|
The American tenor, William (Bill) Hite, studied at Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts (Class of 1977); and at Tanglewood Music Center (1983-1985).
William Hite's warm tone and vivid portrayals have garnered critical acclaim all over North America. He is critically-acclaimed artist who has appeared in opera, concert, chamber music and solo recital in a career that has spanned over three decades. His reputation as an expressive and engaging artist has led to appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, Odyssey Opera, Dresdner Philharmonie, American Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Evansville Philharmonic, Buffalo Philharmonic, Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, Tafelmusik, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Washington Bach Consort, New York City Ballet, the Mark Morris Dance Group and Emmanuel Music, under the direction of Bernard Haitink, Seiji Ozawa, James Levine, Rafael Frübeck de Burgos, Christopher Warren-Green, Nicholas McGegan, Jane Glover, Robert Spano, Grant Llewellyn, Gil Rose, Leon Botstein, John Harbison, Julian Wachner and Peter Schreier. He is a valued interpreter of the songs of Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and Schubert. His performance of Winterreise in Boston was greeted with great enthusiasm and rare praise.
Among his engagements for the 2000-2001 season was the North American premiere of Georg Philipp Telemann's oratorio Der Tag des Gerichts in Baltimore. William Hite's upcoming engagements include the role of Henry Gray in Rosner’s The Chronicle of Nine which he will sing and record with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Zadok, the High Priest in George Frideric Handel's Solomon with the Cantata Singers, Messiah with Chicago’s Apollo Chorus, and a solo recital of Schubert Lieder at Smith College with Jiayan Sun. Recently he sang the title role in the world premiere of Eric Sawyer’s opera The Scarlet Professor, Messiah with the Charlotte Symphony, Massimo in Gluck’s Ezio with Odyssey Opera, W.A. Mozart's Apollo et Hyancithus with Emmanuel Music, Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin at the Token Creek Music Festival, J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244) with the Buffalo Philharmonic, and Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra. The music of Benjamin Britten has been a feature of recent seasons with performances of War Requiem at Symphony Hall in Boston, Serenade with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Xalapa (Mexico) and Nocturne with the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra.
William Hite's operatic credits include leading roles in Igor Stravinsky's The Rake’s Progress, Acis and Galatea, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, L’Ormindo (Cavalli), and Euridice (Peri). His numerous performances at the Boston Early Music Festival include Matthison’s Boris Goudenow and Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo. He created the role of Chevrus in The Garden of Martyrs, by Eric Sawyer. Other premieres include pieces by Theodore Antoniou, Ellen Ruehr, Lew Spratlan, Scott Wheeler and Salvatore Macchia.
William Hite has recorded for Denon, Erato, New Albion, Titanic, BMG, and Centaur. His extensive discography now contains over 40 recordings spanning a wide spectrum of musical idioms. He may be heard in The Complete Songs of Virgil Thomson for voice and piano on New World Records, Messiah on Clarion, Acis and Galatea on NCA, J.S. Bach's St. John Passion (BWV 245) on Koch, and W.A. Mozart's Requiem on Denon. He has sung in music festivals at Tanglewood, Santa Fe, Token Creek, and Vancouver and at the Baldwin-Wallace College Bach Festival, Athens Festival, Festival Mitte Europa, Holland Early Music Festival and Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.
William Hite taught voice at Boston University. He is an Associate Professor of Voice at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He currently lives in Amherst, Massachusetts. |
