Rigoletto – Opera Co. of North Carolina (October 2009)
The production’s key element was Timothy Myers’ superbly controlled, rhythmically precise conducting, his knowing way with the score and the orchestra’s riveting execution… – Roy Dicks, Raleigh News & Observer

Orchestra concert – Castleton Festival (July 2009)
Associate Conductor Timothy Myers, who had deftly conducted the afternoon performance of Albert Herring, took the podium to lead Britten’s A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra…The winds and brass had much flair while the orchestra responded rapturously to Myers’s quiet, poised conducting. – Michael Lodico, Ionarts

Albert Herring – Castleton Festival (July 2009)
Young conductor Timothy Myers, who was also at the podium for Wolf Trap’s production of Così earlier this month, stood in for Maazel at all three performances, shaping the score confidently…  - Charles T. Downey, Washington Times

Kudos as well to conductor Timothy Myers, who was recently at Wolf Trap to conduct that opera company’s new production of “Cosi fan tutte.” Mr. Myers kept his young forces in synch throughout nearly all of this three-hour production – something we often long for in higher-priced professional productions.  - T.L. Ponick

Cosi fan tutte – Wolf Trap (July 2009)
Conductor Timothy Myers led a buoyant performance that still had room for sensitive contour, as in the Act I trio, which flowed at an endearingly unhurried pace. – Tim Smith, Opera News

Timothy Myers led a generally fine performance from the pit orchestra, with especially agile playing from the paired woodwinds…It was telling that the few moments where the busy silliness stopped and Mozart’s music was allowed to stand on its own — like the end of Un aura amorosa (where Ferrando sang to Dorabella on the other side of a door) and Fiordiligi’s Per pietà — were the most captivating ones in the production. – Charles T. Downey, Washington Times

One bright spot in this performance was the sprightly accompaniment provided by the pit orchestra under the baton of conductor Timothy A. Myers. Unhampered by the plodding stage direction, the musicians, at least, managed to have fun with Mozart’s bubbly score — including a sneaky, unscripted Wagnerian intrusion in the continuo harpsichord.  -T.L. Ponick

Conductor Timothy Myers led a basically breezy, yet often quite sensitive, performance (the Act 1 trio was allowed an affecting breadth). – Tim Smith, Clef Notes, The Baltimore Sun

La Cenerentola – Opera Company of North Carolina (February 2009)
“Conductor Tim Myers wraps the whole production in the score’s sparkling percolations, Rossini’s accelerating crescendos particularly well-balanced…Opera Company of North Carolina has set the bar high for future productions while fully confirming its regional-level credentials.” - Roy C. Dicks, Raleigh News & Observer

I Pagliacci – Opera Company of North Carolina (September 2008)
“A sensitive conductor, a confident orchestra and a quartet of powerful voices brought the Opera Company of North Carolina’s “I Pagliacci” vividly to life…Throughout, Myers found all the right moods and emotions in the score, his 37 players impressively responsive…” - Roy C. Dicks, Raleigh News & Observer

Lucia di Lammermoor – Opera Company of North Carolina (January 2008)
“The excellent work of…Timothy Myers…was evident throughout the performance.  Myers’ meticulous handling of the orchestra, his constant awareness of the needs of the singers, and his successful efforts to make sure that everyone worked together revealed his great musicianship and made clear his total understanding of the complexities of opera performance.” - Martha A. Fawbush, Classical Voice of North Carolina

“Timothy Myers conducts the modest-sized but effective orchestra with sensitivity and a good understanding of bel canto style.” - Roy C. Dicks, Raleigh News & Observer

Subscription Concert – Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (July 2007)
“…the music of the Northern Lights concert filled the concert hall with waves of resounding strength, almost of triumph. When the last notes had faded, the audience rose in a standing ovation that lasted even after the conductor’s final bow.” - Ilana Teitelbaum, Jerusalem Post

Peer Gynt – American Symphony Orchestra (October 2006)
“The American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Timothy Myers…provided exquisite accompaniment, bringing to Edvard Grieg’s lush score a tranquil narrative assurance, the show’s most consistently sustained tonal and emotional through-line. As a symphonic theater piece, this Peer Gynt is enchanting…” - Robert Fuller, EDGE New York City

“The American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Timothy Myers, is wonderful…If you spend an evening listening to the American Symphony Orchestra, you have had a good evening.” - Larry Kunofsky, NYTheatre.com

“…the American Symphony Orchestra under Timothy Myers played doughtily…”  - Anne Midgette, New York Times

Subscription Concerts – Palm Beach Symphony (January 2006, March 2007)
“The leadoff work was Felix Mendelssohn’s Overture to a Midsummer Night’s Dream…Timothy Myers led with a delicate touch by painting the actions of the work’s tiny elfin creatures and continued with a majestic music for the arriving nobles. He then switched to raucousness in producing the braying sound that reminded listeners of the donkey’s head that had been placed on Bottom’s shoulders.”  - H. David Prensky, Palm Beach Daily News

“Guest conductor Timothy Myers has already established himself as an up-and-coming opera star, and his touch with Mozart was undeniably fine.  The entire concert was delivered with taste, refinement, sparkle, grace…in short, just what one wants from Mozart.” – Ken Keaton, Palm Beach Daily News

Candide – New England Conservatory Opera Theatre
“…musically this production is a treasure.  Conductor Timothy Myers gets the balance between the orchestra and the singers quite right, and the Bernstein songs are wonderfully rendered…” – Robert Nesti, Boston Herald

“Close your eyes and listen to the music, and ”Candide” glistens.” – Ed Siegel, Boston Globe

OPERA COMPANY OF NORTH CAROLINA APPOINTS  NEW YOUNG ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP

June 9, 2008 – Raleigh, NC — Opera Company of North Carolina is pleased to announce the appointment of thirty-two-year-old Timothy Myers to the newly created position of Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor. This appointment makes Myers one of the youngest artistic leaders of an American opera company.

In the 2008-2009 season Myers will spend a total of 14 weeks in Raleigh and conduct productions of I Pagliacci, La Cenerentola, and Rigoletto.  In his advisory capacity, Myers will cast all of OCNC’s productions and assist the company with fulfilling short-term artistic goals as well as long-term artistic planning.

On his appointment Myers said “When I conducted a production of Lucia di Lammermoor at OCNC in January, I immediately recognized that the company is serious about growing and poised to make an impact in regional opera.  There’s a passion for opera in the Triangle area, and I’m excited to be involved with a growing company that is rising through the ranks of an already vibrant arts scene.”

General Director Frank Grebowski added, “Bringing Timothy on board marks a significant step forward for The Opera Company of North Carolina.  Under his guidance and utilizing his skills as a conductor, high performance standards, and artistic vision, the company’s artistic growth, maturation, and diversification will certainly accelerate.”

Mr. Myers is active as both a symphonic and opera conductor.  His recent engagements have included debuts with the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the American, Jerusalem and Palm Beach Symphonies, as well as assistant/associate engagements with the New York Philharmonic, New York City Opera, American Symphony, London BBC Symphony and the Castleton Residency.  Festival appearances have included the Bard Music Festival, Central City Opera, and Music Academy of the West.  Future engagements include an invitation from Lorin Maazel to the inaugural Castleton Festival, where he will prepare revivals of three Britten operas and alternate performances with Mo. Maazel.

New conductor insists on excellence

Raleigh News & Observer, September 21, 2009

By Roy C. Dicks, Correspondent

RALEIGH – When 33-year-old conductor Timothy Myers raises his baton Friday night for the first downbeat of “I Pagliacci,” it will signal a new era for the Opera Company of North Carolina.

The company had been without an artistic director since co-founder Robert Galbraith departed in May 2007. In June, Myers was designated principal conductor and artistic adviser, making him one of the youngest people to hold such a position in any American opera company.

Not only will Myers shape the operas presented in coming years, but his influence is immediately apparent.

Already, he has taken the highly unusual step of staging an orchestra concert of nonvocal operatic selections on the same program as this week’s opera.

Although the current season had been selected by the time he was brought on board, Myers cast Leoncavallo’s “I Pagliacci.”

He also will choose the singers for the remaining two productions. And while those operas, Rossini’s “La Cenerentola” and Verdi’s “Rigoletto,” make for another all-Italian lineup for the company, Myers wants to branch out next season.

That’s because at a time when digital or high-definition operas are playing in movie theaters across the country, Myers says he believes audiences will still attend live opera if the standards are kept high.

“Unless everything is going to be excellent, I have no interest in doing it,” Myers says.

For someone with such exacting ambitions, Myers didn’t set out to conduct operas.

“I’m from a town in Kansas of less than 20,000,” he says. “I didn’t hear a professional orchestra until I was 14, and I didn’t attend an opera until I was 21.”

Myers had applied and been accepted into culinary school, but ultimately decided to pursue musical training at a small liberal arts school in Kansas.

“I started off as a pianist, but I realized that I didn’t like spending six hours a day by myself in a room with an inanimate object,” Myers says, “and that I really liked making music with other people.”

So he decided on conducting, taking all the classes his school offered. Eager for further training, he called up every professional conductor in a 250-mile radius, asking to work with them.

One, Joel Levine with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, agreed. Levine discussed the scores with Myers, then sat him in the middle of the orchestra during rehearsals so he could learn how the instruments worked together.

After Myers’ junior year, a trip to North Carolina’s famed Brevard summer festival changed his musical life when he studied with noted accompanist Martin Katz.

“It opened my eyes working with singers and learning the repertoire,” Myers remembers.

Career built step by step

Myers later entered Florida State University’s graduate school, guided by the head of its opera program. He studied operatic scores throughout his first year and then was assigned to prepare and conduct a performance of “The Magic Flute” in the following year.

The next summer, he was invited by international opera star Marilyn Horne to be on the coaching staff of her Music Academy of the West, in Santa Barbara. Then followed preparation and conducting assignments with the Palm Beach, London BBC and Jerusalem symphony orchestras, and for opera companies in Central City, Colo.; Anchorage; and Los Angeles.

One such preparation assignment has blossomed into an ongoing mentorship with the New York Philharmonic’s Lorin Maazel, one of the world’s most lauded living conductors.

Myers came to the attention of the Opera Company of North Carolina through its collaboration with Asheville Lyric Opera on a shared production of “Lucia di Lammermoor” in January. Myers, who had conducted previously for Asheville, came as part of the package.

It was evident from his firm knowledge of the music and his easy way with the singers that he would be an asset, says Frank Grebowski, the Opera Company of North Carolina’s general director.

Grebowski and his board moved quickly to secure Myers for the post.

By the time Myers arrived in Raleigh, Grebowski was still trying to decide how to complement the intensely dramatic 75-minute “I Pagliacci.”

Myers suggested a concept with little precedent: an orchestra concert as a first half, including operatic excerpts such as “Meditation” from Massenet’s “Thaïs” and the dances from Smetana’s “The Bartered Bride.”

“I wish I could take credit for it, but it’s all Tim’s doing,” says Grebowski.

For the casting of “I Pagliacci,” Myers’ choices included veteran tenor Tonio DiPaolo, award-winning Cuban baritone Nelson Martinez and rising soprano Kerri Marcinko.

He’s working closely with stage director Richard Kagey to make sure that the production is a vivid experience, and he hints at surprises to give the production a true balance of music and drama.

“Opera is an emotional jungle gym,” Myers says. “We want to make people feel things that they might not allow themselves to feel every day.”