Jeff Hairston

Performing Artist in Manhattan, New York

Jeff Hairston is a lyric tenor who possesses a voice of extraordinary versatility. Studies:American Boychoir School, Interlochen Arts Academy, Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, and at The Actor’s Conservatory of New York. Excelled in a wide range of repertoire and musical styles: opera, oratorio, concert and recital literature, jazz, rhythm and blues, gospel, and music from Broadway. Classical music repertoire has included performances of Bach’s Cantata 189, Magnificat, Mass in B Minor, and St. Matthew Passion; Handel’s Messiah; Mozart’s Requiem and Great Mass, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Missa Solemnis; and Mahler’s Eighth Symphony. Operatic roles: Loge inWager’s Das Rheingold, Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Sivigilia, Ferrando in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte, Des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon, Edgardo in Donnizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, and The Singer in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier. Musical Theatre credits: Broadway and National touring companies of Hal Prince’s Showboat, and the role of Booker T. Washington in Ragtime, both Tony award-winning shows. Off-Broadway: Promenade Theater, The Actors Studio, and the John Houseman Theater. He has worked with such directors as Francesca Zambello, Arvin Brown, George Faison, and Frank Galati, Susan Stroman, Graciella Danielle, and with artists such as Ray Charles and Carly Simon. Other credits: Iceland Symphony, The American Symphony at Lincoln Center, Long Island Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, Westchester Symphony, Knoxville Symphony, Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland, Fort de France Festival in Martinique, and the Gothenberg Symphony of Sweden. Hairston created the role of “Zoogy” in Carly Simon’s opera Romulus Hunt (commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, Angel/EMI label), with performances at New York’s John Jay Theater, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and with Opera Company of North Carolina. He received critical acclaim in the Chicago Tribune which stated: “. a spectacularly gifted tenor...” Of equal note was the Washington Times review: “…a voice of gold. His every entrance was a source of pleasure." He starred in Ray Leslee’s Standup Shakespeare, at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and The Folger Shakespeare Library of Washington, D.C., resulting in his nomination for the 1996 Helen Hayes Award as Outstanding Lead Actor, Resident Musical. His current perfor