“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), Lyric Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Vienna State Opera, and the Mariinksy Theater. His roles include the title roles in Le Nozze di Figaro, Bluebeard’s Castle and Aleko; Méphistophélès in both Faust and La Damnation de Faust, The Four Villains in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, 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, Atlanta Symphony 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, Lanaudière, 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 Dohnányi, Gustavo Dudamel, Christoph Eschenbach, Valery Gergiev, 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 of the Verdi Requiem was released on the LSO Live label in September 2009. Other recordings include Idomeneo with Sir Charles Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (EMI), Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Sir Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (EMI), and the Metropolitan Opera’s DVD presentations of Don Giovanni, I Puritani and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Deutsche Grammophon), and Macbeth (Metropolitan Opera HD Live Series).

This season Mr. Relyea returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Escamillo, the Seattle Opera as the title role in Don Quixote, and the Bayerische Staatsoper as Don Alfonso in Lucrezia Borgia. He also made appearances with the National Symphony Orchestra, and the Toronto Symphony. Upcoming engagements include a European tour with the NDR Symphony, Colline on tour with Metropolitan Opera in Japan, and Iolanta at the Salzburg Festival. Next season he returns to both the Seattle Opera and the Washington Concert Opera as the title role in Attila, the Metropolitan Opera as Leporello in Don Giovanni, and the Bayerische Staatsopera as The Four Villains. He also makes his debut at the Canadian Opera Company as The Four Villains.

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

February 2011

BIOGRAPHY ~ ENGAGEMENTS ~ REVIEWS ~ RECORDINGS
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Mr. Relyea is represented by
Opus 3 Artists
NEW YORK • LOS ANGELES

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