Philip Lima's burgeoning career has been marked by critical praise: "His singing was glorious"
(The Boston Globe) – "vibrant baritone and a commanding presence" (Cleveland Plain Dealer).
He has sung a wide array of challenging operatic roles including Johann Mattes, the protagonist in Weill's monumental Die Bürgschaft at the international Kurt Weill Festival in Dessau, Germany; Trinity Moses in Opera Boston's production of Weill's The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny; Cadmus in Handel's Semele under the direction of Christopher Hogwood for the Handel & Haydn Society; and both John Proctor in The Crucible and Alidoro in La Cenerentola at Lyric Opera Cleveland.
For Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, he was featured in the title role of Ullmann's Der Kaiser von Atlantis, as well as in the world premiere of JAZZ OPERA - Just Above My Head, based on James Baldwin's last novel. He performed the Speaker in a live New England PBS broadcast of The Magic Flute; the world premiere of Vanqui by Leslie Burrs-John Williams with Opera Columbus; the High Priest in El Paso Opera's production of Samson et Dalila; the title character in The Mikado with The Bostonians, Boston Academy of Music (now, Opera Boston); Tonio in Pagliacci, Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, all for Granite State Opera; Scarpia in Tosca with Cape Cod Opera; and Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia with Boston's Prism Opera.
Highlights of recent concert engagements include performances of Bach's St. John Passion, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, major excerpts from Bernstein's Mass, the Requiem of both Brahms and Fauré, Dvorák's Te Deum, Handel's Messiah, Haydn's The Creation, Mahler's Kindertotenlieder with Boston Ballet, Elijah, the New York premiere of Mendelssohn's Grosse Festmusik zum Dürerfest, Orff's Carmina Burana, the Sea Symphony and Dona Nobis Pacem of Vaughan Williams, and Walton's Belshazzar's Feast which he sang in Boston with the Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus and in Korea with the Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra.
Philip Lima has been a guest artist with numerous organizations, including Amor Artis of New York; the Arcadia Players; Boston Ballet, Boston Baroque, and other leading ensembles in Boston area; Canterbury Choral Society (Oklahoma); Handel & Haydn Society; Harvard University Collegium Musicum; Memphis Symphony; New Hampshire Music Festival; ensembles in North Carolina, including the Eastern Music Festival, Music for a Great Space, and the Asheville Choral Society; Oklahoma City Philharmonic; Portland (Maine) Ballet; San Diego Chamber Orchestra; Winter Park (Florida) Bach Festival; and the orchestras of Champaign-Urbana, Peoria, and Rockford (Illinois), Monterey and Santa Rosa (California), Lancaster (Pennsylvania), Nashua (New Hampshire), Springfield and New Bedford (Massachusetts); and Richmond (Virginia).
As a solo recitalist, Mr. Lima debuted in Rome with a concert of spirituals in 2000, and at Boston's historic Jordan Hall singing music of Joaquin Rodrigo in 2001. His 2005 performance of Schubert's Winterreise with pianist Beverly Orlove was described by The Boston Phoenix as one of Boston's "Unforgettable Classical Events of 2005."
Mr. Lima is a native of New Bedford, MA, and an alumnus of Yale University. He studied at the Tanglewood Music Center and with Richard Conrad. More information about Mr. Lima is available at www.philiplima.com.
