John Daszak

Tenor

Admired for his versatility, range and dramatic power, British tenor John Daszak made his operatic debut at English National Opera as Števa in Jenůfa. Now enjoying a vibrant international opera career, recent seasons have brought several important role debuts: Herod (Salome) at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden under Henrik Nanasi, Grishka Kuter’na (The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh) at De Nederlandse Opera under Marc Albrecht, Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg at the Bayerische Staatsoper under Kent Nagano, and Tambour-Major (Wozzeck) marking his debut at both the Berliner Staatsoper under Daniel Barenboim and at the Salzburg Festival under Vladimir Jurowski. He made his house debut at the 2015 Bayreuther Festspiele as Loge (Das Rheingold) under Kirill Petrenko with BR Online commenting “The most outstanding of the Bayreuth new-comers is John Daszak, who sings with a glistening, piercing voice as the cunning mastermind.”

A leading interpreter of Britten’s operas he made his role debut as Captain Vere (Billy Budd) at Oper Frankfurt under Paul Daniel and the same role marked his debut at the Metropolitan Opera under David Robertson. He sang Peter Grimes at the Teatro alla Scala under the late Sir Jeffrey Tate, Male Chorus (Rape of Lucretia) and Prolgue/Quint (Turn of the Screw) both for Maggio Musicale di Firenze and starred as Gustav von Aschenbach (Death in Venice) at Teatro Real under Alejo Peréz.

Boasting an extensive repertoire, other highlights of John Daszak’s recent career include Aron (Moses und Aron) at Wiener Staatsoper and Komische Oper Berlin, Sergei (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk) at English National Opera under Mark Wigglesworth as well as at Moscow’s famous Bolshoi Theatre and Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler at Semperoper Dresden under Simone Young. He sang his first Siegfried in the Grand Théâtre de Genève’s Ring Cycle, Jimmy (Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny) with Komische Oper Berlin, Aegisth (Elektra) at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Erik (Der fliegende Holländer) at Sydney’s Opera House, and Andrei Khovansky (Khovanshchina) at Oper Frankfurt.

A regular presence on the stage of the Bayerische Staatsoper, Daszak’s roles there include Captain Vere, Mephistopheles (Doktor Faust), Alwa (Lulu), Prince Golitsin (Khovanshchina), Le Lepreux (St François d’Assise), the Witch (Hänsel und Gretel), Robert Scott (South Pole) and, most recently, Alviano Salvago in Schreker’s Die Geziechneten.

A popular concert performer with a repertoire ranging from Mahler’s Symphony No.8 and Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass through to Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 and Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, he has collaborated with many esteemed conductors. His discography on DVD includes Pfitzner’s Palestrina from the Bayerische Staatsoper (Simone Young) and La Fura del Baus’ spectacular production of Das Rheingold from the Palau de Les Arts, Valencia (Zubin Mehta).

Highlights of the 2018/19 season include a new production by Barrie Kosky of Die Gezeichneten at Opernhaus Zurich under Vladimir Jurowski, Tambour’major in William Kentridge’s critically acclaimed staging of Wozzeck for Opera Australia, a new production by Krzysztof Warlikowski of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at Opéra National de Paris under Ingo Metzmacher and Kaufman in Jakob Lenz at Festival d’art lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence.