A native of Miami, Florida, heldentenor Kevin Hanek’s early musical studies included work with French baritone Gérard Souzay and the great American soprano Eleanor Steber, as well as post-graduate studies at Vienna’s Hochschule für Musik with accompanist Norman Shetler, who would become a lifelong friend and mentor. Hanek’s time in Vienna was the first of many opportunities to live and work throughout the world, achieving success in a variety of fields, including a fifteen-year career as an award-winning book designer and art director in New York. He was a 2010 Grantee of the International Festival Society, and recently returned from a European audition tour, where he sang his first stage auditions for the Opéra National de Paris, English National Opera, and Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu. Recent appearances include two recitals of German lieder this past spring for New York’s Delaware Valley Opera, and his debut as tenor soloist in performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Reno Philharmonic. He has appeared as Riccardo in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera and Radamès in Aïda with Bulgaria’s Burgas Philharmonic Orchestra, and as the Majordomo in the New York premiere of Hans Werner Henze’s Das Ende einer Welt. Upcoming appearances include his first performances of the title role in Verdi’s Otello in June 2012, in a new production with the Delaware Valley Opera.