B i o g r a p h y
Known for his broad range of repertoire and versatility of style,
American conductor Tyson Deaton has established a reputation for leading energetic and inventive performances. With his musical roots
firmly planted in the traditions of the standard operatic repertoire from
the Baroque Era to Puccini and beyond, his affinity for contemporary works is also acclaimed by audiences and critics.
Deaton is frequently entrusted with the development and premieres of new works as a musical authority, specifically with vocal and orchestral writing. He led workshops for The Falling and the Rising, by Zach Redler and Jerre Dye, co-commissioned by the United States Army Soldiers' Chorus and Field Band, and conducted the premiere of this work along with subsequent performances in New York City earlier this season. He has also worked on Matthew Peterson’s Voir Dire and Libby Larsen’s technologically innovative operatic version of Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. Other recent premieres include The Companion and Safe Word from Robert Paterson and David Cote's opera triptych, Three Way, and Tarik O'Regan and Anna Rabinowitz's The Wanton Sublime, both with American Opera Projects at Roulette in New York City.
​
Additional highlights include Hal Prince's production of Candide with New York City Opera, American Modern Ensemble's productions of Robert Paterson and Mark Campbell's The Whole Truth, and Stewart Copeland and David Bamberger's version of The Cask of Amontillado. Deaton has opened the Anchorage Opera season conducting Lucia di Lammermoor with the Anchorage Symphony while two other pinnacles of the Bel Canto canon, Norma, and Guillaume Tell, rounded out his season.
He joined San Francisco Opera for their production of Sweeney Todd, soon followed by his debut at Opera Birmingham with L'elixir d'amore. As guest conductor, he also played continuo for Le Nozze di Figaro at The Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center. He reprised this opera for his Kentucky Opera debut in 2020, following soon after the initial workshop of The Snowy Day for Houston Grand Opera.
Tyson Deaton made his Fort Worth Opera debut in the inaugural production of the "Opera Unbound" series with Tom Cipullo's Glory Denied, and is heard conducting the premiere recording this work on the Albany label. Lauded as “Best of 2013” in the Washington Post, it was also rated among the “12 Best Full-Length Opera Recordings of 2014” by OperaNews. Other digital releases include the Offenbach rarity L'île de Tulipatan (Albany), and with Julia Kogan, "In Jest," (First Hand Records - UK) recorded at Champs Hill.
Adept on the concert stage as well as in the orchestra pit, Tyson Deaton has worked with musical forces ranging from intimate to those including the Louisville Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony, Alabama Symphony, Anchorage Symphony, and The American Modern Orchestra. He has partnered with artists including Denyce Graves, Michael Norsworthy, Talise Trevigne, Linda Wang, Judith Kellock, Julie Landsman, Victoria Livengood, Craig Mumm, Othalie Graham, and Sherrill Milnes, among many others. Along with Steven LaBrie, he collaborated with the Jessica Lang Dance Company on a staged version of Die Schöne Müllerin at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, “render[ing] the score with compelling artistry,” according to the New York Times.
Deaton has been presented in recital alongside Matthew Grills at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which included Benjamin Britten's Canticle I, one of the featured events celebrating that composer's centenary. He performs regularly with baritone Matthew Worth: their most recent program touches three centuries of the American musical heritage. A fervent advocate for the music of our time, Deaton has commissioned a number of works including David T. Little's setting of
To a Stranger, co-commissioned by The Walt Whitman Project of New York.
​
Deaton's academic appointments have included those at the University of the Pacific and Lawrence Conservatory, and as an
Artist-in-Residence at McGill University in Montreal. He has been a guest at Yale, Rice, and Carnegie-Mellon Universities, and others. The singers he has coached occupy the rosters of The Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, San Francisco Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Houston Grand Opera, Liceu-Barcelona, Paris Opera, The Barbican, Oper Frankfurt, La Scala and other major venues throughout the world.
As a clinician for both pianists and singers, he is often invited to give masterclasses and lectures on collaborative and operatic literature. For Opera America he has served as a panelist for Making Connections and Career Blueprints workshops, commissioning grants, and is a featured contributor to their ArtistLink publication. Included among Deaton's adjudication activity, are the ASCAP Plus Composer Awards, the HGO Bauer Family Competition, Opera at Florham, and Sam Houston State Song Festival. He was a primary interviewee for an article centered around post-secondary classical vocal music education for ClassicalSinger magazine in the September 2013 issue.
Deaton's extensive experience as a pianist, coach, recitalist, chamber musician, and his training and work as a singer, give him a unique perspective in understanding the demands of the whole performance as a conductor: above all, encouraging individual artistry at the highest level.
​
Tyson Deaton maintains his primary residence in New York City.