American Tenor Norman Shankle is currently enjoying worldwide acclaim for his portrayals of Mozart and Rossini’s most famous tenors. The Boston Globe called Shankle “a real find, a singer of elegance, grace and conviction,” and the San Francisco Chronicle praised him equally as “clearly a singer to watch.”
Last season Mr. Shankle was featured in the National Philharmonic’s performances of Berlioz’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, and Adolphus Hailstork’s Symphony No. 5; Mozart’s Requiem with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra; Messiah with Glacier Symphony Orchestra; Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra’s Classical Christmas concert; and Sanctuary Road with Penn Square Music Festival. Operatic engagements included Quint in Baltimore Opera’s The Turn of the Screw. This season, he’ll return to Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra for Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël and Handel’s Messiah and the National Philharmonic for their Messiah; and he’ll sing Elijah with the Washington Chorus.
Previous seasons’ engagements included the tenor solo in Mozart’s Requiem, Adolphus Hailstork’s A Knee On a Neck, and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis for the National Philharmonic; Sanctuary Road with North Carolina Opera; it all falls down and The Rift for the Washington National Opera; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 for Helena Symphony; Cassio in Otello for Pacific Symphony; and the performance and recording of Damien Geter’s An African American Requiem at the Kennedy Center with the Choral Arts Society of Washington. Shankle also returned to Northern Lights Music Festival as Ramiro in La Cenerentola and performed a gala concert for Knoxville Opera. He sang Lindoro in L’italiana in Algeri with Opera Memphis and Piedmont Opera, Ferrando in a concert performance of Così fan tutte with the National Philharmonic at the Kennedy Center, Remus in Treemonisha with the Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice, Nick in La fanciulla del West with Opera Colorado, Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia with the Northern Lights Music Festival, the tenor soloist in Atlanta Symphony’s performances of Bach’s Cantata No. 29 and Vaughn Williams’ Serenade to Music, and Handel’s Messiah with Boston Baroque, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, and the National Philharmonic. He also reprised the role of Elder Barber/Gus Greenlee in The Summer King, a new opera that explores the life of Josh Gibson, “one of the greatest Negro League baseball players,” with Michigan Opera Theatre — a role he had previously created for Pittsburgh Opera.
Prior engagements have also included The Enchanted Island with the Metropolitan Opera; Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia with New Orleans Opera, the Orlando Philharmonic, English National Opera, and Dresden Semperoper; Nick in La fanciulla del West with Opera Omaha; Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Opera Saratoga; Tamino in Die Zauberflöte with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra and Michigan Opera Theater; Prunier in La rondine with Skylark Opera; Ramiro in La Cenerentola with the Green Mountain Opera Festival; a concert of arias and duets at the Kennedy Center; Messiah with Pacific Symphony and Phoenix Symphony, where he also performed Handel’s Nelsonmesse; and Mozart’s Requiem with the City Choir of Washington.
Previous successes include the title role in Idomeneo and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Staatstheater Stuttgart, the Opera Festival at Verona, and Reggio Emilia; Ferrando in Così fan tutte with the Netherlands Opera, Palm Beach Opera, and Opera Grand Rapids; Belfiore in La finta giardiniera with Opernhaus Zurich; Gomatz in Zaide with Vienna Festwochen and the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York; Ernesto in Don Pasquale and Renaud in Gluck’s Armide with the Komische Oper Berlin; Ernesto in Don Pasquale with Dallas Opera and Le Grand Théâtre de Genève; Cassio in Otello with Palm Beach Opera; Admète in Alceste with Opera Boston; and Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice at the Haydn Festival.
Norman’s vast international concert experience includes Carlo in Rossini’s Armida and Laïos in Enescu’s Œdipe at the Edinburgh International Festival; Handel’s Saul conducted by René Jacobs at Palais de Beaux Arts, Brussels; Tito in La clemenza di Tito with the Münchener Kammerorchester in Amsterdam; and Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings with the International Bach Akademie. US symphonic engagements include Messiah with the Cincinnati Symphony and Houston Symphony Orchestra; Britten’s War Requiem with the San Francisco Choral Society; as well as appearances with the Essen Philharmonic, Choral Arts Society of Washington, and New Century Chamber Orchestra.
Norman began his career with San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program and as an Adler Fellow. He made his company mainstage début as Valletto in L’incoronazione di Poppea, and he subsequently appeared in SFO’s productions of Tristan und Isolde, Don Carlo, Prokofiev’s Betrothal in a Monastery, Louise, Lucia di Lammermoor, Idomeneo, and Don Giovanni. Norman was selected as a winner of the distinguished ARIA award; other awards include a Richard Tucker Career Grant and the McAllister Award.