Stephen Hanna
he/him
Member of the TFC Board; Taylor Festival Choir Bass; TFC Chorus Liaison
"I love singing with TFC because I get to make top notch music with a group of people who are like family; I always love getting to come join these dear friends."
Based in Cincinnati, Ohio bass-baritone Stephen Hanna enjoys a vibrant career singing professionally with Cincinnati Opera, Queen City Opera, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Vocal Arts Ensemble, Collegium Cincinnati, Coro Volante, Bach Ensemble of St. Thomas, and in numerous other venues for oratorio, recital, and masterclass. Operatic roles include Schaunard in La bohème, Frank in Die Fledermaus, Cuno in Der Freischütz, and Bartolo in The Barber of Seville. Equally at home on the concert stage he has performed such works as Five Mystical Songs, Haydn’s Creation, Messiah, Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion, and the premiere of Kile Smith’s Canticle. An avid supporter of new music, Stephen can regularly be heard performing and recording choral works, song cycles, and operas by living composers. He has been singing with the Taylor Festival Choir for six years now and this season joined the Board of Directors and acts as Chorus Liaison. He additionally serves as an AGMA union delegate for Cincinnati Opera as well as consultant to various other music organizations advocating on behalf of singers’ rights and fair treatment.
Get to Know Stephen
My fondest TFC memory was during our 2018 ACDA concert tour. My four roommates for the tour and I all discovered we were big bourbon guys. Drinking bourbon and attending distillery tours took up much of our free time and thus "The Bourbon Five" was born. Three tenors, a baritone, and a bass... the makings of a barbershop quintet maybe?
My life's motto is "You may not be able to choose your life circumstances, but you can choose how your treat people. Treat everyone with love, care, and respect."
I'm passionate about coffee, photography, books, backpacking, and whiskey
The piece I could listen to on repeat is Joby Talbot's Path of Miracles, because it uses gorgeous music to encompass a wide gamit of emotion and create a deep thought-provoking journey individual to each singer and listener.
If I could only read three books for the rest of my life, they would be all of them, all of them, and all of them.
One of my secret indulgences is Pentatonix
Frasier is one of my favorite TV shows because Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde Pierce were an amazing comic duo who played off each other brilliantly.
I want to meet JRR Tolkien (if only if only).
