Rockland Osgood


Rockland Osgood is a contemporary American lyric tenor who has distinguished himself in a wide variety of musical idioms from the Baroque to the latest in Contemporary compositions. He is frequently praised for his exemplary musicianship, eloquence of expression, and immaculate diction.

Education

He received a B.A. from Huntingdon College followed by a master's degree from the New England Conservatory of Music. He was a Fellow at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood and was a winner of the New York Oratorio Society Solo Competition as well as the National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition.

Career

Mr. Osgood has performed with many musical organizations including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Emmanuel Music of Boston, Handel and Haydn Society, the Sioux City Symphony, the Jacksonville Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Boston Cecilia, Cantata Singers, Spectrum Singers, Chorus pro Musica, Spoleto Festival, North Carolina Symphony, Anchorage Opera, Mobile Opera, Brevard Music Center, Syracuse Opera, Boston Camerata, New York Choral Society, Oregon Symphony, and is a frequent soloist at the Northwest Bach Festival. Conductors include Seiji Ozawa, Gunther Schuller, James DePreist, Joel Revzen, David Hoose, Craig Smith, Kent Tritle, Michael Kleinschmidt, and John Rutter.
Mr. Osgood toured nationally with the Boston Camerata and includes in his repertoire such singular works as Distler's Weihnachtsgeschichte and Albert's Into Eclipse. He was a featured soloist with the New York Choral Society on their 1985 tour of Greece. He was soloist in the World Premiere of Richard Emery's Death at Wallowa Valley and Donald Sur’s Slavery Documents. In 2008, he performed the world premiere of with Cantata Singers. He recently performed St. John Passion at Trinity Church, Boston.

Repertoire

"The soloist that left me consistently amazed was Osgood. His part includes the demanding role of the narrating Evangelist who sings near the top of the tenor register, as well as arias that show a remarkable range of emotion. Osgood seemed as fresh in his furious finale aria as he had been two hours earlier in his aria urging the shepherds to hasten to Christ's manger."
"Osgood, who has a growing national and international reputation as a baroque specialist, gave a brilliant performance from the very first aria 'Every valley shall be exalted' Of the four singers, his ornamentation was the furthest and freshest departure from what singers usually do with the music."