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.”
Garrett Sorenson’s 2008/09 season includes several important role debuts across America. At the Metropolitan Opera he will sing the role of Froh in Wagner’s Das Rheingold under James Levine. He adds the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto to his repertoire in a debut at Arizona Opera and the title role of Massenet’s Werther in his debut with Kentucky Opera opposite his wife Elizabeth Batton as Charlotte. He will also appear as a soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the San Francisco Symphony under the baton or Michael Tilson Thomas (including a concert at Carnegie Hall), as well as with the Pacific Symphony. He also sings a concert version of Simon Boccanegra with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Levine and Handel’s Messsiah with the Omaha Symphony.
The 2007/08 season included many successes, including Cassio in Otello at the Metropolitan Opera opposite Renée Fleming and Johan Botha and conducted by Semyon Bychkov. He made his role debut as Rodolfo in La Bohème with Houston Grand Opera under Patrick Summers and repeated Alfredo in La Traviata for his debut with Opera Colorado. He also made role debuts as Hoffmann in Les contes d'Hoffmann with Opera Theatre of St. Louis conducted by Stephen Lord and in the title role in Faust with New Orleans Opera. He appeared with the innovative Gotham Chamber Opera in Janacek’s Diary of One Who Vanished at the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York and also took part in the Marilyn Horne Foundation’s annual concert at Zankel Hall.
During the 2006/7 season, he returned 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 followed 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 NAXOSand 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 began the 2006/7 season with his Houston Grand Opera debut as Don Ottavio under Patrick Summers. He also made his Santa Fe Opera debut as Leukkipos in a new production of Strauss’s DAPHNE by Mark Lamos. In concert, he sang the virtually unknown Gounod oratorio MORS ET VITA in Louisville and performed 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 ROSENKAVALIERat 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 Tucke
![[Garrett Sorenson]](/images/_images/_musicians/GarrettSorenson_LisaKohlerx95.jpg)
