John Chest
American baritone John Chest’s “presence and delivery complement the dark, rich colours in his voice” (Opera Now). Recent and forthcoming engagements include Kevin Puts’ Elizabeth Cree (John Cree) at The Glimmerglass Festival; Marcello La Bohème with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra; Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Demetrius) at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova; Figaro Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro Regio Torino, and a thrilling debut as Rodrigue in a new production of Don Carlos at Theater Basel.
Other operatic engagements include the title role in Billy Budd at Deutsche Oper Berlin and San Francisco Opera; Pelléas Pelléas et Mélisande at Glyndebourne; Albert Werther at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées; Nick Carraway The Great Gatsby for Staatsoper Dresden; Valentin Faust for Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse and Teatro Real Madrid; title role in Don Giovanni for Angers-Nantes Opéra; Figaro Il barbiere di Siviglia, Papageno Die Zauberflöte, Ford Falstaff, and Silvio Pagliacci at Deutsche Oper Berlin; Guglielmo Così fan tutte at Bayerische Staatsoper, Hamburgische Staatsoper and Deutsche Oper Berlin; Il Conte d’Almaviva Le nozze di Figaro for Opéra National de Lyon, Grand Theatre de la Ville de Luxembourg, Opera Philadelphia and Deutsche Oper Berlin; Marcello La Bohème at Washington National Opera and Semperoper Dresden; Nardo La finta giardiniera and Demetrius A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Festival d'Aix-en-Provence; as well as Ned Keen Peter Grimes and Belcore L’elisir d’amore for Norwegian National Opera.
Equally passionate about art song, Chest has sung recitals at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Paris Philharmonie, Essener Philharmonie and Wigmore Hall. He has recorded Brahms’ Die schöne Magelone with Marcelo Amaral and can be heard on all four volumes of Malcolm Martineau’s The Complete Songs of Fauré.
In 2017 Chest represented the United States at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. The same year he was awarded a Career Grant by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation. He received the top prize at the prestigious 2010 Stella Maris International Vocal Competition and the Arleen Auger Prize in the 2012 Hertogenbosch International Vocal Competition. He was a member of the ensemble of the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 2013-2017 and is a graduate of the Bayerische Staatsoper Opernstudio, where he sang over eighty main stage performances. He has held apprenticeships with the Santa Fe Opera and the Chicago Opera Theater, and took part in the esteemed Merola Opera Program in San Francisco.
