Randall Umstead – Tenor

Randall Umstead, tenor, holds the Doctor of Musical Arts and the Master of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, both in voice, where he was as a student of Barbara Honn. He also holds the Bachelor of Music degree in voice from Oklahoma Baptist University.

Dr. Umstead has performed widely in both operatic roles and in concert music. He has performed the title role in Britten’s Albert Herring, the Doctor in Dominick Argento’s The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe, the Lecturer in Argento’s one-man monodrama A Water Bird Talk, as well as Lurcanio in Handel’s Ariodante. In 2001, he was named a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he performed the tenor roles in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges under the baton of Robert Spano. In 2006, he returned to Tanglewood to appear as the title character in Stravinsky’s Mavra, under the direction of James Levine. Opera News praised this performance, calling him, “impressive as the soldier/Mavra, with exemplary diction and a strong, bright sound.” The Hartford Courant said of this performance, “Lyric tenor Randall Umstead, playing the charismatic Vasily…stole the show. His voice has colors beyond his age, and acting enhanced his fit with this character.”

In recent performance, Dr. Umstead sang the role of the Evangelist in Bach’s St. John Passion and St. Matthew Passion with the Bach Society of Houston. In 2007, Dr. Umstead appeared with bass-baritone Simon Estes, soprano Bronwen Forbay, and the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra as a soloist in Haydn’s Creation at the National Arts Festival of South Africa, the largest arts festival on the continent. Dr. Umstead has an extensive concert repertoire, including Carissimi’s Jepthe, Handel’s Messiahand Dixit Dominus, Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine, Mozart’s Mass in C minor and Requiem, Haydn’s Missa in tempora belli, Rossini’s Stabat Mater and Vaughan Williams’ The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains. He has performed with the Cincinnati Baroque Orchestra, CCM Philharmonia, Catacoustic Consort, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, the Kwazulu-Natal (South Africa) Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Bach Society of Dayton. In 2001, he was selected to participate in Tanglewood’s Bach Institute under the direction of Craig Smith.

Dr. Umstead was as a quarterfinalist in the 2010 International Vocal Competition ‘s-Hertogenbosch, a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions, and in 2008 was a finalist in the American Bach Society’s 5th Biennial Vocal Competition.

Dr. Umstead currently serves as an Associate Professor of Music and is Chair of the Division of Vocal Studies at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.