Michael Hix
baritone
Baritone Michael Hix has been praised by critics for his “expressive voice” and “commanding stage presence.” His career highlights include his recent Carengie Hall debut as the baritone soloist in the Rutter Mass of the Children, solo and chamber performances at Tanglewood Music Center, and solo appearances with the Boston Pops in “Bernstein on Broadway.”
Hix is a sought-after performer of concert/orchestral works with over 35 oratorio/cantata/concert roles in his repertoire. Past concert and oratorio solo engagements have included Mendelssohn’s Elijah, J.S. Bach’s Johannes-Passion, B Minor Mass, Magnificat, Weihnachts-Oratorium, Lutherische Messen, and Cantatas #82, #140, #158, #166, Handel’s Messiah, John Eccles’ Hymn to Harmony, Mozart’s Requiem, Dominican Vespers, and Great Mass in c minor, Fauré’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Vaughan Williams’s Hodie and Five Mystical Songs and Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder and Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Hix made his South American debut singing at the XII Concurso y Festival Internacional di Canto Lirico in Peru. Recent European performances include the bass solos in Haydn’s “Lord Nelson” Mass and Heligmesse at the International Haydn Festival in Vienna, Austria and song recitals in Leipzig and Dresden, Germany. Hix has been featured in concerts with the Boston Pops, Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Georgia Symphony, New Mexico Philharmonic, Tucson Chamber Artists, Canticum Novum, Tallahassee Symphony, Highland Park Chorale, Tupelo Symphony, Montgomery Symphony, Brevard Symphony Orchestra, and the Tallahassee Bach Parley.
Included among his over 20 stage roles are Falke in Die Fledermaus, the Drunken Poet in The Fairy Queen, Grosvenor in Patience, Lord Mountararat in Iolanthe, Germont in La traviata, Don Alfonso in Cosí fan tutte, Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress, Melchior in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Scaramba in El Capitan, Noye in Noye’s Fludde, and Bertouf in the world premiere of A Friend of Napoleon by Pulitzer Prize winning composer Robert Ward. Hix has sung with Ohio Light Opera, Amherst Early Music Festival, Opera Birmingham, Ashlawn-Highland Opera, Greenville Light Opera Works, and Opera del Sol.
His 2014-2015 season includes Noye in Britten’s opera Noye’s Fludde in Richland Washington, Brahms’s Requiem in Dallas, a Christmas Pops concert with the Montgomery Symphony, and Bach Cantatas #140 and #32 in Albuquerque.
As a musicologist, Hix recently received the American Musicological Society Thomas Hampson Award. This award, generously donated by the Hampson Foundation, will fund his continued research on the Lieder of Paul Dessau. In addition Hix is a Simonton Literary Prize and DAAD Research Visit grant winner. His research has been published in The Journal of Singing, The Choral Journal, and The American Theater Organ Society Journal. Hix also contributed numerous entries to the Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd edition published by Oxford University Press. His book An American Organist in Paris: The Letters of Orville Lee Erwin 1930-1931 was published by Scarecrow Press in 2012. Hix has presented lecture recitals on Dessau’s Lieder at the national conventions of the American Musicological Society, the College Music Society, and at the Texoma Regional NATS Conference.
Dr. Hix holds a Bachelor of Music degree in music theory from Furman University, Master’s degrees in both voice and historical musicology from Florida State University, and Doctorate of Music in Voice Performance from Florida State University. In 2007, Dr. Hix participated in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Intern Program where he worked under the tutelage of Dr. Stephen King. Hix is an Assistant Professor of Vocal Studies at the University of New Mexico.
