Bass Voice Teachers

Hailed by Opera Now for his “believably heroic figure with a gleaming ring at the top of his vocal register,” John, in the 08/09 season, will add the roles of Samson and Tannhäuser to his repertoire. He will debut in Norway, Greece, Lithuania and Poland. In the spring of 2009, John will cover Placido Domingo in Los Angeles for the role of Siegmund in Die Walküre. He returned to the Nationaltheater Mannheim for Alvaro in La forza del destino, the title roles in both Lohengrin and Parsifal and Jason in Medée in the 2007-08 season. In previous seasons with the company, he has also sung Kaiser Die Frau ohne Schatten, Max in Der Freischütz, Siegmund in Die Walküre, Sergei in Lady Macbeth von Mtsensk, Canio in Pagliacci, and the title role in Otello.

His relationship with the Metropolitan Opera started with his participation in the company’s famed Lindemann Young Artist Development program and subsequent debut as Stolzing in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. He has since bowed there as Don Jose in Carmen, Walther von der Vogelweide in Tannhäuser, Enée in a new production of Les Troyens conducted by James Levine, False Dmitiri in Boris Godunov, Andres in Wozzeck also conducted by James Levine and recorded for television broadcast, Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten in performances conducted by Philippe Auguin and Christian Thielemann.

Highlights of his other engagements in America include Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos with Seattle Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Utah Opera, and Tulsa Opera; Bacchus and Menelaus in Die Ägyptische Helena at Santa Fe Opera; Paul in Die tote Stadt and Don Jose in Carmen at New York City Opera; a return to Lyric Opera of Chicago for Stolzing in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg; and Narraboth in Salome at Houston Grand Opera and Opera Company of Philadelphia.

Among his many international engagements are performances at the Deutsche Oper Berlin as Apollo in Daphne and Menelaus in Die Ägyptische Helena. He sang Erik in Der fliegende Holländer at the Frankfurt Opera, Menelaus in Die Ägyptische Helena and Tichon in Kát’a Kabanova at the Royal Opera at Covent Garden, Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos and the title role in Parsifal at the Scottish Opera, and Florestan in Fidelio at Opera North Ireland. He made his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in the title role in Lohengrin and later joined the company for Bacchus. He made his debut at the Teatro alla Scala as Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos and at the Arena di Verona as Don Jose in Carmen. Other engagements lead him to De Vlaamse Opera for Apollo in Daphne and Gherman in Pikovaja Dama, Grand Théâtre de Genève and L’Opéra de Nancy for Laca in Jenufa, Chatelet in Paris for Apollo in Daphne, and to the Opéra de Nantes for both the title role of Lohengrin and Florestan in Fidelio. He also joined conductor Bertrand de Billy for concert performances of Albrecht von Brandenburg in Mathis der Maler at the Konzerthaus in Vienna and has sung title role in Lohengrin at the Teatro Municipal di Santiago in Chile.

On the concert stage, John recently sang Fritz in Schreker’s Der Ferne Klang at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He joined the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Andrew Litton as well as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Libor Pesek for Janácek’s Glagolitic Mass; the Kansas City Symphony for Mahler’s Symphony No. 8; the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, andrnthe Pittsburgh Symphony under Lorin Maazel for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9; the Colorado Sympony for Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde; and the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas for Stravinsky’s Les noces.

A frequent guest at festivals all around the world, the tenor has been featured at the Spoleto Festival in Rachmaninov’s The Bells, as Magician in The Consul and in Haydn’s Die Schöpfung. He’s sung the title role in Rienzi at the Antiken Fesitval with Sebastian Lang-Lessing, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and Symphony No. 8 at the Bard Music Festival, Menelaus at the Baden-Baden Festival and Florestan in Fidelio at the Bellingham Festival.

John’s recordings of scenes from Lohengrin and Siegfried as well as scenes from Tristan und Isolde have been released on the Naxos label. He can be heard as the Magician in The Consul on Chandos and tenor soloist in ‘In These Great Times’, released on Tzadik. Other recordings include Zorn in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg on London Decca under the baton of Sir Georg Solti, and Araldo in Don Carlo on Sony, conducted by James Levine.