Biography

Praised for his “robust, handsome voice” (The Washington Post), baritone Jonathan Beyer was a National Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. The recipient of numerous other competition prizes, he was recently named the First Prize winner of the XIV Biennial Marguerite McCammon Competition, and also captured the top prize from the Marian Anderson Prize for Emerging Classical Artists, Irma M. Cooper, Violetta DuPont, New Jersey Verismo, SAI, American Opera Society, Union League Civic and Arts Foundation, and The Philadelphia Orchestra’s Albert M. Greenfield competitions, as well as from the Pittsburgh Concert Society Auditions, Rochester’s Classical Idol, and the Bel Canto Foundation. He has also received awards from the Sullivan, Gerda Lissner, Jensen, Solti, Licia Albanese Puccini, Anna Sosenko, Mario Lanza, Giulio Gari, and José Iturbi foundations, and the Loren L. Zachary, Dresden Opera, NATS, Palm Beach Opera, Irene Dalis, Liederkranz, Orpheus, Neue Stimmen, and Charles Lynam competitions, as well as from the National Opera Association and Shreveport Singer of the Year. He was also a winner of Astral Artists’ 2009 National Auditions.

Mr. Beyer premièred the role of Captain Gardiner in Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick at Dallas Opera, a role he reprises for San Diego Opera in 2012. He recently performed Schaunard in La bohème for Austin Lyric Opera and Silvio in I Pagliacci for Opera Grand Rapids, and has appeared with Pittsburgh Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Fort Worth Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, the Chautauqua Institution, the Tanglewood Music Center, Accademia Verdiana, and Teatro di Verdi. His wide-ranging operatic roles also include Marcello in La bohème, Germont in La traviata, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Belcore in L’elisir d’amore, and Richard Nixon in John Adams’ Nixon in China.

Critically hailed for his performances of Carmina Burana, he has been featured as soloist in Carmina with both the Vermont Symphony and the Erie Philharmonic, and performs it at Lincoln Center with the National Chorale in 2011. He has also appeared as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Lorin Maazel’s Châteauville Foundation, Chatam Baroque, Baton Rouge Symphony, and the Festival at Aix-en-Provence. Also an avid recitalist, Mr. Beyer has collaborated with Mikael Eliasen, Martin Katz, Kristin Okerlund, Craig Rutenberg, and Brian Zeger, and participated in the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute. He has appeared on Lyric Fest’s song series in Philadelphia, and has given recitals through the Vocal Arts Society, Marilyn Horne Foundation, Chicago Cultural Center, Judith Raskin Foundation, Bertlesmann Foundation, Huntsville Chamber Music Guild, Pittsburgh Concert Society, Astral Artists, Marian Anderson Foundation, and the Over the Rainbow Foundation, a recital that also featured Nancy Gustafson, Sylvia McNair, Denyce Graves, Sam Ramey, and Richard Leech. In the 2010-2011 season, he gives a recital in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall through the Carnegie Hall Foundation, performs songs from Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Symphony in C, and sings Vier Ernste Gesänge at the Philadelphia Brahms Festival.

Other upcoming engagements include Ramiro in Ravel’s L’heure espganole for Oper Frankfurt, Schaunard for Hong Kong Opera, the Steward in Jonathan Dove’s Flight for Austin Lyric Opera, Ping in Turandot for Dallas Opera, Morales/Zuniga in Carmen for the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Marcello for Central City Opera, Malatesta for Opera North Carolina, Lescaut in Manon for Knoxville Opera, Adam in Haydn’s Creation with the Netherlands Radio Orchestra, and Billy in Carousel with the Southwest Michigan Symphony.

Mr. Beyer holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.

Jonathan Beyer is an Astral artist.

www.JonathanBeyer.com

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JULY 2010 (Please destroy any previously dated material.)