John Relyea continues to distinguish himself as one of today's finest basses.
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, Canadian Opera Company, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Vienna State Opera, Theater an der Wien, and the Mariinksy Theater. His roles include the title roles in
Attila, Le Nozze di Figaro, Bluebeard’s Castle, Don Quixotte, Attila, and
Aleko; Raimondo in
Lucia di Lammermoor, Colline in
La Bohème, Don Alfonso in
Lucrezia Borgia, Don Basilio in
Il barbiere di Siviglia, Alidoro in
La Cenerentola, Giorgio in
I puritani, Banquo in
Macbeth, Garibaldo in
Rodelinda, Méphistophélès in both
Faust and
La Damnation de Faust, the Four Villains in
Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Escamillo in
Carmen, Marke in
Tristan und Isolde, Caspar in
Der Freischutz, Nick Shadow in
The Rake’s Progress, Collatinus in
The Rape of Lucretia, and King René in
Iolante.
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, Cincinnati May, 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. ...
read full bioJohn Relyea continues to distinguish himself as one of today's finest basses.
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, Canadian Opera Company, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Vienna State Opera, Theater an der Wien, and the Mariinksy Theater. His roles include the title roles in
Attila, Le Nozze di Figaro, Bluebeard’s Castle, Don Quixotte, Attila, and
Aleko; Raimondo in
Lucia di Lammermoor, Colline in
La Bohème, Don Alfonso in
Lucrezia Borgia, Don Basilio in
Il barbiere di Siviglia, Alidoro in
La Cenerentola, Giorgio in
I puritani, Banquo in
Macbeth, Garibaldo in
Rodelinda, Méphistophélès in both
Faust and
La Damnation de Faust, the Four Villains in
Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Escamillo in
Carmen, Marke in
Tristan und Isolde, Caspar in
Der Freischutz, Nick Shadow in
The Rake’s Progress, Collatinus in
The Rape of Lucretia, and King René in
Iolante.
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, Cincinnati May, 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 recordings include the Verdi Requiem (LSO Live),
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 returns to the Royal Opera House as Betram in
Roberto le Diable , the Metropolitan Opera as Méphistophélès in
Faust, and the Bayerische Staatsoper as the Four Villains, and makes his role debut as Zaccaria in
Nabucco at the Minnesota Opera. He also appears in concert performances of
Tristan und Isolde with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and tours Europe in concert performances of
Parsifal conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock.
Mr. Relyea is the winner of the 2009 Beverly Sills Award and the 2003 Richard Tucker Award.
Last updated September 2012. Contact Opus 3 Artists for the most up-to-date version.
