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| | Blake Rockwell | | tenore |    
| On June 28th 1992, an Associated Press wire story from Milan flashed news around the world of «a triumphant debut at La Scala» for tenor Rockwell Blake. Singing the role of King James V of Scotland in a new production of Rossini's La Donna del lago, Blake, internationally acclaimed as «the number one Rossini tenor of today» in the AP report «scored a warm personal success» and «received a standing ovation from the sellout audience». His La Scala debut climaxed a year in which he had starred in Rossini celebrations worldwide. It also paved the way for his being knighted, two years later, by Italy's President, with the rank of "Cavaliere Ufficiale" in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic for his outstanding services to Italian music. |
| Most recently Catherine Tasca, Francels Minister of Culture, announced the appointment of Rockwell Blake as an "Officer" in the Order of Arts and Letters of the French Republic. The appointment honours Mr. Blake's outstanding contribution "to culture in France and in the world". Over the past 25 years he has been acclaimed for performances with most of the opera companies of France, including the Opéra de Paris and the Opéra Comique, the opera companies of Marseilles, Nice, Lyon, Toulouse, Aix-en-Provence, Montpellier, Bordeaux and Strasbourg. He is also credited with having revived a long-neglected repertoire of early French operas, composed for a kind of tenor voice which rarely exists today and which he has notably demonstrated in recordings for the EMI label. His first recording with EMI , Airs d'opéras français with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, won the prestigious Diapason d'or de l'Année, distinguishing it as the best operatic release for the year 1994. His recording of Boieldieu's La Dame Blanche, won the distinction as the Best French classical recording of 1997 by Les Victoire de la Musique. Other record awards include that the "Grand Prix du Disque" of the Academie Charles Cros", the "Grand Prix du Palmares des Palmares", Frances two top awards in the recording field. With his extraordinary vocal technique and a two-and-one-half octave vocal range, tenor Rockwell Blake continue to lead the revival of rarely heard operatic masterpieces by Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini. He has sung the leading role in 35 operas from this highly specialised repertoire, including such little-known works as Mitridate, Re di Ponto, L'Infedeltà delusa, Il furioso all'isola di San Domingo, Il pirata, Il crociato in Egitto and Robert le Diable. As the number one exponent of Rossini's tenor roles, he carries eighteen operas, 9 concert works and numerous songs, by that composer, in his repertoire. In recent seasons, he also performed in the main roles of La clemenza di Tito in Tenerife, La Cenerentola (Arena di Verona, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Opéra Bastille de Paris), Le comte Ory (Opéra Comique de Paris and Teatro Regio di Torino), Il barbiere di Siviglia (Teatro la Fenice di Venezia, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Tenerife, Teatro Regio di Torino, Lyric Opera of Chicago), La fille du Régiment (Teatro Massimo di Palermo, Madrid, Opéra de Marseille, Hamburg), Semiramide (Opéra de Marseille), Semele (Santa Fe Festival, New Mexico), Orfeo ed Euridice and Lakmé (Bordeaux), Alcina (Chicago) and Figliuol prodigo (Pittsburg), Le nozze di Teti e Peleo at the Rossini Opera Festival di Pesaro. He just debuted in Marin Faliero at the Teatro Regio di Parma and in the role of Dorvil in La scala di seta at the Teatro La Fenice di Venezia. |
| In the 2002/3 season he will make his debut at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège and at the Théâtre Municipal d'Avignon with La donna del lago (Rodrigo di Dhu). |
| Rockwell Blake made his musical studies in Plattsburgh, New York, the city where he was born. As the first winner of the prestigious Richard Tucker and George London awards, he was immediately invited by George London to make his debut as Lindoro in L'italiana in Algeri, a production which opened the 1976/7 season at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Five years later, he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in the same role at the side of Marilyn Horne. Other Met roles have included Lord Arthur Talbot in I Puritani, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni and the Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia. It was as Almaviva that the Met restored especially for him the daunting eight -minute tenor aria of the last act, "Cessa di piu resistere", written by Rossini for the legendary Manuel Garcia, but, due to its extreme difficulty, usually absent from productions since the opera's 1816 world première. |
| He has appeared at the major opera houses, in recital and in concert with major orchestra across North and South America, Israel, Japan and Europe, performing regularly at the Metropolitan Opera, the San Francisco Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, La Scala, Vienna State Opera, the Grande Theatre de Genève, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the opera houses of Rome, Turin, Parma and Naples, Brussels, La Monnaie, the Liceu in Barcelona, Madrid, Zurich, Hamburg, Munich and Lisbon. Since 1983 he has been a regular guest of the Rossini Festival of Pesaro. |
| Other recordings by Rockwell Blake include Arabesque's The Rossini Tenor, on which he is heard in a handful of never-previously-recorded Rossini arias with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Ambrosian Choir under John McCarthy; The Mozart Tenor, offering a collection of unusual Mozart opera and concert arias with the London Symphony under Nicholas McGegan; Encore Rossini, another recording of Rossini rarities with the London Symphony and Ambrosian Choir under Maximiano Valdes and Rossini Melodies (EMI) with Maestro Antonio Pappano at the piano. |
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