MATTHEW CURTIS, tenor, recently performed with the Grammy award-winning Chanticleer, where he held the position of Assistant Music Director. He also sang with the internationally acclaimed Rose Ensemble in 2009 and the Santa Fe Desert Chorale for one summer in 2009. Matthew began singing choral music at age 7 with the La Crosse Boychoir and sang with the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman Gallery Singers for nine years beginning in 1999.

A Wisconsin native, he received his bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance and Music Education as a Liberace Scholar from Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin in 2008. He continued studying for a year in the graduate school at the University of Minnesota focusing on opera.

Matthew’s solo performances include light, lyric tenor roles. Matthew played the role of Steva in Janacek’s Jenůfa and the lead tenor role of Male Chorus in Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia at the University of Minnesota. Viterbo University roles included Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Monsieur Vogelsang (Der Schauspieldirektor), and Policeman Chorus (Pirates of Penzance). Past oratorio performances include Messiah and The Creation.

Matthew has won numerous awards in his young career. He won an Encouragement Award at the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in the Iowa district. In his seven years competing at the National Association of Teachers of Singing Wisconsin State Chapter Student auditions, he appeared as a finalist all seven times including four first place awards and two second place awards. He also became a Liberace Scholar in 2006 from the Liberace Foundation for excellence in academics and performance.

Agnes Wasonga is following