| Eric Johnson |
| Bass |
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Confutatis - Requiem - Verdi
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| American bass, Eric Johnson, is an
international veteran of the operatic stage. He has appeared in
over 100 professional productions with 30 ensembles in the United
States and Europe to consistent public approval and critical praise. Eric Johnson was born and raised NY. He holds an AB cum laude from Harvard University, where meeting Leonard Bernstein had a deciding influence on the course of his life. After graduation, he spent several years studying voice in the Boston area and attended the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood and the Blossom Festival School. He performed as a bass soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Altoona and Owensboro Symphony Orchestras. He also made his debut in the role of Dr. Gibbs in Ned Rorem’s Our Town at Lake George Opera. He sang witht Teatro Grattacielo in NYC, in an American premiere of Zandoni’s La Farsa Amorosa (role of Spingorda) and sang Alcindoro for Opera 123's upcoming DVD release of La Boheme. In 2007, he appeared as Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor at Syracuse Opera and presented a recital for the Oswego Opera. He begins the fall season as Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte with Syracuse Opera. He made his professional debut as Sparafucile in Rigoletto with Central City Opera, and for the next nine years sang successfully on the regional opera circuit throughout the United States including Lyric Opera of Dallas, Fort Worth Opera, and he took part in the world premiere of Argento’s The Aspern Papers at the Dallas Opera. Also to his credit are Washington Opera (Merry Wives, Aspern), Chicago Opera Theatre (The Crucible, Postcard from Morocco), Michigan Opera Theatre, Cleveland Opera, Augusta Opera, Opera Festival of New Jersey, and Tulsa Opera. He was engaged as leading bass of the Stadttheater Giessen, in Germany, where he made his European debut as King Heinrich in Lohengrin and subsequently sang all the leading bass roles as a member of an ensemble which drew consistent critical praise for its innovation and dramatic integrity (see “Großstätisches Level”, Opernwelt, January 1996). Roles performed during 1993-99 include the very dark Collatinus in Rape of Lucretia, Ferrando in Il Trovatore, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Arkel in Pelleas et Melisande and Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte; comic parts encompass Alidoro in La Cenerentola, Pooh-Bah, Osmin, Falstaff and Sparafucile in the spoof Die Leiche Im Sack. He has made guest appearances in, among others, Wuppertal, Würzburg, Freiburg, and Wiesbaden. 10/22/08 |