Dramatic/Heldentenor
Hailed by Opera Now for his "believably heroic figure with a gleaming ring at the top of his vocal register," John Horton Murray returns to the Nationaltheater Mannheim for Alvaro in La forza del destino, the title roles in both Lohengrin and Parsifal and Jason in Medée in the 2007-08 season. In previous seasons with the company, he has also sung Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten, Max in Der Freischütz, Siegmund in Die Walküre, Sergei in Lady Macbeth von Mtsensk, Canio in Pagliacci, and the title role in Otello.
2008-09 season has included Erik in Der fliegende Holländer in Bergen and Walther von der Vogelweide in Athens. 09-10 includes Luigi in Tabarro and Canio in Pagliacci (Opera på Skäret), Lohengrin in Poland, Die Walküre in Lithaunia and titel role in Tannhäuser in Trieste, Italy.
Mr. Murray's has appeared more than 200 times at Metropolitan Opera debuting as Stolzing in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and singing Walther von der Vogelweide in Tannhäuser, Enée in Berlioz’s Les Troyens conducted by James Levine, False Dmitiri in Boris Godunov, Andres in Wozzeck and recorded for television broadcast, Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten.
Highlights of his other engagements in America include Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos with Seattle Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago; Bacchus and Menelaus in Die Ägyptische Helena at Santa Fe Opera; Paul in Die tote Stadt and Don José in Carmen at New York City Opera and Narraboth in Salome at Houston Grand Opera and Opera Company of Philadelphia.
Among his many international engagements are performances at the Deutsche Oper Berlin as Apollo in Daphne and Menelaus in Die Ägyptische Helena,Erik in Der fliegende Holländer at the Frankfurt Opera, Menelaus in Die Ägyptische Helena and Tichon in Kát'a Kabanova at the Royal Opera at Covent Garden, Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos, the title role in Parsifal at the Scottish Opera, and Florestan in Fidelio at Opera North Ireland. He made his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in the title role in Lohengrin and later joined the company for Bacchus. He made his debut at the Teatro alla Scala as Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos and at the Arena di Verona as Don Jose in Carmen.
On the concert stage, John Horton Murray recently sang Fritz in Schreker's Der Ferne Klang at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Janácek's Glagolitic Mass with Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; the Kansas City Symphony for Mahler's Symphony No. 8; the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh Symphony under Lorin Maazel for Beethoven's Symphony No. 9; the Colorado Sympony for Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde; and the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas for Stravinsky's Les noces.
Mr. Murray's recordings of scenes from Lohengrin and Siegfried as well as scenes from Tristan und Isolde have been released on the Naxos label. He can be heard as the Magician in The Consul on Chandos and tenor soloist in 'In These Great Times', released on Tzadik. Other recordings include Zorn in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg on London Decca under the baton of Sir Georg Solti, and Araldo in Don Carlo on Sony, conducted by James Levine.
