Bio
Known for their “sonorous baritone” (Broad Street Review) and “commanding stage presence," (Miami Herald) Philadelphia native Matthew Maisano (they/them) enjoys performing a diverse vocal repertoire ranging from classical and opera to musical theatre, American standards, pop, and beyond. Matthew is thrilled to join Portland Opera this 2024-2025 season as one of five resident artists! You can see them as the Baritone Soloist in Elvis Costello’s The Juliet Letters, Horace Derwent in Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell’s The Shining, and Pistola in Verdi’s Falstaff. They will also appear as a soloist in various concerts, recitals, and a fully staged opera scenes program!
This past summer, Matthew returned to Hogfish (Portland, ME) to sing the roles of Director & Gendarme in a new queer adaptation of Poulenc/Apollinaire's Les mamelles de Tirésias. This inventive new production is self-described as a, "part musical, part opera, part immersive, feminist, surrealist, gender expansive romp." Matthew first appeared with Hogfish in 2022 for their inaugural season singing Woodland Spirit/Thomas (cover) in Gluck’s little known treasure, L'arbre Enchanté.
At the beginning of 2023, Matthew returned to the Baltimore/DC based art song recital series, Baltimore Musicales to sing Ravel’s Cinq mélodies populaires grecques in a program entitled, Songs of Solace, "exploring ways in which we find solace—in nature, in the divine, and in our relationships with those we love." This recital was a reprise of the same program (back by popular demand) from BM's previous season! Matthew first appeared with BM in February 2022, singing art songs by Barber, Hahn, Saint-Saëns, and Schubert in Love is in the Air, a Valentine’s Musicale. Next, Matthew made their solo debut in April 2023 with Opera Philadelphia singing "The Sergeant" in Yuval Sharon's critically acclaimed "reverse" retelling of Puccini’s La Bohème. During Opera Philly's fall O23 Festival, Matthew also appeared in a solo act (as their drag persona, Balena Canto) in Late Night Snacks, "A mixed-plate performance that’s 50% cabaret destination, 50% neighborhood jawn, and 100% good to the last bite." This month-long cabaret series was a co-production between Opera Philadelphia, The Bearded Ladies Cabaret, and The Philly Fringe Festival! Matthew spent two weeks in July 2023 singing throughout France's Loire-Valley with Opera-Cation! Along with a cohort of four other singers, Matthew performed in concerts at several churches and other performance venues throughout the picturesque farm-lands of The Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Opera-Cation's mission is to foster community and a shared love of music between American singers and the people of rural France. Ending 2023 (like many classical vocalists), Matthew was the bass soloist in Handel's Messiah at the historic Bryn Athyn Cathedral in Bryn Athyn, PA!
Additional opera/theater highlights include: The Title Role in Eugene Onegin (Russian Opera Workshop), Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro (Wilmington Concert Opera & Cleveland Institute of Music Opera Theater), Pandolfe in Cendrillon (Miami Music Festival), Senex in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum & Schaunard (cover) in La Bohème (Natchez Festival of Music), Morbio in Strauss' Die schweigsame Frau, Baptista in Kiss Me, Kate! & Escamillo (cover) in Carmen the Gypsy (Pittsburgh Festival Opera), Melchior in Amahl and the Night Visitors (Three Oaks Opera, Children's Opera Box, & Delaware Valley Opera Company), The Strong Man in Sid the Serpent Who Wanted to Sing (Penn Square Opera), Bob in The Old Maid and the Thief & First Stepsister in Warren Martin's The True Story of Cinderella (Opera Tutti!), Melissa in a queer retelling of Handel's Alcina entitled, Alcina REVAMPED (Alter Ego Chamber Opera/Philly Fringe Festival), The Witch in Hansel and Gretel (Opera on Tap: Philadelphia), Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus, Albert in Werther, and Marco in Gianni Schicchi (Temple University Opera Theater).
Additional concert highlights include: Leporello in scenes from Don Giovanni and Schlendrian in scenes from Bach's Coffee Cantata (Lancaster Symphony), Bass Soloist in Bach’s Magnificat and Mozart’s Coronation Mass (Vox Ama Deus Ensemble), Baritone Soloist in selections from Copland's Old American Songs (The Rose Tree Pops Orchestra), Bass Soloist in Schubert's Mass in G (Chapelle St. Louis de Donzague), Siméon in L'enfant prodigue, Bass Soloist in Bach's Cantata 140, Mozart's Vesperae solennes de confessore & Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit, (Trinity Church Swarthmore), Bass Soloist in Haydn's Missa in Angustiis (Fairmount Presbyterian Church), Bass soloist in Bach’s Cantata 58, Bruhn’s De Profundis, and Merula’s Credidi (Case Western Reserve University’s Baroque Chamber Ensemble).
A lover of art song, Matthew has given and performed in numerous song recitals over the years. A winner of Montpelier Arts Center's 2022/2023 Classical Recital Competition, Matthew presented a program of vocal music by
De Falla, Ravel, Respighi, and Vaughan Williams. In May 2016, Matthew was invited to perform as a young artist in Cleveland Ohio's nationally acclaimed Art Song Festival, where they participated in four days of Masterclasses with world-renowned singers and pianists. The festival culminated in a grand recital featuring all festival artists. During their thirteen year tenure as bass section leader & soloist at Trinity Church Swarthmore, Matthew performed in over a dozen song recitals (often focusing on German lied and French mélodie).
Matthew is a co-founder of Prismatic Arts Ensemble, a new Philadelphia-based performing arts collective dedicated to shifting the way audiences encounter classical music—through bold programming, immersive theatre, and fearless storytelling! They are committed to featuring the works of underrepresented artists- Black, Indigenous, and other Artists of Color; womxn; artists in the LGBTQIA+ community- as well as to cultivating a creative environment where artists and audience members alike can be fully present as their authentic selves. This August, Prismatic premiered their first full scale production, Romeo💜Juliet: An Immersive Opera Experience! Inspired by Philly’s vibrant queer history and culture, this exciting adaptation of Gounod's opera & Shakespeare's play transforms the two feuding families into rival night club owners. In this updated version, Matthew originated the role of “Drag Queen Host/Narrator” guiding the audience through the action and infusing the piece with abundant humor.
Matthew has a vibrant and active 5+ year career as drag artist, Balena Canto (Philadelphia's seductive song-wielding siren with a voice snatched for the gods)! Balena performs extensively throughout Greater Philadelphia, the tri-state area, and beyond! Nothing makes her more happy than combining her two greatest loves—drag and opera!
Matthew is a graduate of The Cleveland Institute of Music (Master of Music in Vocal Performance) and Temple University's Boyer College of Music & Dance (Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance).
Video
Audio - Opera
Daniel Foltz-Morrison, tenor & Matthew Maisano, baritone (Penn Square Music Festival, 2019)
Art Song
Musical Theater
Pop, Et Al.
Matthew singing with The Rose Tree Pops Orchestra
Reviews
Balena Canto (Matthew Maisano) opts for a more stand-and-sing approach, letting their rich voice and soulful singing speak for themselves. Perhaps, as we step outside, we shall reflect on all the little rules we impose on traditional casting for opera. But it is not every day that we witness an absolute vision in a vibrant maxi dress singing “Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen,” so in that moment, we can do nothing but indulge in the reverie. As one of the two encore songs, she steps out (and sits down) to sing “Send in the Clowns”—we are blessed with crisp, expressive English diction. As something of a maximalist, I’m always grateful when a singer reminds me that less (theatrics) can really be more, when you have a clear voice and sing from the heart.
- 360 of Opera, Chloe Yutong Yang
The bass role of Melisso becomes Melissa—and in a further act of genderqueering, the part is essayed by Balena Canto, the drag persona of Matthew Maisano, a sonorous baritone...Canto/Maisano appears to be having a ball.
-Broad Street Review, Cameron Kelsall
"In this version Cinderella’s father Pandolfe has a large role. Matthew Maisano encompassed the serious and comic elements of the role superbly. Maisano’s dark baritone and commanding stage presence gave the role greater dimension. The tenderness of the scenes with his daughter proved one of the evening’s highlights. And his turn from harried, henpecked husband to finally standing up to his wife and Cinderella’s stepsisters, garnered approving l laughter from the audience."
-Miami Herald & South Florida Classical, Lawrence Budmen
"Aplauso especial, para Matthew Maisano como el Padre, el personaje de carácter en la obra,
que tuvo un hermoso dúo con DeLorenz./Special applause, for Matthew Maisano as the
Father, a person of character in the play, who had a beautiful duet with DeLorenz."
-el Nuevo Herald, Daniel Fernández
"The comic antics of Matthew Maisano (Morbio)...added greatly to the entertainment, both vocally and in appearance."
- Pittsburgh in the Round, George. B Parous
"Matthew Maisano made a physically imposing Count Almaviva."
-Cleveland Classical, Daniel Hathaway
Matthew Maisano joined Bergan in a duet from Massenet’s Manon...the performance of the duet was an unqualified winner...Maisano gave a forceful rendition of Count Almaviva’s aria from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.
-West Lake West Bay Village Observer, Louise Seeholzer
"The aria by the Count, sung by Matthew Maisano, is a soliloquy of sorts about his concern of how he is viewed by his servants. An aria that Bamberger said has been labeled the “greatest psychological aria in opera.” Maisano conveyed well the deep emotion of the composer’s work."
-West Lake West Bay Village Observer, Louise Seeholzer
"Matthew Maisano made an impressive ROW debut. His voice is stentorian at full-throttle - he sings Puccini's Michele - yet he can hone it to delicate soft singing...Matthew deftly conveyed Onegin's eternal boredom, peppered with superciliousness, condescension, misogyny and general lack of empathy...Matthew, a tall man, sang Onegin's famous aria, 'Когда бы жизнь домашним кругом' with a compelling sense of bel canto line, all the while literally looking down on a cringing, cowering Tatyana, dramatically ratcheting up, thereby, the lass's humiliation...At Gremin's society cotillion, where Onegin rediscovers the newly minted
Tatyana, Matthew, animated by his character's reawakened passion, made the love -
struck arioso, 'Ужель та самая Татьяна' containing an ironic reprise of the principal Letter
Scene melody, a vocal high point of the evening."
-Lew's Opera Views and Experiences in Tempo (Internet Blog), Lew Loesberg
News
9/24/24: "Welcome to Hell’s Kitchen, where a crimson-hued haven known as Red Eye NY beckons to passers-by. Tonight, it’s not just another cabaret or drag show: Cantata, a “Queer Classical Music Kiki of epic proportions,” is redefining the boundaries of opera and drag culture." - 360 of Opera
6/3/22: Matthew sits down with Voyage Baltimore Magazine to discuss their life and career as an classical singer and a drag artist! Click the above image to read this exciting interview!
12/2021: LA based designer and opera diva, Suzanne
Vinnik introduces the "Maisano" print (named after yours truly) to her stunning clothing line, by vinnik! Purchase your very own "Maisano" print before they sell out! Just click the above photos!
12/27/2021: A clip from my interview with The Empowered Musician where I talk about being able to fulfill my queer opera dreams this past summer as Melissa in Alter Ego Chamber Opera's unique and stunning production of Alcina REVAMPED! Thank you so much for the feature!
11/05/2020: Soprano and Host of Fermata Fashion, Rachel Sigman sits down with opera singer and drag performer Matthew Maisano aka Balena Canto as they discuss the intersecting worlds of opera and drag, inclusivity and growing up to be the person you were meant to be.
10/15/2018: Company Feature: Wilmington Concert Opera
Matthew appears in Modern Singer Magazine's featurette on Wilmington Concert Opera and their Fall 2018 production
of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro
05/2018: Matthew appears on LMTV's The Library Show to discuss his career in opera and classical music. The
segment begins at the 12:58 mark.
11/02/2015: "The Making of Figaro" Episode 8: Recitative
Matthew appears in the Cleveland Institute of Music's online docuseries about the institute's fall 2015 production of
Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro
10/20/2015: "The Making of Figaro" Episode 2: Meet the Cast
Matthew appears in the Cleveland Institute of Music's online docuseries about the institute's fall 2015 production of
Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro.
