Bio
Vale Rideout is celebrated for his “clarion” and “soaring and impassioned” tenor voice (Opera News). Equally comfortable with standard and contemporary repertoire, he is continually in demand on the operatic and concert stage throughout the United States, and as a distinguished recording artist.
In recent seasons, Mr. Rideout has sung Villers in Carlisle Floyd’s Prince of Players and Camille in The Merry Widow with Florentine Opera Company; Hades in the premiere of Julian Wachner’s REV 23 with the Boston New Music Festival; Britten’s War Requiem with Fresno Philharmonic; Carmina Burana with North Carolina Symphony; the U.S. premiere of Ēriks Ešenvalds’ St. Luke Passion with Highland Park Orchestra in Dallas; Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Arcadia Chorale and Wilkes University Chorus, and a Bernstein “Marathon” at the New York Festival of Song.
Mr. Rideout’s work as a Britten specialist has been acclaimed by the New York Times, whose critic wrote that his voice “…has remarkable purity in the high range and is able to maintain a sleek polish across the dynamic range. With his excellent diction and natural, smooth-flowing delivery light on vibrato, he was an ideal match for Britten.” Mr. Rideout has performed Britten’s War Requiem with several leading orchestras, including New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic, both under Lorin Maazel; and the Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings at Trinity Wall Street in New York and with Wisconsin Philharmonic. His recent Britten opera performances include Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw with Boston Lyric Opera and Central City Opera, and Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia with Cal Performances under Lorin Maazel. His work with Britten’s repertoire can be heard on his debut solo recording, Britten & Finzi Song Cycles (Acis).
Mr. Rideout’s operatic roles include Mime in Das Rheingold with North Carolina Opera; the title role in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with the Washington Chorus at the Kennedy Center; Tamino in Die Zauberflöte with Opera Coeur d’Alene and Nashville Opera; Alfred in Die Fledermaus with San Francisco Opera and New Orleans Opera; Alfredo in La traviata with Eugene Opera, Roméo in Roméo et Juliette with Kentucky Opera; the title role of Faust with Opera Tampa; Nadir in Les pêcheurs de perles with Hawaii Opera Theatre; Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Central City Opera; and Edgar in Der Vampyr with American Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Rideout frequently brings his musicianship to contemporary opera, including recent performances as the title role in Stewart Copeland’s The Invention of Morel and the main antagonist in Hannah Lash’s Beowulf in Opera America’s New Opera Showcase; Davey Palmer in Dove’s Siren Song with Hawaii Opera Theatre; Roderick in Glass’ The Fall of the House of Usher with Nashville Opera; Tancredi in Musto’s The Inspector with Wolf Trap Opera; and Stage Manager in Rorem’s Our Town with Central City Opera.
Recent concert engagements include the world premiere of Joseph Vella’s The Hyland Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York; Stravinsky’s Les noces and Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 5 at Trinity Wall Street; Britten’s War Requiem with the Washington Chorus; Mendelssohn’s St. Paul with New York Choral Society at Carnegie Hall, and Berlioz’ La damnation de Faust with Richmond Symphony Orchestra. He has sung Messiah with Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Haydn’s Paukenmesse with Berkshire Choral Festival; and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Symphonica Toscanini in Rome and Brussels, conducted by Lorin Maazel.
Mr. Rideout can be heard on several acclaimed recordings of 20th century and contemporary opera, including two Grammy-winning recordings with Florentine Opera Company: Frank in Aldridge’s Elmer Gantry (Naxos), and Igneo in Davis’ Rio de Sangre (Albany Records); and as Edgar in the company’s Grammy-nominated recording of Floyd’s Wuthering Heights (Reference Recordings). He also sang on the Grammy-nominated recording of Steven Stucky’s August 4th, 1964 under Jaap Van Zweden with Dallas Symphony Orchestra (Dallas DSO Live); Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 under Leonard Slatkin with Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO Live From Orchestra Hall); David Schiff’s Gimpel the Fool, Marvin David Levy’s Masada, and Weill’s The Eternal Road (Naxos); Carmina Burana with New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO Records); The Ballad of Baby Doe with Central City Opera (Newport Classics); and The Inspector with Wolf Trap Opera (Wolf Trap Records).