Described by The New York Times as a "glowing countertenor", Augustine Mercante enjoys an active career performing repertoire from the Baroque to the more recently created. Highlights of recent seasons include multiple performances with the American Spiritual Ensemble, including a debut at Avery Fisher Hall, a return to the West Coast for Messiah with the Mid-Columbia Symphony, Bach's Magnificat with the Delaware Choral Artists, multiple performances with Brandywine Baroque and the Serafin Ensemble (Wilmington, DE), and his return to the Oregon Bach Festival as a soloist in Bach's Christmas Oratorio and Cantata 150.
In 2014 he premiered Aaron Grad's Old-Fashioned Love Songs for countertenor and electric theorbo, an instrument which the composer created and built, and was praised by the Washington Post for his "full-bodied sweetness, exemplary pitch, and a reliably musical imagination." He also joined the Delaware Choral Artists for Purcell’s Come, Ye Sons of Art, the Newark Symphony Orchestra for its annual holiday concert, and Brandywine Baroque for an all-Vivaldi program. Additionally, Gus joined the American Spiritual Ensemble (ASE) for a tour of Ireland, France, Spain, and the southern United States and in St. Paul for Minnesota Public Radio.
In 2013, Gus was awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Delaware Division of the Arts. He was also a Vocal Fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center where his performance in the American premiere of George Benjamin's Written on Skin was described by the Wall Street Journal as "riveting" with a voice that "soared above the texture, lining the text with the haloed elegance of gold-leaf inscription". Written on Skin was named by some critics as the highlight of the Festival and was later broadcast on New York Classical Radio.
Other recent or noteworthy engagements include Handel's Dettinger Te Deum under the baton of Ton Koopman at Carnegie Hall, Bach’s Magnificat with the New York City Master Chorale and Amor Artis (NY), Orff's Carmina Burana with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, Bernstein's Chichester Psalms with the Mid-Columbia Master Singers in Washington State, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with CoroAllegro, and Messiah with the Turtle Creek Chorale (Dallas), Ft. Worth Symphony, and at the Grand Opera House (Wilmington, DE). With the Dallas Bach Society he was heard as Pontius Pilate in Handel’s rarely heard St. John Passion and in Stradella's La Susanna with Brandywine Baroque. At the University of North Texas (UNT), he appeared as Oberon in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Lidio in Cavalli's L'Egisto. Gus has twice appeared on Xiang Gao's Master Players Concert Series at the University of Delaware and was also the only non-faculty soloist at the 75 Anniversary of the University of Delaware Department of Music. He performed his cabaret recital, No Diva Left Behind, for the Wilmington Fringe Festival and participated in a concert remembering the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic for the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation.
For winning the 2007 Austrian American Society (of Wilmington, DE) Competition, Gus earned a fellowship to study in Salzburg at the Internationalen Sommerakademie Mozarteum where he was named one of two outstanding vocalists and invited to sing at the Salzburg Festival. In 2008 he won second place in the Bel Canto Vocal Competition held in Providence, RI, and was the youngest finalist in the 2008 Ft. Worth Opera Marguerite McCammon Vocal Competition. He holds additional awards from Early Music America, the University of Delaware Alumni Association, the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, the Five Towns Music and Art Foundation, the Long Island Masterworks Chorale, the Donna Reed Foundation, and the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
As a 2010 Fulbright Scholar, Gus completed post-graduate studies in Augsburg, Germany with soprano Edith Wiens and performed with opera companies in Munich, Augsburg, and Nurnberg for the International Gluck Festival. His earlier degrees are from the University of North Texas and the University of Delaware, where he was the inaugural recipient of the Robert King Memorial Scholarship.
A founding singing member and board member of the Rainbow Chorale of Delaware, Gus has been recognized many times for his commitment to the arts in Delaware and contributions to the LGBT community. He is the founder and Creative Director of LifeSongs, an organization that provides financial assistance to exemplary charities, individuals with special needs, and noteworthy community-centered projects. Through a benefit concert series to fundraise, a diversity-awareness program to educate, and the annual awarding of the John J. Oldigs Memorial Scholarship to further advance the careers of young musicians, LifeSongs has touched lives throughout the world.
Gus and his husband, Justin, live in Wilmington, Delaware where Gus maintains a private teaching studio, is on the voice faculty at The Music School of Delaware, and is a member of the Serafin Ensemble.
In 2014 he premiered Aaron Grad's Old-Fashioned Love Songs for countertenor and electric theorbo, an instrument which the composer created and built, and was praised by the Washington Post for his "full-bodied sweetness, exemplary pitch, and a reliably musical imagination." He also joined the Delaware Choral Artists for Purcell’s Come, Ye Sons of Art, the Newark Symphony Orchestra for its annual holiday concert, and Brandywine Baroque for an all-Vivaldi program. Additionally, Gus joined the American Spiritual Ensemble (ASE) for a tour of Ireland, France, Spain, and the southern United States and in St. Paul for Minnesota Public Radio.
In 2013, Gus was awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Delaware Division of the Arts. He was also a Vocal Fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center where his performance in the American premiere of George Benjamin's Written on Skin was described by the Wall Street Journal as "riveting" with a voice that "soared above the texture, lining the text with the haloed elegance of gold-leaf inscription". Written on Skin was named by some critics as the highlight of the Festival and was later broadcast on New York Classical Radio.
Other recent or noteworthy engagements include Handel's Dettinger Te Deum under the baton of Ton Koopman at Carnegie Hall, Bach’s Magnificat with the New York City Master Chorale and Amor Artis (NY), Orff's Carmina Burana with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, Bernstein's Chichester Psalms with the Mid-Columbia Master Singers in Washington State, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with CoroAllegro, and Messiah with the Turtle Creek Chorale (Dallas), Ft. Worth Symphony, and at the Grand Opera House (Wilmington, DE). With the Dallas Bach Society he was heard as Pontius Pilate in Handel’s rarely heard St. John Passion and in Stradella's La Susanna with Brandywine Baroque. At the University of North Texas (UNT), he appeared as Oberon in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Lidio in Cavalli's L'Egisto. Gus has twice appeared on Xiang Gao's Master Players Concert Series at the University of Delaware and was also the only non-faculty soloist at the 75 Anniversary of the University of Delaware Department of Music. He performed his cabaret recital, No Diva Left Behind, for the Wilmington Fringe Festival and participated in a concert remembering the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic for the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation.
For winning the 2007 Austrian American Society (of Wilmington, DE) Competition, Gus earned a fellowship to study in Salzburg at the Internationalen Sommerakademie Mozarteum where he was named one of two outstanding vocalists and invited to sing at the Salzburg Festival. In 2008 he won second place in the Bel Canto Vocal Competition held in Providence, RI, and was the youngest finalist in the 2008 Ft. Worth Opera Marguerite McCammon Vocal Competition. He holds additional awards from Early Music America, the University of Delaware Alumni Association, the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, the Five Towns Music and Art Foundation, the Long Island Masterworks Chorale, the Donna Reed Foundation, and the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
As a 2010 Fulbright Scholar, Gus completed post-graduate studies in Augsburg, Germany with soprano Edith Wiens and performed with opera companies in Munich, Augsburg, and Nurnberg for the International Gluck Festival. His earlier degrees are from the University of North Texas and the University of Delaware, where he was the inaugural recipient of the Robert King Memorial Scholarship.
A founding singing member and board member of the Rainbow Chorale of Delaware, Gus has been recognized many times for his commitment to the arts in Delaware and contributions to the LGBT community. He is the founder and Creative Director of LifeSongs, an organization that provides financial assistance to exemplary charities, individuals with special needs, and noteworthy community-centered projects. Through a benefit concert series to fundraise, a diversity-awareness program to educate, and the annual awarding of the John J. Oldigs Memorial Scholarship to further advance the careers of young musicians, LifeSongs has touched lives throughout the world.
Gus and his husband, Justin, live in Wilmington, Delaware where Gus maintains a private teaching studio, is on the voice faculty at The Music School of Delaware, and is a member of the Serafin Ensemble.
