"I don't think I have ever had such a surprise before in
my life - it was totally out of the blue! I don't know if there
is a single word to describe how I feel. I'm just thrilled to be thought
of in such a way."
Norman Shankle hails from Winchester, Virginia USA, and graduated from
Shenandoah University. His other awards include a 1999 Richard Tucker
Career Grant, and the 1998 McAllister Award.
His formative years as a singer were connected with the San Francisco
Opera. His first associations with the Company occurred in 1996 and
1997, when he was a member of the Merola Opera Program and additionally
participated in two national tours with Western Opera Theater. In 1998
and 1999 he became an SFO Adler Fellow, during which time he performed
Pylade in Iphigénie en Tauride, Ferrando in Così
fan tutte and gave a recital as part of the Schwabacher Debut series.
He made his official company debut as Valletto in L'incoronazione
di Poppea in the summer of 1998 and subsequently appeared in Tristan
und Isolde, Don Carlo, and Betrothal in a Monastery during the
1998/99 season, and Louise, Lucia di Lammermoor, Idomeneo and Don
Giovanni in the 1999/2000 season.
Norman has also appeared in Luisa Miller with Washington Opera, and
Roméo et Juliette with Washington Concert Opera. In
2000, he made his European debut as Count Almavia in Il Barbiere
di Siviglia for WNO. In 2001, Norman made his debut with Staatstheater
Stuttgart as Tito in La Clemenza di Tito. He has since joined
the company as principal tenor, where his roles have included Don Ottavio
(Don Giovanni), the Italian Tenor (Der Rosenkavalier),
Count Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Belfiore (La
finta giardiniera), Telemaco(Il ritorno d’Ulisse)
and Guidobald Usodimase (Die Gezeichneten).
Concert engagements have included Carlo in Rossini’s Armida
at the Edinburgh International Festival, Handel's Saul conducted
by René Jacobs at Brussels' Palais des Beaux Arts, Messiah
with the Paul Hill Chorale, Britten's War Requiem with
the San Francisco Choral Society, as well as appearances with the Essen
Philharmonic, Choral Arts Society of Washington, and New Century Chamber
Orchestra.
Other recent engagements have included Laios in Enescu's Oedipe
at the Edinburgh International Festival and Tito in La clemenza di
Tito with the Münchener Kammerorchester. Performances during
the 2003/4 season include Belfiore in La Finta Giardinera,
Giovanni in Cosa Rara, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni
and Belmonte Die Entführung aus dem Serail for Staatstheater
Stuttgart.
