Mischa Bouvier, baritone

Winner, 2010 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition

www.mischabouvier.com

Praised by The New York Times for his “rich timbre” and “fine sense of line,” Mischa Bouvier is a winner of the
2010 CAG Victor Elmaleh Competition.  A “delight to encounter for the first time” (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review), Mr. Bouvier makes an immediate impact with his keen musicality and remarkable communicative powers.  

Notable engagements for 2011-12 include Bach’s St. John Passion (bass soloist and Pilate) at New York’s St. Thomas Church; a debut with The Knights singing a newly commissioned orchestral version of Mohammed Fairouz’ Furia; collaborations with Catacoustic Consort and the Wildcat Viols at the San Francisco Early Music Festival; a New Year's Eve Gala with the New Philharmonic of Dupage, IL; and return engagements with San Francisco’s American Bach Soloists (Easter Oratorio) and Bach Collegium San Diego (Mozart Requiem and St. John Passion). Featured recitals with pianist Yegor Shevtsov include Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in a debut produced by CAG, and a southern tour with performances on the Macon Concert Series and Clemson University’s Utsey Chamber Music Series.

2010-2011 season highlights included the role of Lucifero in Handel’s La Resurrezione for American Bach Soloists’ SummerFest and also with the Baroque Band in Chicago; Bach's Magnificat and Lotti's Mass for Three Choirs with American Bach Soloists; debut concerts with TENET and Spiritus Ensemble;  Bach’s St. John Passion (bass soloist and Pilate) with the Bach Collegium San Diego and Pittsburgh’s Chatham Baroque; the role of Betto in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with the Dupage Opera Theatre, Carmina Burana with the Northwest Indiana Symphony, and several NYC performances of Fairouz’ Furia (for baritone, string quartet and wind quintet).

Recent featured engagements include the role of Moneybags Billy in Weill’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at Tanglewood under the direction of James Levine; a debut with the Folger Consort in Washington, D.C.; a ‘Sacred Music in a Sacred Space’ debut in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (bass soloist and Pilate) under the baton of Kent Tritle; and the role of Malatesta in Don Pasquale with Opera in the Heights and Bronx Opera.

An avid proponent of art song from all genres, Mr. Bouvier has sung recitals under the auspices of the Baldwin-Wallace Art Song Festival, the Trinity Church Concerts at One Series, Internationale Meisterkurse für Musik Zürich, the Cincinnati Grandin Festival, and the Music Room at the Lindberg Farm series.  He offered regional premiers of Lori Laitman’s Men With Small Heads and Paul Moravec’s Songs of Love and War, as well as the world premier of Charles Fussell’s cycle Venture during the Festival of Contemporary Music at Tanglewood.

A singer of tremendous versatility, Mr. Bouvier made his professional musical theater debut with the Boston Pops under the baton of Keith Lockhart singing Jigger Craigin in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel in 2007.  Other notable nontraditional performances have included the roles of Usher in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial By Jury, Sergeant of Police in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance and Georg (cover) in Jerry Bock’s She Loves Me, and collaborations with Sting on Songs from the Labyrinth in Los Angeles.

On the operatic stage, Mr. Bouvier performed as Le médecin in Debussy’s Pelléas and Mélisande, Bouncer and Washington Dandy in Douglas Moore’s The Ballad of Baby Doe, William (cover) in Philip Glass’s The Fall of the House of Usher, Enrico in Haydn’s L’isola Disabitata, Bardolph and Chief Justice in Gordon Getty’s Plump Jack, Leporello (scenes) in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Belcore (scenes) in Donizetti’s L'elisir d'amor.

As a collaborator, Mr. Bouvier has performed with a wide array of ensembles and individuals including Anonymous 4, the Mark Morris Dance Group, American Handel Society, the Bach and the Baroque Ensemble of Pittsburgh, New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Five Boroughs Music Festival, Long Island Philharmonic, the Metropolis Ensemble and Christopher Williams Dance (at the 92nd Street Y).

Mischa Bouvier received his B.M. from Boston University and his M.M. from the University and Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He participated in several training programs including Lyric Opera Cleveland, Internationale Meisterkurse für Musik, the Carmel Bach Festival and the Tanglewood Music Festival. Recent recognition includes the 2010 American Bach Soloists Henry I. Goldberg Young Artist Award, the Oratorio Society of New York 2010 Solo Competition's Docia Goodwin Franklin and Richard Westenberg Awards, 1st Place from the 2009 Louisville Bach Society Gerhard Herz Young Artist Competition and 2nd place from the 2011 American Prize's Vocal Competition.