ANDREW MANEA
BARITONE
BIOGRAPHY
Lauded for his "charming...robust baritone…” rising Romanian American baritone Andrew Manea recently made his role début as the Duke of Nottingham in Roberto Devereux with the San Francisco Opera. These performances “thrust him into the spotlight, solidifying his status as the next leading baritone of his generation…” (OperaWire). Manea recently embarked upon a foray into larger repertoire, with four house débuts last season: Nashville Opera, singing Tonio in Pagliacci; North Carolina Opera as Germont in La Traviata; Sarasota Opera as Escamillo in Carmen; and The Grange Festival in Hampshire, U.K. singing Scarpia in Tosca. He also returned to Maryland Opera for Scarpia, joined the Indianapolis Symphony for Handel’s Messiah, and participated in The Metropolitan Opera’s workshop of Mason Bates’ The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. This season, he returns to the Lyric Opera of Chicago to sing Monterone and cover the title role in Rigoletto, North Carolina Opera to sing Don Carlo in Ernani, and The Metropolitan Opera to cover Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Gardiner in Moby Dick.
Recent highlights include Ernani at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Ford in Falstaff with Palm Beach Opera, while in concert he was seen as a lead soloist for Carmina Burana at Carnegie Hall and for the Bravissimo Bel Canto concert at Maryland Opera. Previously, Andrew débuted with Arizona Opera as Escamillo in Carmen and Opera Omaha as Lorenzo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, performed the role of Montano in Pacific Symphony’s Otello, returned to Palm Beach Opera as Danilo in The Merry Widow, and joined Cleveland Opera Theater for their concert Shakespeare in Cleveland.
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CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"... stunning..." – Palm Beach Daily News
The Merry Widow – “As the baritone Count Danilo, Andrew Manea began with a stunning rendition of 'O Fatherland!' His perfectly balanced voice and towering presence commanded the stage and easily carried over a rich orchestral texture. In addition, Manea has a gift for comedic timing, and his scenes with Dwayne Croft as the Baron Zeta were wonderfully entertaining. Manea also delivered a brilliant performance of the aria 'You'll Find Me at Maxim's.”
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"...ample vibrance of sound and high notes..." – Palm Beach Daily News
Il barbiere di Siviglia, Palm Beach Opera – “The opera’s hit tune, of course, is Figaro’s entrance aria, and Andrew Manea properly took focus from his very first lines: “Largo al factotum.” The Romanian-American baritone has personal presence, enhanced by ample vibrance of sound and high notes — ringing Gs and As — to burn. As Friday’s performance progressed, Manea dominated the action, as he interacted physically and blended vocally with his colleagues on stage…This Figaro was equally adept in his fluid delivery of the opera’s abundant recitatives (speech-like musical dialogue), inventively punctuated by [the] harpsichordist.”
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"...next leading baritone of his generation..." – Opera Wire
Roberto Devereux, San Francisco Opera – “…the role of Nottingham…thrust him into the spotlight and solidify his status as the next leading baritone of his generation…”
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"perfectly balanced voice and towering presence" – Palm Beach Daily News:
The Merry Widow, Palm Beach Opera – "As the baritone Count Danilo, Andrew Manea began with a stunning rendition of 'O Fatherland!' His perfectly balanced voice and towering presence commanded the stage and easily carried over a rich orchestral texture. In addition, Manea has a gift for comedic timing, and his scenes with Dwayne Croft as the Baron Zeta were wonderfully entertaining. Manea also delivered a brilliant performance of the aria 'You'll Find Me at Maxim's.'"
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"a force to be reckoned with" – Seen and Heard International
Tosca, The Grange Festival – "Andrew Manea's Scarpia is a force to be reckoned with; physically not so much an embodiment of twisted evil as a figure of almost Hvorostovsky-like glamour, with more than a hint of Don Giovanni about him as he lounged on his sofa, enjoying Cavaradossi's suffering and Tosca's distress."
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"looks as suave as he sings" – Opera Today
Tosca, The Grange Festival – "Andrew Manea's hirsute, be suited Scarpia looks as suave as he sings, embodying a sly, compelling vision of evile rather than a caricature..."
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"not a conventional booming British baritone, but a rather sophisticated and sinister figure" – The Telegraph
Tosca, The Grange Festival – "Andrew Manea's Scarpia is not a conventional booming British baritone, but a rather sophisticated and sinister figure who knows- until his final moments - that he is in control of the proceedings."