Paul Tipton Vocal Master Class

Baritone Paul Max Tipton, who has a career in opera, oratorio and chamber music, will present a vocal master class at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 27, in Room 218 of the Davidson Music Center (Building 45) at Cal Poly.

Several of the Cal Poly Music Department’s leading voice students will perform and be critiqued on their performance. 

Tipton has performed and recorded throughout the United States. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has described him as a “dignified and beautiful singer.” Known for his versatility, Tipton’s repertoire includes Schütz and Monteverdi to Britten and Bolcom. 

His interpretations of the Bach “Passions” have been acclaimed for their strength and sensitivity. Recent and upcoming repertoire includes Britten’s “War Requiem,” Handel’s “Dettingen Te Deum,” Monteverdi’s “Vespers of 1610,” the title role in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” and Frank Martin’s “Sechs Monologe aus Jedermann.”

Tipton has collaborated with such artists and conductors as Simon Carrington, Ricky Ian Gordon, Paul Hillier, Craig Hella Johnson, Martin Katz, Ton Koopman, Nicholas McGegan, Helmuth Rilling, Leonard Slatkin, Masaaki Suzuki and Ted Taylor. He has recently performed with the symphonies of San Antonio, Grand Rapids, Lincoln and Stamford, appeared with the Yale Camerata, New Trinity Baroque, The Rose Ensemble, Seraphic Fire, Ensemble Florilege, the Yale Collegium Players, Lyra Baroque, Conspirare and Oregon Bach Festival.

Tipton studied in the oratorio and early music program at the Yale University Institute of Sacred Music, where he was mentored by tenor James Taylor. He also trained on full fellowship at the University of Michigan School of Music in Ann Arbor, where he trained under tenor George Shirley and mezzo-soprano Luretta Bybee.

Tipton will be performing with the Cal Poly Choirs and Symphony in a May 26 concert titled “Rule Britannia” in the Performing Arts Center's Christopher Cohan Center.

The free master class is open to the public and is sponsored by the Cal Poly Music Department, College of Liberal Arts, and the Tevis Fund for Visiting Artists.

For more information on the class, call the Music Department at 805-756-2406.