American operatic countertenor (born 1985)
John Thomas Holiday Jr.
(born March 31, 1985) is an American operatic
countertenor
. His repertoire focuses on the
Baroque
and
contemporary
composers, including staged opera and opera in concert, works for voice and orchestra, and experimental mixed-media. He has participated in several world premieres. He has performed with several opera companies in the United States, toured with the
Los Angeles Philharmonic
, and sung in Shanghai and several European cities. He also sings gospel, pop, and jazz; he was a contestant on season 19 of
NBC
's
The Voice
, a vocal competition television series.
Early life
[
edit
]
Holiday was born in 1985 in the city of
Rosenberg
,
Greater Houston
, in
Fort Bend County
,
Texas
, to John Holiday, Sr, a welder and Waverly A. Holiday a homemaker who sang and played clarinet. His maternal grandmother, Sandra Mathis Franklin, was the pianist and music director at Missionary Baptist Church. He taught himself to play piano by imitating her, and later the organ. While only 6 or 7 years old he sang solos in church and at Travis Elementary School. He won a spot in the Fort Bend Boys Choir, which led to appearances as a
treble
soloist in the
Houston Symphony
's performances of Berlioz's
La Damnation de Faust
with
Denyce Graves
in the role of Marguerite. He later said: "I’d never seen anyone who looked like me doing what she did. I’d never thought of being an opera singer. To tell the truth, I didn’t know that world even existed. I decided that was what I wanted to do."
[1]
Holiday graduated from
Lamar Consolidated High School
in Rosenberg, Texas. For two of his high school years he was the first chair tenor in the All-State Mixed Choir sponsored by the
Texas Music Educators Association
.
[2]
The
University Interscholastic League
designated him one of the Most Outstanding Performers in Texas.
[3]
Education and vocal training
[
edit
]
He studied at
Southern Methodist University
(SMU) from 2003 to 2007, earning a bachelor of music degree in vocal performance.
[4]
While a student at SMU, he won first place at the TEXOMA region of the
National Association of Teachers of Singing
several times. Though SMU presented few performance opportunities for a countertenor, in 2005 he did sing the role of Gherardino in the school's production of
Puccini
's
Gianni Schicchi
. He won the Concerto Competition of SMU's
Meadows School of the Arts
in 2007.
He spent the academic year 2007?2008 studying voice at
Indiana University
's
Jacobs School of Music
. He then returned to Rosenberg and taught Choral Music and Voice at
Lamar Junior High School
and Lamar Consolidated High School from August 2008 to December 2009. He returned to vocal studies, now at the
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
where he earned a master's degree in vocal performance in 2012. There he performed the role of Tolomeo in
Handel
's
Giulio Cesare in Egitto
under conductor
Mark Gibson
. In May 2011, he took first place in the Dallas Opera Guild Competition.
[5]
He spent the summer of that year with the
Santa Fe Opera
Apprentice program for singers.
[6]
He next enrolled at Juilliard, studied with Marlena Malas and Stephen Wadsworth, and obtained his Artist Diploma in Opera Studies in 2014.
He later said his models in the countertenor repertoire were
Andreas Scholl
and
Derek Lee Ragin
.
[7]
Career in opera
[
edit
]
Holiday made his
Carnegie Hall
debut in October 2012, performing Bernstein's
Chichester Psalms
with the
Atlanta Symphony
under
Robert Spano
.
[8]
He made his debut at
Portland Opera
in the role of 1st Oracle and 1st Cardinal in Kevin Newbury's 2012 production of
Galileo Galilei
by
Philip Glass
under the baton of maestra
Anne Manson
.
[9]
He reprised those roles in his 2013 debut at the
Cincinnati Opera
.
[10]
In 2013 he took on the title role in the James Darrah production of
Radamisto
at the
Juilliard School
.
[11]
At
Wolf Trap Opera
that year he performed the title role in
Giulio Cesare in Egitto
.
[12]
In 2014, he also made his
Los Angeles Opera
debut as the Sorceress in the
Barrie Kosky
production of
Henry Purcell
's
Dido and Aeneas
.
[13]
In 2015, he originated the role of Male Soloist No. 1 in the world premiere of
Huang Ruo
's
Paradise Interrupted
at the
Spoleto Festival USA
,
[14]
a role he repeated in New York at the Lincoln Center Festival in 2016
[15]
and in Shanghai for the Art Macau Festival.
[16]
At the
Glimmerglass Festival
in the summer of 2015, he sang the role of Giulio Cesare in
Tazewell Thompson
's production of
Antonio Vivaldi
's
Catone in Utica
.
[17]
He returned to sing the title role in
Handel
's
Xerxes
in the summer of 2017.
[18]
In November 2015, he joined Parnassus Arts in concert performances of
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
's
Adriano in Siria
in Versailles and Krakow.
[14]
In January 2017, he won the Marian Anderson Vocal Award.
[19]
In September 2017, he sang in the
Opera Philadelphia
world premiere of
Daniel Bernard Roumain
's chamber opera
We Shall Not Be Moved
.
[20]
He repeated that performance at the
Dutch National Opera
in March 2018, his European debut.
[21]
He then sang
Bernstein
's
Chichester Psalms
on tour with
Gustavo Dudamel
and the
Los Angeles Philharmonic
in New York, London, and Paris.
[6]
In December 2019 he performed the
alto
part in Handel's
Messiah
with the
Lucerne Symphony Orchestra
.
[22]
In February 2020 he sang in the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin's
Eurydice
at the Los Angeles Opera.
[23]
He made his
Metropolitan Opera
debut in that opera in December 2021.
[24]
[25]
Though the
COVID-19 pandemic
forced the cancellation of many of his scheduled performances, his recital at New York's
Metropolitan Museum of Art
was presented as a virtual concert. Holiday combined Italian baroque arias with works by Black composers in conjunction with the museum's exhibit of paintings by
Jacob Lawrence
called "The American Struggle".
[26]
In November 2022 he sang the roles of Man Under the Arch and Hotel Clerk in the world stage premiere of
Kevin Puts
's
The Hours
at the Metropolitan Opera.
[27]
Holiday has been an associate professor of music at the Conservatory of Music at
Lawrence University
since 2017.
[28]
He is a member of the
National Association of Teachers of Singing
(NATS), the
American Guild of Musical Artists
(AGMA).
[28]
and
The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
Other music
[
edit
]
Holiday has performed jazz and gospel music throughout his career. In 2006, he opened for Grammy award winner
Jason Mraz
at the McFarlon Auditorium in Dallas.
[29]
He released a jazz album entitled "The Holiday Guide" that year as well.
In 2018, he sang the national anthem at a basketball game between the
Houston Rockets
and the
Golden State Warriors
at the
Toyota Center
.
In October 2020, he auditioned successfully for a contestant's spot on NBC's
The Voice
, where he was coached by
John Legend
.
[30]
He came in fifth place in the final.
He has released 3 pop singles, “Alive in Me”, “Waste Mine”, and “Love Finds a Way”, the latter also receiving a remix by Houston-based
DJ Riddler
. All songs were produced by Rob Grimaldi, best known for co-writing and co-producing the
BTS
song “
Butter
”.
Personal life
[
edit
]
Holiday has identified as gay since he was a teenager.
[31]
On February 4, 2013, he married his husband, Paul Gater.
[1]
As of 2021, he is divorced from Gater. He got engaged to fellow
The Voice
contestant Rio Souma (real name DeMario Adams) in the summer of 2021, and married on July 30, 2022. The couple currently live in Appleton, Wisconsin. He was represented by
Columbia Artists Management
[32]
until 2018. He has been represented since that time by Fletcher Artist Management.
[33]
March 31 has been named "John Holiday Day" in Fort Bend County, Texas.
[34]
He is the second cousin of the former Vice President of Major League Baseball
Jimmie Lee Solomon
.
Major performances
[
edit
]
Opera
[
edit
]
Orchestra
[
edit
]
Tours in America, France and the U.K. with ‘'
Gustavo Dudamel
and
Los Angeles Philharmonic
(
Chichester Psalms
)
Awards
[
edit
]
Leadership roles
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Farber, Jim (October 22, 2014).
"A Countertenor Rising star"
.
San Francisco Classical Voice
. Retrieved
October 28,
2020
.
- ^
"TMEA"
. Archived from
the original
on November 14, 2015.
- ^
"University Interscholastic League"
.
UIL ARCHIVES
.
- ^
"Alumnus John Holiday ('07) Makes Carnegie Hall Debut"
.
Southern Methodist University
. November 9, 2012
. Retrieved
October 28,
2020
.
- ^
"The 23rd Annual "Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition" Awards $20,500 in Prize Monies!"
. May 14, 2011
. Retrieved
October 28,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
"John Holiday"
.
Los Angeles Philharmonic
. Retrieved
October 29,
2020
.
- ^
"John Holiday, the man singing Bernstein with the highest of high voices in Disney Hall".
Los Angeles Times
. April 18, 2018.
- ^
"Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus"
.
New York Times
. October 29, 2012
. Retrieved
October 29,
2020
.
- ^
Mandel, Mark (July 2012).
"Review: Galileo Galilei"
.
Opera News
.
77
(1)
. Retrieved
October 27,
2020
.
Dulcet countertenor John Holiday
- ^
de Acha, Rafael (August 2, 2013).
"Galileo from Philip Glass: Visually Arresting and Dramatically Cohesive"
.
Aeqai
. Retrieved
October 28,
2020
.
- ^
Oestreich, James R. (November 21, 2013).
"Rethinking Further War"
.
New York Times
. Retrieved
October 28,
2020
.
- ^
Lynn, Karyl Charna (June 30, 2014).
"Opera Now News Story"
.
Opera Now
. Archived from
the original
on January 21, 2015
. Retrieved
October 28,
2020
.
- ^
Williams, Simon (January 2015).
"Dido and Aeneas & Bluebeard's Castle"
.
Opera News
.
79
(7)
. Retrieved
October 28,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
Kirst, Seamus (May 31, 2015).
"Countertenor John Holiday steals the festival"
.
Charleston Post & Courier
. Retrieved
August 17,
2016
.
- ^
Tommasini, Anthony (July 14, 2016).
"Review: A Powerful Opera of Eastern and Western Allure"
.
New York Times
. Retrieved
August 17,
2016
.
- ^
"Jennifer Wen Ma"
.
Little Meat Productions
. Retrieved
October 29,
2020
.
- ^
Waleson, Heidi (August 3, 2015).
"Glimmerglass Festival Review: Celebrating 40 Years"
.
Wall Street Journal
. Retrieved
August 17,
2016
.
- ^
Freedman, Geraldine (July 18, 2017).
"High marks for 'Calais,' 'Xerxes' at Glimmerglass"
.
Daily Gazette (Albany)
. Retrieved
October 28,
2020
.
- ^
Midgette, Anne (January 12, 2017).
"African American countertenor John Holiday wins prestigious Anderson opera award"
.
Washington Post
. Retrieved
October 28,
2020
.
- ^
Shengold, David (September 2017).
"We Shall Not Be Moved"
.
Opera News
.
82
(3).
- ^
"We Shall Not Be Moved"
.
Dutch National Opera
. Retrieved
October 29,
2020
.
- ^
"Handels "Messias"
"
.
Luzerner Sinfonieorchester
(in German)
. Retrieved
October 29,
2020
.
- ^
Tommasini, Anthony (February 3, 2020).
"Review: 'Eurydice,' a New Opera, Looks Back All Too Tamely"
.
New York Times
. Retrieved
October 28,
2020
.
- ^
Met Opera Archives: Performance of
Eurydice
, 11 December 2021,
CID:357527
.
- ^
"Eurydice"
.
Metropolitan Opera
. Archived from
the original
on October 23, 2020
. Retrieved
October 28,
2020
.
- ^
"Hold On! Freedom Is Coming!"
.
MetLiveArts
. October 28, 2020
. Retrieved
October 29,
2020
.
- ^
Met Opera Archives: Performance of
The Hours
, 22 November 2022,
CID:357754
.
- ^
a
b
"John Holiday, Assistant Professor of Music"
.
Lawrence University
. Retrieved
October 27,
2020
.
- ^
Saadi, Sommer.
"Jason Mraz rocks McFarlin at the first-ever CODERED concert"
.
SMU Daily Campus
. Retrieved
May 1,
2006
.
- ^
Brandle, Lars (October 20, 2020).
"Countertenor John Holiday Blows Away Judges With 'Incredible' Range on 'The Voice': Watch"
.
Billboard
. Retrieved
October 28,
2020
.
- ^
Reynolds, Daniel (February 17, 2020).
"In Eurydice, a Black Gay Man's Voice Moves the Gods and Opera World"
.
The Advocate
. Retrieved
October 28,
2020
.
- ^
"Columbia Artists Management Inc. ? John Holiday"
.
Columbia Artists Management
. Retrieved
August 17,
2016
.
- ^
"John Holiday"
.
Fletcher Artist Management
. Retrieved
October 28,
2020
.
- ^
"March 31 named John Holiday Day"
. January 19, 2021.
- ^
"Honorary Board"
.
- ^
"Barbara Hill Moore & Bruce R. Foote Foundation"
.
Barbara Hill Moore & Bruce R. Foote Foundation
. Retrieved
May 20,
2024
.
- ^
"Meadows 2050 Council - Meadows School of the Arts, SMU"
.
External links
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]
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