Donn Everette Graham
Applied Music Studies, Voice - Baritone
Donn Everette (his performing name), a native of
Denver, Colorado, has appeared frequently in leading operatic roles
with opera companies across the U.S.A. and in Europe. For eight
seasons, Mr. Everette was under contract as a leading lyric-Italian
baritone with the German opera companies of Osnabruck, Bremen, and
Duesseldorf's Deutsche Oper Am Rhein. He appeared in leading roles as
guest artist with the opera companies of Frankfurt, Stuttgart,
Nurnberg, Hannover, Dortmund, Bonn, Wiesbaden, Oldenburg, Wurzburg,
Freiburg, Braunschweig, and others. He also performed regularly as a
concert and oratorio soloist as well as in recital in Germany, Austria,
Switzerland, and Belgium. In the U.S.A., Mr. Everette has performed
with the opera companies of Cincinnati, Miami, Indianapolis, Portland,
Santa Fe, Colorado Springs, Utah Festival Opera, Northern Colorado
Opera Festival, and frequently with Kentucky Opera. He also performed
with the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra in performances of The Barber of Seville, Carmen, and Carmina Burana.
Mr. Everette sang 18 roles over 16 seasons with Kentucky Opera and received special critical acclaim for his performances of the roles of Germont in La Traviata, Marcello in La Boheme, Figaro in The Barber of Seville, Ford in Falstaff, Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte, Zurga in The Pearl Fishers, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, and the Vicar in Albert Herring. Mr. Everette's operatic repertoire includes over 40 roles. He has been a frequent soloist with the Louisville Bach Society, Louisville Orchestra, Louisville Chorus, Kentucky Center for the Arts Chamber Players, and the University of Louisville's special concert and recital series.
Donn Everette Graham earned his Bachelor and Master's Degrees from Colorado State University and did post-graduate study in Liedgesang and Opera at the Freiburg Hochschule fuer Musik at the University of Freiburg in Germany under Horst Guenter. During that time, he was chosen by the Karl Schurz Haus Cultural Exchange Agency in Freiburg to do a recital tour of American art songs in five cities in southern Germany. He has taught on the music faculties of Colorado College, Fort Hays Kansas State University, University of Osnabruck in Germany, and, since 1980, the University of Louisville where he is presently Professor of Voice. Mr. Everette has taught, or is teaching, Vocal Literature, Vocal Pedagogy, and Lyric Diction (Italian, French, and German) in addition to Applied Voice at the U of L School of Music. He also served as Director of Opera and was the first recipient of the Moritz Bomhard endowed chair for Director of Opera Theater at the University of Louisville. From 1985-2000, Mr. Everette directed a community lecture series entitled "The Lively Art of Opera" which featured the seasonal opera productions of Kentucky Opera. He is presently in his 31st year of university teaching.
Sound Files (opera highlights):
Falstaff, Ford's Aria Act 2 [5:13]
Pearl Fishers Aria, Act 3 Scene 1 [6:19]
