Brandon Cedel, Rising

Charles T. Downey, Brandon Cedel makes Kennedy Center debut (Washington Post, December 6, 2013)

Vaughan Williams, Songs of Travel (inter alia), G. Finley, S. Ralls

Attentive Washington audiences recognize the voice of Brandon Cedel. I heard him as an apprentice singer at the Castleton Festival last year, and he appeared at Wolf Trap this summer. The young bass-baritone won a grand prize at this year’s Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, leading to his debut on the Met stage this fall. The savvy folks at Vocal Arts D.C. presented his first show at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday night in the Terrace Theater.

Cedel was not in the best vocal shape, and thus a little cautious at the top of his range, but he made a fine impression. He came most alive in the opening set of songs by Aaron Copland, with a lusty tone but also a sweet crooning sound when he needed it. He showed the same level of animation in the “Songs of Travel” set by Ralph Vaughan Williams, relishing Robert Louis Stevenson’s melancholy poetry. [Continue reading]

Brandon Cedel, bass-baritone
Vocal Arts D.C.
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

PREVIOUSLY:
Charles T. Downey, Brandon Cedel at Castleton Festival (Ionarts, July 2, 2012)

Anne Midgette, Wolf Trap Opera’s ‘Il viaggio a Reims’ (Washington Post, June 23, 2013)