Noah Stewart
From Harlem to the Royal Opera, Singer Looks to Lanza with a Program of Opera, Spiritual and Popular Favorites
"White hot talent“ The Washington Post
June 29, 2012 (New York, NY) On July 3, 2012 Decca Records presents Noah the debut album from American tenor Noah Stewart. Born and raised in Harlem, Stewart was mentored by the great soprano Leontyne Price and the legendary Bill Cosby, the latter having sponsored the young singer during his musical training at Juilliard. The album, Noah, includes renditions of enduringly popular arias - Bach/Gounod's Ave Maria as well as Puccini's Recondita Armoria - but also casts
a wider net with inspirational input from producers and arrangers
Steven Baker and Christian Seitz. The album presents Noah's rich,
resonant voice in the spiritual classics Deep River and Shenandoah, This Land Is Mine and Nearer My God To Thee, the hymn played during the sinking of the Titanic. Exclusive to the American edition is ABBA's I Have a Dream, as well as Noah’s soaring rendition of The Star Spangled Banner, which he memorably sang at
the televised Chicago Bears/Tampa Bay Bucaneers NFL game at Wembly
Stadium. When he was a student at New York’s renowned La Guardia High
School, Noah Stewart gained some experience in the pop music industry
when he sang backup for Mariah Carey at Madison Square Garden and appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman with rapper Coolio. This experience gave Noah a feel for how to tackle the pop standards that appear on this debut album, like Nights In White Satin (Notte di Luce) and Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. There's also a visit to the movies with a stirring new arrangement of the theme from Exodus.
Upon the album’s UK release in April Noah debuted at #1 on the British
Classical Charts (making Noah Stewart the first African American to
reach that milestone). Listeners in the US were captivated by Noah when
he appeared on NPR's Weekend Edition on June 3, and the album jumped straight to #1 on the Amazon Classical Chart the day the piece ran.
It is hard to believe that only a few years ago Noah was a
receptionist at New York’s Carnegie Hall and a clerk at the Metropolitan
Opera Gift Shop, working to pay for his music education. He has since
performed on stage at Carnegie Hall and is building a fine reputation as
a fast-rising operatic tenor, equally accomplished in interpreting such
core roles as Don José in Carmen or Rodolfo in La Bohème or
pioneering new roles in contemporary opera. Noah Stewart was raised in
Harlem by his mother Patricia, a single parent from New Orleans, who
instilled a strong work ethic in her son. It became obvious from an
early age that Noah had an extraordinary voice; while still in junior
high he was chosen to sing for Audrey Hepburn and recorded voice-overs for Sesame Street.
His mother’s self-sacrifice and strong belief in the value of education
led to Noah enrolling in the world-famous LaGuardia High School. Noah’s
mentor, the great soprano Leontyne Price, encouraged Noah to attend The
Juilliard School, where he was awarded a full scholarship. Stewart
participated in the prestigious Adler Fellowship at the San Francisco Opera in 2008, and has since performed with the Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Opera Theater and Michigan Opera Theater.
Noah Stewart knows that there was a time when being an operatic tenor
didn't just mean performing at the opera house, but could encompass all
kinds of popular and traditional songs as well. From Enrico Caruso to
Luciano Pavarotti, history's classic tenors all had the popular touch. "Mario Lanza was a huge idol of mine!"
declares Noah, referring to the tenor who also became a Hollywood movie
star and reached global audiences with a mix of music that included
operatic arias, operetta, Neapolitan songs and popular standards. "Lanza
was really important because he was a legitimate singer who sang songs
but also sang opera. He had tremendous vocal gifts, and he showed that
in all kinds of music it's all about feeling and it's all about
emotion." How appropriate, then, that Noah recently won the Mario
Lanza Competition for Tenors. And Lanza himself would surely have
approved of the breadth of material that Noah has chosen to sing for his
debut album for Decca, not least I'll Walk With God, which Lanza sang in the movie The Student Prince.
For more information about Noah Stewart and the new album, visit www.noahofficial.com and www.facebook.com/noahstewartmusic.
Noah Tracklisting:
1) Cara Mia (Philharmonia Orchestra / Nicholas Dodd)
2) Deep River (Apollo Voices / Philharmonia Orchestra / Nicholas Dodd)
3) Puccini: Recondita armonia (The Vienna Session Orchestra / Johnny Bert)
4) Justin Hayward: Notte di luce, Nights In White Satin (Philharmonia Orchestra / Nicholas Dodd)
5) Youmans: Without A Song (Philharmonia Orchestra / Nicholas Dodd)
6) Leonard Cohen: Hallelujah (The Vienna Session Orchestra / Johnny Bertl)
7) Shenandoah (The City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra / Richard Hein)
8) J.S. Bach / Gounod: Ave Maria (The Vienna Session Orchestra / Johnny Bertl)
9) I Have A Dream (Benny Andersson / Bjorn Ulvaeus)
10) Brodszky: I'll Walk With God, The Student Prince(The Vienna Session Orchestra / Johnny Bertl)
11) Amazing Grace (The City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra / Richard Hein)
12) This Land Is Mine (Ernest Gold / Charles Boone)
13) The Star Spangled Banner (John Stafford Smith / Francis Scott Key)
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