The American bass baritone Kevin Deas, a graduate of The Juilliard School in New York, has received international acclaim for his portrayal of Gershwin’s Porgy in concert performances of Porgy and Bess with the Philadelphia and Montreal symphony orchestras, at the Saratoga Festival, and—all with Bobby McFerrin conducting—at the Ravinia Festival, with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the Utah Symphony, the National Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, and the Israel Philharmonic orchestras. Some of Deas’s other notable appearances include Mozart’s Requiem with the Atlanta Symphony; Siegmeister’s A Tooth for Paul Revere with the Bronx Arts Ensemble; Dave Brubeck’s Gates of Justice, at Carnegie Hall; and Brubeck’s mass To Hope!, in Moscow. In 1992, he made his debut with the Chicago Symphony in a concert version of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, by Anthony Davis. Deas has also toured the United States and Europe as the lead vocalist with Riverdance and has appeared at the Spoleto Festival (Italy) in a new production of Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors in honor of the composer’s eighty-fifth birthday. Deas has sung in concert performances and for the recording of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger with the Chicago Symphony under the late Sir Georg Solti, and he has recorded Varèse’s Ecuatorial with the ASKO Ensemble under Riccardo Chailly, as well as Dave Brubeck’s To Hope! with the Cathedral Choral Society. Deas is currently on the faculty of Princeton University.
