Biography
American baritone John Chest’s “presence and delivery complement the dark, rich colours in his voice” (Opera Now). Recent and forthcoming engagements include Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova and in Muscat (Oman), Guglielmo in Così Fan Tutte at Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Belcanto Opera Festival Rossini in Wildbad and with the Krakow Philharmonic, Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht at Teatro Massimo di Palermo; a concert tour with Maxim Emelyanychev and Il Pomo D’Oro of Handel’s Theodora alongside compatriots Joyce DiDonato, Lisette Oropesa and Michael Spyres.
Recent operatic engagements include Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Teatro Regio di Torino; Conte d’Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro at Opéra National de Lyon; a thrilling debut as Rodrigue in a new production of Don Carlos at Theater Basel; 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 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; and Ned Keen Peter Grimes for Norwegian Opera.
Read moreReviews
“The title role was interpreted by American baritone, John Chest, and with panache. Chest appealed right from the start, his voice beautiful in its sonority, his conviction embedded in each note. His timbre was perfect, the plangent “cri de coeur” never cloying, nor a plea for sympathy. Lois Silverstein he told the Captain when he stood before him apparently going to receive a promotion. “In my hands, you would be safe.” Indeed, the audience was also safe in his hands.”
“His caramel baritone seduces audiences both live (he was a ravishing Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Aix-en-Provence) and on record, as witness his perfectly weighted contributions to the complete Fauré song cycle on Signum Classics; and his forthcoming turn as Pelléas at this summer’s Glyndebourne Festival is likely to engrave his name on the UK’s consciousness.”
“John Chest campe un Posa noble et raffiné, au timbre de velours.”
“John Chest portrays a noble and refined Posa, with a velvet timbre.”
