Ole Hass, tenor
Born in Hamburg, Germany, Hass grew up singing in the boys’ choir at St. Michael’s cathedral, where he sang with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Hermann Prey, Peter Schreier and other noted artists. At home now in the Washington, DC area, he has performed as soloist with the Washington Bach Consort, Cantate Chamber Singers, the New Dominion Chorale, the newly formed City Choir of Washington under Robert Shafer, as well as at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall in the annual sing-along of Handel’s Messiah. Last season, his performance as Evangelist in Bach’s St. John Passion at the National Cathedral and in the Christmas Oratorio, with the Bach Consort at Strathmore Hall, received critical acclaim.
In November last year, Hass sang Schumann’s song cycle Dichterliebe at the DACOR recital series in Washington. A performance of Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin with guitarist Jaume Torrent is planned for May. Hass is a founding member of the Vocal Soloists of Washington and a member of the National Gallery of Art Vocal Ensemble.
Hass recently appeared with the Alexandria Symphony and Opera of Northern Virginia as the clock maker in Ravel’s L’Heure espagnole. His opera repertory with the In Series, Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia, the Washington Savoyards and the Maryland Opera Studio includes the tenor lead roles in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni and Die Entführung aus dem Serail, as well as several world premieres such as the role of Robert Schumann in Robert Convery’s Clara.
Hass holds a DMA in vocal performance from the University of Maryland, College Park and works for RIPM: Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals (1800-1950) as editor for German-language music journals, where his work on the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung (1798-1848) is funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.