The Hastings College Artist Lecture Series (ALS) and Department of Music are co-sponsoring the visit of renowned Canadian tenor Dr. Blaine Hendsbee, associate professor at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta. Hendsbee will conduct a master class and work with Hastings College voice students from 3-5 p. m., Tuesday Nov. 9, and he will present an art song recital with Hastings College Professor of Music Dr. Jonathan Sokasits at 3 p. m., Sunday Nov. 14 in Perkins Auditorium.
Both events will be held in Perkins Auditorium and are free and open to the public.

Dr. Blaine Hendsbee, tenor, has sung with virtually every opera company in Canada and has a repertoire of more than sixty roles, which span the entire operatic repertoire. He is as much sought after as an interpreter of twentieth-century operas as he is for his sharply etched portrayals of the great character tenor roles in the standard operatic literature.

His American operatic debut came as Little Bat in Susannah (Floyd) for Berkshire Opera, and was quickly followed by memorable performances as the Witch in Hansel and Gretel (Humperdinck) at New York City's Lincoln Center, in Amahl and the Night Visitors (Menotti) at Avery Fischer Hall, Turandot (Puccini) with Cincinnati Opera, The Rape of Lucretia (Britten) for Skylight Opera in Milwaukee, Die Bürgschaft (Kurt Weill) in Pittsburgh and several New York City premieres with The Center for Contemporary Opera (The Postman Always Rings Twice, Markheim, The Bald Soprano, Transformations).

Selected Canadian operatic performances include The Coronation of Poppea and The Marriage of Figaro with the Canadian Opera Company (Toronto), the title role in The Tales of Hoffmann (Offenbach), the world premier of Erewhon (Applebaum) and Stravinky’s The Rake’s Progress for Pacific Opera Victoria, The Magic Flute (Mozart) at the National Arts Centre, The Emperor of Atlantis (Ullmann) throughout Eastern Canada, Elektra, Peter Grimes, Fledermaus, and Poulenc’s Les Dialogues des Carmelites for Vancouver Opera. Dr. Hendsbee has been heard in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly with the opera companies of Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Victoria and Ottawa.

Dr. Hendsbee's video credits include The Making of Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio (BRAVO), a film version of Bach's Coffee Cantata entitled More Than a Thousand Kisses (Prometheus Productions), and a new media video production of The Bald Soprano (PBS). His performances are often heard frequently on CBC's Saturday Afternoon at the Opera. He is also a regular guest soloist with symphony orchestras from coast to coast, with major roles of his oratorio repertoire including the tenor solos in Handel's Messiah, Mozart's Requiem, Bach's Evangelists’ in the St. John and St. Matthew Passions, Haydn's The Creation and The Seasons, and the Carmina Burana (Orff).

Hendsbee also enjoys exploring the vast amount of art song repertoire ideally tailored to his lyric tenor voice, keen musicianship, and expressive performance style, and he is heard regularly in Art Song Recitals throughout Canada and the United States. A special area of art song concentration is the music composed for “British Tenors” with a strong emphasis on the music of Benjamin Britten. Dr. Hendsbee’s thesis topic was “The Britten-Purcell Realisations: Connecting the Past to the Present through the Voice of Peter Pears.”

Dr. Hendsbee is a tenured faculty member (Associate Professor) and Head of Voice Area and Director of Opera Workshop at the University of Lethbridge located in southern Alberta. Recent university opera directing and conducting credits include: The Magic Flute, Dido and Aeneas, The Dialogues of the Carmelites, Fledermaus, HMS Pinafore, Into the Woods, The Mikado, The Old Maid and the Thief and The Beggar’s Opera.
Hastings College, founded in 1882, is a private, four-year liberal arts institution affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). A total of 64 majors in 32 areas of study and 12 pre-professional programs are offered to more than 1,190 students. Hastings College was named among “America’s Best National Liberal Arts Colleges” by U.S. News & World Report, a “Best in the Midwest” by The Princeton Review, and a “Best Buy in College Education” by Barron’s. Visit www.hastings.edu for more information.

For more information, contact Dr. Jonathan Sokasits at (402) 461-7359.