Jason McStoots
Jason McStoots has performed throughout the US in the genres of opera, oratorio, recital, and musical theater. He has been described by critics as “a natural, a believable actor and a first-rate singer,” “a born comic,” “light and bluff, but neither lightweight nor bland, and with exemplary enunciation” and as having “a silken tenor voice” and “sweet, appealing tone.” He has performed with numerous organizations including Boston Lyric Opera, The Early Music Guild of Seattle, Handel Choir of Baltimore, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Emmanuel Music, Granite State Opera, OperaProvidence, Tragicomedia, Blue Heron, and the Boston Early Music Festival. He is particularly noted for his interpretations of new or modern music and music of the baroque era. For the latter he has been called one of the “singers who are beginning to make their names in Baroque opera” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) and has received praise for his turns in Lully’s Pysché with the Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF), Monteverdi’s Coronation of Poppea with the Early Music Guild of Seattle, and Handel’s Acis and Galatea with Vox Consort. In addition he is a frequent interpreter of the works of J.S. Bach, performing regularly as a part of the weekly cantata cycle at Emmanuel Music, where he was honored to be the Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson Fellow for the 2007-08 season. In the world of new music, McStoots is respected as a consistent and skilled interpreter, having created five operatic roles for the stage as well as giving the world premieres of nearly a dozen songs and concert pieces. In addition to being a champion of living composers’ works, he has performed many of the works of Benjamin Britten and Ralph Vaughan Williams. He has long standing relationships with Intermezzo: The New England Chamber Opera Series, a group committed to the performance of new and modern operatic works; and the Florestan Recital Project, a group dedicated to the art of the song recital. In addition to his solo performing career, he is a respected teacher in the Boston area. In 2008 he joined the voice faculty at Brandeis University, as well as continuing his long relationship with the prestigious and innovative Walnut Hill School. He was recently added to the faculty of the Berkshire Choral Festival and has taught at the Boston Conservatory and Phillips Exeter Academy. He can be heard on recordings with Blue Heron on the Blue Heron Label and on BEMF’s recording of Lully’s Pysché on the CPO label.
