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John Daszak
Shirley Thomson
Catherine Znak
“John Daszak has a flexible, beautiful voice combined with most intelligent, effortless characterisation.”
(Frankfurter Allgemeine on Khovanshchina)
Renowned for both vocal versatility and powerful dramatic talent, British tenor John Daszak performs a diverse span of operatic roles on the world’s major stages with particularly strong ties to several works, including Wozzeck, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Khovanshchina, Billy Budd, Boris Godunov, Das Rheingold and Salome. Daszak has made many important debuts across his career, including at Bayreuther Festspiele as Loge (Das Rheingold) under Kirill Petrenko, at Berliner Staatsoper Unter den Linden as Tambour Major (Wozzeck) under Daniel Barenboim, at Teatro alla Scala as Peter Grimes under the late Jeffrey Tate, at the Bolshoi Theatre as Sergei (Katarina Ismailova) under Tugan Sokhiev and at the Metropolitan Opera as Captain Vere (Billy Budd) under David Robertson.
A frequent collaborator with many of today’s key conductors and directors, some of Daszak’s recent roles include Alviano Salvago in Barrie Kosky’s staging of Die Gezeichneten at Opernhaus Zürich under Vladimir Jurowski, Tambour Major in William Kentridge’s Wozzeck at both Salzburg Festival (Jurowski) and Opéra de Paris under Susanna Mälkki, Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler at Semperoper Dresden under Simone Young, Grishka Kuter’na in The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh at Dutch National Opera staged by Dimitri Tcherniakov and conducted by Marc Albrecht and Zinovy Ismailov in Calixto Bieito’s production of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at Grand Théâtre de Genève under Alejo Pérez. Following his role debut as Herod in David McVicar’s acclaimed staging of Salome at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden under the baton of Henrik Nánási, Daszak has continued to receive high acclaim for his portrayal of the role in new productions at Salzburg Festival under Franz Welser-Möst, at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence under Ingo Metzmacher, at Opernhaus Zürich under Erik Nielsen and at Opéra de Paris conducted by Simone Young.
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Other notable operatic roles include Kaufman (Jakob Lenz) at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence (Metzmacher), Aegisth (Elektra) at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Andris Nelsons), Shuisky (Boris Godunov) at Opernhaus Zürich (Kirill Karabits), Jimmy (Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny) at Komische Oper Berlin (Stefan Blunier), Gustav von Aschenbach (Death in Venice) at Teatro Real (Pérez), Prince Vasily Golitsïn (Khovanshchina) at Opéra de Paris (Hartmut Haennchen), Hauptmann (Wozzeck) at Theater an der Wien (Leo Hussain), Aleksej (The Gambler) at Dutch National Opera (Albrecht) and Skuratov (From the House of the Dead) at Ruhr Triennale under Dennis Russel Davies. John Daszak has long been a regular presence on the stage of Munich’s Bayerische Staatsoper where performances have included the title role of Der Zwerg, Le Lépreux (Saint François d’Assise), Die Knusperhexe (Hänsel und Gretel), Alviano Salvago (Die Gezeichneten), Prince Vasily Golitsïn and Tambour Major among many others.
During the 2024/25 season John Daszak appears in Salome in a new staging by Kornél Mundruczo at Grand Théâtre de Genève conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste and in a new setting of Kat’a Kabanová by Krzysztof Warlikowski at Bayerische Staatsoper under the baton of Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. There are performances of Elektra at both Teatro di San Carlo and Staatsoper Hamburg conducted by Mark Elder and Kent Nagano, respectively, and he returns both to Teatro dell’Opera di Roma for Il prigioniero in a staging by Calixto Bieito conducted by Michele Mariotti, and to Opernhaus Zürich as Herod under Simone Young.
John Daszak features on a number of DVD releases including Pfitzner’s Palestrina from Bayerische Staatsoper (EuroArts), La Fura del Baus’ spectacular production of Das Rheingold from Valencia’s Palau de Les Arts (Unitel), Dutch National Opera’s The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh (Opus Arte), Death in Venice from Teatro Real (Naxos) and Salome from Salzburg Festival (Unitel).
Beyond the operatic stage, Daszak is a highly regarded concert performer. With a repertoire encompassing a wide range of masterpieces including, Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 and Mahler’s Symphony No.8, he has collaborated with esteemed conductors and orchestras, including Donald Runnicles and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski and London Philharmonic Orchestra and Thomas Hengelbrock and NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. Concert highlights in recent seasons include Salome with Houston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Juraj Valčuha and both Jakob Lenz with Le Balcon and Il prigioniero with the Radio Symphonieorchester Wien under the baton of Maxime Pascal at Salzburg Festival.
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“His dialogues with the third (double) character, that of the jailer and the Grand Inquisitor are all the stronger because the role is sung by John Daszak, perfect as always in the roles of villains.”
“John Daszak is a shady jailer who fraternizes and terrorizes, all of this packed into a multifaceted tenor.”
“John Daszak, who portrays the fire god Loge with a steely character tenor as a slippery schemer”
“John Daszak’s Herod is impressive for his silvery voice, acute, firm in the high tessitura and powerful throughout; his acting is equally appreciable”
“Tenor John Dazsak, vocally impeccable and accustomed to the role, plays a bipolar Herod, hysterical and tormented, full of anger and weakness”
“Tenor John Daszak, as Herod, was most impressive as he lusted after his step-daughter, panting and sexed-up, browbeating his steel-spined wife Herodias, or frantic as he attempts to talk Salome out of her decadent desire.:
“John Daszak’s Herod is convincing in the drama of the weakness of the flesh that leads him to fulfill the insane pact”
“John Daszak (Herodes) … masterfully interpret the royal couple, making them two old and quarrelsome bourgeois spouses”
“Let us salute the very brilliant performance of Herodes by John Daszak, who goes through all the emotions with admirable authenticity and without ever flinching.”
“The best of the evening undoubtedly lies in the cast brought together by the Triennale. The most extraordinary in both acting and singing is certainly John Daszak: his character, Skuratov, loses his mind during the opera, and it is overwhelming.”
“John Daszak (Skuratov) delivers a gripping role portrait both vocally and dramatically.”
“But already in the second act, when Skuratov (with virile, sharp character tenor intensity: John Daszak) talks about his act of violence and dances awkwardly to it, the temperature and tension rise.”
“John Daszak, in brighter colour, dominates the role of the betrayed husband [Zinovy Ismailov].”
“Swaggering around in silk pyjamas, Daszak brings both pathos and pure loathesomeness to the character of the Tetrarch. He has a ringing energy to his tenor voice that works really well for the role, and complemented Schaechter’s crisp delivery well.”
“John Daszak ‘s appearance as Aegisthus is short but pointed. With a full-bodied voice, he fills the room again before heading towards his murder.”
“John Dasdak’s Herod dominated the stage. His penetrating tenor with a dose of metallic Sprechstimme is ideally suited. His German is uncannily clear and his varied phrasing perverse and insinuating. Bouncing about the stage dressed like an aging rocker, he projected a manic energy and even an oddly sympathetic side.”
“John Daszak [is] a vivid Herod, compelling in his portrayal of a man on the edge”
“Herodes, embodied by John Daszak, has the spinelessness, both postural and vocal. Fluctuating with lightness and virtuosity between the tenor and baritone tessitura, deliberately producing a few ‘drooling glissandi’. He is on the alert, for his desires as well as his fears, with the help of a flawless projection and a virtuoso diction of the everyday German.”
…and the successful bet of John Daszak, a tenor who usually sings a completely different repertoire but who does here a fantastic, unforgettable Iro: “Here is an artist”, Tosca would say.
“Similarly admirable was John Daszak as a formidable Shuisky”
“the distinctive tenor sound of John Daszak as a slippery Aron.”
“As the doctor, Kaufmann (Jakob Lenz), John Daszak used his high tenor to expressionist effect.”
“All this, though, is icing on a cake whose substance is the outstanding performance[s] by John Daszak, exuding well-meaning civilised weariness as Aschenbach”
“John Daszak proves well suited to the role of Aschenbach, his interpretation founded on musical command, excellent diction and wide-ranging tonal colouring; he articulates his monologues with perception in an interpretation that seems to show the character perhaps slowly dying from the outset.”
“The cast was unquestionably strong, with male protagonists who could hardly have been bettered: John Daszak, brilliant and fleshly as Alviano”
“John Daszak was brilliant as Alviano. Stripped, wounded and abused in Act 3, his character stood helplessly on the same round and rotating platform where he had posed earlier as Carlotta’s model. Now underserving victim, he had lost all face, been ostracised, spat upon, refused by his only love. I’d venture that few singers could meet such physical demands and still sing as brilliantly as this Alviano did.”
“John Daszak as Alviano was terrific. His powerful voice, able to withstand any orchestration, cut through the waves with clear diction, he did not spare himself for a moment.”
“English tenor John Daszak was the stark Herodes, his tormented spirit dominating every moment of Castellucci’s theater.”
“Alviano is not an art figure that is characterised by life’s fixed constancies. Daszak understood that like no other! Blazing flames alternate with streamlined piano passages. Cleverly, Daszak’s imposing tenor voice fights through the musical jungle of Schreker. Just standing still on a forest meadow, now he seems to be fighting through bleak desert landscapes. Suddenly a storm is rising! Red fireballs whirl up the sand and race toward the listeners at frightening speed. Then the typical musical tranquility of Schreker returns. And Daszak? He sings as if nothing had happened, as if he had sung nothing other than Alviano in his life. Hats off, Sir, we bow down!”
“Some aspects of the staging had been tweaked. For one thing, the Dance of the Seven Veils seemed to have more of Herod’s presence than before. Or maybe that was because John Daszak, in his role debut, was such an attention-grabbing figure, his eyes piercing to the back of the auditorium, his words cutting through the orchestra.”
“John Daszak [was] sadistic and concise as the Captain”
“John Daszak was incisive as the gallant yet ruthless Drum Major”
“Daszak’s tireless, concentrated central performance [as Alviano] was matched by a fearless Carlotta from Catherine Naglestad.”
“John Daszak’s cartoonish Tambourmajor leaves a formidable impression.”
“the British tenor John Daszak was outstanding in the title role. On stage throughout the two-and-a-half-hour opera, he communicated his torment with aplomb and drew top marks with Spanish pronunciation.”
“the enormous task of communicating the story and the staging falls on the British tenor John Daszak, the standout of the night…he has a deeply intense quality and was impeccable in his portrayal.”
“Pier Francesco Orsini is on stage from the beginning of the opera to the end. [Sung by] the British tenor John Daszak, who [was] a luxury…His performance was always convincing and his Spanish was perfect.”
“Sergey, a strapping chancer sung in a vivid, clarion tenor by John Daszak.”
“John Daszak was astoundingly sure as Aron, always highlighting the role’s lyricism.”
“John Daszak making a welcome return to ENO…had all that was needed for the love ‘em and leave ‘em cad he must portray and Sergei was a great showcase for his superb dramatic tenor voice.”
“John Daszak plays Katerina’s lover Sergei with the perfect dose of leering, cynical swagger.”
“The most outstanding of the Bayreuth new-comers is John Daszak, who sings with a glistening, piercing voice as the cunning mastermind”
“Among the most outstanding performers on the night was John Daszak as Loge…[who] conveyed a relaxed cynicism appropriate to this character.”
“John Daszak’s execution in the dual role of Prologue and Quint is a great fit…His bright timbre is ideal for the role and he successfully evokes Quint’s sinister nature.”
“John Daszak (Aron) revelled in being able to sing without restraint, thus providing a rich contrast [to Moses’ sprechgesang]”
“John Daszak made an appealing Aron. The powerful, rounded tone of his voice attacked each sentence with the well-spoken clarity of an entertainer. Certainly a polished tenor”
“The tenor John Daszak acts and sings with a literally magical presence. He immediately pulls the audience in”
“An unexpected bonus is the presence of John Daszak, a last-minute ring-in for the role of Aron. Quite apart from the feat of memorising all that dodecaphonic music and hitting all those murderous top notes, Kosky requires his Aron to perform a dazzling range of magic tricks. Daszak pulls it all off as though he had been rehearsing for months.”
“John Daszak stepped into the premiere in place of the ailing original Aron and provided a terrific interpretation, the ideal crazy ‘man of God’.”
“John Daszak, the tenor soloist, incarnated the score’s raw energy.”