Praised for his “wonderful bel canto singing” and his “heroic baritone” sound, Johnathon Kirby is showing that he “brings the oodles of charisma that one associates with a pop-star athletic celebrity”.

Johnathon is from Newmarket, Ontario. He made his professional opera debut with Opera Nova Scotia in their Canadian premier of Mozart’s Zaide. He has appeared in subsequent Opera Nova Scotia seasons for their main stage productions of The Beggar’s Opera as Macheath, Don Giovanni as Masetto, and Luisa Miller as Miller. In total Johnathon has performed in 9 Seasons of Opera Nova Scotia productions. He has performed with opera companies and programs across Canada.

He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from Dalhousie University where he appeared in several productions including the title role in Gianni Schicchi, and Jupiter in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld. In 2015 he debuted the role of J.A.D McCurdy in the world premier of the Dean Burry and Lorna Macdonald original work The Bells of Baddeck. For the 2016-2017 season Johnathon joined the Calgary Opera Emerging Artist Program where he made his main stage debut in the role of Constable Lawson in the John Estacio and John Murrell Canadian work Filumena. This past season he returned to the Emerging Artist Program for a second year, playing the roles of Fiorello in The Barber of Seville, Zaretsky in Eugene Onegin, Angelotti in Tosca and Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte.

He ended his 2017-2018 season by returning to Toronto to play Figaro in The Barber of Seville, with Opera 5, receiving critical acclaim for his portrayal of the title role. He received a DORA award nomination for best performance of an individual with his portrayal of Figaro . He made his Opera Manitoba debut in the 2018-2019 season playing the role of Masetto in Don Giovanni. He returns to Opera Manitoba for the 2019-2020 season to play the roles of Dancaire and Morales in their production of Carmen.

When not on the operatic stage Johnathon enjoys concert work, his most recent contracts include performing Messiah with The Whipsering River Orchestra, and The Mozart Experience Concert with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He has also enjoyed performing Te Deum from Tosca with The Brott Opera Music Festival and performing the roles of Raphael and Adam with The Festival Chorus production of The Creation by Haydn. His next concert will be in the spring of 2020, Kingston Symphony’s performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.