Bio
A highly energetic, vibrant, and extremely versatile singer and actor, tenor Joseph Gaines has been described as “such an exuberant performer you couldn’t help but smile” (The Minneapolis Star-Tribune). He created the role of Dan Leno in Opera Philadelphia’s world premiere of Elizabeth Cree by the Pulitzer Prize-winning duo of Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell; Opera News wrote that the role “offered a field day to light tenor Joseph Gaines, who met the challenge with vocal skill and superb physicality.” Gaines has been a soloist with The Metropolitan Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Utah Opera, Opera Colorado, Central City Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, and many others. As a concert soloist, he has been featured with The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Detroit Symphony, The Charlotte Symphony, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and many period and chamber ensembles as well. Solo appearances this season include Messiah with the Longmont Symphony, La púrpura de la rosa with Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, and also as Freddie Mercury in a Queen tribute concert with the Larimer Chorale. Gaines studied singing at both the University of Houston and the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Leipzig.