Jonathan Stinson

BARITONE AND COMPOSER

Jonathan Stinson, baritone, has appeared in leading and supporting roles with opera companies throughout the country. This season, Jonathan appeared as The Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance and Monterone in Rigoletto for Delaware Valley Opera. Next season, he will sing Leporello in Don Giovanni for Ozark Lyric Opera.

Prior to the shutdown midway through the 2019-20 season, Jonathan performed Lescaut in Manon Lescaut for The Cleveland Opera, was the baritone soloist in the 6th movement of Ein Deutsches Requiem for the New York Choral Society, and appeared as soloist in the Messiah with Connecticut Choral Artists. He was also scheduled to sing Dandini in La Cenerentola at Salt Marsh Opera, the Four Villains in Les contes d'Hoffmann and Falke in Die Fledermaus at the Stara Zagora Opera House in Bulgaria, and the solos in Bach's B Minor Mass with CONCORA in Hartford, CT., but these performances were canceled or postponed. 

Jonathan spent most of the 2018-19 season in Europe, singing the title role of Rigoletto with Bare Boards Opera in Manchester, UK, Cecil B. Demille in a workshop performance of the opera Losing Her Voice by composer Elizabeth Kelly at the University of Nottingham, and performing the roles of Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Dr. Pangloss in a concert of Candide, and the title of Gianni Schicchi in Varna, Bulgaria. During the 2017-18 season, Jonathan was the baritone soloist for Carmina Burana with the Sullivan County Community Chorus as well as for Vaughan-Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem at the Lougheed-Kofoed Festival of the Arts in Potsdam, NY.

Previous seasons have included Schaunard in La bohème at Lyric Opera of Kansas City, 2nd Cardinal/2nd Oracle in Philip Glass' Galileo Galilei and Barone Douphol in La traviata with Cincinnati Opera, Slim in Of Mice and Men and Peter in Hansel und Gretel at Kentucky Opera, Il conte Almaviva with Arbor Opera Theatre, and Joseph de Rocher in Dead Man Walking for Boston Opera Collaborative. Other company debuts include Opera Omaha, Opera Memphis, Central City Opera, Dayton Opera, Ohio Light Opera, and Opera New Jersey. Recent solo work includes the Requiems of Fauré, Duruflé, and Brahms, Bach’s complete Weinachts-Oratorium, Mendelssohn’s Von Himmel hoch, Handel’s MessiahIsrael in Egypt, and Alexander’s Feast, Britten’s Cantata Misericordium, Vaughan-Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, and John Adams’ The Wound Dresser.          

Jonathan made his international debut in Cortona, Italy in 2010, singing the title role of Don Giovanni. He has appeared as a soloist with the Kentucky Symphony, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Carmel Bach Festival (CA), the Orchestra of Northern New York, Lafayette Symphony (IN), Liberty Symphony (MO), and Battle Creek Symphony(MI). Jonathan served as the Cantorial Soloist for High Holy Days services at Temple Sholom in Cincinnati from 2012-2017.

As a composer, Jonathan has written two one-act operas for young audiences, two operatic vignettes, seven song cycles, and several choral works. His anthem "Beloved" won the Grand Prize of the Ninth Annual International Anthem Competition. His operas have been toured by Atlanta Opera, Opera Memphis, Seagle Music Colony, Chicago Opera Playhouse, and have been performed at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the Lougheed-Kofoed Festival of the Arts (NY).

Jonathan was a Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and received the “Bel Canto Award” at the Orpheus National Voice Competition. Jonathan holds voice performance degrees from Oberlin Conservatory, Indiana University, and University of Cincinnati–College-Conservatory of Music.