Cynthia Clayton
soprano
Hector Vásquez
baritone
soprano
Cynthia Clayton
American soprano Cynthia Clayton is an audience favorite in opera houses throughout the United States and overseas for her critically acclaimed performances of roles including Puccini heroines Tosca, Manon Lescaut, Mimi, Musetta, Liù, and Madama Butterfly; Mozart heroines Donna Anna, Donna Elvira, Pamina, Countess Almaviva, and Fiordiligi; and numerous others, such as Desdemona in Verdi's Otello, Leonora in Il trovatore, Nedda in Pagliacci, Violetta in La traviata, Micaela in Carmen, Marguerite in Faust, Janáček’s Jenůfa, Floyd's Susannah, and Catán’s Florencia (Florencia en el Amazonas). She has bowed in leading roles at New York City Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, San Diego Opera, Utah Opera, Opera Colorado, Cleveland Opera, Arizona Opera, Opéra en Plein Air (Belgium), Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Opera Grand Rapids, among many others, and has collaborated with many American symphony orchestras in classical concert and oratorio repertoire. In 2017, she producted Encantamiento: the music of Daniel Catán, available on Albany Records. She has been a member of the faculty at the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston since 2005, and has earned the rank of Professor.
Baritone
Hector Vásquez
Baritone Héctor Vásquez has appeared with opera companies and orchestras including, The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Utah Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Colorado, Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and the Ojai Festival. He has multiple world premieres to his credit, and has been featured on numerous commercial audio and video recordings. In demand as an adjudicator and panelist, Mr. Vásquez has been a judge or panelist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Classical Singer Competition, and Opera America, among others. Mr. Vásquez is a member of the faculty of the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston, as well as the Houston Grand Opera Bauer Family High School Voice Studio.
Press Reviews
“Soprano Cynthia Clayton was a graceful, fragile Desdemona. She projected well, had no trouble with the high-lying reaches of the role and sounded fresh throughout. Her “Willow” song was one of the production’s high points.”
“In the title role, Cynthia Clayton gave a performance of heart-breaking tenderness and vitality, using her full-bodied soprano to depict Susannah’s harrowing downfall at the hands of mass righteousness. The melodic phrases of her famous Act 1 aria, “Ain’t it a pretty night,” arched dreamily with the joy of being alive, while the mournful ballad of Act 2… drew a devastating emotional contrast... As the lust-ridden preacher Olin Blitch, baritone Hector Vásquez gave the most dynamic performance I’ve heard from him in years — energetic, forceful, rich in vocal color and tinged with just enough spiritual nuance to keep Blitch from being a complete caricature villain.”
“Soprano Cynthia Clayton scored another Utah Opera success Saturday with her performance as Florencia Grimaldi, a beloved but enigmatic opera superstar who harbors a secret hope of being reunited with a long-lost lover when she returns to her homeland to sing. Clayton struck the right vocal and dramatic balance of dignity, self-possession and vulnerability....Baritone Hector Vásquez provided a firm anchor in reality as the Capitan, Riolobo’s counterpart in the tangible realm.”
“The star of the show is Hector Vásquez’s Forester, his baritone finely focused and flexible and carrying well out into the Brown Theater.”
