Meet the Artist: Joshua Kohl

The primary love affair and focus of the storyline in La traviata is the forbidden relationship between Violetta and Alfredo Germont. Alfredo is passionate about Violetta from the beginning of the opera and they leave Paris for the French countryside to be together. But, as often happens when a soprano and a tenor fall in love and want to be alone, a baritone (in this case, Alfredo's father, Giorgio Germont) comes along and tears them apart.

Joshua Kohl is Alfredo in Opera Omaha's production of La traviata. The young tenor sings and acts the part in perfect keeping with the role. He is every bit the devastated young lover, torn between Violetta and the demands of his father and society.

Join us on October 5 or 7 and see Mr. Kohl as Alfredo. Don't miss it! Go online at Ticket Omaha or call 402-345-0606 for tickets today.

More information about Mr. Kohl, including the biography quoted below, is available on his website.

JOSHUA KOHL
Tenor
American tenor Joshua Kohl was called a “tenor to watch” by The Boston Herald and was recently singled out for his “glorious, relaxed performance” by Opera News. The Salt Lake Tribune said of his performance in Macbeth that he “nearly steals the show with his impassioned portrayal of Macduff. The young tenor brings a jolt of urgency to every scene he's in, and the aria in which Macduff expresses his grief over his family's murder is arguably the emotional high point of the evening.”

During the 2012-13 season the tenor will be heard as Alfredo in La Traviata with Opera Omaha, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Dayton Opera, Chevalier in Dialogues of the Carmelites with Hawaii Opera Theatre, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Opera Southwest, and finally Nanki-Poo in The Mikado with Lyric Opera of Kansas City. On the concert stage he returns to the New Haven Symphony for performances of Carmina Burana.

Mr. Kohl began the 2011-12 season at Nashville Opera portraying Alfredo in their production of La Traviata, and followed that engagement portraying the role of Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with the Sarasota Opera before returning to Opera Saratoga as the Duke in Rigoletto for which the Albany Times-Union said that his “singing revealed the fullest emotional range of the principals — joy, rapture, rage.” In addition, as tenor soloist in Carmina Burana in his debut with the Hartford Symphony, he “conveyed the roasting swan’s plight with poignancy and humor” (In the Spotlight), making the passage “otherworldly and nightmarish.” (Hartford Courant)

During the 2010-11 season Mr. Kohl sang Alfredo in La Traviata with Tulsa Opera, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Sarasota Opera, West Side Story Suite in concert with the Lexington Philharmonic, and Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2 with the New Jersey Symphony. During the previous season, he joined the Dallas Opera as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly for student matinee performances, Sarasota Opera as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte which was “sung suavely” (Herald-Tribune), Lake George Opera as Don José in Carmen, the Commonwealth Opera as Ferrando in Così fan Tutte, and Utah Opera as Macduff in Macbeth. On the concert stage he was an Artist-in-Residence with Opera Theatre of St. Louis and sang Handel’s Messiah with the New Haven Symphony.

During the 2008-09 season, the tenor sang Rodolfo in La Bohème with the Pittsburgh Opera in a student matinee performance, and made debuts with Opera Theatre of St. Louis as First Jew in Salome and with the Virginia Opera as Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore. His Nemorino was praised for his “sincere and touching performance. The young tenor displayed a bright voice of great size, yet capable of movement and nuance.” (Portfolio Weekly) On the concert stage he presented a recital under the auspices of the Upper Ohio Valley Opera Guild, joined Yale University for a performance of Stravinsky’s In Memoriam Dylan Thomas, and appeared with
both Opera Providence and Connecticut Concert Opera.