Donald E. Osborne,  Director California Artists Management 564 Market Street, Suite 420, San Francisco, CA  94104-5412 415 362-2787 / fax: 415 362-2838 / Skype: calartistsdon  / Email

Susan Endrizzi Morris,  Director California Artists Management P.O. Box  2479, Mendocino, CA  95460-2479 707-937-4787 / cell: 415-302-1083 / Skype: sueendrizzi / Email

Download Bio

John Duykers   Tenor   (Updated January 2010 - Please discard all previous versions)

Internationally acclaimed tenor, John Duykers, made his professional operatic debut with Seattle Opera. Since then he has appeared with many of the leading opera companies of the world including The Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Netherlands Opera, the Grand Theatre of Geneva (Cellini/Benvenuto Cellini), Frankfurt Opera, Opera de Marseille (Mime/Siegfried), the Canadian Opera Company, Santa Fe Opera, Los Angeles Opera, San Diego Opera and the Opera Company of Philadelphia (Shuisky/Boris Godunov; Herod/Salome).

John Duykers is particularly known for his performances of contemporary music, having sung in more than 100 contemporary operas including 50 plus world premieres. Among these, he created the role of Mao Tse Tung in John Adams' Nixon in China which he performed throughout the world. He made his debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago in the title role of Tannhäuser and has been a frequent performer there over many years. He has appeared regularly with  San Francisco Opera where he performed in recent seasons in Britten’s Billy Budd, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Ligeti’s  Grand Macabre and Los Angeles Opera where he sang most recently in Strauss’ Die Frau Ohne Schatten.  He has performed a number of times with Santa Fe Opera where he returned in summer 2008 as Red Whiskers in Britten’s Billy Budd. Mr.

John Duykers has had a close association with a number of contemporary composers, notably John Adams and Philip Glass. He sang the premiere of Glass’ White Raven, In The Penal Colony and the title role of Galileo Galilei. He has likewise had a long association with Paul Dresher’s whose solo opera The Tyrant premiered in 2005 with the Seattle Chamber Players, followed by a performances in Philadelphia, with Cleveland Opera, Present Music in Milwaukee, the Chicago Chamber Musicians and the EdgeFest in Berkley. In 2006 he sang the premiere of Libby Larsen’s  Everyman Jack for Sonoma City Opera; in 2007, the premieres of Lou Harrison’s Young Caesar at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center and Ann LeBaron’s Crescent City with the LOOS Ensemble in The Hague, Netherlands; in 2008, the premiere of Erling Wold’s Mordake as part of the San Francisco International Festival and in 2009, the premiere Allan Shearer’s The Dawn Makers in San Francisco. 2010 will bring the premieres of Don Davis’ Rio De Sangre with Florentine Opera in Milwaukee and Xenia, a song cycle by Thomas Sleeper with the Frost Orchestra in Miami as well as performances of Nixon In China (Mao Tse Tung) with Long Beach Opera and Wozzeck (Captain) with Ensemble Parallel and the Astoria Music Festival,

John Duykers is a frequent performer with symphony orchestras throughout the United States.  He has sung with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Dc and on tour, the American Composers Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Kansas City Symphony, Tri-Cities Symphony, Sacramento Symphony, Santa Rosa Symphony and the San Jose Symphony. In 2005 he sang the premiere of  Kurt Rohde’s Bitter Harvest with Kent Nagano and the Berkeley Symphony. He made his Disney Hall debut in spring 2006 with the Los Angeles Master Chorale in Orff’s Carmina Burana. His appearances at major festivals have included Aspen, the American Music Theater Festival, the Gaudeamus Music Week, Kaitheater Festival, the Brooklyn Academy of Music's 'Next Wave' Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, the London International Festival of Theatre, Internationale Teaterfestival in Copenhagen, Edinburgh Festival, the Festival Internacional de Teatro of Granada and Juneau Jazz and Classics.

John Duykers has received critical acclaim in numerous productions of the Paul Dresher Ensemble, George Coates Performance Works, and the A.Ga.Pe Performance Group which have been seen on the world's most important contemporary music and theater stages. He can be heard on numerous recordings of opera and contemporary music including the Grammy Award-winning CD of Nixon In China as well as the DVD of the Emmy Award-winning PBS Great Performances production.

Press Comments:

Red Whiskers in Britten’s Billy Budd, Santa Fe Opera:

“Saturday's premiere of this seldom-staged, emotionally riveting piece set a new creative benchmark for the company. Conductor and director can do little without intelligent singers, and SFO was equally on the mark here.... pleasing singing and acting also came from John Duykers' blustering but earnest Red Whiskers.”  The New Mexican - July 14, 2008

Title role of Wold’s Mordake, San Francisco International Festival:

“Buoyed by tenor John Duykers' bravura performance in the title role, the piece holds the listener's attention forcefully throughout a series of brief, disconnected segments. None of this would work even as well as it does without the virtuosic efforts of Duykers, who commands a nearly bare stage with just his vocal and theatrical bravura (along with a few props and some video effects) to keep him going. He storms, he blusters, he bewails his fate - and, when necessary, he taps into reserves of sweetly tuned lyricism. It's a dynamic, affecting performance.”                                                             San Francisco Chronicle - May 26, 2008

 “Wold’s new solo chamber opera, starring acclaimed tenor John Duykers, is enjoying a thrillingly intimate world premiere this week. Weaver’s sharp and resourceful staging blends Wold’s stirring minimalist themes, Duykers’ formidable and dynamic performance and darkly funny libretto and the luxuriant all-enveloping video scheme into nothing short of a total experience.”                                                   SF360 - May 28, 2008

Orff's Carmina Burana, Master Chorale of South Florida:

“Duykers was equally effective in his roasted swan solo, bringing a wryly nuanced and humorous rendering.”                             Miami Herald - April 12, 2008

Paul Dresher’s Tyrant, Project Artaud, San Francisco:

“With the resourceful and charismatic tenor John Duykers at its center, the 70-minute piece offered a dark meditation - sometimes riveting, sometimes merely diffuse - on power and paranoia. Duykers, a performer of considerable vocal and theatrical virtuosity, drove each point home definitively.”                                       San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, March 14, 2008

Music of Philip Glass University of Miami:

“It was a pleasure to discover John Duykers as the first artist on the program. The tenor has  played an important part in modern American opera, creating the role  of Mao Tse-tung in John Adams' Nixon in China and premiering three  Glass operas, including Galileo Galilei (2002). His experience in the latter title role was manifest Wednesday in  Galileo's long opening scene, with Duykers' majestic, beautifully  sung and dramatically involved performance conveying the wonder and  conflicted emotions of the persecuted scientist-astronomer. Duykers  and Malis opened the evening with the hypnotic Kuru  Field of Justice section from Satyagraha.”

                                                                        Miami Herald - February 8, 2008

Dresher's The Tyrant, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago:

“John Duykers' vocal lines and the Chicago Chamber Musicians interacted seamlessly. Duykers inhabited the looney liege with well-timed facial tics and crisp diction, boasting an eerie floating falsetto and booming low chest notes. It's a gripping drama.  The chamber drama is making its way across the country and the MCA audience was happy to welcome it.”

                                                                        Chicago Tribune – January 29, 2008

Paul Drescher’s “The Tyrant,” at CAL Performances’ EdgeFest:

"In 'The Tyrant,' the tender, rueful and gently ravishing solo chamber opera that opened Cal Performances' Edge Fest, absolute power becomes the texture of an absorbing musical rhapsody. This superb, 70-minute piece has its final performance tonight. Riding the streams and storms of Paul Dresher's translucent score, tenor John Duykers gives a wonderfully nuanced performance as a king in torment.  Duykers gives it all a dramatic focus and sense of purpose. Sloe-eyed and indolent in one scene, he turns raffish or terrified, quizzical or suffused in wonder. Dressed in a natty nautical cap and pinstriped suit at the outset, he's a changed man an hour later. His throne has become an abandoned bunker and the trappings of power discarded as he creeps downward into the stony depths. Duykers' voice probes every corner of the character, from striving intervals and bright

intonation to downbeat spoken lines. Concise as it is, without a scene or a musical phrase that seems extraneous, "The Tyrant" is expansive enough to propose an 'American Idol'-style singing contest at one point. Here, clearly, is a show that contains multitudes.  "

                                                                        San Francisco Chronicle - June 9, 2007

Role of Red Whiskers in “Billy Budd,” Pittsburgh Opera:

“There wasn’t a weak link in the cast.  John Duykers was a feisty Red Whiskers.”

                                                                        Pittsburgh Post Gazette – May 7, 2007

“It is the measure of Pittsburgh Opera’s strong casting that the leads do not overshadow other important roles, such as John Duykers’ Red Whiskers”

                                                                        Pittsburgh Tribune – May 8, 2007

Narrator in Lou Harrison’s Young Caesar, Yerba Buena Center, San Francisco:

“The narrator speaks and sings and hangs around onstage and sets the tone.  John Duykers did that so well that what followed couldn't completely fail, as it sometimes might have.”

Los Angeles Times - February 19, 2007

“The half-spoken, half-sung narration, which could so easily have dragged the evening down, got a jolt of theatrical energy from the ever-charismatic tenor John Duykers.”

San Francisco Chronicle – February 18, 2007

Libby Larsen's Everyman Jack, Sonoma City Opera:

“John Duykers sang with terrific poise and clarity while changing characters with chameleonic swiftness.”                                                           San Francisco chronicle – November13, 2006

Paul Dresher's The Tyrant, Cleveland Opera:

“Tenor John Duykers, a veteran of many modern operas, was the Tyrant. His ability to express emotion with his voice is undiminished. He caresses or trumpets phrases, speaks forcefully and sings recitative, commanding the stage with absolute authority. Once out of his cage, Duykers came down to within feet of the audience, never once focusing on any one person but aware that we were 'his subjects.' The drama came across clearly, with good diction and total immersion in the character. The audience was appreciative.”

OperaNews.com - July 2006

“Sung with stellar urgency by tenor John Duykers, 'The Tyrant' is a compelling study in paranoia, pettiness and pretension, just a few of the qualities that inhabit those for whom power is paramount. Onstage for the opera's entire 65 minutes, Duykers brings a gamut of vivid inflections to the tyrant's frustrations and rantings. Dresher's vocal writing is grateful until the despot heads into the most apprehensive regions of his soul, which usually means his high register. Duykers copes boldly with the demands, seizing the character's psyche by throat and body.”                                                                   Cleveland Plain Dealer - May 4, 2006

“Tenor John Duykers portrays a king on the edge of madness in Dresher's 'The Tyrant.' When Dresher composed it, he had in mind John Duykers, a longtime colleague, as the single singer. On Tuesday, Duykers inhabited the part completely. His ability to find his own melodic lines,

which so often run independently of the instrumentalists, was impressive, as was his acting. Duykers was especially poignant when he stripped off his pinstriped suit coat and came forward

to sit on the stairs leading to the audience, as his character broke down. This was a case where superior musicianship and intelligence held their own. To bring in a recent (1-year-old) opera of this quality, performed by six world-class instrumentalists and an excellent actor/singer, signals a valuable interest in looking to see what's happening elsewhere. It also alerts the public that The Tyrant's co-presenter, Opera Cleveland might be interested in shaking up the status quo for its recently merged groups. That could be the most interesting development of all.”

Akron Beacon Journal - May 5, 2006

Orff's Carmina Burana, New World Symphony, Boris Brott, conductor

“Soloists for the evening were of exceptional quality: tenor John Duykers, who fashioned his one lachrymose aria into a tongue-in-beak tearjerker as he took the role of a swan whose life was ending on a roasting spit.”                            Ventura County Star - May 25, 2006

Paul Dresher's The Tyrant, Present Music, Milwaukee:

“The performance was strong all around. Duykers is a genuine virtuoso singer.”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - April 23, 2006

Paul Dresher's The Tyrant, Project Artaud, San Francisco:

“As embodied with wonderfully reptilian anguish by tenor John Duykers in an excerpted performance Friday night at Theatre Artaud, the nameless tyrant is a mixture of self-assurance and terror. Friday's performance offered only a tantalizing taste of the full work, but that was

enough to leave a listener eager for the rest. Duykers, in fact, was the main attraction of the performance, his singing potent and well modulated and his dramatic contribution terrifically nuanced.”                                                      San Francisco Chronicle - April 3, 2005

Mime in Long Beach Opera's Wagner mini-Ring:

“The star may have been the veteran John Duykers as Mime.”

Long Beach Gazette - January 2006

“John Duykers brought his wealth of experience to a beautifully realized Mime.”

Showmag.com - January 2006

“John Duykers, who has performed in Rings around the world, is suitably smarmy and self-destructive as Mime, Alberich's brother and forger of the ring.”

Long Beach Press Telegram – January 17, 2006

“John Duykers, one of our great character singers, was the Mime in Siegfried, making me regret that the role had also been cut from Rhinegold.”

LA Weekly – January 17, 2006

“The most satisfying of the four operas was ‘Siegfried,’ which was presented Sunday. John Duykers, who can always be relied on for a fine performance, played the role of the previously missing Mime.”                                             DailyBreeze.com – January 21, 2006

“And while we're discussing the Nibelungen family, it's necessary to mention the outstanding character tenor John Duykers, flawlessly cast as Mime. Although his character was left on the cutting room floor in Rhinegold, we got plenty of his delicious nastiness in Siegfried.”

OperaWest – January 19, 2006

“Mime - the redoubtable John Duykers as a vivid and cunningly detailed character, a doting sad sack, pointed with illuminating vocal colors.”

Wagner Society of N. California - February 2006

Premiere of Kurt Rhode’s Bitter Harvest, Berkeley Symphony, Kent Nagano conducting:

“It's the writing for Ruby -- including a beautiful aria to his late wife -- that gives ‘Bitter Harvest’ its beating heart. Nagano led an engaging performance, and tenor John Duykers sang with power and pathos as Ruby. Duykers, who has given the first performances of numerous 20th-century roles in operas by John Adams, Philip Glass and others, brought an admirable dimension to the part of the embattled farmer.”

Contra Costa Times – December 5, 2005

“Duykers — with his gorgeous voice, especially rich in low registers and falsetto, with facially

and vocally projected anguish — looked the quintessential farmer in his gray overalls.”

SF Classical Voice – December 6, 2005

“Tenor John Duykers brought the requisite touch of beleaguered dignity to the part of Black.”

San Francisco Chronicle: December 6, 2005

“The veteran tenor John Duykers, best known for his Mao Tse-Tung played and recorded in Adams' 1980s opera 'Nixon in China,' sang (with some high falsettos to boot) and spoke Ruby as if it was written for him---which it was.”   Artssf.com – December 6, 2005

Premiere of Paul Dresher's The Tyrant, Seattle Chamber Players:

“Tenor John Duykers returned in an unforgettable portrayal of a tyrant. The Tyrant's fears, needs, paranoia and, most chillingly, his methods of getting what he wants are there before you in Duykers. Sometimes speaking, sometimes singing, and always audible, he disintegrates before your eyes and ears."”                                       Seattle Post Intelligencer - May 2, 2005

“The Tyrant is a tour-de-force - a gripping music-theater piece that is witty, poignant and wonderfully effective. Duykers was absolutely mesmerizing in the role of the king. It's hard to imagine anyone else as eerily effective in the role he has made so wholly his own. One of the world's pre-eminent specialists in contemporary music, Duykers still commands a pliant and

suitably majestic tenor, more than capable of meeting the score's stringent demands. But he is considerably more than a singer. His thoroughly detailed presentation of the Tyrant waxes and wanes from imperious irony to yearning, terror, paranoia, infatuation, despair and resignation.

This performance will be recorded, but it should be filmed as well; what Duykers does with his face and body, as well as his voice, should be commemorated for posterity.”

Seattle Times, May 3, 2005

Paul Dresher's The Tyrant, Project Artaud, San Francisco:

“As embodied with wonderfully reptilian anguish by tenor John Duykers in an excerpted performance Friday night at Theatre Artaud, the nameless tyrant is a mixture of self-assurance and terror. Friday's performance offered only a tantalizing taste of the full work, but that was enough to leave a listener eager for the rest. Duykers, in fact, was the main attraction of the performance, his singing potent and well modulated and his dramatic contribution terrifically nuanced.”                                                        San Francisco Chronicle - April 3, 2006

Monsieur Triquet, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, San Francisco Opera:

“There were fine contributions by John Duykers as the French neighbor, Monsieur Triquet.”                                                                                  San Francisco Chronicle, November 26, 2004

White Minister in Ligeti’s Grand Macabre, San Francisco Opera:
“Duykers and Bloom almost stole the show with the back-and-forth machinations of the Black and White Politicians.”                             San Francisco Chronicle – November 1, 2004

“There were riveting performances: the debate between the White and Black politicians (John Duykers and Joshua Bloom) was downright Chaplinesque.”

                                                                        Los Angeles Times – November 1, 2004

“Two politicians immediately cement themselves as highlights of the far-flung production. Scheming, conniving and quite funny, the duo argues uncontrollably, threatening resignation every few minutes and carrying a lively repartee.”           

San Francisco Examiner – November 9, 2004

Red Whiskers in Britten’s Billy Budd, San Francisco Opera:

“Standouts among the large cast were tenor John Duykers as Red Whiskers.”

San Francisco Chronicle - September 28, 2004

The Hunchbak in Strauss’ Die Frau Ohne Schatten, Los Angeles Opera:
“In a myriad of smaller roles, Phillip Skinner, Andrew Funk and John Duykers are standouts as the supremely unattractive, bumbling brothers.”

Orange County Register - February 24, 2004

Preview of Kurt Rhode’s Bitter Harvest, Berkeley Symphony:

“This excerpt hit listeners in the gut. Sung affectingly by John Duykers, it was an aria from next year's Berkeley Symphony premiere of Rohde's Bitter Harvest.”

SF Classical Voice - March 9, 2004

Pilate in the premiere of Wold’s Sub Pontio Pilato, San Franciusco

“The opening performance could scarcely have asked for stronger performers. Tenor John Duykers is superb in the title role, his singing forthright and nuanced, his theatrical presence magnificently touching.”                                San Francisco Chronicle - April 12, 2003

 “Though the action in this head-trip opera is almost nonexistent, this econo-production has such a telling effect that I was drawn back to catch it again another night. The immediacy of this seldom-used format is considerable, with tenor John Duykers in the title role a commanding, near-regal presence dictating awe and involvement.” 

Artsf.com - April 12-20, 2003

Galileo in Philip Glass' Galileo Galilei, Goodman Theatre, Chicago:

“John Duykers sings the older Galileo with aplomb.”

Variety - June 28, 2002

“Duykers strongly conveyed the aged astronomer's thoughtful, often baffled state of mind.”                                                                                Chicago Sun Times - June 25, 2002

 Peter Maxwell Davies Eight Songs for a Mad King, Seattle Chamber Players:

Headline: “Songs for a Mad King is a smashing triumph”

“Duykers' performance dominated the stage, drawing this audience member into appalled and sympathetic understanding of the king's state as he portrayed it.  One could hear the collective gasp of the audience.” Seattle Post Intelligencer - January 21. 2002

"Moment Most Worthy of an Oscar Clip" - Best of the Year 2002:

“John Duykers' fearless, frighteningly intense rant in Peter Maxwell Davies' one-man opera 'Eight Songs for a Mad King,' a Seattle Chamber Players concert. Runner-up: Seattle Chamber Players violinist Mikhail Schmidt's deadpan despair as Duykers grabbed and smashed his violin.”                                                            Seattle Weekly - December 25 - 31, 2002