Adjunct Anthony Turner

Adjunct Anthony Turner

Anthony Turner, baritone, has been presented extensively throughout the United States and Europe in solo recitals, concerts, and opera, and musical theatre performances.

His performances include the world premiere of Mr. Turner’s commissioned song cycle Who Am I?, based on the book The Gathering by Jeannine Otis and set to music by Mary Carol Warwick.  Premiered at Zilkha Hall in Houston, TX, Who Am I?  is set to the texts of incarcerated youth, those who experience drug addiction, physical abuse and are victims of gun violence.  The New York premiere was presented at LaMama Theatre in New York City.  Mr. Turner recently performed Who Am I? at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.  Other performances include the recital ‘Poets of the Harlem Renaissance,’ on the Music at St. Alban’s Concert Series, ‘Summertime Living: Easy, Poignant Clever and Fun,’ at the Piano Performance Museum Festival in Hunter, NY, ‘Katrina Ballads,’ by Ted Hearne (New York, Houston, Piccolo Spoleto), the premier of  ‘Shikoku Postcards,’ written for Mr. Turner by Houston composer Mary Carol Warwick and performed with the Greenbriar The consortium, a concert version of Kurt Weill’s ‘Lost In The Stars,’ with Holy Apostles Community Chorus (NY), recitals in New York and Boston, Weekend of Chamber Music series (NY), the premier of ‘Even This Paradise,’ by New York composer Andrew Sterman, performed with the Musical Chairs Chamber Ensemble at the Tibetan Museum in Staten Island, NY, ‘Sound + Vision: At War,’ a Fusion Bande collaboration at John Jay College (NY) combining the music of Johann Sebastian Bach with the photography of Pulitzer Prize-nominated photojournalist Chris Hondros, and the recital series ‘Music at the Music House’ in Greenville, NC.

He has sung the roles of Tony Esposito in The Most Happy Fella by Frank Loesser with Wagner College as guest faculty artist, Clarence Thomas in Clarence and Anita by New York composer Ben Yarmolinsky with Underworld Productions, Josh Gibson in scenes from The Summer King by Daniel Sonenberg with American Opera Projects and the role of William Henry in Harriet Tubman by Leo Edwards with Opera Ebony.  Other credits include Harry Easter in Street Scene; Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana; Dappertutto in Les Contes d’Hoffmann; Schaunard in La Bohème; Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus; and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte.

Mr. Turner has made appearances with Four Season’s Arts, Inc. (CA), Opera Exposures (NY), Reno Choral Society (KS), Boston Musica Viva, United States Army Band (NE), Musical Chairs Chamber Ensemble (NY), the recital series of St. Alban’s and Serenade (NY) and St. Luke’s (MA), and with Opera Ebony (NY) in a program of negro spirituals at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and at the New-York Historical Society in affiliation with its’ exhibit, New York Divided: Slavery and the Civil War.  Other engagements have included: featured soloist in No Cowards In Our Band with Opera Ebony at the Cyclorama and Civil War Museum in Atlanta, GA, featured soloist with the Dance Theatre of Harlem production St. Louis Woman at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, touring the United States and Europe with performance artist Laurie Anderson in Songs and Stories from Moby Dick featured guest on the PBS special GREAT PERFORMANCES series Aida’s Brothers and Sisters: Black Voices in Opera, and featured soloist with Jessye Norman in a benefit concert for the Healing of AIDS, directed by George C. Wolfe and presented by The Balm in Gilead, Inc.

He is an exponent of the classical repertoire of music by black and minority composers, a literature which is consistently included in his concert repertoire.  Orchestral appearances include Orchestra of St. Luke’s (NY); Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra (IN); Lincoln Chamber Orchestra and the Omaha Symphony (NE); Cincinnati Symphony; Phoenix Symphony; and the Walla Walla Symphony (WA).

Mr. Turner has worked with the conductors Jesus Lopéz-Cobos, David Stern, Giovanni Reggioli, Henry Janiec, Robert Moody, Steven Osgood, Bruce Hangen, Lt. Col. Craig Jessup, Kenneth Hamrick, Yaakov Bergman, Richard Pittman, Jack Eppler, and Ted Hearne.

He has appeared at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival (SC), Opera Theatre di Lucca (Italy), Next Wave Festival (Brooklyn Academy of Music, NY), Barbican Music Festival (London), and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

 His awards and honors include first prize in the National Federation of Music Clubs competition; recipient of Premier Grant from the Council on the Arts & Humanities for Staten Island (COAHSI) for his lecture/recital program entitled Building Bridges, North, and South: The Negro Spiritual; Wagner College - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Agent of Change Award; Dedication To The Arts Award presented by the National Council of Negro Women, Inc., North Shore – Staten Island Section; and named Staten Islander of the week by NY1 News for his volunteer work at the Arthur Kill Correctional Facility.  

Mr. Turner received his Bachelor of Music degree in performance from Simpson College and his Master of Music degree in performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.  In addition, Mr. Turner maintains a private voice studio in New York City and is an Adjunct Professor of Voice at Wagner College on Staten Island.

He is a member of the Actors’ Equity Association, The American Guild of Musical Artists, Opera Ebony, Inc., Phi Beta Sigma, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and a life member of the National Federation of Music Clubs.