James Westman
Baritone
Internationally acclaimed Canadian Baritone, James
Westman, “acts as impressively as he sings,
stealing the show.” –
London Financial Times,
Nov. 1, 2005.
Whether performing in song, concert or opera throughout the
world, Westman remains vigilant in his passion for
healing and exploring human nature.
Formerly a successful boy treble, Mr. Westman toured with the
American Boys Choir, the Paris Boys Choir and the
Vienna Boys Choir. Known as Jamie Westman, he was
the first boy ever to perform the fourth movement
of Mahler's Symphony No. 4, (Childs View of
Heaven) and toured this work with the Boston
Philharmonic Orchestra in
Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, East and West
Germany and Russia, performing in the Musikverein,
Roy Thompson Hall and Carnegie Hall at the young
age of twelve.
Mr. Westman was Baritone in Residence with the prestigious San
Francisco Opera Adler Fellowship program until
March 2000. His critically acclaimed performances
at the San Francisco Opera include Guglielmo (Cosi
Fan Tutte); Marcello (La Boheme);Sylvio
(Paggliaci); Germont (La Traviata);
Renato (Ballo in Maschera); Sid (Albert
Herring); and the First Philosopher (Louise).
Since being an Adler, this young Verdi-baritone has performed the
leading roles of Verdi, Puccini, Massenet,
Donizetti, Yanacek, Bizet, Britten and Mozart for
many principal Opera houses in North America and
Europe including; the Houston Grand Opera, Santa
Fe, Montreal, Calgary, English National Opera, Los
Angeles, San Francisco Opera, Florida Grand
Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, New York City Opera,
Dallas Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Wexford
Festival Ireland, Graz, Cologne and many more!
His Debut with the English National Opera will mark his 100th
professional performance of his calling card role
‘Germont’ from Verdi’s La Traviata.
“Westman is 31, but he sings with maturity and
power, and his second-act duet with Harteros is
one of the highlights of the show.”
– Pam Kragen, North
County Times.
James Westman thrives at art song repertoire in
many different styles and genres. He has preformed
recitals for The Marilyn Horne Foundation, The
George London Foundation, The Aldeburgh
Connection, the Canadian Arts and Letters Club,
the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the
Stratford Summer Music Festival, the Schawbacher
Debut Recital Series, the Michigan Chamber Music
Society, the
Lanaudière Festival, the Jeunes Ambassadeurs
Lyrique, the Wexford Festival, Ireland
and the Symposiast’s of Toronto Society, to name a
few.
His success on the concert stage since he was
eight years of age continues to blossom,
performing with many of the world’s leading
Orchestras. He has sung Handel’s Messiah with
the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco
Symphony, National Arts Orchestra, Ottawa,
Vancouver Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Detroit
Symphony, and the Kitchener-Waterloo Philharmonic
Choir and Orchestra. He performed Carmina Burana
with the Cleveland Orchestra; Berlioz’ seldom
performed Romeo and Juliette with the
Edmonton Symphony and the Toronto Symphony; and
Mendlessohn’s Elijah and Bach’s Mass in
B Minor with the Vancouver Symphony. He has
performed solo Gala concerts with the Boston
Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony,
the
Baltimore Symphony, and the Brantford Symphony.
As a credit to his
success, Mr. Westman has never placed less than
first place among all international competitions
in which he participated; including the George
London Competition (1997), the D’angelo
Competition (1997), the Jeunes Ambassadeurs
Lyrique (1996), and the Licia Albanese-Puccini
Foundation (1999). In June of 1999 he was a
finalist and the audience favorite award at the
Cardiff Singer of the World Competition
Previous season
performances include Marcello in Puccini’s La
Boheme for the New York City Opera and Santa
Fe Opera; Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata
for the English National Opera and St louis Opera
Theatre; Talbot in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda
for the Dallas Opera; Frederic in Delibes’
Lakme for the Opera de Montreal; Escamillio in
Bizet’s Carmen for the Calgary Opera ;
Messiah with the Kitchener Waterloo
Philharmonic Choir; Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with the
Chicago Symphony, Solo Bach Concert for Thirteen
Strings, Ottawa; recording the role of Bonifacio
Gieremei in Donizetti’s
Imelda
de’
Lambertazzi
for
the Opera Rara, England. Mr. Westman shared an
Opera Gala with Denyce Graves at the National Arts
Orchestra in
Ottawa. He performed at Houston
Grand Opera’s 50th anniversary Gala
with Sir Elton John, Bryn Terfel, Frederica Von
Stade, and Renee Fleming, hosted by Sir Roger
Moore.
Upcoming season appearances
include: Marcello in Puccini’s La Boheme for Opera
Pacifac; Renato in Verdi’s Ballo in Maschera;
Belcore in Donizetti’s L’elisir D’amore for Boston
Lyric Opera; Sharpless in Puccini’s Madama
Butterfly for L’Opera de Montreal and Chicago
Lyric Opera; Faure’s Requiem with the Florida
Orchestra; Handel’s Messiah for the Grand
Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra; recording the
title role of Ricci’s Corrado Daltamura for Opera
Rara, and recording English, American, and
Canadian songs on CD for Sony BMG, England with
Stuart Bedford.
James Westman has
studied with such renowned artists as Dame Joan
Sutherland, Richard Bonynge, Renato Capecchi, Paul
Esswood, John F.M. Wood, Carl Duggan, Louis
Marshall, Régine Crespin, Warren Jones, Martin
Katz, Virginia Zeani, Marlena Malas, Theadore
Uppman Diane Forlano, Marilyn Horne and currently
studies with Patricia Kern.
Mr. Westman lives by
the Avon in Stratford, Ontario, Canada with his
partner Nadine (Dini) and their two glorious sons
Liam and Hardy; situated close to the Westman’s
and Marshal’s heritage farms which have been in
his family since the 1700’s!
‘’Westman
is one of Canada's most promising Opera singers,
with a lush, soaring, flexible voice that equips
him to be a Verdi and Puccini baritone and
therefore heir to some of the most coveted roles
in Opera." – Paula Citron,
The Globe and Mail
