Dean Elzinga- CRS Barn Studio

Dean Elzinga Dean Elzinga headshot

Photo: Bobbie Kingsley New Jersey and New York City 201-653-1971 bobbiek@prodigy.net Dean Elzinga appears on Opera Cowpokes He sings BEFORE THE NEXT TEARDROP FALLS by Ben Peters/ Vivian Keith and JINGLE, JANGLE, JINGLE - Joseph Lilley/ Frank Loesser (with Steve Stull) In the short time since his apprenticeship at Glimmerglass Opera, Dean Elzinga has already begun to make his mark. After a year of singing the leading French and Mozart roles at the Vienna Volksoper, the young bass forayed into Wagnerian territory at the Metropolitan Opera last season as the knight Biterolf in Tannhäuser with James Levine. He covered his first Rossini role, Alidoro, in the Met’s historic first production of La Cenerentola, complete with the complex aria added by Rossini.

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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