Whether it’s Julius Eastman’s “Prelude to the Holy Presence of Joan of Arc,” Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis,” or Anthony Davis’s “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X,” listening to Davóne Tines sing is like watching rock climber Alexander Honnold free solo up El Capitan: You’re struck by the raw power and voltage of his stentorian baritone, which accentuates—rather than eclipses—the gravity of the works he scales. His recent performance of “Prelude” sent the rosary-like repetitions of Eastman’s text echoing against the octagonal walls of Berlin’s Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church with evangelical force.
Offstage, Tines is more soft-spoken. When asked a question, he takes a moment to pause before responding in a philosophical paragraph that often wanders into sociology (which he studied as an undergraduate at Harvard before doing his master’s at Juilliard). I met with Tines near the Kaiser Wilhelm church, where he was rehearsing a program with the Berliner Singakademie that interwove several Eastman works with three movements from Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis.” It was part of a concert schedule that, as we were sitting down to lunch, he said had kept him on the road for 300 out of the last 365 days.
Where the Trees Are
An interview with Davóne Tines
