
with major cultural institutions such as the National Symphony Orchestra, San
Francisco Symphony, London Classical Players, Théatre Royal de la Monnaie of
Brussels, the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston, and Musica Sacra of New York.
He has received praise for the beauty of his tenor voice, his outstanding
musicianship, and artistry in a wide range of styles from all musical
periods. From 1973-79, he was a resident of Vienna where he was an active
performer of opera, oratorio, recital, and chamber music and was a pupil of
Kmsg. Prof. Hans Hotter. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the
Peabody Conservatory of Music, a Diploma in Lied and Oratorio with
Distinction from the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna,
and Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Louisiana State
University.
Highlights from recent seasons include Handel's Messiah with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Academy of Music, the Handel & Haydn Society in Boston's Symphony Hall, and with Musica Sacra of New York at Carnegie Hall, the Mozart/Handel Messiah with the National Symphony under the direction of Christopher Hogwood at the Kennedy Center, Handel's L'Allegro with the Mark Morris Dance Company at the Théatre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, Purcell's King Arthur with Les Violons du Roy in Québec City and for a CBC production in Montreal, Rossini's Stabat Mater in Manila, Mozart's opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the International Festival of the Arts in Istanbul, Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the New England Bach Festival and with the Shinsei Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, Bach's St. John Passion with the Vancouver Bach Society and the Vancouver Symphony, Mendelssohn's Lobgesang, Mozart Requiem, and Beethoven Missa Solemnis at Washington's National Cathedral, Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Louisville, San Antonio, Charleston, and Waterloo Festival Orchestras, Mozart's opera Idomeneo at the Boston Early Music Festival and with Chicago's City Musick, Mozart's opera Apollo et Hyacinthus at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, Handel's opera Rinaldo at the Kennedy Center, Bach's Christmas Oratorio at the Baldwin-Wallace Bach Festival, Bach's Magnificat with the Bach Choir of London under the direction of Sir David Willcocks at Lincoln Center, Haydn's Creation with the Syracuse and Spokane Symphony Orchestras, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the London Classical Players under the direction of Roger Norrington for a BBC Television production, with the San Francisco Symphony in Davies Hall, and with the Orchestra of St. Luke's in Carnegie Hall, and Bach's Mass in B Minor at the Bethlehem Bach Festival and at the St. Thomas Kirche in Leipzig.
Mr. Urrey
has performed with
many distinguished conductors including Robert
Shaw, Christopher Hogwood, Roger Norrington, Sir David Willcocks, Norman
Scribner, Thomas Dunn, Rudolf Palmer, Craig Smith, Max Pommer, Gerard
Schwarz, Dennis Keene, Jürgen Jürgens, Lawrence Leighton Smith, Helmut
Rilling, Richard Auldon Clark, J. Reilly Lewis, Jahja Ling, Fabio Mechetti,
Richard Westenburg, Blanche Moyse, Greg Funfgeld, Bernard Labadie, and Eduard
Melkus. He has shared with the stage with Thomas Quasthoff, Dawn Upshaw,
Tatiana Troyanos, John Aler, David Arnold, Sena Jurinac, Kurt Equiluz, Sylvia
McNair, Ian Partridge, René Jaobs, Julianne Baird, James Bowman, Lorraine
Hunt, Drew Minter, Marietta Simpson, Sanford Sylvan, and William Sharp.
He has appeared as soloist with leading orchestras and choral societies such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Les Violons du Roy of Québec, the Cathedral Choral Society at the National Cathedral, Orchestra of St. Luke's in New York, the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Syracuse, San Antonio, Louisville, Hartford, Jacksonville, Charleston, New Jersey, the Shinsei Symphony of Tokyo, the Manila Symphony, the Niederösterreichsiches Tonkünstlerorchester of Vienna, the Südbayerisches Symphonieorchester of Munich, the Vestjysk Symfoniorkester of Denmark, the Brewer Chamber Orchestra, Amor Artis Orchestra of New York, and the Ama-Deus Baroque Orchestra of Philadelphia.
Mr. Urrey is an active performer of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach in engagements with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, the Washington Bach Consort, the Oregon Bach Festival, the Bach Choir of London, the Carmel Bach Festival, the New England Bach Festival, the Baldwin-Wallace Bach Festival, the Marlboro Music Festival, Les Violons du Roy of Québec, and the Bach societies of Vienna, Vancouver, Orléans, Helsinki, Louisville, and Kalamazoo.
He has sung leading tenor roles in the operas of Mozart, Haydn, and Donizetti with the Mozartoper Salzburg, the Wiener Kammeroper, the Boston Early Music Festival, the Connecticut Early Music Festival, Chicago's City Musick, Boston's Emmanuel Music, the Istanbul International Festival of the Arts, the Dresden Festival of the Arts, the International Haydn Festival in Austria, and the Music from Bear Valley Festival in California.
Mr. Urrey has served as artist/faculty at the Aston Magna Festival and as performing artist at the Festival der Alten Musik in Innsbruck, Spectaculum Festival of Early Music in Vienna, the International Haydn Festival in Eisenstadt, the Rutgers Summerfest, the International Schütz Festival, the Handel Festival at the Kennedy Center, the Waterloo Music Festival in New Jersey, the Berkshire Choral Festival in Massachusetts, the Wiener Festwochen, the Art of the Early Keyboard Series in New York, the Plymouth Music Series in Minneapolis, Music from Bear Valley, CA, and the Dennis Keene Choral Festival.
During his residence in Vienna, Mr. Urrey performed and recorded as
soloist with the following ensembles: Clemencic Consort, the Eduard Melkus
Ensemble, Musica Instrumentalis, Les Menestrels, Ensemble Contraste, Ensemble
Konrapunkt, Convivium Musicum Vindobonense. In the United States, he has also
performed with the Folger Consort of Washington, DC, Pro Musica Rara of
Baltimore, the Baltimore Consort, Apollo's Banquet Baroque Ensemble, and the
Four Nations Ensemble.
He has performed in broadcasts for the BBC, Swiss Television, and South Korean Networks and in programs for the Österreichischer Rundfunk, the Westdeutscher Rundfunk, the Hessischer Rundfunk, Ostdeutscher Rundfunk, Schweizer Rundfunk, Radio Nationale de France, Spanish Radio, Italian Radio, Swedish Radio, Danish Radio, Norwegian Radio, Polish Radio, Yugoslavian Radio, Radio Holland, Yleisradio Helsinki, National Public Radio, USA, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Mr. Urrey's discography
currently lists 29 titles on the Dorian, RCA/BMG,
Harmonia Mundi, Telefunken-Decca, Newport Classic, Vox Classic, Albany, and
Koch International labels. The repertory on these CDs range from troubadour
songs, the English lute songs of John Dowland, and songs of Stephen Foster,
to the operas and choral works of Bach, Handel, Schubert, Richard Strauss,
Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Lukas Foss. He is featured as tenor soloist on
the acclaimed Dorian recording of Bach's Mass in B Minor with the Bach Choir
of Bethlehem. He has also recorded a number of works composed by contemporary
composers such as Dominick Argento, Ned Rorem, Seymour Barab, and Joelle
Wallach.