“His generous throat produces great torrents of autumnal tones with apparent ease. If I were casting Hoffmann anywhere, Relyea would be my unhesitating first choice for the villains.”
     - Opera News

Photo © Dario Acosta

John Relyea continues to distinguish himself as one of today's finest bass-baritones.

Mr. Relyea has appeared in many of the world’s most celebrated opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera (where he is an alumnus of the Merola Opera Program and a former Adler Fellow), Seattle Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Munich State Opera, Vienna State Opera, and the Marinksy Theater. His roles include the title roles in Le Nozze di Figaro, Bluebeard’s Castle and Aleko; Méphistophélès in La Damnation de Faust, the Four Villains in Les Contes d’Hoffman, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Giorgio in I Puritani, Escamillo in Carmen, Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Alidoro in La Cenerentola, Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress, Colline in La Bohème, Marke in Tristan und Isolde, Caspar in Der Freischutz, Banquo in Macbeth, Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia and Garibaldo in Rodelinda.

Mr. Relyea also remains in high demand throughout the concert world where he appears regularly with orchestras such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Met Chamber Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony, Monnaie Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Berlin Philharmonic. He has also appeared at the Tanglewood, Ravinia, Blossom, Vail, Lanaudiere, Salzburg, Edinburgh, Lucerne and Mostly Mozart Festivals, and in the BBC Proms. In recital, he has been presented at Weill Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Wigmore Hall in London, the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, and the University of Chicago Presents series.

The many conductors with whom Mr. Relyea has worked with include Harry Bicket, Pierre Boulez, Sir Colin Davis, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Christoph Eschenbach, Bernard Haitink, Mariss Jansons, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Neville Marriner, Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano, Sir Roger Norrington, Seiji Ozawa, Antonio Pappano, Sir Simon Rattle, Donald Runnicles, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Robert Spano, Wolfgang Sawallisch, and Ilan Volkov.

Mr. Relyea’s most recent recording, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Sir Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, was released on the EMI label. He also recorded Idomeneo with Sir Charles Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra for EMI, and appears on the Metropolitan Opera’s DVD presentations of Don Giovanni, I Puritani and Die Meistersinger von Nüremberg (Deutche Grammophon), and Macbeth (Metropolitan Opera HD Live Series)

This season Mr. Relyea makes his debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in La Damnation de Faust, and returns to the Metropolitan Opera for Le Nozze di Figaro. He also makes appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Dresden Staatskapelle.

Mr. Relyea is the winner of the 2009 Beverly Sills Award and the 2003 Richard Tucker award.

August 2009

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Mr. Relyea is represented by
Opus 3 Artists
NEW YORK • LOS ANGELES

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