John De Haan
2106 4th St S
Minneapolis,
MN
55455
Associate Professor: Voice
Internationally acclaimed tenor John David De Haan has enjoyed successes throughout the world singing both traditional and recently composed music. He recently performed the leading tenor role of L’Oiseau in the world premier of Stephen Hartke’s The Greater Good for Glimmerglass Opera in 2006. These performances were recorded by Naxos Records and will be available worldwide in 2007. He also sang the role of Caliban in Lee Hoiby’s The Tempest for Pacific Opera Victoria to critical acclaim, a performance later broadcast on Canadian Broadcasting Company. Mr. De Haan’s current CD offering, Songs, features the solo vocal compositions of jazz legend Dave Brubeck (with Mr. Brubeck at the piano for seven of the works) and is now available on Naxos Records. John De Haan also recorded the title role of the world premiere studio recording of Willie the Weeper by Jerome Moross for Naxos Records. He sang the role of King Arthur in the first ever performance of Merlin by Albeniz with the Teatro Real Opera Orchestra in Madrid, and in Randall Snyder’s Divine Madness, an opera written for him, in Lincoln, Nebraska. Mr. De Haan’s recent appearances have been as the Drum Major in Pacific Opera Victoria’s production of Wozzeck, in Elijah in Tokyo, in Der Fliegende Hollander at Opera Carolina and L’Opera Montreal, and with the Latvian National Symphony in an all-Wagner program with David Milnes.
As a principal artist with the Deutsche Oper Berlin for four years, Mr. De Haan sang Florestan in Fidelio, Erik in Der Fliegende Hollander, Macduff in Macbeth, Hans Schwalb in Mathis derMaler, and as the tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Elsewhere in Europe, he has performed in Lubeck as Jimmy Mahoney in Mahagonny, with the Netherlands Opera as Arbace in Idomeneo, with the Scottish Opera as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly and in Mannheim as Tamino in Die Zauberflote and Florestan in Fidelio.
Mr. De Haan may be heard in the leading role of “der Fremde“ in Decca’s recording of Korngold’s Das Wunder der Heliane conducted by John Mauceri, and in Goldschmidt’s BeatriceCenci for Sony Records. He performed the Korngold in concert at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam under the baton of Edo de Waart in 1995.
Prior to undertaking the heroic tenor repertory, Mr. De Haan appeared with leading opera companies in lyric roles, including Romeo et Juliette, Faust, Andres in Wozzeck and Melot in Tristan und Isolde with the San Francisco Opera, Arbace in Idomeneo and Don Ottavio in DonGiovanni at the Greater Miami Opera, in Cherubin and A Night at the Chinese Opera at the Santa Fe Opera, as Werther and as Anatol in Vanessa at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and as Alfredo in La Traviata at Tulsa Opera and New Orleans Opera. He has also appeared with the Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Memphis, Indianapolis Opera, Seattle Opera, and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City.
In concert, Mr. De Haan has performed Siegmund in Die Walkure with the Louisiana Philharmonic, as tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony, in L’Opera de Montreal’s gala concert, as the Evangelist in the St. JohnPassion with the Detroit Symphony, in the Mozart Requiem with Midsummer Mozart in San Francisco, in a concert performance of The Nose with Sinfonia San Francisco and in an evening of music theatre with the San Francisco Symphony. He was also presented in recital on the prestigious Schwabacher Debut Recital series of the San Francisco Opera.
In 1995, Mr. De Haan expanded his activities to include teaching. His students have been selected by highly regarded young artist training and apprenticeship programs including the Merola Opera Program, Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass Opera and Minnesota Opera. They have successfully competed on all levels of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions with several advancing to the finals in New York. Many of his students enjoy successful operatic, concert and recording careers both in North America and Europe.
John David De Haan is a native of Kansas and a graduate of Union College and of the University of Nebraska where he earned his Master of Music degree. He is a winner of the prestigious Eleanor Steber Music Foundation Mozart Award and a former Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera. He is currently on the voice and opera faculty at University of Minnesota’s School of Music in Minneapolis where he resides with his wife and two daughters.