 In 2011, Baritone David Pershall performed and recorded Don Pedro in Donizetti’s Maria Padilla with the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra and acclaimed Soprano Nelly Miricioiu as part of the annual Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw. He also performed Robert Baker in Bernstein’s Wonderful Town with the Giuseppe Verdi Orchestra di Milano. David’s upcoming performances for the 20011-2012 season include Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with the Opera Theater of Connecticut, the title role of Grigory Smirnov in William Walton’s The Bear at Carnegie Hall, the Baritone Soloist in Vaughn Williams’ Sea Symphony with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, the Baritone Soloist in Carmina Burana with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and a return to the Beethoven Easter Festival to record and perform Manfredo in L’amore dei tre re with the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
David has won many prestigious vocal competitions including First Prize in the Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition, the Connecticut Opera Guild Competition, the Hugo Kauder Competition for Voice, the Presser Music Foundation Award, and the Thomas Stewart Award for Vocal Excellence. His other awards include prizes in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the George London Foundation, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, the David L. Kasdon Memorial Prize for the Outstanding Singer in the Yale School of Music, and an Artist Grant Award from the National Bel Canto Vocal Competition.
David is a graduate of the Yale Opera Program where he recently performed the title role of Don Giovanni, Escamillo in La Tragédie de Carmen, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, Grigory Smirnov in The Bear, and Papageno in Die Zauberflöte. In addition to his operatic performances he presented recitals of Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Brahms’ Die Schöne Magelone, and was the Baritone Sololist in the East Coast Premier of Aaron Jay Kernis’ Symphony of Meditations.
David was featured in two Swiss TV broadcast concerts with tenor Francisco Araiza entitled “Classic Night” in Zurich, Switzerland. He was a guest of Lady Walton’s at La Mortella in Ischia, Italy, where he revived his interpretation of Grigory Smirnov in The Bear. David was a participant in San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program where he performed Dr. Malatesta in Act 2 of Don Pasquale for the Schwabacher Summer Concert, Zurga in scenes from Les Pêcheurs de Perles, and Falke in scenes from Die Fledermaus for the Grand Finale Concert. David has also covered and performed Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor for Virginia Opera as a part of their Spectrum Resident Artist program.
Throughout his studies David has appeared in Master Classes with artists such as Hartmut Höll, Thomas Hampson, Alan Held, Francesca Zambello, Christopher Alden, Carol Vaness, Evelyn Lear, Vinson Cole, Martin Katz, and Jane Eaglen.
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