+++
date = "2015-05-04T09:47:00-04:00"
discipline = "Bass"
lastmod = "2015-05-05T15:24:00-04:00"
primary_image = "https://res.cloudinary.com/schmopera/image/upload/v1545409169/media/webhook-uploads/1430746941972/d9e556_5bb6d2ae731742f79424c11c9cb8d4da.jpg_srz_p_928_590_75_22_0.50_1.20_0.00_jpg_srz"
primary_image_credit = "Shirley Suarez"
publishDate = "2015-05-04T09:47:00-04:00"
related_companies = ["scene/companies/canadian-opera-company.md","scene/companies/san-francisco-opera.md","scene/companies/merola-opera-program.md","scene/companies/lyric-opera-of-chicago.md","scene/companies/seattle-opera.md","scene/companies/the-metropolitan-opera.md","scene/companies/bayerische-staatsoper.md","scene/companies/opra-national-de-paris.md","scene/companies/royal-opera-house.md","scene/companies/wiener-staatsoper.md"]
slug = "john-relyea"
title = "John Relyea"
website = "http://www.johnrelyea.com/"
+++

John Relyea continues to distinguish himself as one of today's finest basses.
 
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), Lyric Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Vienna State Opera, Theater an der Wien, and the Mariinksy Theater. 
 
His roles include the title roles in *Attila*, *Le Nozze di Figaro*, *Bluebeard’s Castle*, *Don Quixotte*, *Attila*, and *Aleko*; Zaccaria in *Nabucco*, Bertram in *Roberto le Diable*, Raimondo in *Lucia di Lammermoor*, Colline in *La Bohème*, Don Alfonso in *Lucrezia Borgia*, Don Basilio in *Il barbiere di Siviglia*, Alidoro in *La Cenerentola*, Giorgio in *I puritani*, Banquo in *Macbeth*, Garibaldo in *Rodelinda*, Méphistophélès in both *Faust* and *La Damnation de Faust*, the Four Villains in *Les Contes d’Hoffmann*, Escamillo in *Carmen*, Marke in *Tristan und Isolde*, Caspar in *Der Freischutz*, Nick Shadow in *The Rake’s Progress*, Collatinus in *The Rape of Lucretia*, and King René in *Iolanta*.
 
Mr. Relyea also remains in high demand throughout the concert world where he appears regularly with orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra,  Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Berlin Philharmonic. 
 
He has also appeared at the Tanglewood, Ravinia, Blossom, Cincinnati May, Vail, Lanaudière, 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, Pierre Boulez, Sir Colin Davis, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gustavo Dudamel, Christoph Eschenbach, Valery Gergiev, Bernard Haitink, Mariss Jansons, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Neville Marriner, Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano, 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 recordings include the Verdi Requiem (LSO Live), Idomeneo with Sir Charles Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (EMI), Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Sir Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (EMI), and the Metropolitan Opera’s DVD presentations of Don Giovanni, I Puritani and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Deutsche Grammophon), and Macbeth (Metropolitan Opera HD Live Series).
 
This season, Mr. Relyea returns to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as the Henry VIII in *Anna Bolena* and  Landgraff in *Tannhaüser*.  He also returns to the Canadian Opera Company for the title role of *Bluebeard's Castle*, and appears at the Oberlin artist recital series. Mr. Relyea is the winner of the 2009 Beverly Sills Award and the 2003 Richard Tucker Award.
