Tenor AARON BLAKE (Sultan Achmet), a native of Palos Verdes, California, has received degrees from the Juilliard School and Rice University. He was the 2009 recipient of the Brena Hazzard Scholarship in Voice from Mu Phi Epsilon. He has appeared on stage as Tamino in Die Zauberflote, Il Contino Belfiore in La finta giardiniera, Sam Kaplan in Street Scene, Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. In the summer of 2009, Blake appeared with Santa Fe Opera performing Evandre in Gluck’s Alceste. In 2009 he also made his concert debut with soprano Renée Fleming under the baton of Larry Rachleff.

In the 2009 / 2010 season Blake made his Utah Symphony and Utah Opera debuts with Handel’s Messiah and the roles of El Remendado in Carmen, Tamino in Die Zauberflote, and Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi. He also performed the role of Brian in Nico Muhly’s new opera, Two Boys, which was workshopped at the Metropolitan Opera and is scheduled to premiere in the 2013 / 2014 season. This summer, Aaron sang Don Ottavio in Music Academy of the West’s production of Don Giovanni. Highlights of Blake’s 2010 / 2011 season include Tybalt in Roméo et Juliette with Dallas Opera and Fenton in Falstaff with Utah Opera.