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Jonas Hacker
A 2016 Grand Finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, tenor Jonas Hacker regularly receives high praise for his “attractive tenor voice” and his ability to convincingly portray characters across genres from Mozart to Glass. In the 2017-2018 season, Mr. Hacker will make his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Timothy Laughlin in Gregory Spears’ Fellow Travelers and will also make his company and role debut with Kentucky Opera as Almaviva in a new production of The Barber of Seville, directed by Matthew Ozawa. He opens the season returning to Annapolis Opera as Theodore “Laurie” Lawrence in Little Women, the company with whom he made his professional debut in 2015 as Ferrando in Così fan tutte.
In the summers of 2016 and 2017, Mr. Hacker was selected as a Filene Young Artist with Wolf Trap Opera where he has been heard in multiple productions. In the summer of 2016 he made his debut as Sospiro in the U.S. premiere of Florian Gassmann’s comic opera L’opera seria, sang in the concert From Lute Song to The Beatles with Steven Blier, and was part of the Improper Opera improv troupe. In 2017, he sings Bastianello and Lambent in John Musto’s Bastianello, Roderick Usher in Philip Glass’ The Fall of the House of Usher, and presented a concert entitled Four of a Kind with collaborator Steven Blier.
Recent performances include his debut with Washington Concert Opera in their performance of Beethoven’s Leonore, the first version of his opera Fidelio, as the tenor soloist in a quartet rendition of Bach’s Cantata 150 with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and as George Gibbs in Ned Rorem’s Our Town with Fresno Grand Opera and Townsend Opera.
In 2016, Mr. Hacker was seen on Dallas Opera’s Institute for Women Conductor’s concert, which received a segment on PBS’s NewsHour program, and made his debut with Washington Concert Opera singing the famous duet from Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers on their 30th Anniversary Concert to honor Maestro Antony Walker’s 15th season of leadership. The previous summer, he was part of the Glimmerglass Festival Young Artist Program where he covered the title role in Vivaldi’s Catone in Utica, and while there, performed Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings with members of the Glimmerglass Festival Orchestra.
Active on the concert stage, Mr. Hacker made his debut with the Columbus Symphony in 2016 singing Obadiah in Mendelssohn’s Elijah under the baton of Maestro Rossen Milanov, and returned in the summer of 2017 as the tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. In 2015 he sang the Tenor Soloist in Part 1 of Handel’s Messiah for the Philadelphia Orchestra’s SingIN event in Verizon Hall, and sang the complete Messiah with the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra in 2012.
Frequently recognized by prestigious competitions, Mr. Hacker was one of nine Finalists in the Mildred Miller International Voice Competition, won second place in the Giargiari Bel Canto Competition, won the Robert Crosby Memorial Award in the Opera Index Competition, and in February 2017 was awarded the Robert Jacobson Award as a Finalist in the George London Foundation Competition.
Mr. Hacker hails from Lake Delton, Wisconsin and recently completed his studies at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. While attending the Academy of Vocal Arts, his performances have included Ferrando in Cosí fan tutte, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, and Lindoro in L’Italiana in Algeri. He received his Master’s Degree in Voice Performance from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor and his Bachelor’s Degree in Voice Performance from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire.