Born in 1954 in Lynn, Massachusetts, baritone James Maddalena is a graduate of the New England Conservatory in Boston. He made his debut with the Boston Pops Orchestra in 1974 and in 1981 began an association with director Peter Sellars, appearing in his productions of operas by Mozart, Haydn, and Handel. Maddalena first gained international recognition in 1987 for his portrayal of Richard Nixon in the Houston Grand Opera premiere of John Adams’s Nixon in China. Maddalena has also created a number of other notable operatic roles, including the Captain in Adams’s The Death of Klinghoffer at the Monnaie in Brussels, 1991; and Hobson in David Carlson’s The Midnight Angel in St. Louis, 1993. An active concert artist, Maddalena sings a concert repertoire ranging from Bach to Hindemith. In 1995 he appeared in the premiere and recording of Elliot Goldenthal’s Vietnam oratorio Fire Water Paper, followed by performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa, at Carnegie Hall, and in Washington at the Kennedy Center.
