ZACHARY AVERYT

Tenor Zachary Averyt made his operatic debut in 2001 as Kaspar in Amahl and the Night Visitors, and has continued to delight audiences ever since. He appears frequently with some of Houston’s most notable ensembles, and was recently hailed by the Houston Chronicle as a “strong, clear and bright tenor,” praising him for the “warmth and ardor of his singing.”

Averyt’s recent operatic credits have included principal roles in Die Zauberflöte, Cosi fan tutte, La clemenza di Tito, Don Giovanni, I Capuleti e I Montecchi, Anna Bolena, Manon, and The Crucible. His diverse repertoire also includes operas by Handel, Weill, Bellini, Charpentier, Offenbach, Rossini, Puccini, Cimarosa, and Strauss. An avid concert singer, Averyt has explored a range of styles, singing mass settings by Charpentier, Beehoven, Mozart, Schubert, Stravinsky, Howard Goodall, and Robert Ray. Other oratorio credits include Carissimi’s Jephte, Handel’s Susanna and Messiah, Beethoven’s Christ on the Mount of Olives, Haydn’s The Creation, Rachmaninoff’s Vespers and Orff’s Carmina Burana. Other recent highlights include a tour of the Mediterranean with Garrison Keillor and the cast of the hit American radio program A Prairie Home Companion, and world premiers of major works by composers Kyle Kindred and Karim al-Zand.

Some recent engagements have included Benjamin Britten’s Serenades for Tenor and Horn and Les Illuminations, which garnered praise for “the warmth and power of his voice” and “a notable stage presence with solid bearing and intense focus” (BroadwayWorld.com). Such positive reception of his interpretations of Britten has put the composer’s solo and chamber works at the center of Averyt’s extensive repertoire. Solo recital ventures have explored a wide variety of English art song, folk song, and hymnody; the five Canticles of Benjamin Britten; and the intersection of art and poetry within song cycles by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Averyt holds degrees from both the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston, where he is pursuing his Doctorate in vocal performance and pedagogy. He is on the voice faculties of the Moores School of Music and the Vocal Institute at the Texas Music Festival.