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Canadian tenor Roger Honeywell has been acclaimed as a performer “with the right
kind of heroic mettle to his voice” (Opera Now)
Mr. Honeywell’s exciting 2011/12 season includes appearances with the Portland Opera in their opening night gala as well as in the role of Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, with the Fort Worth Opera as Cavaradossi in Tosca, and with the Bard Festival as Midas in Die Liebe der Dannae. He also appears in concert with the Vancouver Symphony, the Calgary Philharmonic, and the Tucson Symphony.
2010/11 season was highlighted by two world premieres; first the world premiere of Lillian Alling in the role of Jimmy by John Estacio and John Murrell, followed by the world premiere of The Inventor by Bramwell Tovey and John Murell in the role of Smoot. Additional operatic appearances included Narraboth in Salome with the Opéra de Montréal, and The Officer, as well as the cover of Bacchus, in Ariadne auf Naxos with the Canadian Opera Company.
In the 2009/10 season Mr. Honeywell was seen as Danilo in The Merry Widow with the Chicago Lyric Opera, and with Santa Fe Opera in Lewis Spratlan’s Pulitzer
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Canadian tenor Roger Honeywell has been acclaimed as a performer “with the right
kind of heroic mettle to his voice” (Opera Now)
Mr. Honeywell’s exciting 2011/12 season includes appearances with the Portland Opera in their opening night gala as well as in the role of Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, with the Fort Worth Opera as Cavaradossi in Tosca, and with the Bard Festival as Midas in Die Liebe der Dannae. He also appears in concert with the Vancouver Symphony, the Calgary Philharmonic, and the Tucson Symphony.
2010/11 season was highlighted by two world premieres; first the world premiere of Lillian Alling in the role of Jimmy by John Estacio and John Murrell, followed by the world premiere of The Inventor by Bramwell Tovey and John Murell in the role of Smoot. Additional operatic appearances included Narraboth in Salome with the Opéra de Montréal, and The Officer, as well as the cover of Bacchus, in Ariadne auf Naxos with the Canadian Opera Company.
In the 2009/10 season Mr. Honeywell was seen as Danilo in The Merry Widow with the Chicago Lyric Opera, and with Santa Fe Opera in Lewis Spratlan’s Pulitzer Prize winning Life Is a Dream. Other performances of note included Don Jose in Carmen with the Pittsburgh Opera, and as Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly and also in Tan Dun’s critically acclaimed contemporary opera Tea, both with the Opera Philadelphia, and La Boheme with Opera Ontario.
Recent career highlights include the role of James Nolan in Doctor
Atomic with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, which he then reprised with the Metropolitan Opera for his debut there in 2008, his role debut of Cavaradosi in Tosca with the Florida Grand Opera, Troilus in Troilus and Cressida with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, the American premier of Tan Dun’s Tea a mirror of Soul with Santa Fe Opera, and the World premier of Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath at the Minnesota Opera and Utah Symphony and Opera, Macduff in Macbeth with the Opéra de Montréal, his debut with the Fort Worth Opera as Don Jose in Carmen, and a world premiere of Paul Moravec’s The Letter with the Santa Fe Opera. He has also made role debuts of Erik in the Flying Dutchman for Utah Opera and Don Jose in Carmen with Opera Calgary to great critical acclaim, as well as Rodolfo in La Boheme for the Opera Company of Philadelphia and Dick Johnson in La Fanciulla del West for the
Glimmerglass Opera.
Other notable performances include the role of Laca in a new production of Jenufa by
Jonathan Miller for the Glimmerglass Opera and a new production of Daphne in the role
of Leukippos at the New York City Opera, Pinkerton in a new production of Madama
Butterfly by Jun Kaneko for the Omaha Opera, and the World premier of Margaret
Garner for Michigan Opera, Cincinnati Opera and the Opera Company of Philadelphia.
After a career as an actor in Canada working at many of the country’s foremost
companies including 5 season with Shaw Festival and 5 seasons with the Stratford
Shakespearean Festival of Canada, Mr Honeywell joined the Canadian Opera
Company’s young artist program where he was heard in the title role of Giulio Cesare
by Antonio Sartario, and Narraboth in Salome. He then joined the Lyric Opera of
Chicago’s Ryan Center where he sang the role of Frederick in The Pirates of Penzance
with Elizabeth Futral.
He is a graduate of the Ryerson Theatre school in Toronto and has received numerous
awards, among which are a Dora Mavor Moore award for his role of Arnaud de Tilh in
The House of Martin Guerre, a Maureen Forrester Award and a Tyrone Guthrie Award
from the Stratford Festival.
In addition to his opera performances Mr. Honeywell has performed concert work with
The Montreal Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Albany Symphony, Baltimore Symphony
Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic, Nashville Symphony Orchestra and the Vancouver
Symphony Orchestra.
Photos
Reviews
"Roger Honeywell gives the performance of a lifetime, throwing himself into the role of the tortured Segismundo as if he were singing Tristan, holding nothing back and attacking the punishing vocal line with alarming intensity."
Lawrence A. Johnson, The Classical Review
"The tenor Roger Honeywell, in splendid voice as Segismundo, charts the course of a character who initially delivers a self-pitying rant yet ultimately proves fit to rule."
George Loomis, Financial Times
"The all-demanding central role of Segismundo requires that rare breed of singer, a dramatic tenor, and Roger Honeywell more than fits the bill with his ideal mix of power and flexibility. In a remarkable, all-encompassing performance, he adroitly handles the role's vocal extremes and vividly conveys the character's transformation and ultimate redemption."
Kyle MacMillan, The Denver Post
"The role calls for a heroic tenor, and this production has one in the young, athletic Roger Honeywell, who brought burnished sound and crisp diction to the sweeping vocal lines, full of leaps and dips."
Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times
"As the Maxim’s-loving Danilo, Roger Honeywell was ideal in both characterization and vocalism. The Canadian tenor’s flexible voice is well-suited to Lehar’s buoyant score and he delivered warmly idiomatic singing in the operetta’s set pieces. Honeywell also managed the farce and dialogue with a theater hand’s natural ease, making a well-rounded character out the pleasure-loving, commitmentphobe playboy who has met his match in the hard-to-get Hanna. The tenor seemed to having a high time, throwing himself into the ensembles and dancing with an energy that was infectious."
Lawrence A. Johnson, Chicago Classical Review
"Roger Honeywell used his assertive dramatic tenor ably as Hammond; his duets with Ms. Racette were among the evening’s vocal highlights."
Allan Kozinn, New York Times