Throughout his 35 year career, Richard Zeller has been internationally acclaimed for his dramatic voice and consummate musicianship. Nominated for an Emmy award, he is equally celebrated for both his opera roles and concert performances as both a baritone and bass baritone.
Mr. Zeller made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1989 and appeared there for 11 seasons; in the 2002/03 season Mr. Zeller appeared at the Met in lead roles in three new productions; as Ernesto in Bellini’s Il Pirata opposite Renée Fleming and Marcello Giordani; as the main lead role of Eddie in William Bolcom's opera, A View from the Bridge, based on Arthur Miller's play; and as Chorebe opposite Deborah Voigt and Ben Heppner in Berlioz's Les Troyens, conducted by Maestro James Levine.
Other assignments at the Met have included the title role in Verdi’s Macbeth, the title role in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin , Marcello in Puccini’s La Bohème, Barak in R. Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, Don Carlo in Verdi’s Ernani, Rangoni and Schelkalov in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov in two different productions, Thoas in Gluck’s Iphigenie en Tauride, Kothner in Wagners’s Die Meistersinger, Sprecher in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, as well as Giordano’s Andrea Chénier, Gounod’s Faust, and Verdi’s Rigoletto.
Mr. Zeller was featured as soloist in 2001 in the Emmy nominated nationwide TV Broadcast of Live from Lincoln Center singing the Mozart Requiem with the Mostly Mozart Festival, conducted by Gerard Schwarz and presented by Beverly Sills.
Zeller sang the title role in Scottish Opera's widely heralded, award-winning production of Macbeth directed by Luc Bondy at its Edinburgh Festival premiere in 1999-2000, and in the revival at the Vienna Festival. Other opera highlights include performances in Chicago Lyric Opera’s Boris Godunov and Andrea Chénier, Gluck’s Alceste at the Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin, Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata with Hamburgische Staatsoper and Deutsche Oper am Rhein, and Gluck’s Iphigenie en Tauride in Madrid.
With Scottish Opera, Mr. Zeller was featured as Germont in David McVicar’s new production of La Traviata in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Belfast, and he appeared in Ireland with both Dublin Opera in Dublin singing Germont in La Traviata and Wexford Festival in Mascagni’s Il piccolo Marat. In other productions of Macbeth, he has performed with Scottish Opera, Opera de Bordeaux, Opera de Vichy, and Portland Opera.
He has sung the title role of Rigoletto at New York City Opera and Beethoven’s Fidelio with the Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia Festival and in numerous other venues, both staged and in concert. He has appeared as Athanaël in Massenet's Thaïs opposite Elizabeth Futral with the English National Opera at the Barbican in London. He was acclaimed in the role of Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata which he sang with Hamburgische Staatsoper, San Diego Opera, Scottish Opera, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Portland Opera, Scottish Opera, Dublin Opera, and in many other opera and concert venues with orchestras in Europe and the USA.
His Verdi baritone roles include many performances in the title roles of Rigoletto, Macbeth, Falstaff, and Simon Boccanegra, and as Germont in La Traviata, Conte Di Luna in Il trovatore, Amonasro in Aida, Rodrigo in Don Carlo, Carlo in Ernani, Renato in Un ballo in maschera, Francesco in I due Foscari, Iago in Otello and as Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca.
Zeller has also appeared with many regional opera companies in the U.S. including the Chicago Lyric Opera, New York City Opera, Philadelphia, Minnesota, Cincinnati, San Diego, Portland, Spoleto USA, New Orleans, Dayton, Eugene, and New Jersey Opera companies.
On the concert stage, he has appeared with over 100 symphonies and orchestras in the US and abroad. Highlights include the title role in Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Chicago Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra among others and performances with the Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Minnesota, and San Francisco Symphonies as well as many other regional and international orchestras. His performances at New York’s Carnegie Hall include Orff’s Carmina Burana, Handel’s Messiah, Verdi’s Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem, Bloch’s Sacred Service, Catalani’s La Wally, Faure’s Requiem, Hanson’s Merry Mount and many others.
His international orchestra credits include appearances with the Toronto Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Winnipeg, Ottowa, the Nord Deutscher Rundfunk (Hanover), MDR Symphony Orchester (Leipzig), Dresden Staatskapelle, Czech Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, Korea Philharmonic, Rotterdam, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra (Norway), Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Mexico City’s Sinfonica de Mineria, and the National Orchestra of Taiwan among many others.
Recordings include the critically acclaimed Merry Mount by Howard Hanson and Deems Taylor’s Peter Ibbettson with Naxos, and the world premiere of Henri Lazarof’s Fifth Symphony on Centaur Records – all recorded with Gerard Schwartz and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. He also recorded Dvorak’s Te Deum with Zdenec Macal and the New Jersey Symphony for Delos; David Schiff’s Gimpel the Fool for Naxos; Beethoven’s 9th Symphony for Centaur Records; and Virgil Thompson’s Lord Byron and Aaron Copland’s The Tender Land for Koch International. He recorded Luigi Dallapiccola’s opera Volo di notte with American Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leon Botstein and his most recent release is Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Martingale Ensemble on MSR classics.
Mr. Zeller has been Associate Professor of Voice and Director of Opera at Biola University Conservatory of Music in La Mirada, California and at the University of Oregon and is now teaching as Adjunct professor of Voice with Portland State University. He also maintains a robust private teaching studio online and in his home city of Portland, Oregon.
His voice students have won the Metropolitan Opera National Council (MONC) Auditions at the district, regional, semi-final, and grand final levels, have won and placed in the finals of the NATSAA competition, and have been awarded prizes in numerous other prestigious contests including the National Federated Music Clubs and the National Opera Association. Zeller’s students have been accepted to many prestigious undergraduate and graduate programs which include Juilliard Opera Center, Indiana, Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (CCM), Boston Conservatory, Yale, Manhattan School, Peabody, Oberlin, and others, and many of his students have gone on to appear in major roles with Symphonies and Opera houses in the US and Europe and on Broadway. In addition to performing, many of his students have also gone on to become voice teachers, vocal pedagogues, educators, and to hold positions in arts administration. You can learn more about Richard Zeller and contact him at his website at https://www.richardzeller.com.