Black Voices II: Honoring Black History Month

2022 DISTINGUISHED ARTIST WEEKEND

presenting
DONNIE RAY ALBERT, bass-baritone
and
RICK ROWLEY, piano

music of J.S. Bach, Robert Owens, Franz Schubert,
Lena McLin, Uzee Brown, Jr. and Hale Smith

free parking and admission

Conversation with the artists at 7:00
Reception with the artists follows immediately

On Saturday, February 19 at 10:00 am, Mr. Albert returns to the Great Hall to conduct a master class featuring outstanding young vocalists. Admission is free to the public. Donations are welcomed.

Event flyer here.

About the Artists:

Donnie Ray Albert is a regular guest of opera companies and symphony orchestras around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera as Germont, Los Angeles Opera as Trinity Moses in Mahagonny, Simone in A Florentine Tragedy, and as the Father in Hansel and Gretel, plus numerous appearances with Opera Pacific, Houston Grand Opera, Florentine Opera of Milwaukee, Dallas Opera, Arizona; Atlanta Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Minnesota Opera, Utah Opera, and the opera companies of New Orleans, Baltimore, Columbus, Kansas City, Omaha, Pittsburgh, and, in Canada, with the companies in Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal, Manitoba, and Vancouver. In Europe, he has appeared at the Cologne Opera singing all Four Villains in Les Contes d’Hoffman, Cavalleria Rusticana, I Pagliacci, and Frank in Die Tote Stadt, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as the Four Villains, the Royal Opera Wallonie in Liege for Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy, the National Theater in Prague as Jack Rance, the Deutsche Opera Berlin, Lithuanian National Opera in the title role of Der Fliegende Holländer, plus the opera houses in Bordeaux, Köln, Bregenz, Milan, Mannheim and Hamburg, and in Vienna in the title role in Ernst Bloch’s Macbeth for the Vienna “Klangbogen” Festival.

He has appeared in Japan with the New National Theater in Tokyo as Wotan and the Wanderer in Der Ring des Nibelungen, and in Brazil as Jochanaan in Salome in Sao Paolo. As a concert artist, Mr. Albert has sung with the orchestras of Washington DC (National), Cologne, Southwest Florida, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Dallas, Minnesota, Seattle, St. Paul, Los Angeles, Austin, Palm Beach, Greensboro, Grant Park Music Festival, and Madison, Vienna and Linz, in Austria and in Jerusalem. He is also a resident artist with the Center for Black Music Research at Chicago’s Columbia College. In recent seasons, Mr. Albert has appeared as Rigoletto for Vancouver Opera, Amonasro in Riga, Latvia, and Phoenix, Alfio for the Orlando Opera, Iago for the Kentucky Opera, Il Giuramento for the Washington Concert Opera, Das lied von der Erde with Rhode Island Philharmonic, Elijah with the Southwest Florida Master Chorale, concerts with the Choral Arts Society of Washington, the Atlanta Symphony, the American Symphony Orchestra for their performance of d’Indy’s Fervaal, Nashville Symphony, the Kentucky Opera as Germont, Latvian Opera as Giorgio in I Puritani, Prague’s National Theater as the Four Villains in a new production of Les Contes d’Hoffman, and the Semper Opera in Dresden for Keith Warner’s new production of Faust, in Paris for Aida, in Riga, Latvia for Otello, Madison Opera for La traviata, and Washington Concert Opera for Adriana Lecouvreur. Future engagements include appearances as Amonasro in Edmonton and in the title role of Verdi’s Falstaff for the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen.

Mr. Albert may be heard on RCA’s Grammy Award and Grand Prix du Disque winning recording of Porgy and Bess, NOW’s recording of The Horse I Ride Has Wings with David Garvey on piano, EMI’s Frühlingsbegräbnis and Eine Florentinesche Tragodie by Zemlinsky conducted by James Conlon, and Simon Sargon’s A Clear Midnight on the Gasparo label. Mr. Albert is currently Senior Lecturer in Voice at the Butler School of Music of the University of Texas College of Fine Arts.

Read more about Donnie Ray Albert here.

Rick Rowley leads a diverse musical life. He gives concerts with many of the world’s finest instrumentalists and singers and his solo, concerto and collaborative performances have taken him throughout the United States, to Europe and Latin America.

Mr. Rowley has made several recordings of solo piano repertoire, chamber music and art songs. His second CD with flutist Marianne Gedigian was one of the first recordings issued on the University of Texas Longhorn label. He has recorded piano music of Chopin, Liszt, Granados, Mompou and American composers David Guion, Richard Cumming, Aaron Copland and Samuel Barber. His recordings with sopranos Cheryl Parrish and Mela Dailey also feature the music of American composers. He has begun making video performances as part of a series of concerts in partnership with Prof. Darlene Wiley of the Butler School of Music (BSOM) voice faculty.

Mr. Rowley coaches singers and works with collaborative pianists, has taught classes in German, French and American art song, singing and acting for musical theater, and a history of musical theater on Broadway. He has appeared three times as a soloist with the UT Symphony Orchestra and is heard frequently on broadcasts of live performances from the BSOM.

Mr. Rowley has worked extensively in theater in over 50 productions as an actor, director and musical director. As well as a concerto soloist, he has appeared with the Austin Symphony as an actor in two “Beyond the Score” presentations and a concert of the music of Silvestre Revueltas. He played the role of Frosch in a production of Die Fledermaus at the Butler Opera Center and also wrote incidental music for a children’s theater production of The Firebird.

Mr. Rowley has been a partner in a piano rebuilding shop, where he gained knowledge and experience in the workings of the instrument. He is currently Associate Professor of Practice, Vocal Coaching and Collaborative Piano at the Butler School of Music of the University of Texas College of Fine Arts.