Biography

From Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Don Giovanni to contemporary works by Britten, Hindemith, and Bloch; from the educational programs of Rob Kapilow to Pops concerts featuring hits from the Great American Songbook, baritone Jonathan Hays exhibits extraordinary breadth of vocal flexibility and interpretive expression.

Upcoming engagements in 2009 and 2010 include Monteverdi’s Vespro della beata Vergine (1610) with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, a reprise of Jorge Martín’s song cycle The Glass Hammer at Dickinson College, Delius's 'Pagan' Requiem with The Central City Chorus, and Bach’s Ich habe genug and Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen with “Music at Pine Street” in Harrisburg, PA.

Engagements in 2008 featured Hays in performances of Rob Kapilow’s whimsical orchestral song cycle, And Furthermore They Bite, with the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles and the Toronto Symphony, a return to the Summerscape Festival at Bard College for a recital program entitled, “From Broadway to Gorky Street,” performances of Jorge Martín’s tour-de-force work, The Glass Hammer, in the cities of Brooklyn, NY and Chapel Hill, NC with pianist Craig Ketter, The Lord Nelson Mass with the Harrisburg Choral Society and a program of American Music with the St. Louis Philharmonic Orchestra.

Renowned as an interpreter of contemporary music, Mr. Hays essayed the role of Shadow Grendel in the world premier of Grendel by Eliot Goldenthal and Julie Taymor with the Los Angeles Opera and Lincoln Center Festival, collaborated with Ned Rorem and New Music New Haven on Mr. Rorem’s Songs of Sadness, originated the role of Isiah Berlin in The Guest from the Future by Mel Marvin and Jonathan Levi at the Summerscape Festival, and performed multiple roles in the OK Mozart Festival’s world premier production of Jean Michel Damase’s Ochelata’s Wedding. He was recently heard with the American Symphony Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall performing in two operas by Hindemith, Das Nush-Nushi and Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen, and bowed as Friedrich Bhaer in Mark Adamo’s Little Women with Dayton Opera.

Also acclaimed for his portrayal of roles in the standard repertory, Mr. Hays’ has sung principle roles in Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni), Le Nozze di Figaro (Count, Figaro), Die Zauberflöte (Papageno), Cosi Fan Tutte (Guglielmo), Das Rheingold (Donner), La Boheme (Marcello, Schaunard), L’Elisir d’Amore (Belcore), Giulio Cesare (Achilla), Deidamia (Fenice), L’Italiana in Algeri (Taddeo), La Cenerentola (Dandani), La Gazza Ladra (Fernando), I Pagliacci (Silvio), Fidelio (Fernando), Albert Herring (Sid, Vicar), Béatrice et Bénédict (Somarone), and others, with companies that include The Washington Opera, Central City Opera, The Lyric Opera of Kansas City, The Caramoor Festival, Connecticut Opera, Connecticut Grand Opera and Orchestra, Opera de la Colombia, Cape Town Opera, Syracuse Opera, Greensboro Opera Company, The Oklahoma Mozart Festival, The Utah Festival Opera Company, Eugene Opera, and Yale Opera.

After an acclaimed performance of Rossini’s La Gazza Ladra with the Caramoor Festival and the Orchestra of St. Lukes, Paul Griffiths of The New York Times wrote of his work, ‘…in all his contributions, the nobility of his voice matched the nobility of his bearing and his singing was consistently strong, lucid, direct and bang on the note. His was a magnificent performance’.

A frequent guest of symphony orchestras all over North America, Mr. Hays has performed the solo material in works such as Handel’s Messiah; J.S. Bach’s Magnificat, St. Matthew Passion and B-minor Mass; Avodath Hakodesh by Ernest Bloch; Rob Kapilow’s And Furthermore, They Bite and Polar Express; and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, with organizations including The Orchestra of St. Luke's, St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, The American Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Eos Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Musica Viva, The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, The Alabama Symphony, The New Jersey Symphony, and The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.