With a radiant voice,
intense theatricality and a profound understanding of art song and operatic
literature, tenor Isaí Jess Muñoz has collaborated with some of the
world’s leading ensembles. Highlights have included performing with the Israel
Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, American
Symphony Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival (Lincoln Center), Voices of
Ascension (New York), Verbier Festival (Switzerland), Bard Music Festival, New
York City Opera and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre on Broadway. Dr.
Muñoz has performed frequently with New York’s Center for Contemporary Opera;
premieres include James Dashow’s electronic opera Archimides and
McClatchy and Thorne’s Mario and the Magician.
A champion of contemporary
and underrepresented works, Dr. Muñoz recorded the 2009 Grammy-nominated
album Song of the Stars with Voices of Ascension, as well as world
premiere releases of Pasatieri’s The Seagull (Albany), J.D. McClatchy
and Francis Thorne’s Mario and the Magician (Albany), Hafez Nazeri’s Rumi
Symphony Project Untold (Sony Classical) and David Lang’s Prisoner of
the State (Decca Gold). His latest solo album titled Visca L'Amor: Catalan
Art Songs of the XX and XXI Centuries, is available on Bridge
Records and distributed worldwide on all major platforms by Naxos. Fanfare magazine awarded the disc its Five-Star rating, calling it “A perfect
recording” and a “Cultural Milestone.”
Dr.
Muñoz currently serves as associate professor of voice and opera at the
University of Delaware, as vice president of the National Opera Association
(NOA), and as chair of the Sacred in Opera Initiative— a division of the NOA
that explores, through research and performance, the interplay between
music-drama and the ideologies of world religions. Dr. Muñoz is also a proud
member of the NATS National Committee on Advocacy— an initiative geared to
support inclusion and diversity in the fields of singing. In Fall 2018, Dr.
Muñoz was named associate artistic and executive director at Musiktheater
Bavaria (MTB) in Germany, which provides advanced singers and instrumentalists
with mentorship from some of today's leading scholars and artists in the field
of opera, musical theater and early music. MTB's students have gone on to win
important competitions and secure positions in prestigious young artist
programs, including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the
Jensen Foundation Competition, the Met's Lindemann Young Artist Development
Program and the Merola Opera Program.
For his ongoing creative activities in education and
performance, Dr. Muñoz has been recognized by the American Prize, the National
Opera Association, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Delaware
Division of the Arts and the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts.
As a much sought-after educator, he enthusiastically works with a vast array of
students—from young collegiate singers to celebrity clients performing in
music theatre, opera, and other varied areas of contemporary and classical
commercial music. Actively maintaining a busy teaching studio in New York City
and Delaware, Dr. Muñoz has had students appear in opera houses throughout
America, in the Broadway and National companies of many shows including A Chorus
Line, Chicago, Gypsy, Oklahoma, On The Town, Thoroughly
Modern Millie, Finding Neverland and Jesus Christ Superstar, and
on major recording labels including SONY, RCA, Atlantic, and Time Life.
Dr. Muñoz is graduate of the Cincinnati
College-Conservatory of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and Stony Brook
University. He is married to pianist Oksana Glouchko of Tel Aviv and they
divide their time between Delaware and New York City. They consider their
greatest accomplishments to be their three children, Giovanni, Marco and
Salomé. Visit: www.JessMunoz.com
