Howard Crook

Born: June 15, 1947 - Passaic, New Jersey, USA

The american-born tenor, Howard Crook, after finishing his education with a "master of music" degree from the University of Illinois, worked for some years in theatre and mime before returning to concert and opera.

After successfully competing in the vocal competitions of Paris and s'Hertogen-bosch, Howard Crook has become a widely-known performing artist on the concert stage, in opera and through many recordings. Among these he has recorded Scylla & Glaucus by Leclair, Les nuits d'été by Berlioz and the arias in Matthew Passion (BWV 244) by J.S. Bach with John Eliot Gardiner for Erato and Archiv; all of the major works of Bach, and Armide (Renaud) by Lully with Philippe Herreweghe for Virgin and Harmonia Mundi; Messiah by Georg Frideric Handel with Trevor Pinnock for Deutsche Grammofon and Fairy Queen by Purcell with Roger Norrington for EMI.

Howard Crook has sung in most of the major music festivals of Europe and apart from his Bach-work, he has sung the major tenor roles in most of the operas of Lully, Rameau and Mozart. He has sung in productions of Entführung (Belmonte) by Mozart with Dennis Russel Davies in Amsterdam, with Christopher Hogwood in London and with Lyon Opera. Also Pelléas et Melisande (Pelléas) by Debussy with Michel Plasson, Atys (Atys) by Lully with William Christie with Paris Opera and Brooklyn Academy, New York; and Castor et Pollux (Castor) by Rameau at the festival of Aix-en-Provençe.