Young tenor Brian Giebler, active in concert, opera and musicals, has lived in New York City with his husband of 8 years, attorney Jordan Peterson, since 2013. Recently, he has made recordings spanning four centuries of music.

In “A Lad’s Love,” which is a spirited CD collaboration with pianist Steven McGhee of English songs written by gay composers and poets — mainly but not exclusively from the early 20th century — Giebler has suddenly been propelled to greater recognition. The CD is nominated for a Best Classical Solo Vocal Album Grammy and he was named Musical America magazine’s January “Artist of the Month.”

Gay City News conducted an email exchange with the Syracuse-born singer.

Opera has always been known as the instrument of psychic and social health. But last year it also became a risk of physical health. Just when we needed culture the most, 2020 became a year of pandemic and a year without opera. Therefore both artists and opera institutions are confronting a crisis of their own. The arts generated a greater percentage of unemployment claims than even the hospitality sector, hundreds of independent music venues have closed...

...U.S. & Canada
Arts and Culture is an $800 billion U.S. industry. But last year all opera productions in the USA and Canada were canceled or postponed.

Institutions started publishing expected revenue shortfall calculations and by the end of March, the Metropolitan Opera announced that it expected to lose $60 million in revenue (that has resulted in its Orchestra musicians remaining without pay since March and some lingering contract disputes hanging over the company). At that time the United States federal government announced a $2 trillion economic stimulus package in the Coronavirus Aid and Relief, which included: “$75 million for the National Endowment for the Arts and $75 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities.” Cultural venues that didn’t fit neatly into categories qualifying for relief were facing the possibility of bankruptcy if forced to keep running at reduced capacities.

About half of all opera singers in the U.S, and Canada are self-employed and most rely on short-term contracts and one-off gigs. In response, many freelance musicians struggled to make ends meet, worrying about rent and contemplating nonmusical careers. The US had opted to allow freelance musicians to access Pandemic Unemployment, and for several months, even supplemented that with an additional boost. Many grants were also provided by the American Guild of Musical Artists Relief Fund, Arts Leaders of Color Emergency Fund, New Music Solidarity Fund, etc.

Tenor Brian Giebler also found organizations that provided him a small honorarium that retracted the fee or reserved it for the future. Such organizations as TENET Vocal Artists and Trinity Wall Street opted to honor contract fees, which he calls “a huge blessing.” Early Music America and New Music Solidarity Fund also offered small grants throughout the year.

“As with most arts communities in the world, 95 percent of live opportunities in NYC and the US were shut down,” Giebler reflected. “But other countries have seemingly done a better job at keeping their numbers down to safely re-open a bit sooner. Until the vaccine or herd-immunity really take hold here in the US, I have doubts about the confidence of presenters putting any sort of contract together.”...

...Giebler added that “the only work that has come my way has been in front of my phone to pre-recorded back-up tracks that are then doctored together to be released, again, on the internet.“ According to him, in the US some organizations found ways of prepping music over Zoom, meeting up in person after being masked, distanced, and tested.

“Last year there were many small recording projects, made by less than seven people for release on the internet,” Giebler noted....

“Over the long haul, neither presenters nor performers can sustain a living on the smaller, socially distanced audience sizes” Giebler warned.

...With less differentiation between genres, large opera organizations might begin functioning as media companies, producing entertainment and education driven formats. Giebler noted that the creative responses artists came up with to the challenges of the pandemic were inspiring and as ideas could be useful in the future...

...Davidson agrees that concerts next year will look vulnerable and planning for them is complicated, while Giebler has heard from several colleagues that “performances for the fall of 2021 have already started to cancel.”...

...On the other side, there is the glittering hope that the vaccine brings, as it reaches more people. Only after the vaccine roll-out does Giebler “see the possibility to have a better discussion about when live performances – in the circumstances familiar to us in the past – can start happening again.”...

Most governments are shutting opera houses down for now till April (there will be no public performances in Germany until Easter). Right now is a tough time to answer the question of the future. It’s hard to stay positive and grounded when 2021 stands as a big question mark, with reality still full of dread, but hope for change lingering on in the background.

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"...this recording captures a true talent, showcased through a variety of styles and sentiments and delivered with rare interpretive insight...'One of my favorite things is being onstage,' he says enthusiastically. Safe to say, he can count on that happening again, and soon."

"Brian Giebler, tenor: ‘Comfort ye’

When you step up to the stage at the beginning of 'Messiah,'  every eye in the room turns to you. For the next three minutes you have complete command over everyone’s emotions.

'Comfort ye' is my moment to take everyone’s anxiety, and pause for a second to reflect on why we’re here. You come after the overture, which is this almost chaotic moment, like everybody bustling about trying to get presents, or running to Carnegie Hall after a busy day of work. And then the beginning of 'Comfort ye' is so solemn.

What I’m after is a sense of calm. It’s all about long lines. Baroque ornamentation is fun, but here, it’s about taking time and not doing anything too flashy."

In his impressive solo recording debut a lad’s love, released on Bridge Records, the New York City-based tenor turns his focus to British songs from the first half of the 20th century — a mix of cycles and individual works — and tops off the playlist with a touch of the modern...

One such work is the opener, Ivor Gurney’s Ludlow and Teme. A must-listen, it’s the perfect introduction to Giebler’s bold, clear, and ringing tenor, and on at least one occasion his heavenly falsetto. It also shows off the skill and perceptiveness of the entire ensemble as they convincingly navigate a variety of moods...

At the opposite end of the disc is another memorable sextet, “Because I liked you better” from Ian Venables’ Songs of Eternity and Sorrow (2004). The lone venture outside of the 20th century, its sound world still fits nicely into the tradition of English song. But its sadness is perhaps more forward and raw than any of the earlier material, making its impact at the conclusion of the playlist all the more stunning.

Another highlight is Benjamin Britten’s Canticle II: “Abraham & Isaac.” In the role of the father, Giebler fills his voice with religious conviction, while countertenor Reginald Mobley brings beautiful sensitivity to the son who gradually comes to terms with the idea of being sacrificed.

McGhee offers characterful underpinning in Britten’s sometimes quirky writing, and the pair of singers mingle and trade off parts with artfulness and precision. Most poignant is when, in the end, after Isaac has in fact been spared, Giebler and Mobley join together in “Amen” — a mirror image of the beginning, when they sang together as the voice of God.

Art-song duos by Britten, Peter Warlock, Roger Quilter, and John Ireland offer vivid pictures of emotion, and showcase the tight-knit partnership between Giebler and McGhee. In a few of them, the tenor hints at his experience in musical theater with an extra pure and straight-toned voice..."

"Cantica Obsoleta: Forgotten Works from the Düben Collection. ACRONYM. Olde Focus Recordings FCR917

It is no wonder why listening to the repertoire on ACRONYM’s latest disc is so rewarding. The 12 pieces are culled from 2,300 in the collection of the Düben family, whose members over three generations served as Kapellmeisters for the Royal Swedish Court in Stockholm; they are the best of the best...

...why these individualistic and characterful works should ever have become obsolete is a question hard to answer. The good news that yet another example of historical injustice in the field of music is being set aright. ACRONYM has a reputation for doing just that in their concerts and recordings.

The instrumentalists of ACRONYM are also among the best of the best...Listening to the vocalists — soprano Hélène Brunet, alto Reginald Mobley, tenor Brian Giebler, and bass Jonathan Woody — in the opening phrase of Cantate domino canticum novum by Johann Philipp Krieger (1649-1725), the word that comes to mind is opulent — four gem-like voices that reflect off each other as if set in a diadem...

...Herr, wenn ich nur dich habe by Johann Martin Radeck (1623-84) starts with a long instrumental movement before the tenor begins his aria of brave devotion. Radeck flourished as an organist at a number of churches in Copenhagen. I hope he had a tenor with the same ringing and spacious quality as Giebler..."

"...For their 10th album, Cantica Obsoleta, the Baroque band has selected instrumental and vocal works from what is known as the Düben Collection, a set of 2,300 manuscripts in the library of Uppsala University in Sweden...Based on what’s packaged here, the Düben is truly buried treasure...

...Each vocalist receives their own solo track...A long, thoughtful introduction from the instrumentalists of ACRONYM sets the stage for tenor Brian Giebler’s solemn, spirited, and dramatic portion of Herr, wenn ich nur dich habe, by Johann Martin Radeck..."

"...the beauty, sweetness, and youthful sheen of Brian Giebler's extremely fine tenor is ideally suited for this collection of English songs...Giebler's innate sincerity...is so intelligently allied with his choir boy-like tonal clarity that it unfailingly brings the beauty and meaning of his chosen songs and lyrics to the fore...Giebler gives his considerable all to the recording’s centerpiece, Britten’s almost 17-minute Canticle II, Abraham & Isaac Op. 51 (1952).  Ideally abetted and balanced by countertenor Reginald Mobley, whose Isaac sounds so sweet, innocent, desperately fearful, and trusting that you could cry, Giebler imbues Abraham with convincing passion. His swell from piano to forte is seamless, and the performance so convincing that you’d think Britten wrote Canticle II for him and Mobley rather than his partner, Peter Pears, and Kathleen Ferrier...Ultimately, A Lad’s Love is a collection of beautifully sung English songs that explore the love and loss at the core of the human experience. Like all great art, the meaning and beauty of songs and lyrics are universal. Highly recommended."

"Perhaps the finest was the tenor Brian Giebler’s aria, 'Erwäge' ('Consider'), rendered with lovely tone and deep expressivity, and beautifully accompanied by the violinists Lorenzo Colitto and Beth Wenstrom."

"The aria soloists each brought personality and a high degree of musicality to their work and were markedly different in voice from the leading characters. There was not a weak link in the bunch. The sweetness of Giebler’s impressive high tenor created the image of a youth witnessing the passion unfolding before him, yet only able to internalize his thoughts about the action. Giebler was especially fine in the coloratura da capo aria Erwäge ('Ponder'). In the repeated first section, he reduced his dynamic, yet was in full control of his sound and the many notes. He was the only one of the soloists who did much in the way of added ornamentation during the da capo repeats." 

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"It's not always the case that vocal soloists and choruses rise to the same level as their instrumental colleagues, but on Friday evening, sopranos Molly Netter and Madeline Apple Healey, countertenor Daniel Moody, tenors Brian Giebler and Jacob Perry, baritone David McFerrin, and Apollo’s Singers were every bit as polished as Apollo’s Fire itself. Moody’s bright, strong voice, Netter’s rich but lithe singing, Perry’s warm tone and communicative skill, Giebler’s expressive and elegant phrasing, and McFerrin’s robust declamation distinguished both recitatives and arias in the two cantatas, and Healey and Moody contributed a lovely duet in the “Domine Deus” of the Mass...a brilliant concert."

"Those who say they like or don’t like the music of Igor Stravinsky risk being detained for further questioning: which of the different styles the composer took on and discarded during his long 20th-century career are you referring to? There were several to be heard on The Cleveland Orchestra’s all-Stravinsky program on Thursday evening, all masterfully performed under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst with the help of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and Miami’s Seraphic Fire...

The second half of the program was devoted to Exhibit D, a single work from Stravinsky’s late period. After toying with 12-tone composition, he finally went all the way with Threni: Lamentations of Jeremiah in 1957-58, creating a work that Welser-Möst, in an unusual speech to the audience, called “hellishly difficult.” So difficult, in fact, that its early performances in Venice and Paris were disastrous.

Scored for large orchestra, chorus, and vocal sextet, Threni sets the Hebrew letters that head each verse of Jeremiah’s bleak poetry about the desecration of Jerusalem along with the traditional Latin text of the Book of Lamentations...

...The performance was ritualistic, riveting, and thoroughly impressive. The six singers from Seraphic Fire (Margot Rood, Margaret Lias, Steven Soph, Brian Giebler, James K. Bass, and Charles Wesley Evans), prepared by founder Patrick Dupré Quigley, were in complete command of their vocal roles, plucking entrance notes seemingly out of thin air...

...This was the kind of performance that would have delighted Stravinsky in 1958 — one that he never lived to hear...."

"Brian Giebler (Arnalta) used his high-placed tenor with great skill, illuminating the camp episodes but offering a ravishing 'Adagiati, Poppea'."

Brian as Apollo in Handel's Semele with The English Concert and Clarion Choir, under the direction of Harry Bicket.

“Brian Giebler brought impressive legato and attractive timbre to Apollo who brings the good news that a phoenix, actually baby Bacchus, will rise out of Semele’s ashes. A number of F-sharps were especially refulgent and Giebler has excellent breath control and an appealing light vocal color...” 

"Handel’s operatic genius comes through most powerfully in his arias for lower voices. The baritone John Brancy, singing with Musica Sacra, summoned real fire-and-brimstone energy in “Why do the nations so furiously rage together.” His onstage colleague Brian Giebler showed that tenors can storm, too, in a temperamental “Thou shalt break them” that ended with him slamming his score shut."

Brian as Arnalta in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea with Boston Baroque:

"At Friday evening’s performance at Jordan Hall, the top-shelf cast admirably carried the serpentine plot, which often turns from tragedy to triumph and comedy to agony within the space of a few notes. For the most part, the singers inhabited their roles with great nuance, and no character was easy to wholly love or hate. The strong supporting cast further elevated the show. The best among those included Emily Marvosh devastating as the spurned empress Ottavia, Brian Giebler as a bawdy and sweet Arnalta, Sonja DuToit Tengblad doing double duty as the goddess Fortuna and the easily duped lady Drusilla, Kevin Langan as a staid, rational Seneca, and Carrie Cheron as a bratty Cupid and randy pageboy.”

Brian as Apollo in Handel's Semele with The English Concert and Clarion Choir, under the direction of Harry Bicket:

“Brian Giebler, in his deus-ex-machina cameo as Apollo, sang with a light, pleasing tenor.” 

"But most impressive over all was Brian Giebler, a tenor, singing Mordecai with bright, clear tone and lively personality."

Brian as Arnalta in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea with Boston Baroque:  

“Brian Giebler couldn’t help camping up Poppea’s cross-dressing nurse Arnalta, who realizes she soon will be ascending to be a great lady at court. Again we’ve seen this kind of thing before, but I enjoyed his voice and campy stage presence.” 

"Hodgins as the older Cosette also manages some beautiful vocal moments and she's the perfect counterpart for the dashing Giebler whose voice would make anyone melt."

"...Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John Passion in Gamble Auditorium on the BW campus. Festival Director Dirk Garner conducted the Motet Choir and a professional orchestra that included members of Chatham Baroque, who had performed earlier in the Festival...Brian Giebler’s high lyric tenor was true in sound and intonation, and captured the emotions of the text. Perhaps his most effective moments were in the unaccompanied Civil War song, 'Just Before the Battle, Mother.' It was heartbreakingly simple.”

"No matter how many times audiences have visited the titular setting in Stephen Sondheim's Into The Woods, it's likely they've never seen the woods quite like in Charlottesville Opera's clever and masterful production running through August 5 at the Paramount Theatre. Brian Giebler may have outgrown the beanstalk but proves that age doesn't matter onstage, bringing loads of energy and childlike mannerisms to the pivotal role of Jack. His spotless tenor vocals are a highlight of the production."

Brian as Apollo in Handel's Semele with The English Concert and Clarion Choir, under the direction of Harry Bicket:

"The brief deus-ex-machina part of Apollo was voiced with shine and clarity by Brian Giebler."

"One happy find among the young leads is Brian Giebler, whose choirboy looks and faultless high tenor make him a winning Marius, the ardent young revolutionary."