Derek lee ragin, countertenor, male alto, is the recipient of many major awards and prizes including the Purcell-Britten Prize at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1983, First Prize in the 1986 Munich International Music Competition, and the Prix Special du Jury du Grand Prix Lyrique de Monte Carlo in 1988. Major debuts in the United States include: 1988 at the Metropolitan Opera, 1991 New York recital debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and 1992 at the Opera theatre of saint Louis. Mr. Ragin frequently performs in Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and appears with major orchestras such as the Baltimore, Pittsburgh and San Francisco Symphonies. Derek Lee Ragin gave his European recital debut at London's Wigmore Hall in 1983 and since then sings recitals extensively across Europe. He made a highly acclaimed debut at the 1990 Salzburg Festival, in the title role of Gluck's Orfeo with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, John Eliot Gardiner conducting, and repeated this performance in London at the Proms. Born in New York and raised in New Jersey, he studied voice at the Newark Boys' Chorus School and piano and music education at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. On disc, Mr. Ragin can be heard in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, in the title role of Handel's Tamerlano, in Bernstein's Missa Brevis with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, in Handel's Flavio and Saul and Hasse's Cleofide. Mr. Ragin's solo recordings include songs by Purcell and Britten, Vivaldi Cantatas, and Handel Cantatas.