His first appearance in a leading role was two years ago: the title
role of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro under the baton of music
director
Asher Fisch at the Vienna Volksoper. During the same season there he
added
to his repertoire the roles of Escamillo in Carmen,
Méphistophélès
in Faust, and Leporello in Don Giovanni, the last with
conductor
Bertrand de Billy. In an American premiere, he sang the role of
Maître
Jean in the rare Gounod comedy La Colombe at Alice Tully Hall
with
conductor Yves Abel. As Selim in Turco in Italia he
further explored
the Rossini bass repertoire at Opera San José, one year after
his
acclaimed debut there as Méphistophélès in Faust.
He offered Mozart’s Figaro at Connecticut Grand Opera. Returning to
Glimmerglass
in 1998 as a Principal Artist, he sang the Sacristan in Tosca and
Daniel Webster in Virgil Thomson’s The Mother of Us All. This
season
he essayed his first Verdi lead, Ramfis in Aida, with Opera
Carolina.
His reprise of Méphistophélès at Mississippi Opera
won him raves and a standing ovation from a packed house. Later this
season
he performs Méphistophélès at Nevada Opera.
He has scored dramatic and vocal successes on the concert and recital
stage, earning him applause, awards and critical acclaim in Los
Angeles,
Cincinnati, Miami, San Jose and New York City.
Mr. Elzinga was born in Endicott NY, learned to drive a tractor at age 10 helping with his family’s prune orchard in Morgan Hill, CA, and later their alfalfa farm in Marana, AZ. He began his private musical and vocal studies while earning college and post-graduate degrees in mathematics from California Institute of Technology and University of California Los Angeles. He finished his operatic training at the University of Southern California Opera. He makes his home in Los Angeles.
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