“Earl Wellington Hazell as Booker T. Washington…peppered the story with layers. Hazell in particular [was] memorable and authoritative…” Utah Theatre Bloggers review of the Utah Festival Opera production of Ragtime
“As the Speaker, Earl Hazell sang with dark tonal colors that rang true.”
Opera Today, review of the Phoenix Opera production of Die Zauberflöte
“Earl Hazell sang the Commissioner with a stentorian voice.”
Opera Today, review of the Phoenix Opera production of La Traviata
ReverbNation Electronic Press Kit
The mysterious “Second Man” in the Cincinnati Opera world premiere of Castor and Patience by composer Gregory Spears and Pulitzer-prize winning poet laureate Tracy K. Smith (directed by Kevin Newbury); the joyful “Renty” of the San Francisco Opera production of Rhiannon Giddens’ Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Omar, and “The Preacher” of the critically acclaimed production of Terrence Blanchard’s Champion at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Earl Hazell, Basso Cantante is a native New Yorker and singing actor who continues to explore the hidden character in character roles of operas & musicals–nationally and internationally, classic works and new.
Debuting in 2008 as Nelson and returning in 2015 as Jim in Porgy and Bess, Earl rejoined Lyric Opera of Chicago as part of the cast of Verdi’s Nabucco, directed by Matthew Ozawa and conducted by Maestro Carlo Rizzi, and for their 2020 production of Wagner’s Ring cycle. Earl has also performed with San Francisco Opera, Tulsa Opera, Arizona Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Townsend Opera of California and Phoenix Opera; performing and covering roles such as Colline of Puccini’s La Boheme; Porgy and Crown of the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess; Zuniga of Bizet’s Carmen; Ferrando of Verdi’s Il Trovatore; Joe of Jerome Kern’s Show Boat; Booker T. Washington of Flaherty & Ahrens’ Ragtime; Sarastro and The Speaker of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte; Ramfis and Amonasro of Verdi’s Aida.
Earl debuted with Tulsa Opera as The Speaker in their production of Die Zauberflöte; with San Francisco Opera as Jim in Porgy and Bess (nationally televised on PBS); and with Phoenix Opera as Zuniga in their production of Carmen. As a featured soloist with the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra, he alternately performed the roles of Cascada and Kromov in their production of The Merry Widow in Tucson, before returning to perform the role of Leporello in a concert presentation of Don Giovanni. His Arizona Opera debut was in the cameo role Il Contadino in their production of Pagliacci.
Earl returned to Phoenix Opera as Sarastro for their touring production of Die Zauberflöte in November; the Speaker for their mainstage Die Zauberflöte production in the Phoenix Orpheum Theatre in December; and his acclaimed work in the cameo role of Il Commissario in their production of La Traviata. He also returned to Arizona Opera as the Old Gypsy of Verdi’s Il Trovatore and Bishop Dyer in the original opera workshop of composer Craig Bohmler’s Riders of the Purple Sage.
Earl, who also debuted as Jim with San Francisco Opera for their production of Porgy and Bess, returned to San Francisco Opera for their production of Show Boat–with Director and Conductor Francesca Zambello & John de Main, singers Patricia Racette & Morris Robinson, actors Bill Irwin & Harriet Harris, and his wife, Alexis Davis Hazell. Both Zambello productions of Porgy and Bess and Show Boat at San Francisco Opera are sold internationally on DVD and nationally televised on PBS.
A graduate of the La Guardia High School of the Arts at Lincoln Center, the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, CUNY and the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre, Earl has performed with the New York Philharmonic numerous times, including their landmark performances of the Britten War Requiem under Kurt Masur in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine; the Beethoven Ninth Symphony under Zuben Mehta in the United Nations; and the nationally televised Beethoven Choral Fantasy with pianist Alfred Brendel in the One Hundredth Anniversary of Carnegie Hall, conducted by James Levine of the Metropolitan Opera.
Earl was the Bass soloist for the Grand Canyon University Symphony Orchestra productions of the Verdi Requiem and Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem; as Talpa in Il Tabarro for the Utah Festival Opera production of Puccini’s Il Trittico and Booker T. Washington for their production of Ragtime; as Bass soloist for Bach’s Mass in B minor with the American Festival Chorus & Orchestra and Utah Festival Opera Orchestra under Maestro Craig Jessop; as Pilate in Bach’s St. John Passion for MusicaNova of Phoenix under Maestro Warren Cohen; as Bass soloist for the Scottsdale Symphony Orchestra production of the Beethoven Ninth Symphony; and appeared to critical acclaim at the Interlakes Theatre in New Hampshire and at Arizona Broadway Theatre as Joe in their productions of Kern’s Show Boat.
A recurring featured soloist throughout the United States and Spain with the American Spiritual Ensemble founded by Dr. Everett McCorvey, he has also worked with Opera Ebony of New York on several seminal productions. These include the critically acclaimed Gounod’s Faust and the internationally televised production Jessye Norman Sings for the Healing of AIDS with Jessye Norman, Max Roach, authors Maya Angelou & Toni Morrison, choreographer Bill T. Jones, actresses Anna Deveare Smith & host Whoopi Goldberg, and special guest Elton John; directed by George C. Wolfe. With the Moses Hogan Singers, he had the pleasure of working personally with the composer for Give Me Jesus: the recording of his signature Spirituals arrangements for his ensemble and the celebrated soprano Barbara Hendricks, produced and recorded by EMI.
Earl has debuted with Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Tulsa Opera, Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre, Cincinnati Opera, Phoenix Opera and Arizona Opera, where he has covered, workshopped and performed roles that include Ramphis and Amonasro in Verdi’s Aida; Nelson, Jim, Undertaker, Lawyer Frazier, Robbins, Jake, Crown and Porgy of Porgy and Bess; Il Contadino in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci; Joe of Kern & Hammerstein’s Showboat; Booker T. Washington of Flaherty & Ahrens, Ragtime; Vecchio Zingaro in Verdi’s Il Trovatore; Sarastro and the Speaker of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte; Balthazar of Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors; Colline of Puccini’s La Boheme; Titan of Kevin Day’s Lalovavi; Talpa of Puccini’s, Il Tabarro, and Zuniga of Bizet’s Carmen. 2023 marked his return to Druid City Opera as Raimondo of Lucia di Lammermoor in Tuscaloosa, AL (where he lives with his wife, Dr. Alexis Davis-Hazell, Mezzo-soprano and UA Professor of Voice & Diction). He covered Raimondo in their recent production of Lucia at Cincinnati Opera.
It is through his treasured relationship with the quintessentially American opera Porgy and Bess, however, that Earl has become a citizen of the world. Soon after performing in the ensemble of the historic Götz Friedrich production in the Theatre Des Westens, Berlin, he has performed a variety of roles in numerous productions of the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess throughout Western Europe and the UK, Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, Estonia, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad & Tobago, and throughout North America, including in theSemperoper of Dresden; Centro Cultural de Belem of Lisbon; Theatre Carre, Amsterdam; Palacio de Bellas Artes of Mexico City; Elgin Theatre of Toronto; the Royal Albert Hall of London, and the Teatro dell’ Opera of Rome. They include the principle and character roles of Jake, Jim, the Undertaker, Robbins, Nelson and Lawyer Frazier throughout the continental United States and Hawaii; Western, Central and Eastern Europe; The United Kingdom; Australia and New Zealand; Canada and the Caribbean. Houses in which Earl performed these roles include the Hamburgische Staatsoper; Teatro Regio di Parma; Lyric Theatre of Sydney; the Centro de Belem of Lisbon; Teatro Comunale, Bologna; Royal Albert Hall, London; Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City; The Badminton Theatre, Athens; The Semperoper, Dresden; Mikhailovsky Theatre, St. Petersburg; The Festspielhaus of Baden-Baden; Opera-Théâtre d’Avignon; The Teatro dell’ Opera of Rome; and other houses throughout Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Russia, Poland, Switzerland, England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Earl performed the role of Robbins in the 2026 Dayton Opera concert production of Porgy and Bess, and will return to Lyric Opera Chicago as Renty in their 2026/27 season production of Omar.
Earl Hazell is the Founder, Executive and Artistic Director of Jazzoperetry®, Inc.: the American company which will produce his sixteen-piece jazz, vocal and poetry ensemble Rosehips, and currently produces the flagship recital series Earl and Alexis: AMERICAN SONGS.
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