American tenor Garrett Sorenson has been praised as a young artist of unique promise, drawing critical interest for a rich lyric voice of beauty and power. Of his recent portrayal of Lensky in YEVGENY ONEGIN, Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe wrote, “The poet Lensky(‘s)…aria is one of Tchaikovsky's greatest inspirations, and the young American tenor Garrett Sorenson delivered it with beautiful, warm tone and heartfelt emotion…his lyric tenor voice is the real deal, and his musical and dramatic instincts are strong and true.”
During the 2006/7 season, he returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Da-Ud in a new production of Richard Strauss’s infrequently performed DIE AGYPTISCHE HELENA starring Deborah Voigt and conducted by Fabio Luisi. This follows his performances of Alfredo in LA TRAVIATA in the Met in the Parks series in August 2006. Other Met roles in past seasons have included Alfred in DIE FLEDERMAUS, Scaramuccio in ARIADNE AUF NAXOS and Arturo in LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR, Shepherd in TRISTAN UND ISOLDE conducted by James Levine, the Young Man in DIE FRAU OHNE SHATTEN, and the Youth in MOSES UND ARON also under Levine. His debut there was in the role of Itulbo in IL PIRATA opposite Renée Fleming conducted by Bruno Campanella. He also performed for the opening night of the 2004-5 Metropolitan Opera season as Cassio in OTELLO opposite Ben Heppner again conducted by Mo. Levine. He is a graduate of their Lindemann Young Artist Development Program which he joined at the beginning of the 2001-2002 season.
Garrett Sorenson’s busy summer of 2006 included his first performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony under James Levine at the Verbier Festival. He also made role debuts as Sam Kaplan in a new production of STREET SCENE at Opera Theater of St. Louis to great critical acclaim and as Don Ottavio in DON GIOVANNI at PORT Opera in Portland, ME. He begins the 2006/7 season with his Houston Grand Opera debut as Don Ottavio under Patrick Summers. He also makes his Santa Fe Opera debut as Leukkipos in a new production of Strauss’s DAPHNE by Mark Lamos. In concert, he sings the virtually unknown Gounod oratorio MORS ET VITA in Louisville and performs the Beethoven 9th with the Florida Philharmonic.
Recent seasons have seen Garrett Sorenson return to Boston Lyric Opera as Alfredo following his triumphant appearance as Lensky there. He made his debut as the Italian Tenor in DER ROSENKAVALIER at Los Angeles Opera in a new production by actor/director Maximilian Schell and conducted by Kent Nagano. He made his debut at Opera Pacific in his first performances as Alfredo and sang Edgardo in LUCIA at PORT Opera. In concert, he appeared in recital under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation in St. Petersburg, FL and in a recital for the George London Foundation in New York. He returned to the Grand Rapids Symphony in a concert version of DIE ZAUBERFLOTE. He also made debuts with the Cleveland Orchestra in ELEKTRA under Franz Welser-Möst as well as with the New York Philharmonic in a program of Viennese music and with the Baltimore Symphony in an aria and duet concert. Other concert repertoire includes the Mozart Requiem and Handel’s MESSIAH.
During the 2001 Santa Fe Opera season, Mr. Sorenson was a member of the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program and made a last-minute substitution for the role of Werther in the Apprentice Showcase Scenes. Previous to this, Garrett Sorenson attended Texas Tech University where he performed the role of Eisenstein in DIE FLEDERMAUS while still a baritone.
Among his honors and awards, Mr. Sorenson was the winner of the Opera Birmingham Young Singer Contest and the Sorantin Young Artist Award. Mr. Sorenson was also a finalist in the Loren L. Zachary Society Contest for Young Opera Singers and The Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition’s Southwest Region. Recently, Mr. Sorenson was named a winner at the 2003 George London Foundation Competition and a Sara Tucker Study Grant Winner. This was followed by a 2004 Richard Tucker Foundation Career Grant. He resides in New York with his wife Elizabeth Batton and his son.
