John Relyea
Visiting Faculty
Voice and Opera
John Relyea continues to distinguish himself as one of today's finest basses.
With a career now spanning 30 years, Mr. Relyea has appeared in many of the world’s most celebrated opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera (where he is an alumnus of the Merola Opera Program and a former Adler Fellow), Lyric Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, Canadian Opera Company, La Scala, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Hamburg State Opera, Vienna State Opera, Rome, Napoli, Palermo, Theater an der Wien, and the Mariinksy Theater.
Mr. Relyea has been seen on the stage of the Metropolitan opera in over 240 performances since his debut as Alidoro in Rossini’s La Cenerentola in 2000. He has sung a vast repertoire of major roles throughout his career, from the operas of Handel, Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, Wagner, Britten, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and many more.
In concert, he has performed with major orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, NDR, London Symphony, Chicago, Boston, Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestra, as well as Atlanta, Dallas, and San Francisco Symphony, Dallas Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, and the NDR. He has appeared at the Tanglewood, Ravinia, Salzburg, Edinburgh, Lucerne, and Mostly Mozart festivals, Glyndebourne, and at the BBC Proms.
In recital, he has been presented at Weill Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Wigmore Hall in London, the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, and the University of Chicago Presents series.
He recently sang Die Walkyrie at Teatro San Carlo, La Damnation de Faust in concert with St. Louis Symphony, Mefistofele and Il Flauto Magico at Teatro Dell’Opera di Roma, Il Castello di Barbablù at Teatro San Carlo, La Forza del destino at Gran Teatre del Liceu. He also made his role debut as The Commander in The Handmaid’s Tale at the San Francisco Opera.
Mr. Relyea is the winner of the 2009 Beverly Sills Award and the 2003 Richard Tucker Award. A 1996 graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, he joined the school’s visiting faculty in 2025.
