Baritone David Small joins the Longy School of Music as Artist Teacher of Voice, as he continues a vibrant performing career in both opera and concert. He has performed over 70 different opera roles in nearly 60 operas, including Rigoletto, Tosca (Scarpia), Traviata (Germont), Le nozze di Figaro (Conte d’Almaviva), Boheme (Marcello, Shaunard, and Alcindoro/Benoit), and Il barbiere di Siviglia (Figaro), a role he has performed over 100 times. He has appeared with the Cincinnati May Festival orchestra, the Austin Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, and Fort Wayne Philharmonic orchestra in works such as Elijah, Carmina Burana, Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Bloch’s Sacred Service, Mozart’s Requiem, Faure’s Requiem, and Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater. He has collaborated with conductors such as James Conlon, Anton Coppola, Richard Buckley, Peter Bay, Bob Bernhart, Valery Ryvkin, Hector Guzman, Victor DeRenzi, Dr. Robert Larsen and many more. An avid recitalist, he has performed solo recitals with pianists Anton Nel, Jean Anderson, Rick Rowley, Joachim Reinhuber, Steve Wogaman, Claude Cymerman, John Novacek, and Eugene Cline, among others, and has performed Schubert’s complete Winterreise cycle 13 times to date.
Professor Small retired from the University of Texas’ Butler School of Music in 2020 after 20 years of service there. During his tenure at the Butler School of Music he was chosen as a Master Teacher for the NATS Intern Program in 2011 (one of four Master Teachers chosen nationally) and was selected by UT alumni as a Texas Ten recipient (2015), an award voted on by alumni for the 10 most influential and inspirational Professors at The University of Texas. His students have been Metropolitan Opera National finalists, finalists in the International Verdi Baritone Competition, among other awards.
He earned a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from the DePauw University School of Music while studying with Thomas Fitzpatrick (a protégé of the great American baritone, Mack Harrell) and went on to earn an Artist Diploma in Opera and a Master of Music in Voice Performance from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, under the tutelage of the great Italian basso Italo Tajo. Among his other interests is work to improve conditions and opportunities for the homeless of our society.