Tuscaloosa, AL – The University of Alabama College of Arts & Sciences School of Music presents a faculty recital featuring Paul Houghtaling, bass-baritone on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Moody Music Building on the campus of The University of Alabama. The program will include “Caro mio ben,” by Tommaso Giordani, selections from G.F. Handel’s Partenope, three selections from Henri Duparc, “Pastorale” by Camille Saint-Saëns, “Colloque” by Francis Poulenc, “Puisqu’ici-bas toute âme” by Gabriele Fauré and several American songs on American poets. He will be accompanied by UA Instructor of Piano Kevin Chance. The concert is FREE and open to the public. For more information visit: www.music.ua.edu/calendar or call 348-7111.
Paul Houghtaling, bass-baritone, joined the University of Alabama faculty in the fall of 2007 as Assistant Professor of Voice and Director of Opera Theatre. Career highlights include European tours as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte with Teatro Lirico d’Europa (“…an extraordinary Papageno of comic sensitivity, naivete and tenderness, served by a superb voice and a remarkable physical agility.” Salon de Provence); a debut with the Bard Music Festival and the American Symphony Orchestra in Haydn’s L’Infedeltá Delusa (“…revealed a striking and flexible baritone.” Opera News); Peter Maxwell Davies’ Eight Songs for a Mad King with ALEA III in Boston (“…singing forcefully, in eerie falsetto highs and chesty baritonal lows … the Davies sent you home stunned.” The Boston Globe); Mozart’s Requiem with St. Cecilia Chorus at Carnegie Hall; works of Bach with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s “Bach Cantatas in Context” Series, American Classical Orchestra, Amor Artis Baroque Orchestra, and others; United States tours with the Waverly Consort, including Kennedy Center appearances, and Early Music New York; “Opera Buffa: Comedy On Stage” on Lincoln Center’s “Meet the Artists” series; and his acclaimed Gilbert & Sullivan interpretations with the Anchorage, Cedar Rapids, Central City, Knoxville, Lake George, and Nashville Operas, among other opera companies and orchestras throughout the U.S. Upcoming in 2010-2011 is soloist in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at Carnegie Hall with St. Cecilia Chorus, stage director for Mobile Opera’s production of Candide, and performances at the National Opera Association National Convention in San Antonio, Texas.
The 2009-2010 season included recitals in Birmingham (Cathedral Church of the Advent Mid-Day Music Series), and Mobile (Mobile Music Teachers Association), and a return to the College Music Society National Conference in Portland, OR in a recital presentation of music of Virgil Thomson. In January 2010, Professor Houghtaling and several student members of the Opera Theatre represented UA as finalists in the National Opera Association’s (NOA) Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition at that organization’s national convention in Atlanta, GA. The 2008-2009 season brought him to Iowa for a recital for the Des Moines Symphony Academy, and to Atlanta for a performance presentation on the College Music Society (CMS) National Conference. In the 2007-2008 season Professor Houghtaling was soloist in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with St. Cecilia Chorus under David Randolph at Carnegie Hall and sang Sir Joseph in H.M.S. Pinafore with Nashville Opera. He also directed The Gondoliers for the young artists program of Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre in Iowa, and was guest director for the Caldwell College Summer Opera Workshop in New Jersey. He returned to Cedar Rapids in 2009 to direct Cosí fan tutte (“Grand entertainment … staged brilliantly by Paul Houghtaling …”, Cedar Rapids Gazette). Additional stage directing credits include Telemann’s Der Schulmeister for both the Long Island Baroque Ensemble and Anchorage Opera’s “Second Stage” series, Shall We Dance: Great Duets from Broadway for the Abilene Philharmonic under Shinik Hahm, Café d’Amour, a new musical-theater/dance work for the Alaska Dance Theater, and a variety of opera scenes and orchestral pops programs. Productions at Alabama have included The Merry Widow, Pagliacci, Suor Angelica, Hoiby’s Bob Apetit!, Heggie’s At the Statue of Venus and The Gondoliers.
Houghtaling is a frequent studio artist with Philip Glass and Looking Glass Studios and can be heard as a featured vocalist on Glass’s soundtrack to Reggio’s film Naqoyqatsi on the SONY label, and as the Laughing Sun in the Glass/Beni Montresor collaboration, The Witches of Venice, recorded for Euphorbia. Mr. Houghtaling has also created roles in numerous new theater and opera works including the title role in William Harper’s El Greco for the Off-Broadway Intar Theater, and a series of new works for Greek National Television on the Iraklion Festival. Mr. Houghtaling has also performed with the Boston Early Music Festival, Clarion Music, Early Music New York (U.S. tours), My Lord Chamberlain’s Consort, Folger Consort in Washington, Billings Symphony, and the Mark Morris Dance Company production of Dido & Aeneas. He can be heard on the New World, Waverly, Balkanton, EMI, Euphorbia, Albany Records and Prospect Classics labels. Mr. Houghtaling is represented by Martha Wade, Wade Artist Management, New York.