Davóne Tines

Heralded as "[one] of the most powerful voices of our time" by the Los Angeles Times, bass-baritone Davóne Tines has come to international attention as a path-breaking artist whose work not only encompasses a diverse repertoire but also explores the social issues of today. As a Black, gay, classically trained performer at the intersection of many histories, cultures, and aesthetics, he is engaged in work that blends opera, art song, contemporary classical music, spirituals, gospel, and songs of protest, as a means to tell a deeply personal story of perseverance that connects to all of humanity. 

This fall, Tines makes a number of important debuts at prominent New York institutions, including BAM, Carnegie Hall, Park Avenue Armory, and with the New York Philharmonic. His recent and ongoing projects include the New York premiere of Everything Rises, a collaboration with violinist Jennifer Koh based on their experiences as musicians of color in a predominantly white field. He also performs Recital No. 1: MASS, a program exploring the Mass woven through Western European, African-American, and 21st-century traditions, with performances this season at Carnegie Hall, as well as in Princeton, Baltimore, and Boston. Additionally, he performed as soloist in Tyshawn Sorey’s Monochromatic Light (Afterlife) at the Armory, and makes his New York Philharmonic debut as soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at the newly reopened David Geffen Hall. Tines continues to perform his concerto programs: Concerto No. 1: SERMON—a work he conceived for voice and orchestra that weaves arias by John Adams, Anthony Davis, Igee Dieudonné, and Tines himself, with texts by James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, and Maya Angelou, and Concerto No. 2: ANTHEM—a work that explores nationhood and our collective vision of America, created by Tines with music by Michael Schachter, Caroline Shaw and Tyshawn Sorey and text by Mahogany L. Browne. Concerto No. 2: ANTHEM premiered with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl earlier this year. 

Tines is a member of AMOC and co-creator of The Black Clown, a music theater experience commissioned and premiered by The American Repertory Theater and presented at Lincoln Center. He has premiered operas by today’s leading composers, including John Adams, Terence Blanchard, and Matthew Aucoin, and his concert appearances include performances of works ranging from Beethoven’s Ninth with the San Francisco Symphony to Kaija Saariaho’s True Fire with the Orchestre national de France. This season, he performs in John Adams’ El Niño with the Cleveland Orchestra, conducted by the composer, and sings a concert performance of Adams’ Girls of the Golden West with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. 

Tines is Musical America’s 2022 Vocalist of the Year. This season he continues his role as Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale’s first-ever Creative Partner, and beginning in January 2023 he will serve as Brooklyn Academy of Music’s first Artist-in-Residence in more than a decade. He recently served as Artist-in-Residence at Detroit Opera—an appointment that culminated in his performance in the title role of Anthony Davis’ X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X in the spring of 2022. Tines is featured on the world premiere recording of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X with Odyssey Opera and Boston Modern Orchestra Project, released this fall on BMOP/sound. He is a winner of the 2020 Sphinx Medal of Excellence; the recipient of the 2018 Emerging Artists Award from Lincoln Center; and is a member of Lincoln Center’s Collider, an innovation engine for new voices at the intersection of art, technology, and social justice. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School and Harvard University, where he also serves as guest lecturer.