Regarded as one of the foremost vocal artists of our day, Derek Lee Ragin has achieved special renown for his pioneering efforts in establishing countertenor singing as an art form in his native United States. The subtlety of style, purity of tone, and emotional impact of his singing have brought new dimensions of expression to the countertenor's art. The beauty of Ragin's voice came to the attention of a wider international audience when he was heard on the soundtrack to "Farinelli," the acclaimed Sony Pictures Classics feature film based on the life of the great 18th-century castrato.
Photo: Erich Hartman/Magnum
Whatever he sings, Ragin sings with ardent musicality coupled with suppleness of technique and liquid phrasing. At times, he is the virtuoso, displaying his florid technique; but Ragin is also a singer of lyric breadth and remarkable warmth. That he can do both with such apparent ease is what makes him the artist he is. Seattle Post-Intelligence
"Ragin’s voice is an attractive instrument: the tonal quality is gentle and velvety, never harshly forced... the voice is flexible, with an agility that lends itself well to bravura passages." Sydney Morning Herald
"Derek Lee Ragin's singing [is] exquisitely beautiful, almost otherworldly in its purity and strength..." American Record Guide
in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice Derek Lee Ragin's Orpheus reveals an uninhibited, emotionally intense manner of supplication, full of chesty plunges and impassioned attack on words, which he balances with a strong sense of musical style, drawing admirably delicate effects from the application of appoggiaturas to the vocal line." Gramophone Magazine
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Ev'ry Time I Feel the Spirit
"He's got the Whole World in His Hands" (with Moses Hogan)
