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Jon Fredric West
Hailed as “perfectly cast and most vocally convincing Siegfried ever heard in an opera house,” Jon Fredric West has established himself as the world's foremost interpreter of the title role in Siegfried and Siegfried in Götterdämmerung. He has sung the roles twice as part of the complete Ring Cycle at the Metropolitan Opera in New York under the baton of James Levine. He has also sung previous triumphant performances in both roles in the Ring Cycle at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich under the baton of Zubin Mehta, Deutche Oper Berlin under the baton of Mo. Thielemann, Théâtre du Châtelet, as well as at the Canary Islands Festival. He has sung the title role in Siegfried as part of a new production of the Ring Cycle in Stuttgart that was recorded and released on DVD through EuroArts and Naxos and won the Best Ring Cycle Award, Best DVD in 2004, and was also listed on the German Critics Top Ten List for 2004.
Mr. West has further distinguished himself in the title role of Tristan in Tristan und Isolde. Die Welt hails him as “the kind of Tristan you seldom hear with any comparable balance of presentation. Without the least sign of exhaustion, he sings through to the conclusion with a fresh voice, even in the murderous chain of hallucinations under which he dies to meet Isolde's arrival." He was chosen by Mo. Maazel and August Everding to sing the role for the re-opening of the Prinzregententheater in Munich. His performance was subsequently broadcast three times on European Television. Jon Frederic West was included in the book Tradition mit Zukunft, 100 Jahre Prinzregententheater as the seventh Tristan ever to have performed the role in that famous theater, built especially for Richard Wagner’s music. His Tristan has received great critical acclaim at the Salzburg Festival conducted by Lorin Maazel, Bayerische Staatsoper, Vienna Staatsoper, conducted by Zubin Mehta, Royal Opera House at Covent Garden conducted by Bernard Haitink, Berlin Philharmonic on tour in Japan conducted by Claudio Abbado, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Canary Islands Festival conducted by Semyon Bychkov, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Dresden, Opera de Oviedo, Orchestre de Lyon, Teatro Real, Las Palmas, and Opéra de Bordeaux and the San Sebastian Festival.
Recent notable operatic engagements also include Siegfried with the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia, and New Orleans Opera; Tannhäuser at Metropolitan Opera and in Dresden, La Monnaie in Bruxelles, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Vienna Staatsoper, Semperoper Dresden, and Teatro Real in Madrid; Canio in I Pagliacci at Teatro alla Scala under the baton of Edoardo Müller, San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera, Stuttgart, and New Israeli Opera; Götterdämmerung with Washington National Opera, Der Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten at La Scala, Bayerische Staatsoper, and Vienna Staatsoper; Florestan in Fidelio at Teatro la Fenice; Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Metropolitan Opera and Paris. He has sung Samson title in Samson et Dalila at the Metropolitan Opera and in Zurich; the title role in Otello in Vienna, Baltimore, and San Francisco; and Luigi in Il Tabarro for his broadcast debut at the Metropolitan Opera under the baton of James Levine. He recently joined Semyon Bychkov for Apollo in a concert performance of Daphne at the Kennedy Center. His 2010-11 season includes his return to Tannhäuser with Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Mr. West has performed extensively in concert and recital with leading orchestras and conductors. He has sung Waldemar in Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder with the New York Philharmonic, Florence and May Festivals, and Bayerische Rundfunk Orchestra in Munich, all under Zubin Mehta; Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Conlon; Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie Hall conducted by Simon Rattle; Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival and Houston Symphony both conducted by Christoph Eschenbach; BBC Symphony Orchestra in the Royal Festival Hall in London under the baton of Andrew Davis; the Edinburgh Festival with Sir Alexander Gibson; and most in Valencia, conducted by Walter Weller. Mr. West has sung Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with the Bayerische Rundfunk under Sir Colin Davis; Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta; as well as the San Francisco Symphony lead by Michael Tilson Thomas. The tenor has also sung with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy, Saint Louis Symphony with Leonard Slatkin, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra with Herbert Blomstedt, Boston Symphony with Seiji Ozawa, Pittsburgh Symphony with Lorin Maazel, and Toronto Symphony under Andrew Davis. Other distinguished conductors with whom Mr. West has performed include Giuseppe Sinopoli, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Riccardo Chailly, and Charles Dutoit. Mr. West has also sung with the London Symphony Orchestra, RAI Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl.
Mr. West’s performances of Tristan und Isolde at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich were recorded for Unitel with Mr. West as Tristan and Waltraud Meier as Isolde. The work was released on DVD by IMAGE in the US with the Bayerischer Rundfunk under the baton of Mo. Mehta and directed for television by Brian Large. The same Konwitschny production was released on ART HAUS Musik in Europe. Mr. West’s performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra under Zdenek Macal was released by Koss Records and his Fidelio, by Mondo Musica.
After a recital of Schubert’s Die Winterreise at the International Keyboard Institute in New York with the great pianist Jerome Rose, the duo recorded and released the cycle on Medici Classics. The recording was listed immediately among The Year’s Best CDs by the New Yorker Magazine. Critic Patrick Meanor (Fanfare Magazine) wrote of the tenor, “Though I am not normally a vocal fan, I was swept away by the heldentenor of Jon Fredric West’s deeply moving (heartbreaking, actually) rendition of Schubert’s musical realization of Wilhelm Müller’s ‘Die Winterreise’ poems. Few Wagnerian tenors possess the ability to express both the power and sweetness of one of Schubert’s greatest vocal collections, maybe his greatest…One can understand why West was the Met’s star Siegfried in the Ring Cycle.” The duo recently repeated performances of the recital in Dayton, Ohio.
Jon Fredric West, a native of Dayton, Ohio, was awarded a full scholarship from Bowling Green State University where he obtained a Bachelor of Music degree in Performance. He also received grants from The National Opera Institute, The Sullivan Foundation, and an award from The Liederkranz Foundation. Mr. West received full scholarships from Manhattan School of Music for his Masters degree as well as for post-graduate studies at the The Juillliard School. Mr. West has also been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from his alma Mater, Bowling Green State University, for his achievements and contributions to the operatic landscape worldwide.
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