Douglas Webster
Douglas Webster is an International vocal artist performing with symphony orchestras, opera and in solo recital. As an actor, he has appeared on Broadway, National tour and in regional theater. He has received the Portland Drammy Award for Best Actor in a Musical (Les Misérables) and the Phoenix Theatre Encore Award for Best Actor (Les Misérables) and Best Supporting Actor (The Light in the Piazza). He was honored to join the ranks of the Indiana University Singing Hoosier Distinguished Alumni in 2008. Winner of the Joy In Singing and Concert Artists Guild International Awards, his recordings include erudite chamber music interpretations to high-camp Disney tunes. His first recording job was singing Prince Charming on the Grammy-nominated A Disney Spectacular with Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops for Telarc Records. His classical recordings for Koch, New World, Eco Classics, Town Hall, Yamaha, and Zephyr cover the gamut from Schumann’s Dichterliebe and Ravel’s Chansons Madécasses to Paul Schoenfield’s Klezmer Rondos and John Philip Sousa’a El Capitan. His guest soloist appearances include those with The Boston Pops, The National Symphony and others across forty-six of the United States and Europe.
As the Celebrant in Leonard Bernstein’s MASS, he has led over twenty productions, including those at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center; the festivals at Aspen, Cabrillo and Tanglewood; with the symphonies in Dallas, Denver, Portland, Columbus, Eugene; and Internationally in Spain, Lithuania and Latvia. His twenty-five year affiliation with MASS began while he was a graduate student at Indiana University, performing for the composer’s 70th Birthday Gala at the Tanglewood Festival in 1988. He and his hand-picked cast are featured in the Kultur Video release of Bernstein’s MASS at The Vatican.
Douglas is the Director of American Singer International a professional training program for aspiring music theatre and opera performers. As an academic faculty member, he led the opera program for the University of Oregon as interim director, taking their performances to New York for the first time. He has also served on the faculty for the University of Memphis and was Director of Performing Arts for South Park High School in the heart of the Colorado Rockies. He is a popular guest master clinician for private and college music programs across the country. His former students can be found working in opera and musical theater on Broadway, National tour and regional theaters as well as on the faculties of music and theater programs across the United States. He and his wife, cellist Liz Byrd, share their homes in Portland and South Park, Colorado (yes, THAT South Park) with dogs of undetermined origin named, Kabella and Humphrey.
Roles with Loon
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Baritone, Pontius Pilate, Peter in
St. John Passion