About Faust:
Opera has a new villain. He is strikingly handsome and only 38-years-old. Opera lovers around the world adore bass-baritone John Relyea for both his deep velvety voice and enormous stage presence.
This season the charismatic singer will be performing at the San Francisco Opera from June 5, 2010 - July 1, 2010, in Faust, bringing Gallic bite to 'Mephistopheles' devilishly mocking asides.
With a repertoire that also includes Bluebeard's Castle, Nick Shadow in The Rake's Progress, the Four Villains in Les Contes d'Hoffman and the evil Garibaldo in Rodelinda, John is gravitating towards darker roles and carving a path for himself as opera's new villain and has critics raving about the dark beauty of his voice.
When John was a teenager growing up in Toronto he thought he would have a career in rock & roll but his voice was too low to be a lead singer. He also suffered hearing loss from the rock scene which proved to be a huge price to pay for an MTV career.
With leading baritone Gary Relyea as his father and soprano Anna Tamm-Relyea as his mother, John easily made a switch from rock to opera.
Now in his thirties he has already appeared in many of the most celebrated opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and performed numerous times with prestigious orchestras throughout the world.
John is a supremely gifted singer and a mainstay at the Met. In 2000 he made his Met debut in Rossini's La Cenerentola, and launched a career that most singers only dream about.
He is familiar to those who have attended the Met's live, high definition broadcasts where he has graced the big screen giving superb performances in Bellini's I Puritani, Rossini's The Barber of Seville and Verdi's Macbeth to name a few.
Critics have written that he is an artist capable of hijacking an audience by taking on roles so demanding and versatile that opera houses worth the name should be rushing to sign him up.
For more information, go to sfopera.com
June 1, 5, 8, 11, 16, 20, 23 and 26, 2010.
For more information on John Relyea please visit John's official website at www.johnrelyea.com
