In spring of 2022, Cedar Rapids Opera hosted its first-ever Artist in Residence Program in partnership with Cedar Rapids Community School District. Lift Every Voice is designed to support and enrich vocal instruction in high school choir programs by providing onsite lessons by a Cedar Rapids Opera professional teaching artist. This year, we welcomed Dorian McCall, a dynamic Chicago-based baritone and educator, to Washington High School, where he provided two weeks of one-on-one instruction, free of charge, to 18 promising students some of whom experience barriers to access for private singing education.
Private voice lessons are expensive. Between the costs of lessons, sheet music, transportation, and the need to balance a job outside of school hours, many students who show great musical potential never fully develop their talents. Studies also show that these financial and logistical barriers disproportionately affect students of color.
Cedar Rapids Opera is committed to correcting this inequity, and Lift Every Voice is just the beginning of our work to make opera more accessible and celebrate and uplift ALL voices.
Read an article about the program from Grace King at the Gazette HERE.
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About the Artist
Dorian McCall, baritone, has been recognized for his magnetic stage personality and emphatic musicality in both buffo and serious roles. Noted for his vibrant and robust timbre, the dexterity of McCall’s instrument also lends itself well to Baroque and Bel Canto.
Upcoming engagements include a world premier as Leonidas in a filmed production of Adamo’s Lysistrata to be released 2022 as well as a return to Teatro Nuovo as Conte Rodolfo in Bellini’s La sonnambula. Last season, McCall debuted the role of Doctor in the world premiere of Young’s Death of Ivan Ilych with Thompson Street Opera Company. In December 2021, Dorian returned as the bass soloist for Saint Saëns’s Christmas Oratorio with the Advent Lutheran Church of Arlington and the bass soloist for Handel’s Messiah with the First Congregational Baptist Church of Chicago. McCall was also engaged as a cover for Haymarket Opera in their productions of Handel’s Acis and Galatea (Polyphemus) and Apollo e Dafne (Apollo). He has performed for several seasons with the Chicago Symphony, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Grant Park Music Festival choruses.