Biography
Guest of the National Theatre Opera.
Born in Rochester, Minnesota, John Uhlenhopp grew up in Bogotà, Colombia. He was grand prize winner of the 1994 Richard Tauber International Tenor Competition, and winner at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. In addition he won the Liederkranz Foundation Award in 1995 and was a semi-finalist at the Belvedere International Concours in Vienna in 1996.
His appearances in the USA have included the roles of Verdi’s Alfredo (La traviata) for Opera Northeast and Ismaele (Nabucco) with the New York Grand Opera in Carnegie Hall, the Schoolmaster (Janáček: The Cunning little Vixen) for Seattle Opera, Arturo (Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor) with the Canadian Opera Company and the Cincinatti Opera, Lykov (Rimsky-Korsakov: Tsar’s Bride) with the Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall.
His European debut came in 1995 in Giessen as Pelléas (Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande), followed by Tom Rakewell (Britten: The Rake’s Progress), Tamino (Mozart: Die Zauberflöte) and others.
He later joined the ensemble of the Luzerner Theater, where appearances have included the title roles in Gounod's Faust and Offenbach’s Les contes d‘Hoffmann, Alfred (J. Strauss: Die Fledermaus), Macduff (Verdi: Macbeth) and Bénédict (Bizet: Beatrice et Bénédict). He enjoyed great personal success making his British debut as Pinkerton in David Freeman's new production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
John Uhlenhopp is fast becoming one of the most sought-after tenors in his repertoire. Recent highlights included Tristan (Wagner: Tristan und Isolde) for Teatro Regio Torino, the title role in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex for Teatro dell'Opera di Roma and in Turin, the Prince (Prokoffiev: The Love for three Oranges), Boris (Janáček: Katya Kabanova) and Canio (Leoncavallo: Pagliacci) for the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf.
Future plans include Sergei (Shostakovitch: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk) at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and Tambourmajor (Berg: Wozzeck) for the Stadttheater Bern.
His concert appearances have included f. e. Dvořák’s Stabat Mater with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra conducted Jiří Bělohlávek (subsequently released on the Supraphon label).
Update: May 2008