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MEET JOHN RIESEN
Hailed as “every inch the hero in stature and voice” (Classical Voice North America), award-winning American tenor John Riesen is consistently impressing audiences with his "impassioned...and vibrant" voice (Opera Today). Riesen’s growing career boasts a variety of roles in which he excels and includes significant work in opera, musical theatre, oratorio, studio recording and concert. He has released two studio recording albums: What You'd Call a Dream (2019) and Christmas at Home (2020), and more than 85 singles that have reached over 8 million streams on Spotify and Apple Music. John is also the head of Spotify promotion and PR for Emitha LLC, building an ecosystem for classical and crossover singers around the world to be heard on streaming services. To date, he has helped artists reach over 100 million streams. He is also an associate producer on the Grammy-Nominated project The Impossible Dream.
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During the 23-24 season, John was seen performing with at Carnegie Hall with the New York Oratorio Society as tenor soloist in Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana", with the Virginia Symphony performing Anthony in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, again performing Anthony with the Utah Opera, Rodolfo in La Boheme with Intermountain Opera Bozeman, Carmina Burana with the Flint Symphony. He also performed the tenor solos in Beethoven's 9th symphony with the Pacific Symphony, Messiah with the Las Vegas Philharmonic and seen in Pops concerts with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He also performed with the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra (Beethoven's 9th), the Flint Symphony Orchestra (Beethoven's 9th), the Brevard Music Center Orchestra (Carmina Burana).
In the 22-23 season, John performed as Younger Thomson in Glory Denied with Knoxville Opera (Sept 2022) and Opera Roanoke (Feb 2023), and as Camille in the Merry Widow (Nov 2022) with Knoxville Opera. He also be made his debut with Las Vegas Opera in his return to Evan L. Snyder's murder-mystery opera "A Capacity for Evil" (Jan 2023) before making his role debut as the Duke of Mantua with Intermountain Opera Bozeman's production of Verdi's Rigoletto (May 2023).
John was also seen on NBC's America's Got Talent as part of the Finalist group Metaphysic, singing "Nessun Dorma" as the voice of Howie Mandel. This performance hailed as, "The best act of the series" by Simon Cowell. John was also seen in concert for the Patriot Awards Gala in Knoxville, in Christmas Concert in Columbus, OH, and Saugatuck, MI, and also in concert in Madison, GA among others.
Looking back at the 2021/2022 season, John returned to signature roles including Frederic in Pirates of Penzance with Utah Opera, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi with On Site Opera, Chris in the world-premiere of Favorite Son by GRAMMY award winning song-writer Marcus Hummon with Nashville Opera, acclaimed roles such as Younger Thompson in Glory Denied with Berkshire Opera Festival as well as performing in concerts around the United States.
2019/2020 season highlights included house and role debuts at Michigan Opera Theater in the role of Adolfo Pirelli in Sweeney Todd and a return to one of John's most celebrated roles, Younger Thompson in Glory Denied with Atlanta Opera* and Urban Arias. *cancelled due to covid19
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"...RIESEN KNOWS HOW TO DELIVER VOCALLY THAT KIND OF TENOR HEARTBREAK."
Other highlights of the 2019-20 season included a debut with the New York Oratorio Society as the tenor soloist in Rachmaninoff's Vespers, a return to Intermountain Opera Bozeman as Bill Calhoun in Kiss Me Kate and to Opera Birmingham as Prince Charmant in their production of Massenet's Cendrillon*.
"I took it upon myself to broaden and expand my thinking...I want to empower other singers to take this step with me."
In the 2018/2019 season, John was seen as Prince Charmant in Cendrillon (Opera Company of Middlebury), Lensky in Eugene Onegin (Intermountain Opera Bozeman), Alfredo in La Traviata (Gulfshore Opera, Tri-Cities Opera), Younger Thompson in Glory Denied (Opera Birmingham, Des Moines Metro Opera), Candide in Candide (Chautauqua Opera), and made his Lincoln Center debut as Tony in West Side Story Suite (New York City Ballet).
In the last few seasons, John performed across the U.S., including appearances with the Saugatuck Center for the Arts, FAR Conservatory, Shades of Pink Foundation, NY Oratorio Society, Marshall Symphony, Jackson Symphony, Texarkana Symphony, Shreveport Symphony and Cuttime productions, as well as in concerts in Texarkana, TX; Pensacola and Miami, FL; Detroit, MI; Tulsa, OK; and more. Theatrically, Mr. Riesen was featured as Gaston in Beauty and the Beast at Shreveport Opera, Tony in West Side Story with the Boulder Philharmonic/Central City Opera, Tony in West Side Story with the New York City Ballet at the Lincoln Center, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly (Pensacola Opera), Rodolfo in La Boheme (Shreveport Opera) and Frederic in Pirates of Penzance (Opera Ithaca, Shreveport Opera).
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In 2016, John completed his second of two seasons as the resident tenor at Shreveport Opera, where he sang many leading roles, including Father Grenville in Dead Man Walking, Ralph Rackstraw in H.M.S Pinafore, Don José (cover)/Remendado in Carmen, Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance and Alfredo (cover)/Gastone in La Traviata. The previous year, John finished his third season at Chautauqua Opera as an AGMA apprentice artist. In his three summers at Chautauqua, he performed many roles, including Lensky in Eugene Onegin, Stagedoorman/2nd Dandy in The Ballad of Baby Doe, Malcom (cover) in Macbeth and Rector Adams (cover) in Peter Grimes. He was awarded the Chautuaqua Opera’s Studio Artist Award in 2012, Returning Apprentice Award in 2014 and Apprentice Artist Award in his final year, 2015.
Other awards and honors include first place in the Harold Haugh Light Opera Competition, second place in the William C. Byrd Competition, Regional Finalist and the Audience Choice Award in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Gulf Coast Region (2015), Great Lakes Region (2014 and 2013); second place in the Mary Jacobs Smith Singer of the Year Competition (2016), as well as the competition’s Dr. Melvin & Lea Johnson memorial award the previous year; fifth place in the Opera Columbus Cooper-Bing Competition (2015); and the Clare S. Mackey Endowed Fund at Michigan State University among other merits.
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He has been privileged to sing for political figures, including President Barack Obama, President Jimmy Carter, Judge Stephanie Kulp Seymour and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He also has been honored to sing the national anthem at several collegiate, semi-professional and professional athletic organizations, including the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park, the Pensacola Ice Flyers, MSU hockey/baseball and more.
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Before singing, John avidly pursued athletics and he attained Academic All-State honors in 2008 in baseball and All-Region in 2006 and 2007 (also for baseball) in the state of Michigan. His athletic career segued quickly into his singing during college, and has helped influence his performing ever since...