Darrell Babidge, Elizabeth Bishop, and Amy Burton to Join the Juilliard Voice Faculty

NEW YORK –– Juilliard announced today the appointments of baritone Darrell Babidge, mezzo-soprano and alumna Elizabeth Bishop, and soprano Amy Burton to the voice faculty in Juilliard’s Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts. Their appointments will begin this fall semester.

About Darrell Babidge

British-born baritone Darrell Babidge graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music in the U.K. He received his master’s from Brigham Young University and his professional degree in vocal performance from the Manhattan School of Music, where his studies were funded by Birgit Nilsson. While a student, he performed the title role of Britten’s Owen Wingrave with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera and London Philharmonic Orchestra. Babidge has performed as an operatic and concert soloist throughout Europe, America, and Asia, at prestigious venues and with leading conductors.

From 2006 to 2019, Babidge was on the voice faculty at Brigham Young University. He also keeps a private studio and teaches the Utah Opera Resident Artists and Arizona Opera Studio Artists programs. During the summer, he is a vocal coach with Dolora Zajick at the Institute for Young Dramatic Voices.

His students sing in major opera houses throughout the world, most recently at the Royal Opera House, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Semperoper Dresden, Bayerische Staatsoper, Théâtre du Châtelet, Theater St. Gallen, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Real, Opera di Genova, Vienna State Opera, Seattle Opera, and San Francisco Opera.

His students have also been accepted into young artist and summer programs, including at the Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, Merola Opera Program, Glimmerglass Festival, Tanglewood, Wolf Trap Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Central City Opera, Aspen Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Ravinia Festival, and Chautauqua Opera.

Babidge’s students are winners of many competitions, including the Metropolitan Opera National Council, George London Foundation for Singers, Operalia, Eleanor McCollum (Houston Grand Opera), and Licia-Albanese Puccini competition. Two of his students have also recorded for Decca and Deutsche Grammophon, with one recent recording nominated for a Grammy. Soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen, one of his students, will be a guest solo artist on Jonas Kaufmann’s latest recording in 2019.

 About Elizabeth Bishop

American mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Bishop is enjoying a long career on the opera stages and concert halls of the world, including San Francisco Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Pittsburgh Opera, Dallas Opera, Atlanta Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Palm Beach Opera, and Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Italy. Among the orchestras she has performed with are the Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in the Netherlands. She recorded with San Francisco Opera and Atlanta Symphony and won a Grammy for her work in the Ring cycle with the Metropolitan Opera in 2012. A graduate of Juilliard (MM in vocal performance) and Furman University (double BA in music and political science), Bishop won the 1993 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and joined the San Francisco Opera as an Adler Fellow following year.

Widely sought after as a teacher and master class clinician, she taught at Palm Beach Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music, Furman University, Virginia Opera, Duke University, George Mason University, Bel Canto in Tuscany, NATS, and Washington National Opera Institute for Young Singers. During her career, Bishop recognized a need for advanced training that caters to emerging singers outside the traditional pathway to a career. This discovery helped propel her to create and direct the Potomac Vocal Institute (PVI) to train young singers in an innovative and practical setting. Her personal motto, “Singing is simple, discipline is hard,” sets the tone for both her flourishing private studio and PVI. Her students have sung at Washington National Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Washington Concert Opera, Annapolis Opera, Baltimore Concert Opera, Opera Delaware, Virginia Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Painted Sky Opera, Opera San Jose, Opera Memphis, Santa Fe Opera, and Theater Aachen.

About Amy Burton

Versatile soprano Amy Burton has sung with the Metropolitan Opera and New York City Opera, at the White House, and with major opera companies and orchestras throughout the U.S., Europe, U.K., Japan, and Israel as well as on recital and cabaret stages from New York to Barcelona. A frequent interpreter of 20th and 21st-century music, she has premiered pieces by John Musto, Paul Moravec, Lee Hoiby, John Harbison, Richard Festinger, and Richard Danielpour, to name a few. Also specializing in French vocal music of the 1920s and 30s, Burton has performed both mélodies and chansons populaires throughout the U.S. and Europe, and recorded a critically acclaimed CD with conductor Yves Abel, Souvenir de Printemps.

Recent projects include the soprano soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, performances at Ravinia, Boston, and Los Angeles of Late Night with Leonard Bernstein (with Jamie Bernstein and pianists John Musto and Michael Boriskin), cabaret appearances at the Café Sabarsky, Double Date with William Bolcom and Joan Morris in New York, Corigliano’s Mister Tambourine Man with the Midland-Odessa Symphony, and Debussy songs with Lyricfest in Philadelphia (Laura Ward, piano). 

Burton sang in the modern-day premiere of Cole Porter's rediscovered 1928 musical, The Ambassador Revue (La Revue des Ambassadeurs), in Paris and New York, the New York premiere of John Musto’s Scottish Songs, and the world premiere of his Sarah’s Song for the AIDS Quilt Songbook and Summer Stars for the Opera America Songbook and recording. Burton sang Winnie in the world premiere of Michael Dellaira’s opera The Secret Agent and can be heard on the recording for SoundMirror. Her recent recording for Bridge Records, Got a Little Rhythm, a collection of songs and duets from the Great American Songbook (with Musto and baritone Patrick Mason). She has previously recorded for Bridge, Naxos, Harbinger, Albany, Angel/EMI, and CRI.

A sought-after teacher, Burton is professor of voice at the Mannes College of Music and the CUNY Graduate Center Doctoral program and is on the faculty of SongFest at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. She has taught French vocal literature at Manhattan School of Music, and maintains a private voice studio in New York City. She has given master classes and residencies throughout the U.S. and in Paris.

Burton’s awards include major prizes from the Gerda Lissner, George London, and Sullivan Foundations. She was the silver medalist in the 1995 Marian Anderson International Vocal Competition, and New York City Opera, where she was a leading soprano for 12 seasons, honored her with the Christopher Keene award, the Kolosvar award, and the 2005 Diva award. She is an active member of the Glimmerglass Opera Artist Advisory Board, New York Festival of Song’s Artist Council, and Opera America, which honored her with their first-ever Artist Advocate award in 2006.

About the Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts at Juilliard

One of America’s most prestigious programs for educating singers, Juilliard’s Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts offers young artists programs tailored to their talents and needs. From bachelor and master of music degrees to an advanced Artist Diploma in Opera Studies program, Juilliard provides frequent performance opportunities, featuring singers in its own recital halls, on Lincoln Center’s stages, and around New York City. Juilliard Opera has presented numerous premieres of new operas as well as works from the standard repertoire.

Juilliard graduates may be heard in opera houses and concert halls throughout the world; diverse alumni artists include well-known performers such as Leontyne Price, Renée Fleming, Risë Stevens, Isabel Leonard, Tatiana Troyanos, Simon Estes, and Shirley Verrett. More recent alumni include Susanna Phillips, Paul Appleby, Erin Morley, and Julia Bullock.

About The Juilliard School

Founded in 1905, The Juilliard School is a world leader in performing arts education. Juilliard’s mission is to provide the highest caliber of artistic education for gifted musicians, dancers, and actors from around the world so that they may achieve their fullest potential as artists, leaders, and global citizens.

Located at Lincoln Center in New York City, Juilliard offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in dance, drama (acting and playwriting), and music (classical, jazz, historical performance, and vocal arts). Currently more than 800 artists from 42 states and 45 countries are enrolled at The Juilliard School, where they appear in over 700 annual performances in the school’s five theaters; at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully and David Geffen Halls and at Carnegie Hall; as well as other venues around New York City, the country, and the world.

Beyond its New York campus, Juilliard is defining new directions in global performing arts education for a range of learners and enthusiasts through The Tianjin Juilliard School and K-12 educational curricula.

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