Paul Austin Kelly
Artist Reviews
"Paul Austin Kelly, was a spectacular soloist in Britten's 'Les Illuminations' where his operatic pedigree was perfect for the often flamboyant French text."
"Tenor Paul Austin Kelly's program of rarely recorded material by Britten and Quilter demonstrates his sensitivity to word and music."
“Paul Austin Kelly deals expertly with an extremely high tenor role. Opera Holland Park is lucky to have him.;"
Paul Austin Kelly's bel canto experience shows in an incisively sung account of Amina's lover Elvino…"
“Kelly is a bel canto specialist, heard in Dublin last year in Opera Ireland's La Cenerentola. He brought the same unmannered clarity and subtle, intelligent expressiveness to Schumann as he did then to Rossini's prince. There is an appealing tenderness in his voice, from the firm, baritone-like richness of his lower register to his easy, unfussy quality at the top."
“Kelly had a princely generosity of manner, easy high notes, and a never failing musicality which made his presence a pleasure from beginning to end. It's been a long time since Opera Ireland fielded a tenor of such style and class."
“Paul Austin Kelly's Almaviva somehow manages to keep his head while all around him are losing theirs, his elegant singing deliciously at odds with his cheap gigolo suit.”
Biography
A native of upstate New York, Irish-American tenor Paul Austin Kelly has sung the most demanding bel canto roles at major opera houses around the world. In a repertoire including Elvino La sonnambula, Ernesto Don Pasquale, Tonio La fille du Régiment, Gennaro Lucrezia Borgia, Orlando Paladino, Ferrando Così fan tutte, Don Ottavio Don Giovanni, Alessandro Il Re Pastore, Tamino Die Zauberflöte, Ubaldo Armida, Le Comte Ory, Oreste Ermione, Lindoro L’Italiana in Algeri, Rodrigo Otello, Narciso Il turco in Italia, Ilo Zelmira and Alfredo La traviata, he has performed for the Royal Opera, (London), Welsh National Opera, Bavarian State Opera (Munich), La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera of New York, New York City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, New Israeli Opera, Opera Holland Park, the Opéra de Monte Carlo, the Opéra de Nice, the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, the Teatro Communale of Bologna, Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris, and the Rome Opera. He has also appeared at the Edinburgh, Glyndebourne and Pesaro Festivals.
His recordings include La romanzesca, Zoraida di Granata, L’Esule di Granata, Rossini – Three Tenors, Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon and Notturno – Music for the night (Opera Rara), Der Stein der Weisen (Telarc), two volumes of Rossini Cantatas conducted by Riccardo Chailly (Decca), and 20th Century English Art Songs (GM Recordings). Available on DVD are his performances as Tonio La fille du Régiment and in Glyndbourne Festival Opera’s Ermione by Rossini. Paul Austin Kelly is also the founder and producer of children’s music label Walking Oliver, and has recorded songs from The Great American Songbook, The Song is You.
On the concert stage, his repertoire includes Handel oratorios Messiah, Samson, and Judas Maccabeus among others, Mozart’s Requiem, Solemn Vespers, Nelson and Coronation Masses, numerous Haydn works, including Creation, and The Seasons, and, Verdi’s Requiem, Bach’s St Matthew and St John Passions, and Benjamin Britten St Nicholas, to name but a few. He has appeared on Friday Night is Music Night for BBC Radio 2, sung the Christmas Oratorio at Carnegie Hall, New York,Beethoven Choral Symphony for the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Missa Solemnis for the Choral Arts Society of Washington, Les Illuminations for the Ten Tors Orchestra, Maometto Secondo with the Radio Kamer Filharmonie at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Beethoven Choral Symphony for the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, The Creation at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, a recital at the Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin, and a New Year’s Eve Gala with the RTÉ National Symphony. Over recent years, he has performed across the UK with choral societies in Oxford, Tonbridge, East Riding, Eastbourne, Newbury, Christchurch, and in Cadogan Hall, London.
An accomplished recitalist, he has performed Janacek’s Diary of One Who Disappeared at the Lewes Festival of Song, and gave several solo recitals with the late pianist Martin Isepp. He is a frequent concert partner with Felicity Lott, performing with the Corelli Ensemble in Lewes and Seaford. Paul also toured as special guest artist with Lesley Garrett.
Paul’s compositions for trumpet are published by Forton Music. He maintains both singing and trumpet teaching studios at his home in Lewes, and at several independent schools.
For Oratorio and Concert repertoire please scroll down:
| Oratorio and concert rep | |
| Composer | Work |
| Bach J.S. | B minor mass |
| Christmas Oratorio | |
| Magnificat | |
| St John Passion | |
| St Matthew Passion | |
| Beethoven | Missa Solemnis |
| Symphony No 9 | |
| Britten | Les Illuminations |
| Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings | |
| St. Nicholas | |
| War Requiem | |
| Bruckner | Te Deum |
| Coleridge-Taylor | Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast |
| Elgar | Dream of Gerontius |
| Goodall | Eternal Light |
| Handel | Alexander’s Feast |
| Judas Maccabeus | |
| Messiah | |
| Ode on St. Cecilia | |
| Samson | |
| Saul | |
| Haydn | Creation |
| Lord Nelson Mass | |
| Mass in the Time of War (Paukenmesse) | |
| Janacek | Our Father |
| Jenkins | Armed Man |
| Mendelssohn | Lobgesang (Hymn of Praise) |
| Elijah | |
| Mozart | Coronation Mass |
| Mass in C Minor | |
| Requiem | |
| Solemn Vespers | |
| Orff | Carmina Burana |
| Puccini | Messa di Gloria |
| Rachmaninoff | The Bells |
| Rimsky-Korsakov | Mozart & Salieri |
| Rossini | Petite Messe |
| Stabat Mater | |
| Schubert | Mass |
| Verdi | Requiem |
| Webber | Requiem |