Stanford Olsen

Stanford Olsen (born 1960 ) is an American tenor who has had an active international career in operas and concerts since 1983. He has sung with several of the world's leading opera companies, including the Deutsche Oper Berlin, La Scala and the Royal Opera, London. He was a regular performer at the Metropolitan Opera from 1986 until 1997 where he gave more than 160 performances. A specialist in light lyric tenor roles, he excelled in the operas of Mozart, Bellini, Donizetti, and Gioachino Rossini. After retiring from full-time performance in the late 1990s he became a faculty member at the Florida State University's College of Music, where he was Professor of Voice and Lucille P. and Elbert B. Shelfer Eminent Scholar. He joined the faculty at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance in 2012. In 2015 he was appointed Director of the Castleton Festival's Artist Training Seminar. He continues to perform on the concert platform in addition to his teaching and coaching.

Life and career Olsen was born and raised in Utah. His family are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and he grew up in that faith. Prior to college he served a two-year LDS Mission in Vienna, Austria. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Utah in 1984 where he was a voice student of Naomi Farr. While a student at the U. of U. he married Jennifer Jensen, a piano major at the university, in 1983. He then pursued further voice studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. In 1986 he won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions which led to his admittance into the Lindemann Young Artists Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera. In 1989 he won the prestigious Naumburg Award. He made his professional opera debut at the Met on December 18, 1986, as Arturo in Vincenzo Bellini's I puritani with Joan Sutherland as Elvira as a replacement in the final act for an ailing Rockwell Blake. Engagements with important opera companies, both in the United States and abroad, soon followed; including the Miami Opera (debut 1988 as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni ), the Salzburg Festival, the Royal Opera, London, and the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos.

Roles performed at the Metropolitan Opera

Opera Role Performances First performance Last performance I puritani Arturo 6 1986 1997 Rigoletto Borsa 15 1986 1989 La traviata Gastone 9 1987 1988 L'elisir d'amore Nemorino 14 1988 1996 Lucia di Lammermoor Arturo 17 1988 1989 Il tabarro Song Seller 4 1989 1989 The Barber of Seville Count Almaviva 20 1989 1995 Die Entführung aus dem Serail Belmonte 5 1990 1991 Der Rosenkavalier Italian Tenor 20 1990 1995 Don Giovanni Don Ottavio 28 1990 1997 Semiramide Idreno 7 1990 1993 Falstaff Fenton 6 1992 1996 La fille du régiment Tonio 3 1994 1994 Die Fledermaus Alfred 5 1995 1995