CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA (November 16, 2022) — Cedar Rapids Opera is proud to announce the return of the Lift Every Voice: Artist in Residence program to Washington High School. The program runs from November 28-December 9, 2022. Baritone Dorian McCall is a Chicago-based professional opera singer and educator who will serve as Artist in Residence.
Lift Every Voice is designed to support and enrich vocal instruction in high school choir programs by providing private lessons to students onsite within the school day. The mission of LEV is to bridge the access gap that precludes students from studying voice privately because they experience barriers to participation.
McCall returns to Washington High School after a successful visit in April 2022 where he provided lessons to eighteen students. This semester, McCall will again work with eighteen students. Additionally, he will perform a concert for the entire student body, offer Q&A sessions, participate in school-wide announcements, and mentor those in lessons.
Washington High School Choir Director Peter Westphalen says, “We are so happy that Dorian McCall will return to Washington High School again this year. Dorian brings excitement and energy to his music teaching; he has the ability to get students out of their box and try new ideas. He is well-versed in many styles of music and his passion and love for the art is contagious to the students.
“Of the eighteen students that will be studying with Dorian, five studied with him last year.” Lift Every Voice will also visit Jefferson High School in February, 2022.
About the Artist
Dorian McCall, baritone, has been recognized for his magnetic stage personality and emphatic musicality in both buffo and serious roles. Noted for his vibrant and robust timbre, the dexterity of McCall’s instrument also lends itself well to Baroque and Bel Canto. Upcoming engagements include scenes and arias with Pittsburgh Festival Opera in June 2021, Leonidas in a filmed production of Adamo’s Lysistrata to be released Fall 2021, and Sulpice in Donizetti’s Le fille du regiment with Kenosha Opera Festival in August 2021.
2020-2021 season appearances include Masetto in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Zurga in Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles in virtual performances with /kor/ Productions. McCall was also engaged as a cover for Haymarket Opera in their productions of Handel’s Acis and Galatea (Polyphemus) and Apollo e Dafne (Apollo).
Dorian is a 2020 SAS Performing Arts Incentive Grant and 2018 and 2019 MONCA Encouragement Award recipient, 2018 Naftzger Vocal Division winner, 2017 Career Bridges Encouragement Grant Recipient, as well as second alternate Texoma region representative at the 2018 NATSAA competition. He has performed for several seasons with the Chicago Symphony, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Grant Park Music Festival choruses.
McCall received his Bachelor of Music Education from Lamar University where he studied with bass-baritone Dr Serdar Ilban; he has since become certified to teach secondary education in Illinois, Texas, and Oklahoma. McCall also received his Master of Music in Voice and Opera Performance from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied with baritone Kim Josephson. McCall currently studies with mezzo-soprano Victoria Livengood.
The mission of Cedar Rapids Opera is to advance opera as a vital, living American art form and to develop the artists who create it, as well as the audience that appreciates and supports it
