Julius Ahn
The award-winning, internationally acclaimed tenor’s 2022-2023 Season is highlighted by company and role débuts, as well as, an operatic reprisal of a lead role for which he won an award for his performances as the Principal Actor in a Musical.
Ahn opens his 2022-2023 Season via a company début with The Dallas Opera, as Borsa in RIGOLETTO by Verdi. Thereafter, he makes his return to The Atlanta Opera as Goro in MADAMA BUTTERFLY by Puccini; travels to New York City to reprise his role as Kaspar in On Site Opera’s highly acclaimed production of AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS by Menotti; returns to Nashville Opera to reprise the lead role of Guang in a STUCK ELEVATOR by Au Yong; makes his company début with New Orleans Opera as Goro in MADAMA BUTTERFLY; makes his Wagnerian role début as Mime in DAS RHEINGOLD; joins San Francisco Opera’s Centennial Anniversary Season as Goro in MADAMA BUTTERFLY; and, returns to Cincinnati Opera, also as Goro.
Especially renown for his “well-acted, well-sung” portrayals of a wide range of roles, Ahn has performed with leading companies throughout the U.S., including: The Metropolitan Opera; San Francisco Opera; Michigan Opera Theatre; Opera Philadelphia; The Atlanta Opera; Boston Lyric Opera; Boston Modern Orchestra Project; Cincinnati Opera; Hawaii Opera Theatre; Lyric Opera of Kansas City; Nashville Opera; Opera Carolina; Opera Omaha; Pacific Symphony; Palm Beach Opera; Pittsburgh Opera; Seattle Opera; Tulsa Opera; Virginia Opera; and, Washington Concert Opera. International engagements include performances with Canadian Opera Company; Vancouver Opera; Raymond Gubbay at Royal Albert Hall; and, Korea National Opera.
Ahn’s portrayals and performances have been widely praised in such publications as Broadway World, Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, Opera News, San Francisco Chronicle, et. al.
Ahn made his return to the stage in 2021 via a trilogy of Puccini role débuts to add to his wide-ranging repertoire: Nick in LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST with Korea National Opera; Spoletta in TOSCA with Cincinnati Opera; and, Gherardo in GIANNI SCHICCHI with Tulsa Opera. His 2021-2022 Season also included: Second Priest in the Holiday Presentation of THE MAGIC FLUTE by Mozart with The Metropolitan Opera; Goro in MADAMA BUTTERFLY, in concert, with Canadian Opera Company; and, another role début as Borsa in RIGOLETTO by Verdi with Opera Philadelphia, having covered the role at The Metropolitan Opera.
Ahn’s role début as Nick in LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST by Puccini in July 2021 also marked his début in his hometown of Seoul. Additionally, the production presented by Korea National Opera at Seoul Arts Center was the national premiere of Puccini’s masterpiece in South Korea.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020, Ahn made his South Korea début, also a company and role début, as Gastone in LA TRAVIATA by Verdi with Korea National Opera.
Ahn’s engagements in the abbreviated 2019-2020 Season included: Pang in TURANDOT by Puccini, via a Robert Wilson production, with Canadian Opera Company; his début in the role of First Jew in SALOME by R. Strauss with The Atlanta Opera; and, Goro in MADAMA BUTTERFLY with Tulsa Opera.
Also as part of the 2019-2020 Season, Ahn made his company début with On Site Opera in a holiday classic, as Kaspar in a highly acclaimed site-specific production of AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS by Menotti, presented at the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen in New York City, in partnership with Breaking Ground, New York City’s largest provider of permanent supportive housing for the homeless, and featuring a chorus composed of community members who have experienced homelessness.
Ahn’s 2018-2019 Season included a company and role début in the leading ‘baritenore’ role of Antenore in ZELMIRA by Rossini, in concert, with Washington Concert Opera.
Ahn joined the roster of The Metropolitan Opera as part of its 2013-2014 Season in its production of THE NOSE by Shostakovich, and went on to make his stage début as the Second Priest in THE MAGIC FLUTE by Mozart. Additional productions with The Metropolitan Opera include TURANDOT by Puccini, DIE FLEDERMAUS by J. Strauss, and RIGOLETTO by Verdi.
Other notable opera engagements include: Bardolfo in FALSTAFF by Verdi with Opera Omaha; Monostatos in THE MAGIC FLUTE with Opera Carolina, Opera Omaha, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Michigan Opera Theatre, and Pacific Symphony; Basilio and Curzio in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO by Mozart with Lyric Opera Baltimore and Bar Harbor Music Festival; Tanzmeister and Brighella in ARIADNE AUF NAXOS by R. Strauss, Soldier in THE EMPEROR OF ATLANTIS by Ullmann, and Padre Ruffiano in THE INSPECTOR by Musto, with Boston Lyric Opera; Demo in GIASONE by Cavalli with Chicago Opera Theater; Sellem in RAKE’S PROGRESS by Stravinsky with the Princeton Festival; roles in THE NOSE with Opera Boston; and, Mark in THE MIDSUMMER MARRIAGE by Tippett, in concert, with Boston Modern Orchestra Project at Jordan Hall.
After being cast in STUCK ELEVATOR by Byron Au Yong and Aaron Jafferis, directed by Chay Yew, as part of the 2011 Sundance Institute Theatre Labs at Banff Centre, and again, at White Oak, Ahn went on to create the lead role of Guang in the triumphant world premiere with American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco as part of its 2012-2013 Season. Ahn’s performances earned him the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre in 2013, in the category of Principal Actor in a Musical. He later reprised the role with The Arts and Ideas Festival at Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, and with New York Theatre Workshop. He has also performed the principal role of Conrado in a workshop performance of LONG SEASON by Chay Yew and Fabian Obispo, as part of Huntington Theatre Company’s Breaking Ground Festival. Additional role credits include King of Siam in THE KING AND I, and Duke/Dr. Carrasco in MAN OF LA MANCHA, as well as, roles in CAMELOT, RAGTIME, and TITANIC.
Ahn has also performed, to great acclaim, the lead role of the Grouch in Robert Kapilow’s operatic adaptation of DR. SEUSS’ GREEN EGGS AND HAM as part of a double-bill with DR. SEUSS’ GERTRUDE MCFUZZ, also by Kapilow, in a joint production by Hawaii Opera Theatre, Honolulu Theatre for Youth, and the Honolulu Symphony, at the historic Hawaii Theatre in Honolulu.
Ahn attended the New England Conservatory of Music, as well as, the University of Washington, under the tutelage of the world-renowned tenor Vinson Cole, and performed a wide range of roles.
