Randal Turner

Biography

Randal Turner, Baritone

The American baritone Randal Turner has been hailed as a fine singing actor and consummate musician with a voice described as both warm and commanding. This versatile artist's repertoire includes all periods of opera, oratorio and solo recital. He is delighted to be making his American debut in 2010 as Don Giovanni with the Michigan Opera Theater in Detroit.

His professional career in Europe began when he was selected for the prestigious International Opera Studio in Zurich. Switzerland. He then was a member of the ensemble of the Stadttheater St. Gallen in Switzerland and afterwards by the Landestheater Linz, Austria. Those engagements were followed by performances with the Wiener Kammeroper, Opéra de Monte Carlo, Stadttheater Bielefeld, and the Manoel Theater Malta, singing numerous performances of leading roles such as Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Silvio in I Pagliacci, Valentin in Faust, Ford in Falstaff, Graf Homonay in Der Zigeunerbaron and Graf von Eberbach in Der Wildschütz (Lortzing) among others.

In 2002, Randal Turner made his Italian debut as Escamillo in Carmen at the Teatro Verdi in Sassari, and shortly thereafter was heard in the Italian premiere of Andre Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire as Stanley Kowalski with Teatro Regio di Torino. He was invited back to Turin to perform Mr. Redburn in Billy Budd (Britten). He also had great success as the humorous character Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten) in Pisa, Lucca and Livorno. In 2003, Randal underlined his lyric abilities by performing Marcello in La Bohème for Teatro Petruzelli, Bari.

In 2004, he began touring on a regular basis with the Piccolo Teatro Milano as Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte. In this production, the last work of the late, renowned director Giorgio Strehler, Randal performed in Bari, Madrid, Lyon, Recanati and Istanbul.

In the following 2 years, Randal Turner performed in no less than 4 world premières. In May 2004 with the Münchener Biennale – Cantio by Vykintas Balkatas; in October 2004 he created the title role of Federico II in the opera by Marco Tutino for the Teatro Pergolesi in Jesi. In July 2005, he was heard as Alexandre in La Ville Morte by Nadia Boulanger at the Academia Chigiana in Siena, and in October of that same year he returned to the Teatro Verdi, Sassari to perform the role of the Faraone in the new critical edition of Rossini’s Mosè in Egito and in 2007 for Teatro del Opera di Roma.

September 2005 saw him performing the role of Cosroe in Siroe (Handel) for the new festival Oper der Zeit in Voralberg, Austria. He returned to Italy in November of that year for his first Don Giovanni at Teatro Verdi, Pisa. In July and August 2006, he interpreted the role of the Duke de Rothsay in Bizet’s rarely performed opera La Jolie Fille de Perth for the summer festival held in Switzerland’s Castle Hallwyl.

In 2008 Randal began working as a guest artist with Germany’s Staatstheater Darmstadt, first demonstrating his versatility as Billy Bigelow in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel and subsequently was invited to sing Konrad Nachtigall in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg for the following two seasons.

Complementing his operatic career, Randal Turner is equally versatile as a recitalist and concert artist. For the Festival Wien Modern he sang Dallapiccola’s Iob, with the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich he interpreted Suter’s Le Laudi, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Camerata Strumentale Prato, and Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater with the Sinfonica Nazionale Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI, commemorating the 600th Anniversery of Music in the Duomo in Milan. He sang Hasse’s rediscovered oratorio La Caduta di Gerico with the Orchester Musica Rara Milano. In 2009, Randal was engaged to sing with The Corund Ensemble, Lucerne, in Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle and Handel's Messiah at the KKL, also giving the first performance in Germany of Donizetti's Cantata Canto XXXIII (Conte Ugolino) with I Virtuosi Ambulanti in Ingolstadt. His sacred repertoire includes numerous works by composers including Handel, Haydn, Mozart and Bach.

Randal Turner was born and raised on a farm near Crawfordsville, Indiana, U.S.A. He began studying music and ballet at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. He then studied voice at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music under renowned pedagogue Richard Miller, and subsequently at Indiana Jacobs University School of Music with Dale Moore and Margaret Harshaw.

Randal Turner is a resident of Zurich, Switzerland
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