Jon Villars has quickly emerged as one of the most promising dramatic
tenors of his generation. He has performed with leading conductors such
as Claudio Abbado, Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Leonard Slatkin, and Michael
Tilson Thomas on the stages of the Salzburg Festival, Florence’s
Maggio Musicale, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago as well as in concert
with the Berlin Philarmonic, New York Philarmonic, Minnesota Orchestra,
National Symphony, and San Francisco Symphony.
Jon Villars won great critical acclaim for his portrayal of Bacchus
in Ariadne auf Naxos, a role he first sang at Florence’s
Maggio Musicale under Zubin Mehta and director Jonathan Miller, and
has since repeated in new productions at the Lyric Opera of Chicago,
at Turin’s Teatro Regio (conducted by Jeffrey Tate), and at the
Opéra National de Paris. Later in the same season he appeared
in a new production of this same opera at Dresden’s Semperoper
conducted by Sir Colin Davies, and sang the role in concert with the
Minnesota Orchestra. He has repeated this role at the Salzburg Festival
and for his debut at La Scala Milan with Giuseppe Sinopoli, at the Bayerische
Staatsoper, in Paris at Théâtre du Châtelet, and
most recently in Paris at the Opéra Bastille. He will sing it
also in New York at the Metropolitan Opera.
An artist not limited to German roles, Jon Villars also has important
future engagements in the French and Italian repertoire. He sang the
challenging role of Enée in Les Troyens in new productions
at both the Salzburg Festival in 2000 with Sylvain Cambreling and the
Bayerische Staatsoper with Zubin Mehta, in a recent revival with Chicago
Symphony Orchestra and at the Teatro Comunale Maggio Musicale in Florence
in 2002. He received notable critical acclaim for the role of Calaf
in Turandot with the Canadian Opera Company and the Minnesota
Orchestra, a role that he sang again with San Francisco Opera in the
fall of 2002, and most recently in Lisbon's Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos
in a production of the Royal Opera House, conducted by Z.Pesko and directed
by Andrej Serban. He was acclaimed as well as in the role of Rodolfo
in La Bohéme and the title roles in Massenet’s
Werther and Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex.
In addition to his operatic work, Jon Villars appears with many prominent
conductors in the most demanding concert repertoire. He has performed
Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Pierre Boulez at
the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, with Giuseppe Sinopoli and Bologna's
Solisti Insieme, and with Eiji Oue and the Minnesota Orchestra, the
latter being recorded under the Reference Recordings label. He previously
sang the cycle with David Zinman and the Baltimore Symphony and with
James Conlon and the Orchestra of the Opéra National de Paris.
In addition, he sang it with Chailly and the Philadelphia Philharmonic
Orchestra.
He has performed Mahler’s Eight Symphony with the San
Francisco Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, Zurich’s
Tonhalle Orchestra conducted by David Zinman, and Berlin’s Radio
Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy for his European
concert debut, at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with Riccardo Chailly
and with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Bernard Haitink. With the
Berliner Philharmoniker he first appeared as the Drum Major in concert
performances of Wozzeck conducted by Claudio Abbado. He sang
Mahler's 8th Symphony in London, BBC Proms (cond. Simon Rattle,
with EMI recording), and most recently at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia
in Rome led by Myung-Whun Chung.
Mr Villars made his New York Philarmonic debut in Penderecki’s
Seven Gates of Jerusalem conducted by Kurt Masur as part of
the Lincoln Center Festival.
He has also sung at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony (cond. M.W. Chung), Beethoven’s Missa
Solemnis with Wolfgang Sawallisch, and Gurrelieder/Waldemar
with M.W. Chung, the latest at Helsinki Festival with the Minnesota
Orchestra, and recently in London, BBC Proms (cond. Donald Runnicles).
He sang Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at the Staatsoper unter
den Linden Berlin with Daniel Barenboim, with the Minnesota Orchestra
at theTanglewood Festival, at Teatro Real Madrid and at Palau de la
Musica in Valencia, with Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony,
and with Zubin Mehta at Florence Maggio Musicale.
He has performed the Verdi Requiem with several American Orchestras.
He sang in Berlin, DSO, West Side Story (cond. Kent Nagano);
at the Salzburger Osterfestspiele and Berlin Philhermonie, Berliner
Philharmoniker, Fidelio/Florestan (cond. S.Rattle, with EMI
recording), which will be revived in Japan; with Zurich Tonhalle Orchester
on tour, Das Lied Von Der Erde (cond. David Zinnemann); and
in the opening season of the Cincinnati Opera as Calaf in the Turandot
production with the new ending by Luciano Berio.
Born in Panama City, Florida, Jon Villars studied at the Juilliard School
and has been winner of numerous awards, including the 1995 Metropolitan
Opera National Council Auditions.
*Heldentenor - German for heroic tenor. Heroic as in heavy, weighty,
solid, dramatic, forceful, robust, and - in Will Crutchfield's words
- able to come back "...again and again with immense power to the
same few notes in the upper midrange, without fatigue, without faltering."
Heroic as in Tristan, Siegfried, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Florestan,
Radames, Otello, Don José (in roughly descending order of "weight").
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