John McMunn
Representation: General Management
John McMunn is a Hazard Chase Young Associate Artist.
American tenor John McMunn was educated at the Boston University Opera Institute; Harvard University; King’s College, Cambridge, where he served for two years as a Choral Scholar; and the Royal College of Music, where he was awarded the Cuthbert Smith and Lucy Ann Jones Scholarships. A former Paine Traveling Fellow of Harvard University, he is generously supported by the Josephine Baker Trust, and is the recipient of a major award from the Sir Peter Moores Foundation. He has studied with Frank Kelley, Neil Mackie, and Tim Evans-Jones. In the autumn of 2008, he joined the Benjamin Britten International Opera School.
Operatic credits include Lucano L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Basilio Le nozze di Figaro, il Podestá La finta giardiniera for the BBIOS, Madwoman Curlew River and Stravinsky Renard for Mahogony Opera, Evil Counselor Ludus Danielis for the Harp Consort at the York Early Music Festival, cover Allegro L’Allegro for Les Arts Florissants at L’Opéra de Paris, Acis Acis and Galatea for Bampton Classical Opera, Magnus The Martyrdom of St. Magnus for the Hebrides Ensemble at the Magnus Festival, cover Emilio Partenope at the English National Opera, and Leonato Alessandro for the London Handel Festival.
Oratorio appearances include Handel’s Messiah, Solomon, Samson, Saul and all of the Chandos Anthems; Mozart’s Requiem and Solemn Vespers; Haydn’s Creation, and numerous masses; Britten’s Canta Misericordia and St. Nicholas; Bach’s St. John and St. Matthew Passions, and numerous cantatas; Mendelssohn’s Hymn of Praise, and Elijah; Rossini’s Petite Messe Solonnelle; and many others.
An accomplished recitalist, he has appeared with pianists Paul Kwak (Britten’s Canticles and The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, Paine Hall, Boston), Tom Winpenny (The Holy Sonnets of John Donne, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London), Christina Lawrie (Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Strathearn, Scotland), and Simon Lepper (Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin, Kirker Music Festival), as well as with the Doric Quartet (Warlock’s The Curlew, North Norfolk Music Festival), and the Xenia Ensemble (The Curlew and Vaughan Williams’s On Wenlock Edge, MITO Festival, Milan and Turin).
A proponent of new music, he has premiered operas by Anthony Cheung, Christoper Hossfeld, Nicolas Shardlow, and appeared in the premiere production of Robert Zuidam’s Rage d’amours at the Tanglewood Music Center, where has twice been awarded vocal fellowships. Recent 20th century performances include Helmut Lachenmann’s Consolation 1, Messiaen’s Cinq Rechants and the Transfiguration (BBC Proms 2008), as well as Huw Watkin’s In my craft or sullen art (RCM Haydn, Mendelssohn and Beyond Series).
Recent and forthcoming engagements include Lysander A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the BBIOS, Haydn’s Creation with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, Die schöne Müllerin with pianist Gary Matthewman in London, Dichterliebe with Simon Lepper at the National Portrait Gallery and the North Norfolk Music Festival, a programme of Haydn arias with the Classical Opera Company at Kings Place, and Britten’s War Requiem with the orchestra of the Royal College of Music in the opening concert of the Amaryllis Fleming Hall.
Promoters please note: if you wish to include this biography in a concert programme etc, please contact Hazard Chase to ensure that you receive the most up to date version.
Email: Lottie Greenhow
