Tenor Beau Gibson is a versatile performer, equally comfortable in the worlds of opera, musical theater, and the concert stage. Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, he started singing at an early age and began formal study as a teenager. Since then, he has worked professionally in the arts in various theatrical settings.
Last summer, Mr. Gibson performed the role of Tamino in Mozart’s Die Zauberfloete with Wolf Trap Opera in Vienna, Virginia. He also sang the role of Remendado to Denyce Grave’s Carmen and Simon O’Neill’s Don Jose in a concert staging of Bizet’s Carmen with the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Stephen Lord. Next season at Houston Grand Opera also promises to be a busy one. Mr. Gibson will sing Il Giudice in Un ballo in maschera, 1st Armed Man and 1st Priest in Die Zauberflte, Parpignol in La bohme, and Maintop in Billy Budd, in addition to covering Tamino, Belmonte in Die Entfhrung aus dem Serail, Rodolfo, and Captain Vere.
Last season was his first as a fellow in the Houston Grand Opera Studio, where he sang the roles of Il Capitano in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra, Il Messaggero in Verdi’s Aida, and Pasek in Jancek’s The Cunning Little Vixen, and also covered the roles of Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and Faust in Gounod’s Faust. He had the opportunity to sing the latter role in full with bass Samuel Ramey, and soprano Tamar Iveri, when the tenor whom he was covering fell ill at the last minute.
The artist took part in the Merola Opera program with San Francisco Opera in the summer of 2006, covering the role of #5 in Susa’s Transformations. He also performed with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra singing excerpts from Mozart’s Idomeneo, Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Berlioz’s Beatrice et Benedicte, and Donizetti’s La Favorite. In the summer of 2005, Mr. Gibson was a Studio Artist with Chautauqua Opera, where he covered Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor and was a member of the Buffalo Bills quartet in The Music Man. He joined Utah Symphony and Opera’s Ensemble apprentice program immediately after, where he sang opera for 75,000 children in over 200 schools throughout the states of Utah, Arizona, and Montana. He made his US&O debut performing the role of First Armed Man in Die Zauberflte. While there, he also performed excerpts from Floyd’s Of Mice and Men, Adamo’s Little Women, Sweeney Todd, and The Grapes of Wrath, a new opera by Ricky Ian Gordon in an American Opera Concert Series. He was the featured soloist in the company’s annual Halloween Concert, and their annual Concert for Families with Autistic Children. At Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music Mr. Gibson appeared as Peter Quint in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, and Albert Herring in Britten’s Albert Herring. He performed Tamino in Die Zauberflte at St. Ivo alla Sapienza in Rome. He sang the role of Daniel Buchanan in Weills Street Scene at the University of Kentucky.
In concert, Mr. Gibson has appeared as a soloist with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Utah Symphony & Opera, Woodlands Symphony Orchestra, the Mercury Baroque Ensemble, and the St. John the Divine Episcopal Chorale singing Beethovens Ninth Symphony, and Handel’s Messiah, and opera repertoire. He had a prominent role in a Mozart Opera Concert conducted by Maestro Hans Graf. In Rome, he performed with the Orchestra Sinfonica dell’Opera Academy conducted by Maestro Francesco Carotenuto. Recital performances have included Beethoven’s Gellert Lieder, Brahm’s Neue Liebeslieder op. 65 and Liebesliederwalzer op. 52, Britten Folksongs with Guitar, Poulenc’s Tel jour, telle nuit, Schumann’s op. 39 Liederkreis, Spanisches Liederspiel op. 74, and songs by Hundley, Respighi, Rimsky-Korsakov, Schubert, Strauss, Tosti, and Verdi.
Mr. Gibson earned a Master’s degree from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in 2005 and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Kentucky in 2002, a member of The Golden Key International Honor Society, and recipient of a coveted Charles T. Wethington Fellowship. In 2006, he was a finalist in Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition. Mr. Gibson is a voice student of Dr. Stephen King.