Winner, Astral Artists’ 2009 National Auditions
Praised for his “robust, handsome voice” (The Washington Post), baritone Jonathan Beyer’s repertoire ranges from Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro to the title role in John Adams’ Nixon in China (with the Dallas Opera). Mr. Beyer has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Dallas Opera, Oper Frankfurt, Pittsburgh Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Fort Worth Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Opera Grand Rapids, the Chautauqua Institution, Tanglewood Music Center, Accademia Verdiana, and Teatro di Verdi in a wide variety of roles, including Belcore in L’elisir d’amore, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Germont in La traviata, Marcello in La bohème, Ramiro in L’heure espagnole, and Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia.
In the 2011-2012 season, Mr. Beyer sings the Count in Le nozze di Figaro with Fort Worth Opera, Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Boston Lyric Opera, Escamillo in Carmen with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, and makes his Metropolitan Opera debut as Wagner in Gounod’s Faust. He also debuts with the Colorado Symphony in Fauré’s Requiem and the Fort Worth Symphony in Copland’s Old American Songs. Upcoming engagements include the Count with Austin Lyric Opera, Schaunard with the Munich Philharmonic, and both Ping in Turandot and the title role in Nixon in China for Dallas Opera, as well as a recital for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.
In the 2010-2011 season, Mr. Beyer performed the role of Schaunard at both Hong Kong Opera and the Castleton Festival (under Lorin Maazel), L’heure espagnole with Oper Frankfurt, Lescaut in Manon with Knoxville Opera, and Jonathan Dove’s Flight with Austin Lyric Opera. In concert, he was heard in the National Chorale’s Carmina Burana at Lincoln Center, Tosca with the Ravinia Festival, and on Astral’s series in songs from Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Symphony in C and Vier Ernste Gesänge on its Philadelphia Brahms Festival. He also gave a recital in Carnegie’s Weill Hall for the Carnegie Hall Foundation.
Also recently, Mr. Beyer sang Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Haydn’s Creation with Netherlands Radio Orchestra, Candide with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Billy in Carousel with the Southwest Michigan Symphony, and a concert with the Music School Festival Orchestra at the Chautauqua Institution. He has also appeared with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Lorin Maazel’s Châteauville Foundation, Chatam Baroque, Baton Rouge Symphony, Vermont Symphony, the Erie Philharmonic, and the Festival at Aix-en-Provence.
An active recitalist, Mr. Beyer has appeared with Craig Rutenberg, Mikael Eliasen, Kristin Okerlund, Martin Katz, and Brian Zeger. He has given recitals through the Vocal Arts Society, Marilyn Horne Foundation, Chicago Cultural Center, Judith Raskin Foundation, Bertelsmann Foundation, Huntsville Chamber Music Guild, Pittsburgh Concert Society, Over the Rainbow Foundation, Marian Anderson Foundation, and Astral Artists.
A winner of Astral Artists’ 2009 National Auditions, Jonathan Beyer was a National Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Competition. The recipient of numerous other awards, he was recently named a First Prize winner of the George London Foundation Awards and the recipient of the 2011 Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia Career Advancement Award. He also captured the top prize at the Marian Anderson Prize for Emerging Classical Artists, Sullivan Foundation, Marguerite McCammon, Irma M. Cooper, Violetta DuPont, New Jersey Verismo, Philadelphia Orchestra’s Albert M. Greenfield, Pittsburgh Concert Society, SAI, American Opera Society, Union League Civic and Arts Foundation, Bel Canto Foundation, and Rochester’s Classical Idol competitions. He has also received awards from the Gerda Lissner, Jensen, Solti, Loren L. Zachary, Irene Dalis, Liederkranz, Charles Lynam, Anna Sosenko, Mario Lanza, Giulio Gari, José Iturbi, and Licia Albanese-Puccini foundations, as well as the Orpheus, Connecticut Opera Guild, National Opera Association, Shreveport Singer of the Year, Dresden Opera, NATS, Palm Beach Opera, and Neue Stimmen competitions.
Mr. Beyer holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.
Updated: FEBRUARY 2012
