Chad Johnson
Noted as a “blond hunk with a bright tenor sound,” Chad Johnson has impressed audiences and critics throughout his career. This fall, Johnson sings as the tenor in Ensemble for the Romantic Century’s production of Van Gogh’s Ear at The Pershing Square Signature Center in New York City.
Mr. Johnson has led quite a prolific career as a tenor in a variety of operas across North America. Recently, he has taken on many great tenor roles including Niklaus Sprink in Silent Night with Michigan Opera Theatre, Fort Worth Opera, and in his début with The Wexford Festival; Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Opera Orlando and New Orleans Opera; Tonio in La fille du régiment with Mill City Summer Opera; Gerald in Lakmé with Minnesota Opera and Florida Grand Opera; Lenski in Eugene Onegin with Florida Grand Opera; Peregrino in Vía Láctea with OperaBend; Nadir in Les pêcheurs de perles with Virginia Opera and Opera Carolina; Ruggero in La rondine with Fresno Grand Opera; Lysander in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Boston Lyric Opera; Jacquino in Fidelio with Opera Omaha; Emilio in Il sogno di Scipione with Gotham Chamber Opera; and Lance in the rarely performed Gluck opera entitled L’arbre enchanté with Fire Island Opera for their inaugural season.
Previous career highlights include Paolino in Il matrimonio segreto at Brooklyn Academy of Music and Ferrando in Così fan tutte with Tanglewood Music Center under the baton of Maestro James Levine. From this performance, Opera News raved: “The excellent tenor Chad Johnson provided some deeply felt moments as his Ferrando struggled to stay in the game, and all of his arias rang true.
Johnson was a member of multiple young artist programs at many houses throughout the country including Chicago Opera Theater, Florida Grand Opera, and Glimmerglass Opera as well as Santa Fe Opera’s Apprentice Artist Program. With Florida Grand Opera’s young artist program, he sang many roles including the Second Jew in Salome, Benvolio in Roméo et Juliette, Gastone in La traviata, Joszef in the North American première of Ede Donath’s Szulamit, and Pong in Turandot.
He is also active as a concert soloist performing with the Atlanta Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Tanglewood Festival Orchestra, Boston Pops, Sun Valley Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Chamber Orchestra and Master Chorale, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, AIMS Festival Orchestra, Symphony of the Americas, and New World Symphony. Recent engagements include the tenor solo in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Texas Christian University, a return to Savannah Voice Festival in a gala concert, the tenor solo in Christ on the Mount of Olives with New York City Master Chorale, and a Gala Concert with Maestro Jerry Steichen. He has been a featured soloist in such works as Mozart’s Requiem and Coronation Mass, Händel’s Messiah, Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music, Bach’s Magnificat, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and numerous other recitals and concerts. Notable performances include Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Haydn’s Missa in Angustiis with the New York Choral Society, a New Year’s Eve concert with the Alabama Symphony, Mozart’s Requiem with Modesto Symphony Orchestra, Britten’s Spring Symphony for MidAmerica Productions, and a pops program with Long Beach Symphony.Chad Johnson studied at Western Michigan University, the University of Kentucky, and the American Institute of Musical Studies’ Opera Studio in Graz, Austria. Johnson won the Four Cities District Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and first prize in the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Competition.
