Tenor John Matthew Myers, declared an “artist to watch” by Opera News, has rapidly established himself as one of today's exceptional young voices. He has collaborated with companies such as the New York Philharmonic, Verbier Festival, Santa Fe Opera and LA Opera, and he made his surprise Los Angeles Philharmonic debut in 2017 as Mao in John Adams’s Nixon in China conducted by the composer. Myers’s breakout performance was hailed by the Los Angeles Times as “brightly lighted to match his declaiming voice.” He has garnered acclaim for his “lovely, warm tenor of considerable promise” (Opera News), “possesses a voice of vocal grandeur” (The Morning Call) “insightful and beautifully nuanced performances” (Fort Worth Star-Telegram).

In recent seasons Myers has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera covering roles in Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades and Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. Additionally, he has been presented in recital by the Harvard Musical Association and featured in performances of Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings with the Jacksonville Symphony.

In the 2021-2022 season, Myers returns to the Metropolitan Opera, covering productions of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov and Wagner’s Die Meistersinger. Myers also sings the role of Flavio in Bellini’s Norma with Teatro Regio di Parma in Parma, Italy. Additionally, he makes orchestral debuts with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia singing Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings and the Reading Symphony Orchestra in performances of Verdi’s Requiem. 

Myers made his New York Philharmonic debut in the 2018-2019 season in the world premiere of David Lang’s fully staged opera, prisoner of the state. Directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer, prisoner of the state was released as an album on the Decca Gold label in June 2020. That same season, Myers returned to the LA Phil to participate in a new production of John Cage’s Europeras 1 & 2 in collaboration with The Industry and under the direction of Yuval Sharon. Myers’s additional recent performances include Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 at Carnegie Hall with the Canterbury Choral Society, and a recital at the Kennedy Center after winning Vocal Arts DC’s 2017 Art Song Competition.

Highlights of Myers’s extensive opera repertoire include Pollione in Norma (LA Opera), Don Jose in Carmen (Music Academy of the West), Cassio in Otello (Portland Summer Fest), Trin in La Fanciulla del West (Santa Fe Opera), Valerio in Mercadante's Virginia (Wexford Festival Opera), Aufide in Rossini’s Moïse et Pharaon (Collegiate Chorale/Carnegie Hall), Steve Wozniak in the workshop of Mason Bates’s The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (Santa Fe Opera), and Junior/Charlie in Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain (Santa Fe Opera).  As a Resident Artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts, Myers performed the roles of Duca di Mantua in Verdi’s Rigoletto, Prince Sinodal in Rubinstein’s The Demon, Bacchus in Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, and the Prince in Dvorak’s Rusalka. He has collaborated with Long Beach Opera to perform Michael Gordon’s Van Gogh, Gabriela Ortiz’s Camelia la Tejana: Unicamente La Verdad, Stewart Copeland’s Tell-Tale Heart, and a co-production of Tobias Picker’s Thérèse   Raquin with Chicago Opera Theater.

Additional concert appearances have included Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Marcelo Lehninger and Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem with Nir Kabaretti and Southwest Florida Symphony, opera arias and duets with Allentown Symphony Orchestra alongside soprano Angela Meade, Britten’s War Requiem at Carnegie Hall with the Oratorio Society of New York and in The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music with the Wexford Festival Orchestra, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Fairfield Chorale, and Brahms’s Liebeslieder Waltzes and other quartets with Performance Santa Fe. Myers has had the pleasure of performing in concert with composer Ricky Ian Gordon on three occasions: at the Chautauqua Institute Music Festival, Opera America's Salon Series: Exploring American Voices, and “Cliburn at the Modern,” the Van Cliburn Foundation's contemporary music series in Fort Worth, TX. He was a soloist with the Mark Morris Dance Group in their performances of The Muir, and with the American Musical Theatre Ensemble in September Songs: The Legacy of Kurt Weill.

Originally from southern California, Myers received his graduate and undergraduate degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, was a Gerdine Young Artist with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Apprentice Artists with the Santa Fe Opera, an alumnus of the Verbier Festival Academy, and a fellow with the Music Academy of the West.

Photographer: MurphyMade