David Daniels

David Daniels emerged as one of the leading countertenors during the final years of the twentieth century, recognized for the power and rounded richness of his vocal instrument. Until facing sexual assault allegations—one of which resulted in a guilty plea—he also served as a notable figure in music instruction.

Born in Spartanburg, South Carolina, on March 12, 1966, Daniels grew up with parents who both worked as voice teachers; his father instructed in a summer program affiliated with Converse College there, while his mother performed as an opera singer. He launched his performing life as a boy soprano before shifting to tenor once his voice changed. After completing a degree at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music while still singing as a tenor, he enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Michigan under the guidance of George Shirley and transitioned to countertenor technique. As he began delving into Baroque repertoire suited to the countertenor, he took the role of Nero in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea with several companies, among them the Florida Grand Opera, the Glimmerglass Opera, and, in 1996, the Brooklyn Academy of Music. That same year he made his first appearance at England's Glyndebourne Festival Opera, portraying Didymus in Handel's Theodora under the direction of the innovative theatrical figure Peter Sellars. During the late 1990s Daniels recorded two collections of Alessandro Scarlatti cantatas with conductor Nicholas McGegan for the Conifer label, then switched to Erato in 1998 for a disc devoted to Handel arias.

With further vocal maturation, Daniels came to be regarded as one of the most robust voices among a new generation of countertenors who favored a vigorous approach rather than the hooty quality associated with earlier practitioners of the range. Reviewing his portrayal of Nero, the Wall Street Journal observed that he "brought down the house with ferocious coloratura." He returned frequently to the most prominent countertenor part written in the twentieth century, Oberon in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and made his London debut in that role with the English National Opera. His repertoire encompasses major Handel countertenor assignments such as Tamerlano, Xerxes, and Jephtha—the vehicle for his Salzburg Festival debut—as well as Sesto in Giulio Cesare, the part that marked his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1999, and, in concert, a distinctive selection spanning Baroque works through Britten and embracing composers including Debussy, Gounod, and Massenet. In 1997 he became the first countertenor awarded the Richard Tucker Award.

Daniels issued additional solo recordings, among them a 2008 Erato album of Bach sacred arias and cantatas, and took part in several opera sets, such as the 2012 Glyndebourne staging of Handel's Theodora and a 2018 production of Gluck's Orfeo. Between 2015 and 2020 he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan, only to be dismissed following multiple sexual assault accusations leveled against him and his husband, conductor Scott Walters, along with his arrest on one of those charges in January 2019. On August 4, 2023, Daniels and Walters entered guilty pleas to assault charges in Houston, Texas, arising from an incident in 2010. The plea allowed Daniels to avoid incarceration, and he has stated plans to return to performing.