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discipline = "Tenor"
primary_image = "https://res.cloudinary.com/schmopera/image/upload/v1632749996/media/2021/09/JoshuaBlue_ArielleDoneson_hy0rt3.jpg"
primary_image_credit = "Arielle Doneson"
related_companies = ["scene/companies/the-santa-fe-opera.md", "scene/companies/the-juilliard-school.md", "scene/companies/new-york-festival-of-song.md", "scene/companies/virginia-opera.md", "scene/companies/oberlin-college-and-conservatory.md", "scene/companies/wolf-trap-opera.md", "scene/companies/the-metropolitan-opera.md", "scene/companies/washington-national-opera.md", "scene/companies/opera-philadelphia.md", "scene/companies/opera-theatre-of-st-louis.md"]
slug = "joshua-blue"
title = "Joshua Blue"
website = "http://www.joshuabluetenor.com/"
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platform = "Instagram"
template = "social-media"
url = "https://www.instagram.com/joshuabluetenor/"
[[social_media]]
platform = "Facebook"
template = "social-media"
url = "https://www.facebook.com/joshuabluetenor"

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During the 2021-22 season, British-American tenor Joshua Blue makes multiple role and house debuts including the Metropolitan Opera as Peter in Gershwin’s _Porgy and Bess_ in a revival with the Grammy Award-winning cast of Denyce Graves, Angel Blue, and Eric Owens; Los Angeles Opera singing the Evangelist in Bach’s _St. Matthew Passion_ conducted by James Conlon with members of the Hamburg Ballet choreographed by John Neumeier; Opera Philadelphia as the Duke of Mantua in the Lindy Hume production of _Rigoletto_ led by music director Corrado Rovaris; Virginia Opera as Loge in the Jonathan Dove reduction of _Das Rheingold_ directed by Mary Birnbaum and conducted by Adam Turner; Berkshire Opera Festival as Don Ottavio in _Don Giovanni_ led by Brian Garman; and the tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony #9 at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He also makes returns to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Tamino in _The Magic Flute_ and Carnegie Hall for Handel’s _Messiah_ with Oratorio Society of New York under the baton of Kent Tritle. 

Last season, Mr. Blue sang Rinuccio in _Gianni Schicchi_ with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis directed by Seán Curran and accompanied by members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leonard Slatkin; recorded Jeanine Tesori’s _Blue_ with the Washington National Opera and conductor Roderick Cox; performed a reduction of Handel’s _Messiah_ with the Oratorio Society of New York; took part in a joint virtual event concert by Opera Philadelphia and National Jewish American History Museum in honor of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; sang the premiere of Paul Moravec’s "Caltagirone” from _A Nation of Others_ and a quartet reduction of "Much to be Done” from the 2019 work _STONEWALL_, both works have librettos by Mark Campbell, with the New York Festival of Song; and performed a Holiday Concert of arias and duets with soprano Ashley Marie Robillard for Classical Movement in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. He was scheduled to make a return to Washington National Opera to sing the role of Jaquino in _Fidelio_ conducted by Robert Spano and directed by Francesca Zambello; perform Beethoven’s Symphony #9 at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music; and sing Orff’s _Carmina Burana_ with the Jacksonville Symphony conducted by Courtney Lewis and Eugene Symphony led by Francesco Lecce-Chong before the pandemic forced their cancellation.

In the 2019-20 season, Mr. Blue performed Beethoven’s Symphony #9 accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Thomas Wilkins, for the Opening Festival of _The REACH_ at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Opera engagements featured role a role debut as Tamino in the Maurice Sendak production of Mozart’s _Die Zauberflöte_ with Washington National Opera conducted by Eun Sun Kim and what would have been a role debut as Alfred in a scheduled performance of Johann Strauss’s _Die Fledermaus_ at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Additional performances at Washington National Opera included singing the role of  Philistine Messenger in Saint-Saëns’s _Samson and Delilah_ conducted by John Fiore and a contract to perform Man 1 in the D.C premiere of Jeanine Tesori’s _Blue_ directed by the work’s librettist Tazewell Thompson. Concerts during the season marked a return to Carnegie Hall to join Musica Sacra for Handel’s _Messiah_; his first performances in Stravinsky’s _Pulcinella_ with the Florida Orchestra; and the premiere of a fascinating new program called _Tain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do: Songs from Gay Harlem_ with the New York Festival of Song and pianist Steven Blier. 

Highlights of the 2018-19 season included debuts at the Kennedy Center as Alfredo in Verdi’s _La Traviata_ with Washington National Opera led by Renato Palumbo and the National Symphony Orchestra for Act I of _La bohème_ in concert under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda. He joined Wolf Trap Opera to sing the role of Harlekin in Ullmann’s _Der Kaiser von Atlantis_ conducted by Geoffrey McDonald and traveled to Japan to cover the role of Monsieur Triquet in Tchaikovsky’s _Eugene Onegin_ conducted by Fabio Luisi and directed by Peter McClintock at the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival. Mr. Blue was tenor soloist in Verdi’s _Requiem_ with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall and the Cleveland Chamber Orchestra under conductor James Gaffigan. He also sang the American premiere of the rarely heard Franz Liszt opera Sardanapalo at the Library of Congress. Additional roles with Washington National Opera included Monsieur Triquet in _Eugene Onegin_; Hippo/Holy man/Dog/Water Seller in Tesori’s _The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me_; and David in Benavides’s Pepito as part of the American Opera Initiative Festival.

Mr. Blue’s previous seasons have included performances in Moravec’s Sanctuary Road at Merkin Concert Hall with New York Festival of Song for which the recording was nominated for a 2021 Grammy Award; the American premiere of Philip Glass’s _The Trial_ at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; and singing the roles of Scaramuccio in _Ariadne auf Naxos_ with Austin Opera and Nemorino in _L’elisir d’amore_ with the Music Academy of the West. 

In 2020, Mr. Blue was the inaugural recipient of the Lotos Foundation’s James McCracken and Sandra Warfield Opera Prize. He was a semi-finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2018; received the Ellen Lopin Blair award for 1st place in the 2017 Oratorio Society of New York solo competition; and was noted as an Emerging Artist in the 2017 Opera Index Competition in New York City.

Mr. Blue earned his bachelor’s degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and graduated from The Juilliard School with a master’s degree, studying voice with Dr. Robert C. White, Jr. In 2018, Mr. Blue was an Apprentice Singer with Santa Fe Opera and is an alumnus of the Cafritz Young Artist program with the Washington National Opera.