JUSTIN VICKERS

Oratorio and Symphonic Concerts

 

Vickers’s concert repertory includes Britten's War Requiem, the Serenade for tenor, horn, and strings—a work he has performed throughout the United States, notably at The Juilliard School's Paul Hall—and Britten’s Nocturne for tenor and seven obligato instruments. A frequent oratorio artist, Vickers has sung Handel’s Messiah at Carnegie Hall under Maestro John Rutter, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis and Ninth Symphony, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, Die Jahreszeiten, Paukenmesse, and Nelsonmesse (specially in Vienna’s Stephansdom and in Haydn’s church, Eisenstadt’s Bergkirche), Gounod’s Messe Solenelle de Sainte Cécilie, J. S. Bach’s Magnificat and the solo Kantate Nr. 189, Meine Seele rühmt und preist, and Kantate Nr. 160, Ich weiß, daß mein Erlöser lebt, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Einhorn’s Voices of Light, as well as the Bruckner Te Deum, which he also performed with the New England Symphonic Ensemble at Carnegie Hall. Vickers has also sung performances of Mozart’s C-minor Mass, K. 427 at Carnegie Hall, and the Requiem, K. 626.

 

His concert performances have included appearances with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., the Opera Orchestra of New York, the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra, the Jupiter Symphony, the New England Symphonic Ensemble, the Lexington Philharmonic, the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the Russian State Symphony Capella in Moscow, the Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de México, the Chinese National Opera Orchestra, and the Liaoning Symphony Orchestra.

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Having concertized in five of China’s provinces on three separate concert tours, Vickers performed concerts of popular Italian song with the Georgian pop star Sofia Nizharadze marked by a return to Shenyang. He also appeared in China for the New Year’s 2008-2009 concerts on Hainan Island, performing with the Chinese National Opera Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Gianluca Marcianò. Vickers made his first Chinese appearance when he rang in the New Year of 2001-2002 opening the second largest opera house in China: Shenyang’s Grande Theatre. After several concerts with the Liaoning Symphony Orchestra, the concert tour culminated in performances in the Concert Hall of Beijing’s Forbidden City.

 

Selected Oratorio, Symphonic, and Chamber Repertoire

 

Johann Sebastian Bach

• St. John Passion, BWV 245

• Magnificat, BWV 243

• St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244

• B Minor Mass, BWV 232

• Kantate Nr. 82a “Ich habe genug”

• Kantate Nr. 55 “Ich armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht”

• Kantate Nr. 160 “Ich weiß, daß mein Erlöserlebt” (Telemann)

• Kantate Nr. 189 “Meine Seele rühmt und preist” (Hoffmann)

Ludwig van Beethoven

• Ninth Symphony

• Missa Solemnis, Op. 123

Hector Berlioz

• L’Enfance du Christ

• Requiem, Op. 5

• Te Deum, Op. 22

Benjamin Britten

• War Requiem, Op. 66

• Serenade for tenor, horn, and strings, Op. 31

• Nocturne, Op. 60

• The Heart of the Matter (1956)

• “Now sleeps the crimson petal” for tenor, horn, and strings (discarded from Serenade)

• The Company of Heaven (1937)

Anton Bruckner

• Te Deum

Antonín Dvořák

• Stabat mater, Op. 58

Edward Elgar

• The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38

Charles Gounod

• Messe Solennelle de Ste-Cécile, 1857

George Frederick Handel

• Messiah

• Samson

• Judas Maccabæus

Franz Joseph Haydn

• Die Schöpfung

• Die Jahreszeiten

• Lord Nelson Mass

• Paukenmesse

Franz Lehár

• Fieber, Tone Poem for Tenor & Orchestra

Gustav Mahler

• Eighth Symphony

Felix Mendelssohn

• Paulus

• Elijah

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

• Requiem, K. 626

• Great Mass in C Minor, K. 427

Giacomo Puccini

• Requiem

Gioacchino Rossini

• Stabat mater

Michael Tippett

• A Child of Our Time

Giuseppe Verdi

• Requiem

 

 

Musical Theater

 

In 2007, the ever-active and capably diverse young tenor was also thrilled to return to work with Theatre International (a company Vickers helped found in 2004) in Tirana, Albania. There, Vickers directed a new production of the hit Broadway musical CHICAGO… in which he also sang and danced the role of Billy Flynn! Also in Albania, the tenor assumed a new role at the end of 2004, as both Music Director and Principal Soloist for an original full-scale Broadway revue, Bravo! A Century of Broadway, in which he directed twelve dancers and eight other singers. The performances were recorded for television and broadcast for national New Year’s Eve celebrations on Vizion+Plus, Albania’s international television channel.

 

Vickers has been a favorite of The National Arts Club galas for some of Broadway’s greatest living legends. In 2008, he premiered Jerry Bock’s song “On Wings of a Dream,” for a Gala honoring the composer. Vickers not only shared the bill with Kristin Chenoweth and Harvey Fierstein, but performed for an auspicious gathering including the composer Stephen Sondheim, Hal Prince, and Sheldon Harnick. In 2006, Vickers was a guest artist for the Charles Strouse Gala, and Vickers was also invited to perform for Sheldon Harnick in 2004 on the occasion of his 80th Birthday Gala Celebration, sharing the stage with an awe-inspiring group of artists, including Glenn Close, Barbara Cook, Marlo Thomas, Charlotte Rae, Alfred Molina and Alan Alda. He returned home to the Danville Symphony Orchestra in 2009 for an evening of Broadway favorites with his longtime friend Judith Blazer.