Denyce Graves, recognized worldwide as one of today’s most exciting vocal stars, joins the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra (PSO) in the Seaside Amphitheater for a fall night to remember. The one-night only performance of the PSO featuring Graves will be held Saturday October 10th at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
The Pensacola Symphony Orchestra has become a Seaside favorite and continues to grow and increase its presence in the region with many of its members from the South Walton area. PSO Music Director, Peter Rubardt, a graduate of The Juilliard School where he was the recipient of the Bruno Walter fellowship, has earned extensive acclaim for powerful and insightful performances that inspire passionate responses to symphonic music. He continually works to broaden and deepen relationships in the community, leading to growing audiences and a broad base of support. Also busy as a guest conductor, Rubardt recently debuted with the Fort Worth Symphony, the El Paso Symphony Orchestra, and Japan’s Yamagata Orchestra. Seaside is proud to partner with the PSO, as it enters its 90th season, in bringing exciting, uplifting and engaging entertainment to South Walton.
Peter Rubardt at a performance
Guest performer Graves’ career has taken her to the world’s great opera houses and concert halls where she is one of the music world’s most sought-after recitalists. She has become particularly well-known to operatic audiences for her portrayals of the title roles in Carmen and Samson et Dalila. These signature roles have brought Graves to the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Washington Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Arena di Verona, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opernhaus Zürich, Teatro Real in Madrid, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Los Angeles Opera, and the Festival Maggio Musicale in Florence.
Graves has worked with the finest symphony orchestras and conductors in a wide range of repertoire including Riccardo Chailly, Myung-Whun Chung, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Riccardo Muti, and Mstislav Rostropovich. She appears continually on the stages of leading theaters in North America, Europe, and Asia and continues to gather unparalleled popular and critical acclaim on four continents.
She performs classical repertoire of German lieder, French mélodie, and English art song, as well as the popular music of Broadway musicals, crossover and jazz together with American spirituals.
The combination of her expressive, rich vocalism, elegant stage presence, and exciting theatrical abilities delights audiences with a wide breadth of operatic portrayals.
Rubardt said, “Denyce Graves has one of the great mezzo-soprano voices of our time, and she uses it with exquisite artistry and dramatic effect. She is unmatched in the title roles of Carmen and Delila, but equally at home in the worlds of jazz and Broadway. We’ll hear all of this and more in what is sure to be a memorable evening with a legendary artist.”
Graves is a native of Washington, D.C., where she attended the Duke Ellington School for the Performing Arts. She continued her education at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and the New England Conservatory. Graves’ dedication to the singers of the next generation continues to be an important part of her career and recently she joined the voice faculty of the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore.
