John Holiday | |
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| Born | John Thomas Holiday, Jr. (1985-03-31)31 March 1985 (age 39) |
| Education | Juilliard School (ADOS University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (MM) Southern Methodist University (BM) |
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| Website | Official website |
John Thomas Holiday Jr. (born March 31, 1985) is an American operaticcountertenor. His repertoire focuses on theBaroque andcontemporary 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 theLos Angeles Philharmonic, and sung in Shanghai and several European cities. He also sings gospel, pop, and jazz; he was a contestant on season 19 ofNBC'sThe Voice, a vocal competition television series.
Holiday was born in 1985 inRosenberg,Greater Houston, inFort 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 atreble soloist in theHouston Symphony's performances of Berlioz'sLa Damnation de Faust withDenyce Graves in the role of Marguérite. 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 fromLamar Consolidated High School in Rosenberg. For two of his high school years he was the first chair tenor in the All-State Mixed Choir sponsored by theTexas Music Educators Association.[2] TheUniversity Interscholastic League designated him one of the Most Outstanding Performers in Texas.[3]
He studied atSouthern 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 theNational 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 ofPuccini'sGianni Schicchi. He won the Concerto Competition of SMU'sMeadows School of the Arts in 2007.
He spent the academic year 2007–2008 studying voice atIndiana University'sJacobs School of Music. He then returned to Rosenberg and taught Choral Music and Voice atLamar Junior High School and Lamar Consolidated High School from August 2008 to December 2009. He returned to vocal studies, now at theUniversity 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 inHandel'sGiulio 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 theSanta 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 wereAndreas Scholl andDerek Lee Ragin.[7]
Holiday made hisCarnegie Hall debut in October 2012, performing Bernstein'sChichester Psalms with theAtlanta Symphony underRobert Spano.[8] He made his debut atPortland Opera in the role of 1st Oracle and 1st Cardinal in Kevin Newbury's 2012 production ofGalileo Galilei byPhilip Glass under the baton of maestraAnne Manson.[9] He reprised those roles in his 2013 debut at theCincinnati Opera.[10]
In 2013 he took on the title role in the James Darrah production ofRadamisto at theJuilliard School.[11] AtWolf Trap Opera that year he performed the title role inGiulio Cesare in Egitto.[12] In 2014, he also made hisLos Angeles Opera debut as the Sorceress in theBarrie Kosky production ofHenry Purcell'sDido and Aeneas.[13]
In 2015, he originated the role of Male Soloist No. 1 in the world premiere ofHuang Ruo'sParadise Interrupted at theSpoleto 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 theGlimmerglass Festival in the summer of 2015, he sang the role of Giulio Cesare inTazewell Thompson's production ofAntonio Vivaldi'sCatone in Utica.[17] He returned to sing the title role inHandel'sXerxes in the summer of 2017.[18] In November 2015, he joined Parnassus Arts in concert performances ofGiovanni Battista Pergolesi'sAdriano in Siria in Versailles and Krakow.[14]
In January 2017, he won the Marian Anderson Vocal Award.[19] In September 2017, he sang in theOpera Philadelphia world premiere ofDaniel Bernard Roumain's chamber operaWe Shall Not Be Moved.[20] He repeated that performance at theDutch National Opera in March 2018, his European debut.[21] He then sangBernstein'sChichester Psalms on tour withGustavo Dudamel and theLos Angeles Philharmonic in New York, London, and Paris.[6]
In December 2019 he performed thealto part in Handel'sMessiah with theLucerne Symphony Orchestra.[22]
In February 2020 he sang in the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin'sEurydice at the Los Angeles Opera.[23] He made hisMetropolitan Opera debut in that opera in December 2021.[24][25]
Though theCOVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of many of his scheduled performances, his recital at New York'sMetropolitan 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 byJacob 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 ofKevin Puts'sThe Hours at the Metropolitan Opera.[27]
Holiday has been an associate professor of music at the Conservatory of Music atLawrence University since 2017.[28] He is a member of theNational Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), theAmerican Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA).[28] andThe National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
Holiday has performed jazz and gospel music throughout his career. In 2006, he opened for Grammy award winnerJason 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 theHouston Rockets and theGolden State Warriors at theToyota Center.
In October 2020, he auditioned successfully for a contestant's spot on NBC'sThe Voice, where he was coached byJohn 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-basedDJ Riddler. All songs were produced by Rob Grimaldi, best known for co-writing and co-producing theBTS song “Butter”.
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 fellowThe 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 byColumbia 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 BaseballJimmie Lee Solomon.
Tours in America, France and the U.K. with ‘'Gustavo Dudamel andLos Angeles Philharmonic (Chichester Psalms)
| Award | Competition | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Honoree | Yerba Buena Center For The Arts YBCA 100 | 2018 |
| Winner | Marian Anderson Vocal Award | 2017 |
| Third Place | Operalia | 2014 |
| Richard F. Gold Career Grant | Shoshanna Foundation | 2014 |
| Sarah Tucker Career Grant | The Richard Tucker Foundation Competition | 2014 |
| First Place | The Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition | 2013 |
| Third Place | Licia Albanese International Vocal Competition | 2013 |
| Third Place | Giulio Gari International Vocal Competition | 2013 |
| Encouragement Award | The George London Foundation Competition | 2012 |
| First Place | The Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition | 2011 |
| Top Award | Sullivan Foundation Auditions | 2011 |
| Anna Case MacKay Award | The Santa Fe Opera | 2011 |
| Fifth Place | Palm Beach Opera Competition | 2011 |
Dulcet countertenor John Holiday
