Praised for his ringing voice and easy stage presence, Korland Simmons is quickly making a name for himself. A social justice advocate, Korland has been actively engaged in music that speaks for those who have no voice. In 2015 he joined a group of black male artists for an evening of music, poetry and prose at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (New York). This Freedom Concert, a response to the killings of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and countless others, benefitted the ACLU and included a brief performance on MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry Show. Korland’s socially aware performances continued in 2016 and 2017 with Chorosynthesis Singers’ (Seattle) Empowering Silenced Voices and two more installments in the growing Freedom Concert series (2016-Trinity Wall Street and 2017-Holy Trinity Lutheran Church).

 

As a budding opera performer, he has continued to add new roles to his repertoire. In the past two years his operatic role debuts have included: Don Basilio/Don Curzio (Le Nozze di Figaro), Mendoza (Hiram Titus’ Rosina), and Mime (Das Rheingold).

Korland’s previous operatic roles include Remus (Treemonisha), Remendado (Carmen), Eduardo Milfort (La Cambiale Matrimonio) and Mayor Upfold (Albert Herring). A frequent interpreter of new works, he premiered Shawn Jaeger’s The Generals, Richard Webster’s Empathy, and sang the role of Conrad in Thomas Pasatieri’s The Goose Girl. His oratorio credits include the Mozart Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, and Bach’s Magnificat in D.

 

  Korland is a native of Little Rock, AR and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Duke University. He continued his vocal studies at the University of Michigan under the tutelage of George Shirley. He currently studies with Neil Semer.