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), Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Paris Opera, Munich State Opera, and the Vienna State Opera.  His roles include Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, the Four Villains in Les contes de Hoffman, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Giorgio in I Puritani, Escamillo in Carmen, Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia, 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 ... read full bio

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), Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Paris Opera, Munich State Opera, and the Vienna State Opera.  His roles include Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, the Four Villains in Les contes de Hoffman, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Giorgio in I Puritani, Escamillo in Carmen, Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia, 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 has often appeared such orchestras 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, 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, Sir Colin Davis, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Christoph Eschenbach, Bernard Haitink, Mariss Jansons, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Neville Marriner, Zubin Mehta, 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, and Die Meistersinger von Nüremberg, both released by Deutche Grammophon.

This season, Mr. Relyea returns to the Metropolitan Opera for the new productions of Lucia di Lammermoor as Raimondo and Macbeth as Banquo (which will be broadcast in HD in movie theaters around the world), and to the Seattle Opera as Giorgio in I Puritani. In concert, he returns to the Cleveland Orchestra for Bluebeard Castle, the Cologne Philharmonie for Rape of Lucretia, and the St. Louis Symphony for the Rossini Stabat Mater.  

Mr. Relyea is the winner of the 2003 Richard Tucker award.