Soloists

John Chest - Valens

American baritone John Chest is praised for his “presence and delivery” that “complement the dark, rich colours in his voice” (Opera Now). This season, he appears in the title role of Billy Budd with Teatro Colón, Albert in Werther with Opéra-Comique, and Michael in Mark-Anthony Turnage and Lee Hall’s Festen with Finnish National Opera. He also returns to Opera Hong Kong for a second consecutive season in the role of Papageno in Die Zauberflöte. Next season, he joins the Metropolitan Opera to cover Lieutenant Audebert in Silent Night.

In the 2024-2025 season, he appeared as Il Conte d’Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro (Palm Beach Opera), Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus (Vancouver Opera), John Cree in Kevin Puts’ Elizabeth Cree (Glimmerglass Festival), Marcello in La bohème (Trondheim Symphony Orchestra), Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Teatro Carlo Felice), as well as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Rossini in Wildbad, a role he recently sang with the Teatro Regio Torino. He also joined the Opera Theatre of St. Louis where he reprised Guglielmo in Così fan tutte after singing the role at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Hamburgische Staatsoper, and Deutsche Oper Berlin.