John Duykers
Tenor
John Duykers
Tenor
(Updated
May 2007 - Please discard all previous versions)
Internationally acclaimed tenor, John Duykers, made his professional operatic debut with Seattle Opera. Since then he has appeared with many of the leading opera companies of the world including The Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Netherlands Opera, the Grand Theatre of Geneva (Cellini/Benvenuto Cellini), Frankfurt Opera, Opera de Marseille (Mime/Siegfried), the Canadian Opera Company, Santa Fe Opera, Los Angeles Opera, San Diego Opera and the Opera Company of Philadelphia (Shuisky/Boris Godunov; Herod/Salome).
John Duykers is particularly known for his performances of contemporary music, having sung in more than 100 contemporary operas including 50 plus world premieres. Among these, he created the role of Mao Tse Tung in John Adams' Nixon in China which he performed throughout the world. He made his debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago in the title role of Tannhäuser and has been a regular performer there over many years. He as appeared regularly with San Francisco Opera where he performed in recent seasons in Britten's Billy Budd, Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and Ligeti's Grand Macabre and Los Angeles Opera where he sang most recently in Strauss' Die Frau Ohne Schatten. John Duykers has had a close association with a number of contemporary composers, notably John Adams and Philip Glass. He sang the premiere of Glass' White Raven, In The Penal Colony and 2001 and Galileo Galilei in 2002. 2005 brought the premiere of Paul Dresher's The Tyrant with the Seattle Chamber Players, followed by a run at the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia and subsequent performances with Present Music in Milwaukee, Cleveland Opera and forthcoming performances at the EdgeFest in Berkleye and the Chicago Chamber Musicians. In November 2006 he sang the premiere of Libby Larsen's Everyman Jack for Sonoma City Opera and in January 2007, the premiere of Lou Harrison's Young Caesar at San Francisco's Yerba Buna Center.
John Duykers is likewise a frequent performer with symphony orchestras throughout the United States. He has sung with the National Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Kansas City Symphony, Tri-Cities Symphony, Sacramento Symphony, Santa Rosa Symphony and the San Jose Symphony. In 2005 he sang the premiere of Kurt Rohde's Bitter Harvest with Kent Nagano and the Berkeley Symphony. He made his Disney Hall debut in spring 2006 with the Los Angeles Master Chorale in Orff's Carmina Burana. His appearances at major festivals have included Aspen, the American Music Theater Festival, the Gaudeamus Music Week, Kaitheater Festival, the Brooklyn Academy of Music's 'Next Wave' Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, the London International Festival of Theatre, Internationale Teaterfestival in Copenhagen, Edinburgh Festival, the Festival Internacional de Teatro of Granada and Juneau Jazz and Classics.
John Duykers has received critical acclaim in numerous productions of the Paul Dresher Ensemble, George Coates Performance Works, and the A.Ga.Pe Performance Group which have been seen on the world's most important contemporary music and theater stages.
Narrator in Lou Harrison's Young Caesar,
Yerba Buena Center, San Francisco:
"The narrator speaks and sings and hangs around onstage and sets the
tone. John Duykers did that so well that what followed couldn't
completely fail, as it sometimes might have."
Los Angeles Times - February 19, 2007
"The half-spoken, half-sung narration, which
could so easily have dragged the evening down, got a jolt of
theatrical energy from the ever-charismatic tenor John Duykers."
San Francisco Chronicle - Febraury 18, 2007
Premiere of Libby Larsen's Everyman
Jack, Sonoma City Opera:
"John Duykers sang with terrific poise and clarity while changing
characters with chameleonic swiftness."
San Francisco chronicle &endash; November13, 2006
Paul Dresher's The Tyrant,
Cleveland Opera:
"Tenor John Duykers, a veteran of many modern operas, was the Tyrant.
His ability to express emotion with his voice is undiminished. He
caresses or trumpets phrases, speaks forcefully and sings recitative,
commanding the stage with absolute authority. Once out of his cage,
Duykers came down to within feet of the audience, never once focusing
on any one person but aware that we were 'his subjects.' The drama
came across clearly, with good diction and total immersion in the
character. The audience was appreciative." OperaNews.com - July
2006
"Sung with stellar urgency by tenor John
Duykers, 'The Tyrant' is a compelling study in paranoia, pettiness
and pretension, just a few of the qualities that inhabit those for
whom power is paramount. Onstage for the opera's entire 65 minutes,
Duykers brings a gamut of vivid inflections to the tyrant's
frustrations and rantings. Dresher's vocal writing is grateful until
the despot heads into the most apprehensive regions of his soul,
which usually means his high register. Duykers copes boldly with the
demands, seizing the character's psyche by throat and body.
Cleveland Plain Dealer - May 4, 2006
"Tenor John Duykers portrays a king on the
edge of madness in Dresher's 'The Tyrant.' When Dresher composed it,
he had in mind John Duykers, a longtime colleague, as the single
singer. On Tuesday, Duykers inhabited the part completely. His
ability to find his own melodic lines, which so often run
independently of the instrumentalists, was impressive, as was his
acting. Duykers was especially poignant when he stripped off his
pinstriped suit coat and came forward to sit on the stairs leading to
the audience, as his character broke down. This was a case where
superior musicianship and intelligence held their own. To bring in a
recent (1-year-old) opera of this quality, performed by six
world-class instrumentalists and an excellent actor/singer, signals a
valuable interest in looking to see what's happening elsewhere. It
also alerts the public that The Tyrant's co-presenter, Opera
Cleveland might be interested in shaking up the status quo for its
recently merged groups. That could be the most interesting
development of all."
Akron Beacon Journal - May 5, 2006
Orff's Carmina Burana, New World
Symphony, Boris Brott, conductor
"Soloists for the evening were of exceptional quality: tenor John
Duykers, who fashioned his one lachrymose aria into a tongue-in-beak
tearjerker as he took the role of a swan whose life was ending on a
roasting spit."
Ventura County Star - May 25, 2006
Paul Dresher's The Tyrant,,
Present Music, Milwaukee:
"The performance was strong all around. Duykers is a genuine virtuoso
singer."
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - April 23
Paul Dresher's The Tyrant, Project
Artaud, San Francisco:
"As embodied with wonderfully reptilian anguish by tenor John Duykers
in an excerpted performance Friday night at Theatre Artaud, the
nameless tyrant is a mixture of self-assurance and terror. Friday's
performance offered only a tantalizing taste of the full work, but
that was enough to leave a listener eager for the rest. Duykers, in
fact, was the main attraction of the performance, his singing potent
and well modulated and his dramatic contribution terrifically
nuanced."
San Francisco Chronicle - April 3, 2006
Mime in Long Beach Opera'sWagner
mini-Ring:
"The star may have been the veteran John Duykers as Mime."
Long Beach Gazette - Jan. 2006
"John Duykers brought his wealth of
experience to a beautifully realized Mime."
Showmag.com - Jan. 2006
"John Duykers, who has performed in Rings
around the world, is suitably smarmy and self-destructive as Mime,
Alberich's brother and forger of the ring"
Long Beach Press Telegram - January 17, 2006
" John Duykers, one of our great character
singers, was the Mime in Siegfried, making me regret that the role
had also been cut from Rhinegold."
LA Weekly - - January 17, 2006
"The most satisfying of the four operas was
'Siegfried,' which was presented Sunday. John Duykers, who can always
be relied on for a fine performance, played the role of the
previously missing Mime.
DailyBreeze.com - - January 21, 2006
"And while we're discussing the Nibelungen
family, it's necessary to mention the outstanding character tenor
John Duykers, flawlessly cast as Mime. Although his character was
left on the cutting room floor in Rhinegold, we got plenty of his
delicious nastiness in Siegfried."
OperaWest - January 19, 2006
"Mime - the redoubtable John Duykers as a
vivid and cunningly detailed character, a doting sad sack, pointed
with illuminating vocal colors."
Wagner Society of Northern California - February 2006
Premiere of Kurt Rhode's Bitter
Harvest, Berkeley Symphony, Kent Nagano conductor:
"It's the writing for Ruby -- including a beautiful aria to his late
wife -- that gives "Bitter Harvest" its beating heart. Nagano led an
engaging performance, and tenor John Duykers sang with power and
pathos as Ruby. Duykers, who has given the first performances of
numerous 20th-century roles in operas by John Adams, Philip Glass and
others, brought an admirable dimension to the part of the embattled
farmer." Contra Costa Times - December 5, 2005
"Duykers &emdash; with his gorgeous voice,
especially rich in low registers and falsetto, with facially and
vocally projected anguish &emdash; looked the quintessential farmer
in his gray overalls."
SFCV.org - December 6, 2005
"Tenor John Duykers brought the requisite
touch of beleaguered dignity to the part of Black."
San Francisco Chronicle - December 6, 2005
The veteran tenor John Duykers, best known
for his Mao Tse-Tung played and recorded in Adams' 1980s opera 'Nixon
in China,' sang (with some high falsettos to boot) and spoke Ruby as
if it was written for him---which it was."
Artssf.com - December 6, 2005
Premiere of Paul Dresher's The
Tyrant, Seattle Chamber Players:
"Tenor John Duykers returned in an unforgettable portrayal of a
tyrant. The Tyrant's fears, needs, paranoia and, most chillingly, his
methods of getting what he wants are there before you in Duykers.
Sometimes speaking, sometimes singing, and always audible, he
disintegrates before your eyes and ears."
Seattle Post Intelligencer, May 2, 2005
"The Tyrant is a tour-de-force - a gripping
music-theater piece that is witty, poignant and wonderfully
effective. Duykers was absolutely mesmerizing in the role of the
king. It's hard to imagine anyone else as eerily effective in the
role he has made so wholly his own. One of the world's pre-eminent
specialists in contemporary music, Duykers still commands a pliant
and suitably majestic tenor, more than capable of meeting the score's
stringent demands. But he is considerably more than a singer. His
thoroughly detailed presentation of the Tyrant waxes and wanes from
imperious irony to yearning, terror, paranoia, infatuation, despair
and resignation. This performance will be recorded, but it should be
filmed as well; what Duykers does with his face and body, as well as
his voice, should be commemorated for posterity."
Seattle Times, May 3, 2005
Monsieur Triquet, Tchaikovsky's Eugene
Oneigin, San Francisco Opera:
"There were fine contributions by John Duykers as the French
neighbor, Monsieur Triquet."
San Francisco Chronicle, November 26, 2004
White Minister in Ligeti's Grand
Macabre, San Francisco Opera:
"Duykers and Bloom almost stole the show with the back-and-forth
machinations of the Black and White Politicians."
San Francisco Chronicle &endash; November 1, 2004
"There were riveting performances: the
debate between the White and Black politicians (John Duykers and
Joshua Bloom) was downright Chaplinesque."
Los Angeles Times &endash; November 1, 2004
"Two politicians immediately cement
themselves as highlights of the far-flung production. Scheming,
conniving and quite funny, the duo argues uncontrollably, threatening
resignation every few minutes and carrying a lively repartee."
San Francisco Examiner &endash; November 9, 2004
Red Whiskers in Britten's Billy
Budd, San Francisco Opera:
"Standouts among the large cast were tenor John Duykers as Red
Whiskers."
San Francisco Chronicle - September 28, 2004
The Hunchbak in Strauss' Die Frau Ohne
Schatten, Los Angeles Opera:
"In a myriad of smaller roles, Phillip Skinner, Andrew Funk and
John Duykers are standouts as the supremely unattractive, bumbling
brothers."
Orange County Register. - February 24, 2004
Preview of Kurt Rhode's Bitter
Harvest, Berkeley
Symphony:
"This excerpt hit listeners in the gut. Sung affectingly by John
Duykers, it was an aria from next year's Berkeley Symphony premiere
of Rohde's Bitter Harvest."
SF Classical Voice - March 9, 2004
Pilate in the premiere of Wold's Sub
Pontio Pilato, San Franciusco
"The opening performance could scarcely have asked for stronger
performers. Tenor John Duykers is superb in the title role, his
singing forthright and nuanced, his theatrical presence magnificently
touching."
San Francisco Chronicle - April 12, 2003
"Though the action in this head-trip opera
is almost nonexistent, this econo-production has such a telling
effect that I was drawn back to catch it again another night. The
immediacy of this seldom-used format is considerable, with tenor John
Duykers in the title role a commanding, near-regal presence dictating
awe and involvement."
Artsf.com - April 12-20, 2003
Galileo in Philip Glass' Galileo
Galilei, Goodman Theatre, Chicago:
"John Duykers sings the older Galileo with aplomb." - Variety -
June 28, 2002
"Duykers strongly conveyed the aged
astronomer's thoughtful, often baffled state of mind."
Chicago Sun Times - June 25, 2002
Peter Maxwell Davies Eight Songs for a
Mad King, Seattle Chamber Players:
Headline: "Songs for a Mad King is a smashing triumph"
"Duykers' performance dominated the stage, drawing this audience
member into appalled and sympathetic understanding of the king's
state as he portrayed it. One could hear the collective gasp of the
audience."
Seattle Post Intelligencer - January 21. 2002
"Moment Most Worthy of an Oscar Clip" - Best
of the Year 2002:
"John Duykers' fearless, frighteningly intense rant in Peter Maxwell
Davies' one-man opera 'Eight Songs for a Mad King,' a Seattle Chamber
Players concert. Runner-up: Seattle Chamber Players violinist Mikhail
Schmidt's deadpan despair as Duykers grabbed and smashed his
violin."
Seattle Weekly - December 25 - 31, 2002
Glass' In the Penal Colony, Classic Stage
Company, New York:
"It is amazing to hear the shades of suggestion that are milked
from the slim range of notes allowed the singers: tenor John Duykers
and baritone Herbert Perry." Duykers and Perry sing with admirable
control and clarity. I was especially struck by how much the simple
contrast between their ranges defines their characters."
New York Times - June 15, 2001
"Duykers possesses an expressive tenor. His
performance never fails to intrigue."
Daily Variety - June 15, 2001
Peter Maxwell Davies' Eight Songs for a
Mad King, Los Angeles County Museum of Art:
"Davies' dizzying song cycle was the evening's most substantial-
- and zaniest - piece. Tenor John Duykers handily seized the
spotlight. With wild leaps of register and emotion, he commanded the
material while liberating himself from rationality."
Los Angeles Times &endash; January 24, 2001
Glass' In the Penal Colony and Kali
(premieres), On the Boards, Seattle:
"1. John Duykers, the amazing tenor, singing, squealing, and
ripping his, my partner's, and my hearts and brains out in On the
Boards' curious chamber opera Kali. Then John Duykers again almost
saving the day, as much as it could be saved, as the Visitor in the
otherwise bizarrely wrong and utterly disappointing Philip Glass
wreck of Kafka's In the Penal Colony at ACT. John Duykers is a
genius."
The Seattle Stranger &endash; January 4, 2001
Shepherd in Stravinsky's Oedipus
Rex, National Sympony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin:
"John Duykers sang the Shepherd with fragile nobility."
Orange County Register - November 1, 1999
Mime in Siegfried, Opera de Marseille
""Among the six principals, there are actors without peer, able
to bend themselves without apparent effort to the needs of the
excellent director, permitting him to take risks that pay off. Like
in the first act, the confrontation between Nibelung/Siegfried: a
model of the genre, thanks to a Mime who has never before carried the
name (mime) so well, because John Duykers, the exact singer required
here, although very large, succeeded in giving the impression of
being a dwarf, and miraculously managed to "mime" his text with his
long, astonishingly expressive hands."
La Marseillaise &endash; May
8, 1999
"Other interesting portrayals included John
Duykers, a fine singer and excellent actor."
La Provence &endash; May 6,
1999
Sub Pontio Pilato by Erling Wold, on The
Boards, Seattle:
"The vocal writing was excellent as was the singing of tenor John
Duykers
Seattle Weekly - February 10,
1999
Tchekalinsky in Pique Dame, National
Symphony Orchestra, Mstislav Rostropovich
"Well balanced by the fine performance of John Duykers as
Chekalinsky."
Washington Post - May 18,
1998
Soloist with the Empyrean Ensemble,
University of California, Davis:
"What raised it to uncommon levels, in addition to the presence
of a singer of commanding interpretive powers in John Duykers, was
the fact that they were accompanied by instrumental ensembles."
Sacramento Bee - April 27,
1998
Salome, Hong Kong Arts Festival
"Briefer roles included John Duykers' witty, malicious cameo as
leader of the Jews."
South China Morning Post -
February 16, 1998
Luka in Janacek's From the House of the
Dead, Long Beach Opera:
"Of the large cast, the singers who got the words out best are
the ones who also seemed to sing with the most character, to tell
their tales most compellingly. Those included John Duykers as the
volatile Luka and Michael Myers as the love-torn Skuratov."
Los Angeles Times - June 17,
1997
"There were many fine performances, led by
John Duykers, discovered as Filka Morozov on his death
bed."
Orange County Register - July 17, 1997
Iro in Monteverdi's Il ritorno
d'Ulisse in patria, Los Angeles Opera:
"The casting is a mix of box-office draws with singers associated
with early music, with more experimental music theater (the marvelous
character tenor John Duykers)..."
Los Angeles Times - May 8,
1997
"That wonderful Bay Area character tenor,
John Duykers (who seems to work everywhere), animated the glutton Iro
with a touch of theatrical genius. How many tenors ever get to perch
atop a rock and toss bits of food at the other singers?"
San Francisco Examiner - May
12, 1997
"I've left myself scant space to exult over
the hilarious clowning of John Duykers."
L.A. Weekly - May 15,
1997
"Duykers is one of the best character tenors
performing these days. We've been lucky to have him in San Diego
several times recently."
San Diego Online - May
1997
Inquisitor in Myron Fink's
Conquistador, San Diego Opera:
"Standouts included John Duykers as the scary Guerrero, the Chief
Inquisitor."
Los Angeles Times - March 3,
1997
"There were vivid performances from John
Duykers as the villainous Viceroy in Inquisitor."
London Times - March 7,
1997
"San Diego Opera gave 'The Conquistador' a
carefully considered, well-executed production and cast it strongly.
John Duykers brought a special smarmy energy to his portrayal of the
Inquisitor, who is written as a calculating tenor rather than an
ominous bass."
Wall Street Journal - March 6,
1997
"All of the singers shone: John Duykers
relished his role as the Chief Inquisitor in a scene most effectively
designed and lit, and stage by Sharon Ott."
Opera Now - May/June 1997
"Special contributions came from John
Duykers (the chief inquisitor)."
Opera News - July 1997
"John Duykers is a chilling figure as the
Grand Inquisitor."
North County News - March 7, 1997
Sellem in Stravinsky's The Rake's
Progress, Chatelet, Paris:
"It would be hard to imagine anything surpassing what is delivered by
the superb cast of singing actors. John Duykers was hilarious as the
demented auctioneer."
International Herald Tribune - October 2, 1996
"Sellars has made believers of his cast, and every performance is spectacularly convincing. Of a mostly American dream cast, John Duykers, fondly remembered as Mao in 'Nixon in China' turns the comic auctioneer Sellem into a shocking caricature of an over-the-top evangelist saving souls and selling slaves." Los Angeles Times - September 20, 1996
Ulysses in Fauré's
Penelope, Berkeley Opera:
"The principal singers were well-prepared, with Martha Jane Howe
and John Duykers giving the most dignified performances."
Oakland Tribune - May 1,
1996
"Splendid John Duykers as Ulysses is
compelling and convincing."
Hills Publications - May 2,
1996
Vitek in The Makropoulos Affair,
Lyric Opera of Chicago:
"John Duykers adds another triumphant character portrayal after
the tenor's acclaimed work as Begearss in "The Ghosts of Versailles"
earlier this season."
Chicago Daily Herald - January
12, 1996
"Surrounded by a strong male cast, John Duykers and Stephen West do equally well." New York Times - December 11, 1995
"The standouts were ... John Duykers as his
law clerk."
Chicago Tribune - December 11,
1995
Squeak in Britten's Billy Budd,
Royal Opera, Covent Garden:
"There is also considerable strength in the supporting roles -
Roderick Earle and John Duykers are particularly notable."
Stage - August 6,
1995
Trespass Knot at the Somar
Theater, San Francisco:
"The story is sung and the voices are glorious. Duykers, now a
regular with the Lyric Opera of Chicago has a rich, supple
tenor."
San Francisco Examiner - April
11, 1995
Herod in Salome, Opera Company of
Philadelphia:
"John Duykers sang Herod with authority and strong projection,
and built a figure sweating and longing for Salome."
Philadelphia Inquirer - March
8. 1995
"John Duykers fashions a richly detailed
character study of Herod."
Philadelphia Courier-Post
-
March 8, 1995
Shuisky in Boris Godunov, Lyric
Opera of Chicago:
"The entire singing cast was outstanding: John Duykers a
wonderfully ominous presence as Shuisky."
Das Opernglas - December
1994
"John Duykers was well inside the wily,
insinuating Shuisky."
Chicago Tribune - September
19,
1994.
Opera News - February 18, 1995
European Representation:
Robert Gilder & Company
Enterprise House59/65 Upper Ground
London SE1 9PA England
teL; 011 44 20 7928 9008 / fax: 011 44 20 7928 9755
rgilder@robert-gilder.com
Opera Repertoire
Adams
Nixon In China
Mao tse-tung
Beethoven
Fidelio
Florestan
Berg
Lulu
WozzeckAlwa
Captain/Drum MajorBizet
Carmen
Don Jose
Britten
Peter Grimes
The Turn of the Screw
Billy BuddPeter Grimes/Bob Boles
Peter Quint
Captain VereCorigliano
The Ghosts of Versailles
Begearss
Floyd
Of Mice and Men
Passion of Jonathan WadeLennie
Enoch PrattJanaçek
The Excursions of Mr. Brouçek
From the House of the Dead
Jenufa
Katya Kabanova
The Makropoulos CaseBrouçek
Luka
Laça
Tikhon
Gregor, VitekLeoncavallo
I Pagliacci
Canio
Moussorgsky
Boris Godunov
KhovanshchinaShuisky/Dimitri
Vassily GolitsinOffenbach
Les Contes d'Hoffmann
Hoffmann
R. Strauss
Ariadne auf Naxos
Elektra
SalomeBacchus
Aegisth
HerodStravinsky
Oedipus Rex
The Rake's ProgressOedipus
SellemTchaikovsky
Pique Dame
Tchekalinsky
Wagner
Das Rheingold
Siegfried
Die WalküreLoge
Mime
SiegmundWeill
Mahagonny
Jimmy Mahoney
|
|
Donald E.
Osborne |
Susan Endrizzi |
Chamber Music Early Music Vocal Music World Music Instrumentalists Theater Singers Special Attractions Conductors
