Artist Profiles

Jon Garrison, Tenor

The gifted American tenor, Jon Garrison, is a favorite of many of the world's distinguished conductors. At the Metropolitan Opera he was Cassio in Otello, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Romeo in Romeo et Juliette, von Eisenstein in Strauss' Die Fledermaus, and Ottavio in Don Giovanni. Mr. Garrison's European engagements have included the title role in Idomeneo with the Garsington Opera in Surrey; Adolar in Weber's Euryanthe with the Orchestra of the Enlightenment in London; and Birtwistle's Mask of Orpheus and Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex with the BBC Symphony which he also performed with von Dohnanyi and the Cleveland Orchestra. He was in Lobgesang with the Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon, and Scottish Opera engaged him for two seasons as Pedro in Ines de Castro for performances in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Porto, Portugal. He performed and recorded Markevitch's Le Paradis Perdu with the Arnhem Philharmonic. At the Prague Autumn International Music Festival he was in Rossini's Stabat Mater and Puccini's Messa di Gloria.

Recent appearances include the roles of Jean le Jongleur in Massenet's Le Jongleur de Notre Dame with Central City Opera, Sam in Susannah with Hawaii Opera and Cedar Rapids Opera, Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus with Fresno Grand Opera, Bajazet in Handel's Tamerlano at Spoleto Festival USA, as well as Szymanowski's Symphony No.3 with the Montreal Symphony in Carnegie Hall, and Beethoven's Choral Fantasy and Symphony No. 9 with New Hampshire Music Festival. In the 2006/07 season, his apperances include Berlioz Te Deum with the New Mexico Symphony, Verdi Requiem with Helena Symphony, Das Lied von der Erde and Messiah with Westfield Symphony.

Jon Garrison s extensive, varied repertoire also includes the roles of Lensky, performed for St. Louis Symphony's concert version of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin; Laca in Janacek's Jenufa for Alabama Symphony; and Belmonte in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail for Phoenix Symphony. At Carnegie Hall he was in Handel's Israel in Egypt and Ezra Landerman's Brotherly Love with the Philadelphia Singers, and in Missa Solemnis with St. Cecilia Chorus. He performed Kodaly's Psalmus Hungaricus for Akron Symphony and presented "A Viennese Night" with the Montreal Symphony with Macal conducting and Beethoven's Fidelio with the Cincinnati Symphony and Lopez-Cobos. Mr. Garrison was praised by critics for his "stunning" performance in the title role in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress with Berkshire Opera.

Mr. Garrison sang in the world premieres of Stewart Copeland's Holy Blood, Crescent Moon (Cleveland Opera), Jay Reise's Rasputin (New York City Opera), and Hugo Weisgall's The Gardens of Adonis (Opera Omaha). He participated in a tribute to Gian Carlo Menotti with the Little Orchestra Society at Lincoln Center and appeared in Claude Baker's Into the Sun with Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony. He performed Henze's Elegy for Young Lovers with the London Sinfonietta and his Kammermusik with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Sheng's Songs of Majnun for New York Chamber Symphony, and Britten's War Requiem with several orchestras.

On the occasion of the farewell performances of Zubin Mehta's tenure with the New York Philharmonic, Mr. Garrison sang and recorded Schönberg's Gurre-Lieder. For EMI he recorded Szymanowski's Symphony No. 3 under the baton of Simon Rattle and the Evangelist in St. Matthew Passion with Raymond Leppard conducting. Other recordings include the Rake's Progress and Oedipus Rex on the MusicMasters label, and Handel's Roman Vespers for RCA.