Christopher Reames

Tenor

Biography

American tenor Christopher Reames is establishing an exciting and engaging career as a concert artist, recitalist, and dynamic performer on the operatic stage. Chris is a winner of The Gérard Souzay Prize for French Singing appropriated by Dalton Baldwin and administered by The Art Song Preservation Society of New York, who co-sponsored his New York City recital debut of beloved French mélodies in Marc A. Scorca Hall at The National Opera Center. Chris’ compelling performances captivate audiences with beauty and sensitivity, and he has been praised for his “lustrous” singing and “great musicality” by The Examiner of Greater Kansas City.

Chris is a recent finalist in national competitions such as the Joy in Singing Artist Award Competition, New York Oratorio Society Solo Competition, Franco-American Vocal Academy Grand Concours de ChantArt Song Preservation Society of New York Mary Trueman Song Competition and the National Association of the Teachers of Singing Artist Award Competition. Recent operatic performances include Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor and Prologue/Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw with Stony Brook Opera, Slender in The Merry Wives of Windsor, the title role in Weber’s Oberon, Gomatz in Zaide, and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte with the Manhattan based Occasional Opera Company.

An avid performer of sacred music, his recent concert performances include Uriel in The Creation with the Village Church Choir and Orchestra at Kansas City’s own Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore and Obadiah in Elijah with the Huntington Choral Society, Evangelist in both the St. John and St. Matthew Passions, and as the tenor soloist in The Messiah with the Musica Lumina chamber ensemble of Niles, IL and with the Long Island Choral Society, J.S. Bach’s Magnificat with St. Peter’s By-the-Sea Episcopal Church of Bay Shore, NY, excerpts from Bach’s Weihnachts Oratorium with St. John’s Church of Cold Spring Harbor, NY, several of Bach’s sacred cantatas, and secular works by Purcell and Monteverdi with the Stony Brook Baroque Ensemble, and under the direction of John Harbison at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, MA.

Passionate about the art of recital singing, Chris’ diverse repertoire spans more than 400 years from Monteverdi, Handel, Haydn and Mozart through Beethoven and Schumann to Debussy, Poulenc, Britten, Barber and Messiaen. Highlights include Schubert’s Auf dem Strom, Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Poulenc’s Tel jour telle nuit, Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, Brahms’ Fünf Lieder, Op. 47Debussy’s Fêtes galantes, and many selections from The Great American Songbook. He possesses a particular affinity for French melodies, and for British art song repertoire, and has received great praise from audiences following recent performances of Vaughan Williams’ On Wenlock Edge, Finzi’s Farewell to Arms, Gurney’s “Trench” songs, Britten’s Winter Words, and Three Songs from “The Heart of the Matter”, including Canticle III.

In addition to his career as a soloist, Chris has equally thrived in both large and small choral ensembles. He served the celebrated St. Peter’s By-the-Sea Episcopal Church Parish Choir in Bay Shore, NY as a staff section leader and soloist from 2011-18. In a similar role, he previously served superior choral music programs at Green Valley Presbyterian Church in Henderson, NV, Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, KS, and the Church of St. Patrick in Huntington, NY. Singing sacred choral music at a high level remains a consistent artistic priority for him, as it has provided many rewarding musical opportunities, and a fulfilling sense of community contribution and leadership.

Chris is a past fellowship recipient at the Tanglewood Music Center, SongFest, Aspen Music Festival, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Cincinnati College-Conservatory’s Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca, Italy, and is an alumnus of the prestigious N.A.T.S. Internship Program. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, a Master of Music degree from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and a Bachelor of Science degree from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. Chris is currently an Assistant Professor of Vocal Music at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, TN.

 

Operatic Repertoire

Britten

Albert HerringAlbert Herring
Captain VereBilly Budd
Lysander/FluteA Midsummer Night’s Dream
Male ChorusThe Rape of Lucretia
Peter GrimesPeter Grimes
Peter QuintTurn of the Screw*
Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex – Gloriana

Bernstein

CandideCandide
CelebrantMass

Debussy

PelléasPelléas et Mélisande

Donizetti

ArturoLucia di Lammermoor*
Nemorino L’Elisir D’Amore

Gluck

PyladeIphigénie en Tauride

Handel

AcisAcis and Galatea
BajazetTamerlano
GrimoaldoRodelinda
HyllusHercules
JupiterSemele
OronteAlcina

Lehár

DaniloDie lustige Witwe

Monteverdi

Lucano/LibertoL’Incoronazione di Poppea
OrfeoL’Orfeo

Mozart

BelmonteDie Entführung aus dem Serail
PedrilloDie Entführung aus dem Serail
FerrandoCosì fan tutte
Don OttavioDon Giovanni
TaminoDie Zauberflöte*
TitoLa Clemenza di Tito

Poulenc

Chevalier de la ForceDialogues des Carmélites

Purcell

Aeneas Dido and Aeneas
Various RolesThe Fairy Queen

Rameau

PigmalionPigmalion
Valere/DamonLes Indes Galantes

J. Strauss

EisensteinDie Fledermaus

Stravinsky

Tom RakewellThe Rake’s Progress

Tchaikovsky

LenskiEugene Onegin

Weber

OberonOberon*

* denotes live performance

repertoire listed above is suggested for future engagement

Oratorio, Concert, and Song Repertoire

Argento

Six Elizabethan Songs

Aucoin

Merrill Songs

J.S. Bach

Cantatas (Various Sacred and Secular) – Soloist
Christmas Oratorio – Evangelist and Arias
Magnificat – Soloist
Mass in B Minor – Soloist
St. John Passion – Evangelist and Arias
St. Matthew Passion – Evangelist and Arias

C.P.E. Bach

Magnificat – Soloist
St. Matthew Passion – Soloist

Barber

Hermit Songs

Beethoven

An die Ferne Geliebte
Missa Solemnis – Soloist

Berlioz

L’Enfance du Christ – Narrator
Les Nuits D’Été

Bonds

He’s Got the Whole World in His Hand

Brahms

Liebeslieder Waltzes
Fünf Lieder, Op. 47
Selected Songs

Britten

The Burning Fiery Furnace – Nebuchadnezzar/Misael
Cantata Misericordium – Soloist
Canticles I, II, III – Soloist
Curlew River – Madwoman
Folksong Arrangements
Les Illuminations – Soloist
Nocturne – Soloist
The Prodigal Son – Tempter/Younger Son
Henry Purcell Realizations
Rejoice in the Lamb – Soloist
Saint Nicholas – Saint Nicolas
Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings – Soloist
Three Songs from The Heart of the Matter
War Requiem – Soloist
Winter Words

Brubeck

La Fiesta de la Posada

Charpentier

Messe de Minuit pour Nöel

Cimara

Fiocca la Neve

Cipullo

Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep a Gun in the House
The Land of Nod
Late Summer
Long Island Songs
Rain

Debussy

Fêtes Galantes Books I and II
Selected Songs

Dowland

Can She Excuse My Wrongs
Come Again, Sweet Love
Come, Heavy Sleep
I Saw My Lady Weep

Duparc

Phydilé
Selected Songs

Elgar

Ave Verum Corpus
The Dream of Gerontius – Gerontius

Fauré

La Bonne Chanson
Selected Songs

Finzi

Dies Natalis – Soloist
Farewell to Arms – Soloist
Intimations of Immortality – Soloist
Oh Fair to See
Till Earth Outwears

Giannini

Tell Me, Oh Blue, Blue Sky

Ginastera

Cinco canciones populares argentinas

Gurney

By a Bierside
Down by the Salley Gardens
Even Such is Time
Five Elizabethan Songs
In Flanders
Severn Meadows

Hagen

Blake Songs
Figments
Four Dickinson Songs
Muldoon Songs
Songs of Madness and Sorrow

Hahn

L’heure Exquise
Selected Songs

Handel

Alexander’s Feast – Soloist
Athalia – Mathan
Israel in Egypt – Soloist
Jephtha – Jephtha
Joshua – Joshua
Judas Maccabeus – Judas Maccabeus
Look down, Harmonious Saint – Soloist
The Messiah – Soloist
Ode for Saint Cecilia’s Day – Soloist
La Resurrezione – St. John
Samson – Samson
Saul – Jonathan
Theodora – Septimius

Haydn

Lord Nelson Mass – Soloist
The Creation – Uriel
The Seasons – Soloist

Heggie

Friendly Persuasions: Homage to Poulenc
Here and Gone

Hoiby

Selected Songs

Hundley

Come Ready and See Me

Ives

Selected Songs

Janáček

The Diary of One who Disappeared

Johnson

Ride on, King Jesus

Larsen

My Ántonia

Mendelssohn

Elijah – Obadiah
Herbstlied
St. Paul – Soloist

Messiaen

La mort du nombre – Soloist

Monteverdi

Selections from Scherzi musicali
Vespro della Beata Vergine – Soloist
Zefiro Torna – Soloist

Moore

Dear Theo

Mozart

Abendempfindung
An Chloe
Mass in C minor – Soloist
Requiem – Soloist
Vesperae solennes de confessore – Soloist

Poulenc

Chansons villageoises
Le travail du peintre
Tel jour telle nuit
Selected Songs

Purcell

How pleasant is this flowery plain
The Witch of Endor

Ravel

Cinq Melodies Populaires Grecques

Respighi

Notte

Rorem

Selected Songs

Saint-Saëns

Oratorio de Noël– Soloist

Schubert

Auf dem Strom
Schwanengesang
Selected Songs
Winterreise

Schumann

Dichterliebe
Liederkreis Op. 24
Liederkreis Op. 39
Selected Songs

Sisco

Dear God
Missed Connections
Two Shakespeare Songs

Thomson

My Shepherd Will Supply My Need

Vaughan Williams

Along the Field
On Wenlock Edge
Songs of Travel
Ten Blake Songs

Wolf

Italian Songbook
Spanish Songbook
Selected Songs set to Goethe and Mörike texts

repertoire listed above is suggested for future engagement

 

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Teaching

With more than a decade of experience, Christopher is a dedicated artist-teacher who educates and guides the student’s technical skill development and artistic growth according to their individual needs. He first served as a graduate teaching assistant at SUNY Stony Brook before joining their adjunct voice faculty. During his studies at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, Christopher worked in the same capacity, sharing responsibility for auditioning, coordinating, and teaching the undergraduate applied voice program curricula and opera workshop classes. In addition to his teaching responsibilities at the collegiate level, Christopher has opened and managed successful private voice studios while based in Las Vegas, Long Island, NY, and currently in Cookeville, TN, where he is an Assistant Professor of Vocal Music at Tennessee Technological University. His young adult and adult students actively thrive in their local musical communities, excel at state and regional level competitions, and have continued their studies at prestigious American universities and graduate music programs. Christopher’s personal singing philosophy and teaching style stem from the training received from influential pedagogues Randall Scarlata, Tod Fitzpatrick, and Arnold Epley. He has worked with world-class artists such as: Lydia Brown, Margo Garrett, Warren Jones, Martin Katz, Carol Kimball, George Manahan, Alan Louis Smith, Paul Sperry, Sanford Sylvan, Dawn Upshaw, and Roger Vignoles in private coachings or masterclass settings. If you are interested in having Christopher give a masterclass or private voice lessons, please see CONTACT.

Contact

5 + 14 =

Call

(816) 699-2010

Locate

463 West Broadway
Port Jefferson, NY 11777

Email

ReamesCC@gmail.com