JohnFindon

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  • Tenor
John Findon
John Findon

About John

British tenor, John Findon studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Opera Course. He was a Harewood Artist at English National Opera from 2022 – 2024 and a Jerwood Young Artist at Glyndebourne Festival in 2017.

This 2024/25 season, John will sing the title role of Peter Grimes in Barbora Horáková's new production at Dutch National Opera and cover the role in Deborah Warner’s production at Teatro dell’Operadi Roma. He will then make two house and role debuts; Bacchus Ariadne auf Naxos at Opéra de Rouen and Narraboth Salome at Teatro di San Carlo. He returns to Royal Opera and Ballet as Steva Jenufa and English National Opera for a role debut as James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell in Thea Musgrave’s Mary Queen of Scots. In the Summer, he makes his role debut as Andrei Mazeppa at Grange Park Opera. On the concert platform, he will sing a concert performance of Strauss' Salome (Narraboth) with the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sir Antonio Pappano and make his BBC Proms debut.

Recent highlights include his role debuts as Don Jose Carmen at Glyndebourne Festival and title role of Peter Grimes at English National Opera. He made his house debut at Bayerische Staatsoper for 1st Armoured man and 2nd Priest Die Zauberflöte, a role debut as Steva Jenůfa at English National Opera, revived the role of Luke The Handmaid’s Tale at English National Opera, before spending the summer at Glyndebourne Festival for 1st Armed Man/2nd Priest Die Zauberflöte and cover Melot Tristan und Isolde.

On the concert platform, John recently made debuts with the Helsinki Radio Symphony for The Dream of Gerontius conducted by Nicholas Collon, BBC Symphony Orchestra for Luigi Nono’s Canti di vita e d’amore with conductor Martyn Brabbins, with Ulster Orchestra for Dvořák’s Stabat mater conducted by Jac van Steen and made a studio recording of Pamela Harrison’s The Dark Forest with the BBC Philharmonic.

John is based in Sussex, United Kingdom

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Contact

Grace Hewett

Grace Hewett

Assistant Artist Manager

Representation

Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt

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Season Highlights

Oct 2024
Dutch National Opera
Peter Grimes (title role) New Barbora Horáková production Lorenzo Viotti (conductor)
Nov 2024
Opera de Rouen Normandie
Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos (Bacchus) Ben Glassberg (conductor)
Jan 2025
Royal Opera and Ballet
Jenufa (Steva) Jakub Hrůša (conductor)
Feb 2025
English National Opera
Thea Musgrave's Mary Queen of Scots (James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell) Joana Carneiro (conductor)
Mar 2025
Teatro di San Carlo
Strauss Salome (Narraboth) Dan Ettinger (conductor)
Jun 2025
Grange Park Opera
Mazeppa (Andrei) Martyn Brabbins (conductor)

Video

Photos

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Selected Repertoire

Bizet

Carmen (Don José)

Britten

Peter Grimes (title role and Bob Boles)   •   Owen Wingrave (Sir Philip)

Dvorak

Rusalka (The Prince)

Handel

Rodelinda (Grimoaldo)   •   Semele (Jupiter)

Humperdinck

Hansel and Gretel (Witch)

Janáček

The Cunning Little Vixen (Cock)   •   Jenufa (Steva)   •   Káťa Kabanová (Boris Grigorjevič)

Korngold

Die tote Stadt (Paul)

Leoncavallo

Pagliacci (Canio)

Mozart

Idomeneo (title role)   •   La clemenza di Tito (Tito)   •   Die Zauberflote (Monostatos, First Armed Man)

Puccini

Tosca (Spoletta)

Shostakovich

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Zinoviy Borisovich)

Strauss

Ariadne auf Naxos (Bacchus)

Strauss

Salome (Narraboth)

Tchaikovsky

Iolanta (Vodemont)   •   Mazeppa (Andrei)

Thea Musgrave

Mary, Queen of Scots (James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell)

Wagner

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Walther)   •   Das Rhinegold (Mime/Loge)   •   Die Walkure (Siegmund)   •   Siegfried (Mime and Siegfried)   •   Gotterdammerung (Siegfried)   •   Tristan und Isolde (Tristan/Melot)   •   The Flying Dutchman (Erik)

Weber

Der Freischutz (Max)   •   Oberon (Huon)

News

Press

  • Britten Peter Grimes

    Dutch National Opera
    Oct 2024

    • John Findon is the young tenor who replaced the ailing Issachah Savage in the title role. Findon stepped into the role last minute, which fits him like a glove. A rare type of tenor, he manifests a deep baritonal treasure trove right down to the pianissimo. From the dark depths jump up illuminated color accents: a Caravaggian chiaroscuro! A fine actor he is, too. His bipolar tormented Grimes, alternately adrift and out of control (after which he beats himself up), then manically driven or dreamy, is utterly believable.

    • In any case, for the dress rehearsal and the premiere, the English tenor John Findon was called upon, who had recently played the role elsewhere and had managed to master the direction in half a day. He pulled out all the stops to make the premiere a great success and received a huge ovation.

    • John Findon [had] the Herculean task of memorising a staging that had taken five weeks to make in just one night. He does so commendably, delivering a moving Grimes with a capacity to express both the brutality and the poetry inherent to his character.

    • It is instead British tenor John Findon, who is not a stranger to Grimes stand-ins, having stepped in almost exactly a year ago at English National Opera. … what’s for sure is that his resonant voice and humble embodiment of this complex figure is one that makes its mark.

  • Bizet Carmen

    Glyndebourne
    May 2024

    • he found a breathtaking intensity, with a high-octane vibrato and gleaming ring in his confrontations with Escamillo and Carmen at the smugglers’ encampment, feeding off Chaieb’s defiance. In the final scene, the voice still shone, but found some added snarls and rasps, as the animal violence of the scene came out. On his knees, after strangling her – “You can arrest me now” – there was a rare moment of tenderness with a sob in the voice. One to watch.

    • He makes it his own, with a voice that grows in power as the character grows in confidence, and a stage presence that unfolds from detachment and diffidence to lethal passion.

  • Janáček Jenůfa

    English National Opera, London Coliseum
    Mar 2024 - Mar 2024

    • The voice of John Findon, great Wagner tenor in the making, rings out in the vast space.

    • John Findon had a whale of a time as bad-boy Števa, entitled and irredeemably self-regarding, Findon's rather over-the-top antics fitted admirably into Alden's distorted world, whilst Findon's singing in Act One rightly held focus, this Števa knew how to be liked. In Act Two, Findon gave us a sight of the weak man underneath, unable to deal with Jenůfa's pregnancy, and unable to deal with the Kostelnička's fierceness.

    • John Findon as Števa asserts his immensely powerful tenor to brilliant effect, as he immerses himself in playing the brash popular guy who is actually such a coward that he will attempt to deflect criticism by blaming others for how they have treated him.

    • Števa, was sung by John Findon with a swagger in the voice and a thrust in his step. Findon’s easy tenor and sleazy manner was an ideal contrast to Smagur’s awkward outcast.

    • Števa is brutishly sung by tenor John Findon, who can turn on romantic charm like a tap

  • Britten Peter Grimes

    English National Opera
    Sep 2023 - Oct 2023

    • The role of Peter Grimes fell to British tenor, John Findon...plunging himself wholeheartedly into this lonesome and anguished character in a telling and surefooted performance... Go there!’ (act 2, scene 2) is a lovely and inviting aria and thoughtfully sung with intensity and feeling by Findon. He looked the part of Grimes through and through and was suspiciously alert to all the hypocrites and gossips of the Borough he shuns.

    • With a strong supporting cast of Simon Bailey’s reassuring presence as Balstrode, John Findon as an Bob Boles the Methodist, and Anne-Marie Owens as Mrs Sedley, this led to a terrific performance.

  • Smetana The Bartered Bride

    Garsington Opera
    Jun 2023 - Jul 2023

    • As the naïve, hapless and socially inept younger brother Vašek, he was in fine voice and brought his talent for nuanced characterisation to the production.

    • John Findon’s portrayal was both ridiculous and touching as appropriate, his tenor suitably self-pitying to distance it from that of Jeník.

Discography