Richard Troxell’s beautiful lyric tenor voice has been thrilling audiences in leading roles in opera houses and on concert stages around the world for over 25 years. Richard’s career has ranged from the starring role of Pinkerton in Martin Scorcese’s Sony Film of “Madama Butterfly” to being a recurring guest on Jimmy Fallon’s Late Night, to climbing out of the sewers of Seville as Don Jose at the Sydney Opera House in Carmen, to singing the National Anthem for MLB’s ALCS to sharing the stage with Opera star’s Denyce Graves and Roberto Alagana to costarring on Broadway with the beloved Broadway soprano, Melissa Errico, to singing the role of the dwarf in Zemlinksy’s “Der Zwerg” at Avery Fisher Hall to directing “Eugene Onegin” at the Academy of Vocal Arts.
An extremely versatile singer, Richard runs the gamut of musical genres from his recordings of Jazz, Broadway and Opera to performing at Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Opera. He has worked with Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Placido Domingo, James Conlon, Lorin Maazel, , Georges Pretre, Bertrand de Billy, Emmanuel Villaume, Michel Plasson, Joel Levy, Erich Kunzel, Keith Roberts, , Jeff Tyzik, Anton Coppola, Steven Mercurio, Quest Love and the Roots and the list goes on….
Mr. Troxell’s star turn as Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton in the award winning Sony film Madame Butterfly, presented by Martin Scorcese, received high praise following its premiere in Paris and the U.S. in 1996. Film critics Siskel and Ebert gave him “two thumbs up” and said of Richard’s performance ”His voice is splendid and his manner assured.” The New York Times deemed his performance “the most dramatically satisfying vocal characterization” in the film. His Pinkerton is one of the most viewed performances of this role.
Richard’s continued success in film is evidenced in two other DVDs. First on the EMI label, Marta Domingo’s production of La Rondine from the Washington Opera which was later broadcast on the PBS series Great Performances and secondly with Deutsche Grammophon label Franco Alfano’s opera Cyrano de Bergerac in which he portrays the handsome officer Christian opposite the Cyrano of Roberto Alagna.
In 2015-16 Richard made his Metropolitan Opera debut in Michael Mayer’s production of Rigoletto followed just 5 months later by his Broadway Debut in the New York City Center’s Tony Award “Encores” Series in Rodgers’ and Sondheim’s Do I Hear a Waltz alongside Broadway Star, Melissa Errico. His performance of Pablo Neruda in Daniel Catan’s Il Postino with Opera Saratoga was his debut into the world of Spanish Opera.
Equally at home on the concert stage, Mr. Troxell has been seen with the San Francisco Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Saint Louis Symphony in his signature role as Tenor Soloist in Orff’s Carmina Burana. Other concert engagements of note include Handel’s Messiah with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Mahler’s Die Lied von der Erde with the Detroit Symphony, and Mendelsshon’s Walpurgisnacht with the Denver Symphony. At Avery Fisher Hall, Mr. Troxell performed the Title Role in Zemlinsky’s opera Der Zwerg under the baton of Leon Botstein with the American Symphony Orchestra. Opera News called his interpretation” the afternoon’s most successful performance.”
Starting out as an actor in musical theater at the beginning of his career, Richard loves returning home to the Broadway and Pops standards. He has been a favorite with the Boston Pops, the Cincinnati Pops with Erich Kunzel, the Naples Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony, and the Erie Pops singing the hits of Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Lerner and Lowe, Rogers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd-Webber and many more.
Richard Troxell’s talents as an actor and singer are evidenced in the wide variety of roles he has sung ranging from a punk-rocker in a contemporary staging of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut (photo) for the Spoleto Festival USA , to the wide-eyed innocence of Candide for Portland Opera (photo) ,to the maniacal Don José in Carmen (photo), to the love-struck Roméo in Roméo et Juliette at Teatro de la Maestranza (photo).
Away from the stage, Richard appeared with Garrison Kellior on his show A Prairie Home Companion when he was in Minnesota appearing at the opera. And baseball fans have not been denied the opportunity to hear Richard for 15 years in a row as he sang The Star Spangled Banner at the Opening Day ceremonies in Camden Yards for his beloved Baltimore Orioles.
Mr. Troxell’s recording credits include, his latest 2 solo Cd’s So in Love with the Tom Lawton Trio, Classic Broadway with the Czech National Symphony under the baton of maestro Steven Mercurio, the role of Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly for the Sony label, the role of Beppe in I Pagliacci for the Deutsche Gramophone label under the baton of Georges Prêtre, the role of Christian in Cyrano de Bergerac for the Deutsche Gramophone label, the role of Galieo in Philip Glass” Galileo Galilea for the Orange Mt. label, and numerous recordings for the Milken Archive of Jewish Music on the Naxos Label, including Masada by Marvin David Levy with the Berlin Radio Symphony and his first sold out solo CD Wonderful World.
Richard Troxell is from Thurmont, Maryland where he started singing at the age of four along with his parents, belting out Broadway tunes at Lions Club benefits and singing hymns in the church choir. He received his operatic training at the Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA) in Philadelphia, PA. He currently resides in the countryside of Chester County, PA with his wife dancer/choreographer Lisa Lovelace and their two sons Wilder and Shane. When not performing, he enjoys spending time with his family, cooking, motorcycling, hiking , and long-distance bicycle riding.