Vocal ARtist
Baritone Stephen Lancaster has been hailed as a 'fine storyteller' (American Record Guide), 'varied in tone and alive to feeling' (Fanfare Magazine), and has received the American Prize in Art Song and Oratorio. He performs a diverse repertoire spanning solo song, concert music, and ensemble work, with a commitment to new music and collaborative projects.
A frequent chamber musician, Lancaster has performed for the Gstaad New Year Music Festival, Festival Musique d’Uzerche, Musique dans le Grésivaudan, Les Grandes Heures de Saint-Emilion, Atlantic Music Festival, and Brooklyn Art Song Society. His recital for the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts series was broadcast live by WFMT Chicago.
Passionate about new music, Lancaster actively collaborates with composers, including premiering works by Thomas Enhco (Deux fables de Jean de la Fontaine) and Thomas Schuttenhelm (Seven Living Words for the HIV Positive). He premiered and recorded the role of Tallis in Robert Kyr's Earth Ritual with Conspirare and performed in Chris Thile's Attention! with the EXIGENCE vocal ensemble and the National Symphony Orchestra. His latest project is a visual album of J. Scott Brubacher's song cycle Gilgamesh, supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.
His discography includes the solo albums Le Menu des Mélodies with Martin Katz, Sacred Song with his husband, organist Kevin Vaughn, and Dichterliebe & Liederkreis, Op. 39 with Laure Colladant. As an ensemble singer, he records with the Grammy-winning vocal ensemble Conspirare, contributing to their Grammy-nominated album House of Belonging, and with EXIGENCE vocal ensemble on albums such as Wanting Memories and Black is Beautiful.
Lancaster has also performed at Carnegie Hall, Centro Cultural de Belém, the Chicago Cultural Center, and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, and with ensembles including the South Bend Symphony, UMS Choral Union, and Holland Symphony. His concert repertoire spans the Fauré, Duruflé, and Brahms Requiems, Carmina Burana, The Bells, Belshazzar's Feast, Le bal masqué, An American Requiem, Messiah, as well as numerous cantatas by J.S. Bach and masses by Haydn and Mozart.
On the operatic stage, he has performed roles including Dancaïro in Carmen and Anthony in Sweeney Todd with Eugene Opera and Schaunard in La bohème with Arbor Opera Theater. He also created the role of Jaques in the world premiere of Roger Steptoe's As You Like It.
Born and raised in Canada with American and Puerto Rican heritage, Lancaster holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Michigan and a Master of Music from Notre Dame. He also holds a Colleague Certificate from the American Guild of Organists and serves as organist for Sunnyside Presbyterian Church.
TeachEr
Stephen Lancaster serves as Professor of the Practice in voice at the University of Notre Dame, where he has taught since 2007. In studio lessons for graduate and undergraduate vocal performance majors and musical theater minors, he employs an evidence-based, collaborative approach to vocal pedagogy. He has developed and taught elective courses spanning topics from voice science to diction and early music performance practice.
Lancaster’s current and former students pursue a variety of career paths in the arts, including performances with organizations such as the New York Philharmonic, Seraphic Fire, Apollo's Fire, Bach Collegium Japan, Border CrosSing, and Hawaii Opera.
REVIEWS
"Lancaster and Colladant give us detailed and inspired readings that open our ears to the beauty of it all.” (Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review, 2021: Robert Schumann: Dichterliebe & Liederkreis, Op. 39)
"Lancaster….slips well into the role of poet/musician required to project these songs proper essence. As called upon, his voice is at times lyrical and tender, or passionately determined." (Classical Music Sentinel, 2021: Robert Schumann: Dichterliebe & Liederkreis, Op. 39)
"Lancaster projected the pathos of the Libera me with great strength." (New York Concert Review, 2015: Duruflé Requiem)
"Lancaster is varied in tone and alive to feeling….he is engaged in his performances, and the recital ends in excellent fashion, with Lancaster almost conversational in his directness of communication." (Fanfare Magazine, 2015: Le Menu des Mélodies)
"Lancaster...shows good interpretive skill with these songs, coloring his voice to fit the text...and employing a wide range of expression and dynamics. He's a fine storyteller-singer..." (American Record Guide, 2015: Le Menu des Mélodies)
"Lancaster's voice was wonderful. His line...burst in during a quiet moment in the fourth movement, and he held his own against the orchestra's full complement of strings and wind instruments." (South Bend Tribune, 2015: Beethoven’s 9th Symphony)
