Ray M. Wade, Jr    
Ray M. Wade, Jr.
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Tenor Ray M. Wade, Jr. was a member of the Solo Ensemble of the Nationaltheater Mannheim, Germany from the 95 through the 98 seasons where he sang several roles in the lyric tenor fach He is a native of Ft. Worth, Texas where he began his career with the Ft. Worth Opera Theater in 1983.

Mr. Wade made his European Debut in 1993 with the role of Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni in Gent, Belgium. He again sang the role in San Francisco Opera's Merola Opera Program in the summer of 1994 under the baton of Patrick Summers and in Western Opera Theater's 1994 tour.

Mr. Wade had the privilege of singing on a concert for the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the coronation of Pope John Paul II in November of 1998 in Vatican City, Italy in which the Pope attended. Mr. Wade then made his debut with the Deutsche Oper Berlin where he sang the tenor role in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in December of the same year under the direction of Christian Thielemann. Mr. Wade also sang in the Bregenzer Festspiel’s production of A Greek Passion by Martinu in the summer of 1999.

Mr. Wade has performed with several world class orchestras including The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, The San Francisco Opera Orchestra, The Deutsche Oper Berlin Orchestra, The Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, The Monnaie Symphony Orchestra in Brussels, Belgium, The Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Mons, Belgium, De Vlaams Opera Orchestra, Belgium, The Nationaltheater Mannheim Symphony Orchestra in Mannheim, Das Rundfunk Orchester des Südwestfunk in Kaiserslauten, Germany, The Orchestra del Teatro dell’ Opera di Roma, The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in St. Paul, Minnesota. U.S.A. under the direction of Bobby McFerrin, The Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and in October of 1999 Mr. Wade sang the role of Belmonte in a concert version of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail in Munich’s famed Prinz Regententheater in which Dietrich Fischer-Diskau played the role of Bassa Selim with The Münchener Kammerorchester. Mr. Wade sang the title role in Gounod’s Faust with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders in Antwerp, Belgium in June of 2000. He sang the tenor role in Rossini’s Stabat Mater in Leipzig, Germany with The MDR Orchestra in the famed Gewandhaus under the direction of Marcello Viotti in March of 2001. He sang the role of Tamino in Mozart’s Zauberflöte and Nadir in Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles in Basel, Switzerland in 2001 / 2002.

Mr. Wade can be heard on several recordings including Lucia di Lammermoor and Norma with Edita Gruberova under the direction of Friedrich Haider. He can also be heard in Cartellieri’s Christmas Oratorio and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with Das Neue Orchester under the direction of Christoph Spering, on William Grant Still's opera Highway One, and in George Antheil's The Brothers.

Mr. Wade was a member of the ensemble in the Opera Cologne from 2004 until 2009 where he, with much success expanded his repertoire in such roles as Dionysus in Henze’s The Bassarids, Don Alvaro in Verdi’s La Forza del Destino, Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Boheme, Laca in Janacek’s Jenufa, Turiddu in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, Canio in Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci and Riccardo in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera. In 2009 Wade received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Samson in Saint-Saëns Samson et Dalila. He also had great success as Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Salvator Rosa in Antonio Gomes’ Salvator Rosa in Staatstheater Braunschweig in 2010 in which a live recording was released, as Faust in Boito’s Mefistofele in Gelsenkirchen, Don Alvaro in Verdi’s La Forza del Destino in Würzburg and in March 2011 his debut in the role of Otello in Verdi’s Otello in Heidelberg. In March 2012 Wade made his Viennese debut at the Volksoper in the role of Canio in Der Bajazzo and reprised the role of Don Alvaro in Verdi's La Forza del Destino in Stadttheater Osnabrück. In 2013 he can be seen as Otello in Verdi's Otello in Staatstheater Kassel and in Stadttheater Bremerhaven and as Erik in Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer in Koblenz.

Mr. Wade sang the role of The Kaiser in Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten in the spring of 2014 with great success in Staatstheater Kassel. In Autumn of 2014 he sang once again Otello in Landestheater Detmold. Future roles include Peter Grimes in Theater Koblenz with Enrico Delamboye in the spring of 2015.

Contact:
tenore1@raymwadejr.com
English / German