Michelle DeYoung, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra & Long Yu
Biography Michelle DeYoung, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra & Long Yu
Michelle DeYoung
is one of the world’s most exciting mezzo-sopranos.
Her prolific concert engagements include the New York Philharmonic and London Symphony orchestras under Sir Colin Davis (with whom she recorded Didon in Les Troyens to great critical acclaim), the San Francisco Symphony under Tilson Thomas, the Boston Symphony under Ozawa, the Chicago Symphony and Philharmonia under Boulez, the Cleveland Orchestra under Slatkin, the Royal Concertgebouw under Chailly, the Berlin Staatskappelle under Barenboim and Boulez, the Israel Philharmonic under Maazel and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Gardner. She has given recitals in New York, San Francisco, Lisbon, Paris, London’s Wigmore Hall and the Edinburgh Festival.
Her operatic engagements have included Jocasta with von Dohnanyi in Paris; Fricka for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden under Haitink; Fricka, Brangäne, Venus and Shaman in Tan Dun’s The First Emperor at the Metropolitan Opera under Levine; Brangäne in Chicago under Sir Andrew Davis and at the Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin and La Scala, Milan under Barenboim and Kundry in Bayreuth under Boulez and Berlin under Barenboim.
John Relyea
has appeared in many of the world’s most celebrated opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera (where he is an alumnus of the Merola Opera Program and a former Adler Fellow), Lyric Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Vienna State Opera, Theater an der Wien, and the Mariinksy Theater.
His roles include the title roles in Attila, Le Nozze di Figaro, Bluebeard’s Castle, Don Quixotte, Attila, and Aleko; Zaccaria in Nabucco, Bertram inRoberto le Diable, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Colline in La Bohème, Don Alfonso in Lucrezia Borgia, Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Alidoro in La Cenerentola, Giorgio in I puritani, Banquo in Macbeth, Garibaldo inRodelinda, Méphistophélès in both Faust and La Damnation de Faust, the Four Villains in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Escamillo in Carmen, Marke in Tristan und Isolde, Caspar in Der Freischutz, Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress, Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia, and King René in Iolanta.
Mr. Relyea also remains in high demand throughout the concert world where he appears regularly with orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Berlin Philharmonic.
He has also appeared at the Tanglewood, Ravinia, Blossom, Cincinnati May, Vail, Lanaudière, Salzburg, Edinburgh, Lucerne and Mostly Mozart festivals, and in the BBC Proms.
In recital, he has been presented at Weill Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Wigmore Hall in London, the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, and the University of Chicago Presents series.
The many conductors with whom Mr. Relyea has worked with include Harry Bicket, Pierre Boulez, Sir Colin Davis, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gustavo Dudamel, Christoph Eschenbach, Valery Gergiev, Bernard Haitink, Mariss Jansons, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Neville Marriner, Zubin Mehta, Kent Nagano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Roger Norrington, Seiji Ozawa, Antonio Pappano, Sir Simon Rattle, Donald Runnicles, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Robert Spano, Wolfgang Sawallisch, and Ilan Volkov.
Mr. Relyea's recordings include the Verdi Requiem (LSO Live), Idomeneo with Sir Charles Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (EMI), Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Sir Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (EMI), and the Metropolitan Opera’s DVD presentations of Don Giovanni, I Puritani and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Deutsche Grammophon), and Macbeth (Metropolitan Opera HD Live Series).
This season, John sings his role debut in the title role of Mefistofele by Boito with Opera de Lyon, records the role of Duke Bluebeard with the Bergen Symphony for Chandos, and appears as John Claggart in a new production of Billy Budd with the Norsk Opera Oslo. He also returns to the Dresden Semperopera in the role of Marcel for a new production of Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots.
Brian Jagde
In September, he makes his first appearance at the Dutch National Opera as Turiddu in a new Robert Carsen production of Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana. He then returns to San Francisco Opera for his fifth role debut of 2019, singing Des Grieux in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut. He reprises the role in a return to the Deutsche Oper Berlin in December.
Jagde starts the new year at Lyric Opera of Chicago, singing Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, followed by his debut at the Wiener Staatsoper in a signature role, Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca. The final performance receives an international online broadcast via Staatsoper Live. In April, Brian Jagde makes his greatly anticipated return to The Metropolitan Opera Stage to sing Cavaradossi in Tosca, which is featured as part of The Met’s Live in HD cinema season. The summer continues with a return to Amsterdam to sing the Prince in a new production of Dvořák’s Rusalka, directed by Philipp Stölzl. Following these performances, he travels to London for his fourth engagement at the Royal Opera House, as Cavaradossi (Tosca) and finishes the season with a debut solo concert at the Festival Castell de Peralada.
Jagde launched his 2018/19 season with a return to the San Francisco Opera as Cavaradossi in a new production of Puccini’s Tosca: “… a big-voiced Cavaradossi, producing firm, heroic sound throughout. His impassioned performance of the Act III aria, “E lucevan le stelle,” was a highlight of the evening” (Mercury News). He returned to London’s Royal Opera House as Don José in Bizet’s Carmen, followed by performances as Calaf in a new production of Puccini’s Turandot at Palermo’s Teatro Massimo. He debuted as Turiddu in Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Luigi in Puccini’s Il tabarro in concert with the Dresdner Philharmonie, captured for a future release on the Pentatone label. Jagde sang his first Enzo Grimaldi in Ponchielli’s La Gioconda for his premiere performances at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, followed by a critically acclaimed debut at the Opéra national de Paris as Don Alvaro in Verdi’s epic La forza del Destino, where he was lauded as “a revelation” (Ôlyrix).
Brian began the 2017/18 season in his role debut as Calaf in Turandot at San Francisco Opera: “Jagde has clearly arrived as a world-class heroic tenor in this role debut … His “Nessun dorma” showed a huge breadth of space, moving seamlessly from an intimate whisper to a hall-filling embrace … his highs beautifully rode the crest of the orchestral wave” (Parterre). He debuted at Opernhaus Zürich as Cavaradossi (Tosca) and also sang the role at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Jagde then made his first appearance at the Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam as the tenor soloist for a live radio broadcast performance of Verdi’s Requiem. Mr. Jagde made a spectacular debut as Der Fremde in a new Christof Loy production of Korngold’s rarely performed Das Wunder der Heliane at Deutsche Oper Berlin, released on DVD and Blu-ray by Naxos.
In May 2018 he made his house debut at Seattle Opera as Radamès in Aida. He returned to Europe to sing Don José in Carmen, marking his house debuts at the Bolshoi Theatre and the Arena di Verona, the latter being a new production to open the Arena’s season. Jagde then starred as Cavaradossi in Tosca for his return to the Teatro di San Carlo.
Recent seasons have featured other important debuts, including Maurizio (Adriana Lecouvreur) at the Royal Opera House; Radamès in a new production of Aida at San Francisco Opera; and Froh (Das Rheingold) in his first appearance with the New York Philharmonic. House debuts have included Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly) at the Teatro Massimo, Washington National Opera, and Staatsoper Hamburg; Don José (Carmen) in a new production at the Teatro San Carlo and the Bayerische Staatsoper; Houston Grand Opera as the Prince (Rusalka); Macduff (Macbeth) at the Teatro Real; Cavaradossi (Tosca) at Oper Stuttgart and Bacchus (Ariadne auf Naxos) at Palm Beach Opera. In the spring of 2017, Jagde presented a concert in Davis, CA with soprano Joyce El-Khoury and pianist Robert Mollicone.
In 2015, Jagde made his first appearance at the Royal Opera House as Pinkerton and sang Cavaradossi in his premiere engagement at Lyric Opera of Chicago. He also gave a “radiant” and “glorious” (San Francisco Classical Voice) solo recital debut at the Mondavi Center in Davis, CA, with pianist Craig Terry.
Past seasons have featured his Metropolitan Opera debut as Count Elemer (Arabella); Don José at San Francisco Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Opéra de Limoges; Cavaradossi at Santa Fe Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin; Rodolfo (La bohéme) with the Ópera de Bellas Artes; Ismaele (Nabucco) at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia; and the Prince (Rusalka) and Narraboth (Salome) at Opera San Antonio. He was also seen as Pinkerton at San Francisco Opera; Matteo (Arabella) and Bacchus with Minnesota Opera; Rodolfo with the Münchner Philharmoniker and the Castleton Festival; and Narraboth at Santa Fe Opera. Jagde made his European debut in the title role of Werther and as Macduff at the Teatr Wielki Opera Poznan in Poland.
In addition to his stage career, Mr. Jagde advocates and volunteers for several arts education organizations and schools in New York City and across the US. He is an Ambassador for Opera for Peace, an international non-profit organization promoting equality, diversity, and social justice through artistic collaboration, educational partnerships, and cultural exchanges.
Jagde has received numerous accolades, including top prize at the Loren L. Zachary Competition (2014) and second prize in the Operalia Competition (2012). Jagde won additional honors at Operalia for his interpretations of Wagner-Strauss repertoire, receiving the Birgit Nilsson Prize. He is a graduate of San Francisco Opera’s Adler and Merola Programs.
