Tenor Jason Collins is already beginning to attract the attention of the opera-going public with his robust but beautiful voice and his commanding stage presence
He recently made his debuts with the San Francisco Opera as Froh in Das Rheingold and the Canadian Opera as Comte de Lerme in Don Carlos, and this season makes at his debut with the Michigan Opera Theater in their production of Margaret Garner and appears at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia as The Drum-Major in Wozzeck.
Beaufort residents, however, remember Jason more fondly as the singing waiter at Plum’s restaurant, where only a few short years ago, his aching rendition of “Danny Boy” brought many a patron to tears! And now, for one night only, Jason Collins will bring his world class voice home to the Lowcountry. On Friday, November 28th, the rising opera star will perform a concert Palmetto Bluff.
Jason Collins has come a long way since his table-waiting days. Other recent opera engagements have included his debuts at the Seattle Opera as Steuermann in Der fliegende Hollände, Arizona Opera as Erik in Der fliegende Holländer, the Kentucky Opera as Lenski in Eugene Onegin, and the Austin Lyric Opera as Zinovy in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk; Steuermann, Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw, and productions of La Traviata and Fidelio with the Pittsburgh Opera; Leo in Regina at the Bard Festival; Jove in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria and Schweik in The Good Soldier Schweik at the Chicago Opera Theater (a role which he also sang on the 2003 Cannes Awards nominated world premiere recording for Cedille Records); Malcolm in Macbeth with the Opera Company of Philadelphia; Chevalier de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites and Beppe in Pagliacci with the Glimmerglass Opera; Narraboth in Salome at the Fort Worth Opera; Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress at Centennial Hall; Narraboth with Nashville Opera; and Nerone in L’incoronazione di Poppea, Anatol in Vanessa and Stravinsky’s Les noces at the Curtis Opera Theater.
On the concert platform this season, Mr. Collins made his debuts with the San Diego Symphony in performances of the Beethoven Symphony No 9 and with The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia in performances of Das Lied von der Erde. Mr. Collins most recently sang Das Lied von der Erde with Sir Andrew Davis and the Pittsburgh Symphony. Other past concert appearances have included Narraboth in a concert performance of Salome with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Schubert Tantum Ergo and the Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the Pacific Symphony, Das Paradies und die Per with the American Symphony Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center, the Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the IRIS Chamber Orchestra, the Handel Messiah with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, and concerts at New York’s State Theater and Alice Tully Hall.
Kenneth Herman of San Diego Arts writes, “if this tenor takes care of his instrument, he will soon be writing his ticket at any opera house in the civilized world.”
Jason Collins will perform on Friday, November 28 at 7:30 pm in the River House Ballroom at Palmetto Bluff. Tickets are $50 for the concert alone; $75 for the concert plus a special artist’s reception in the wine cellar. Tickets are limited, so make reservations now. Call (843) 706-6411.
