James WestmanBaritone Canadian baritone James Westman has appeared in many of the world’s leading opera, recital and concert halls. Westman’s versatility and artistic sensibility has earned him the highest praise from audiences and critics of Grand Opera, Oratorio, Art Song, Baroque, Chamber and Modern classical music. Formerly a successful boy treble, Mr. Westman was a member of the American Boys Choir, the Paris Boys Choir and the Vienna Boys Choir. He was the first boy to perform and record the fourth movement of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, (Child's View of Heaven) and toured this work with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra in Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, East and West Germany and Russia. He had the great opportunity to perform Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with the great Leonard Bernstein at age twelve. He has premiered many new operas; Richard Danielpour’s Margaret Garner, Kevin Puts’ Silent Night, André Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire, Neil Weisensel’s Riel: Heart of the North and the title role of Bramwell Tovey’s The Inventor. His career has encompassed over 35 years of singing over 60 roles on the opera stage, and over 40 oratorios/symphonic works.
His signature role, Germont in Verdi’s La Traviatahas has been heard in over 200 performances with major companies, including San Francisco Opera, Canadian Opera Company Houston Grand Opera, Opera Bordeaux, Florida Grand Opera Cologne Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, L.A. Opera, Vancouver Opera, Vienna State Opera, Graz Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and the English National Opera.
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Career Mr. Westman enjoys the dynamic intimacy of art song recitals. He has performed recitals in many leading predominant recital halls; Wigmore, Carnegie, Musikverein, Roy Thompson, Morgan Library, Koerner Hall, Matsumoto, Snape Maltings, NAC, Royal Albert, Queen Elizabeth, Rudolfinum, Bastille, Kammermusiksaal, St. David, Sheldonian, Herbts, Alice Tully, Avery Fisher, and Palacio de Bellas Artes. He has collaborated with many great pianists such as Martin Kats, Malcolm Martineau, Warren Jones, John Churchwell, Graham Johnson, Craig Ruttenberg, Simon Lepper, John Greer, Brian Zeger, Pierre Valet, Jeewon Park and Willaim Aide. Composers that have composed art songs specifically for Mr. Westman are; John Greer, John Hawkins, John Beckwith, Derek Holeman, Srul Irving Glick, Bramwell Tovey, Larisa Kuzmenko, Gary Kulesha, Robert Aitken, André Previn, and Scott Tresham. In recent years Mr. Westman has garnished praise for his vocal training of professional young opera singers in ensembles and Universities/Conservatory programs throughout the world. The University of Toronto, Laurier, UBC, Ottawa University, Carleton, York University, University of Buffalo, Penn State, Michigan State University, South Louisiana University, San Francisco Conservatory, Beijing Conservatory, Santa Fe Opera, Pittsburg Opera, St Louis Opera, Utah Opera, Calgary Opera, Ottawa Lyra, Montreal Opera and Stanford University.
Recent seasons included; Canadian Premiere, Calgary Opera, Lt. Gordon in Kevin Puts’ Silent Night; New York Philharmonic, Handel’s Messiah;New York Philharmonic, Orff’s Carmina Burana;Pacific Opera Victoria, Enrico in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor; Opera Lyra Ottawa, Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro; Canadian Opera Company, Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata; Quebec Opera, Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca; Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Rimsky Korsakov’s Mozart and Salieri; National Arts Orchestra, Brahms’s Requiem with the new chief conductor Alexander Shelley. In 2017, Mr Westman performed and recorded the role of Sir John A. Macdonald in Harry Somers’ Louis Riel with the Canadian Opera Company - co-production/recording with NAC Orchestra celebrating 150 years of Canadian history. James sang the Doctor In Barber’s Vanessa in Ireland’s Wexford Opera Festival and sang the role of Enrico in Lucia for Utah Opera. He made his Rigoletto debut in 2018 with Montreal Opera and his Nabucco debut with Quebec Opera, May of 2019. He recently performed La Traviatawith Manitoba, Victoria, Edmonton and Montréal opera companies in a joint production. This year he will be singing Rigoletto in Edmonton, Dallas and Spain.
Westman has recorded with Decca, BBC, CBC, Naxos, Opera Rara and Centre Disc. His recordings have been nominated for four Juno’s and two Grammy’s. James Westman hosts on CBC radio 2, ’This is my Music’ and will contribute to CBC’s Saturday Afternoon at the Opera.
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Famous Works “Nabucco, The technique is confidently unfaltering, with highs of an impressive ease, a creamy legato and a stamp of a beautiful roundness.” – Backtrack, 2019
“In the title role of Rigoletto, James Westman impressed with a flinty, menacing baritone that could turn tender or pathetic on a dime.”
– Opera Canada, 2018
"Baritone James Westman's passionate performance as Germont, showed wide dramatic range and superb vocal control. His keen sense of theatric expression kept the audience riveted to his every utterance."
– Opera News, Robert Coleman, 2014 “Internationally acclaimed Canadian Baritone, James Westman, acts as impressively as he sings, stealing the show.”
– London, England Financial Times, 2013 |
