city's Academy of Music. He emigrated to the United States at the age of 17 in 1938 after ...

), ''Salome'' (as Narraboth), ''Werther'', ''Faust'' (with Soviero and James Morris, later

Samuel Ramey Samuel Edward Ramey (born March 28, 1942) is an American operatic bass. At the height of his career, he was greatly admired for his range and versatility, having possessed a sufficiently accomplished bel canto technique to enable him to sing th ...

), the world premiere of ''The Ghosts of Versailles'' (with

Teresa Stratas Teresa Stratas (born May 26, 1938) is a retired operatic soprano from Canada of Greek descent. She is especially well known for her award-winning recording of Alban Berg's '' Lulu''. Early life and career Stratas was born Anastasia Stratakis t ...

, Gino Quilico, and

Marilyn Horne Marilyn Horne (born January 16, 1934) is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages. She is a recipient of the Natio ...

), ''La traviata'' (conducted by

Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French ...

), ''Rusalka'' (as the Prince), ''Peter Grimes'' (conducted by

James Conlon James Conlon (born March 18, 1950) is an American conductor. He is currently the music director of Los Angeles Opera, principal conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, and artistic advisor to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Early ...

), and ''Die Fledermaus'' (now as Eisenstein), which was his last performance with the company, in 1999. The tenor's recordings include Bernstein's ''Songfest'', ''Die Schöpfung'', and ''Eugene Onegin'' (with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and

Thomas Hampson Thomas Walter Hampson (born June 28, 1955) is an American lyric baritone, a classical singer who has appeared world-wide in major opera houses and concert halls and made over 170 musical recordings. Hampson's operatic repertoire spans a range ...

, with

Nicolai Gedda Harry Gustaf Nikolai Gädda, known professionally as Nicolai Gedda (11 July 1925 – 8 January 2017), was a Swedish operatic tenor. Debuting in 1951, Gedda had a long and successful career in opera until the age of 77 in June 2003, when he made h ...

as M.Triquet, conducted by Sir

Charles Mackerras Mackerras in 2005 Sir Alan Charles MacLaurin Mackerras (; 1925 2010) was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. He was long associated with the Engli ...

, 1992). As of 1997, he is on the voice faculty of the Manhattan School of Music. He previously served on the faculty at

DePaul University DePaul University is a private, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul. In 1998, it became the largest Ca ...

Videography

* Verdi: ''La traviata'' s Gastone(Sills, H.Price, Fredricks; Rudel, Capobianco, 1976) ive* Offenbach: ''La périchole'' s Piquillo(Ewing, Bacquier, Martinelli, Cassinelli; Soustrout, Savary, 1982) ive* Stravinsky: ''Œdipus rex'' (Palmer; Haitink, Wich, 1984) ive* Corigliano: ''The Ghosts of Versailles'' s Léon(Stratas, Horne, Hagegård, G.Quilico; Levine, Graham, 1992) ive

Sources

*Cummings, Favid (ed)
"Rosenshein, Neil"
''International Who's Who in Classical Music 2003''. Routledge, 2003, p. 673. *Holland, Bernard

''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' (November 21, 1988) *

Performance archives: Rosenshein, Neil (Tenor)
MetOpera Database. *Slonimsky, Nicolas and Kuhn, Laura Diane. "Rosenshein, Neil", ''

Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'' is a major reference work in the field of music, originally compiled by Theodore Baker, PhD, and published in 1900 by G. Schirmer, Inc. The ninth edition, the most recent edition, was published in 2 ...

'' Volume 6. Schirmer Books, 2001.

References

External links

* * (1988)
Interview with Neil Rosenshein
by Bruce Duffie, January 10, 1990 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenshein, Neil American operatic tenors Living people 1947 births Singers from New York City Classical musicians from New York (state) 20th-century American male opera singers Manhattan School of Music faculty DePaul University faculty