The mysterious "Second Man" in the 2022 Cincinnati Opera world premiere of Castor and Patience (by composer Gregory Spears and Pulitzer-prize winning poet laureate Tracy K. Smith, directed by Kevin Newbury) Earl Hazell, basso cantante, is a native New Yorker. He has performed with, among other companies, the New York Philharmonic numerous times, including in The One Hundredth Anniversary of Carnegie Hall under Metropolitan Opera legend James Levine. He has performed a variety of roles in numerous productions of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess throughout Continental Europe and the UK, including in the Semperoper of Dresden, Centro Cultural de Belem of Lisbon, Theatre Carre of Amsterdam, the Royal Albert Hall of London, and the Teatro dell’ Opera of Rome. Earl debuted with Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Tulsa Opera, Phoenix Opera and Arizona Opera, where he has covered and performed roles including Ramphis and Amonasro in Verdi’s Aida; Jim, Jake and Crown of Porgy and Bess; Il Contadino in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci; Vecchio Zingaro in Verdi’s Il Trovatore; Sarastro and the Speaker of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte; Colline of Puccini’s La Boheme and Zuniga of Bizet’s Carmen.

Earl was first seen by Alabama audiences as Balthazar of Amahl and the Night Visitors. June 2023 marked Earl’s return to Tuscaloosa's Druid City Opera as Raimondo of Lucia di Lammermoor. He returned to San Francisco Opera in the fall of 2023 as Renty in Rhiannon Giddens' Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, Omar.

Earl lives in Alabama with his UA Professor wife, Dr. Alexis Davis-Hazell, mezzo-soprano.