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Stephen L. Bryant
Bass

Grammy nominee Stephen L. Bryant's distinguished career in concert and opera has taken him around the world, with acclaimed performances in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.  In October of 2021 he was the baritone soloist in Jerod Tate's Victory Songs as part of South Dakota Symphony Orchestra's Lakota Music Project, which has since been released on the Innova label.  In the 2018-19 season, he performed and recorded Charles Wuorinen's opera Haroun and the Sea of Stories, based on the novel by Salman Rushdie, with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.  In July 2019, he sang the role of Jesus with the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, in Tan Dun's Water Passion after St. Matthew.  Stephen has also been privileged to sing Mendelssohn's Elijah, Haydn's Creation, Messiah, and Bach's B Minor Mass with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra.  In the 2017-18 season he performed as soloist in Tan Dun's Water Passion after St. Matthew with Soundstreams Canada.  His engagements during the 2016-17 season included Handel's Messiah with the Virginia and Pacific symphonies, Bach's B Minor Mass with Orchestra Iowa as well as performing in a pair of concerts with the Grand Rapids Bach Festival.  Mr. Bryant's 2015-2016 season included Tan Dun's Water Passion after St. Matthew at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and with the Brussels Philharmonic, the roles of Cecco and Raimondo in Wagner's Rienzi with the National Philharmonic, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Bridgeport Symphony and the title role in Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Hartford Chorale.

A premiere interpreter of the works of Academy Award-winning composer Tan Dun, Bryant created the role of Dante in the world premiere of the opera Marco Polo and was nominated for a Grammy for "Best Opera Recording" for the opera's release on Opus Arte.  He reprised the roles for productions at London's Barbican Centre (broadcast by the BBC), the Bergen International Festival and with Dutch National Opera.  He has also performed Water Passion after St. Matthew with the Los Angeles master Chorale, Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony, and on tour in the Netherlands; and Tan Dun's Orchestra Theatre II with the Hamburger Symphoniker.  His other recent concert appearances include Mendelssohn's Elijah with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra; Hadne'ls Messiah with the Indianapolis and Pittsburgh symphonies; Mozart's Requiem with Princeton Pro Musica; Verdi's Requiem with the Washington National Opera Orchestra under the auspices of the Defiant Requiem Foundation.

Stephen L. Bryant has appeared in numerous roles with New York City Opera, most recently in productions of A Quiet Place and Intermezzo.  Other opera performances include Mr. Gobineau in The Medium at the Spoleto Festival USA; Robert Gonzales in Stewart Wallace's Harvey Milk and the Bonze in Madama Butterfly with San Francisco Opera; Capulet in Romeo et Juliette with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Michigan Opera Theatre, Chautauqua Opera, and Toledo Opera; George Milton in Of Mice and Men with Arizona Opera; and Indiana Elliot's Brother in Thomson's The Mother of Us All with Santa Fe Opera.