John Aler

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John Aler (born October 4, 1949 in Baltimore , Maryland ) is an American concert and opera singer (tenor). His very lyrical, flexible, noble timbre and elegant voice, with which he effortlessly and beautifully climbs to the highest heights, predestined him for roles in the bel canto subject of a tenore di grazia , in works by Mozart , Rossini , Donizetti , Bellini , and Handel . At least as well-known are his interpretations of French works by Rameau , Gluck , Adam , Auber , Bizet and Berlioz .

biography

John Aler grew up in Baltimore and attended Roman Catholic schools, where he sang boy soprano in the choir. His mother was of Italian descent, had studied singing, and brought him into contact with broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera and recordings by Jussi Björling and Richard Tucker at an early age .

Aler studied with Rilla Mervine and Raymond McGuire at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC , where he received his master's degree in 1982. After a Baltimore Opera competition, he also had seven or eight lessons with the legendary Rosa Ponselle , which he found "inspiring". He also studied with Oren Brown at the American Opera Center of the Juilliard School in New York from 1972 to 1976 , with Marlene Malas, and at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood .

In 1977 he made his operatic debut as Ernesto in Donizetti's Don Pasquale at the American Opera Center, and in the same year won two first prizes at the Concours International de Chant in Paris . He made his debut at the New York City Opera in 1981 as Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni ; and sang Arturo in Bellini's I puritani there in the same season .

John Aler is one of the most recognized lyric tenors on the international stage. In the opera he had appearances at most European opera houses, such as the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Deutsche Oper Berlin , the Vienna State Opera , the Bavarian State Opera , the Salzburg Festival , the Glyndebourne Festival , in Hamburg, Geneva, Madrid, and Lyon Brussels; and in America at the Opera Houses of St. Louis , Santa Fe, Washington DC, and Baltimore. In addition, he has also sung in cities like Santiago de Chile , Tokyo and Sydney .

As a much sought-after soloist, he has performed with various orchestras: in America with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra , the Cleveland Orchestra , the Philadelphia Orchestra , the Boston Symphony Orchestra , the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra ; and in Europe u. a. with the Berliner Philharmoniker , the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig , the Orchester National de France , the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the London Sinfonietta , with conductors such as Daniel Barenboim , Dutoit, John Eliot Gardiner , Erich Leinsdorf, Kurt Masur , Zubin Mehta , Roger Norrington , Seiji Ozawa , Simon Rattle , Esa-Pekka Salonen , Leonard Slatkin and David Zinman u. v. a.

In 1998 John Aler sang with Kurt Masur and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at the 50th anniversary celebrations of the State of Israel at Avery Fisher Hall .

He has made numerous recordings, with works from the fields of opera, oratorio and lied , from Handel to Stravinsky ; a focus is on rarely performed French works.

Since autumn 2010 John Aler has been teaching singing at the School of Music at George Mason University (GMU) in Fairfax (Virginia) .

Discography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d A Tenor unafraid of Heights, he has found them. Interview with John Aler. In: The New York Times , December 15, 1996, accessed December 3, 2017.
  2. ↑ a b c d John Aler at Bach Cantatas (English)
  3. ^ Short biography of John Aler in the Milken Archive of Jewish Music , accessed on December 3, 2017.
  4. ↑ a b Short biography of John Aler in the booklet for CD Gluck : Iphigénie en Tauride, with Diana Montague a . a., Orchester de l'Opéra de Lyon, John Eliot Gardiner , 1986 Philips, p. 55.
  5. ↑ Biography on the George Mason University (GMU) website , accessed December 3, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Aler, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American concert and opera singer (tenor)
DATE OF BIRTH October 4, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Baltimore , Maryland