Ray Chenez is an American countertenor, specializing in baroque and contemporary repertoire. Recent concert highlights include Bach cantatas 62, 133, and 153 at SUNY Fredonia as a guest artist, and Messiah in Buffalo, NY. Operatic highlights include the role of Arsamene in Handel’s Serse, and Oberon in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Florida State Opera. He has won Second and Fourth prize in the Opera Birmingham Vocal Competition, in 2011 and 2010 respectively. In 2008, Ray Chenez appeared as a soloist with the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay in Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and Missa Brevis. He won Third Place in the Orpheus Vocal Competition in Murfreesboro, TN, and Third Place in the Suncoast Opera Guild Competition in St. Petersberg, FL. Other notable solo appearances include the role of the Israelitish Man in Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus under the baton of André Thomas, Purcell’s Dioclesian at the Amherst Early Music Festival, and the Monteverdi Vespers of 1610. He has sung with Seraphic Fire, Miami’s professional chamber choir. Ray Chenez holds a Doctor of Music degree in vocal performance from Florida State University, where he also holds a Master of Arts Degree. He received a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from SUNY Fredonia. His teachers include Wanda Brister, Michael Dean, Roy Delp, and Delia Wallis.
~ OSB Debut
* 2011|2012 Studio Artist
