When bass-baritone Brandon Cedel recently won The George London Foundation Award in February, 2012, The New York Times said: “[he] has a voice that passes the fundamental test: when he sings, you don’t want him to stop. He was beautifully smooth in “Vi ravviso” from Bellini’s “Sonnambula” with an elegant line and persuasive phrasing.”
Brandon Cedel is currently pursuing a master’s degree at The Curtis Institute of Music, where he is a student of Marlena Malas. While at Curtis he has sung many roles with the Curtis Opera Theater, including the Forester in The Cunning Little Vixen, Antony in Barber’s Antony and Cleopatra, Escamillo in Le tragedie de Carmen, Gaudenzio in Rossini’s Il Signor Bruschino, Dr. Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Belcore in L’elisir d’Amore. Outside of the Curtis Opera Theater he has been seen as Colline in La Boheme with the Harrisburg Symphony, and Sciarrone in Tosca with The Opera Company of Philadelphia. He is currently in Santa Barbara singing the title role in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro.
This season he will also appear with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Dutoit. Upcoming engagements include the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Glyndebourne Festival, Castelton Festival and others. He has recently performed with the Harrisburg Symphony, the Opera Orchestra of New York, Music in the Loft, Music Academy of the West, Chautauqua Institution, and given several recitals through Astral Artists, the Juilliard School, Centre International de Formation Musical in Nice, France, the William Walton Estate in Ischia, Italy, and the Southwest Michigan Symphony.
He has taken the operatic world by storm by placing at major international competitions. He was the first place winner of the Gerda Lissner Competition, Giulio Gari Competition, Palm Beach Competition, Sue Goetz Ross Memorial Competition, the Livingston Mather Competition, and the NATS competition. He was second place at the Liederkranz Competition and the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation Competition and the Judge’s award from the Opera Index Competition. He also received awards from the Loren L. Zachary Competition, Mario Lanza Vocal Competition, Letters and Arts Foundation, and the Anna Sosenko Fund.
Website: brandoncedel.com