Baritone Jonathan Stinson has appeared in leading and supporting roles with opera companies throughout the country and in Europe. Previous seasons have included Schaunard in La bohème at Lyric Opera of Kansas City, the 2nd Cardinal/2nd Oracle in Philip Glass’ Galileo Galilei and Barone Douphol in La traviata with Cincinnati Opera, Lescaut in Manon Lescaut for The Cleveland Opera, Slim in Of Mice and Men and Peter in Hansel und Gretel at Kentucky Opera, Il conte Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro with Arbor Opera Theatre, Joseph de Rocher in Dead Man Walking for Boston Opera Collaborative, and Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro for Opera Omaha. Abroad, he has sung Guglielmo in Così fan tutte and the title role of Gianni Schicchi in Varna, Bulgaria, the title role of Rigoletto in Manchester, UK, and the title role of Don Giovanni in Cortona, Italy.
This season, he will make his House debut at Winter Opera St. Louis as Lescaut in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, perform with the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra as the Reciter in William Walton’s Façade, and appear as a soloist in Bach’s Johannes-Passion with TACTUS chamber ensemble. His 2022-2023 season included appearances as Marcello in La bohème at Delaware Valley Opera, Leporello in Don Giovanni for Ozarks Lyric Opera, bass soloist in Messiah for TACTUS Ensemble in Oklahoma City, “Der Klang der Offenbarung des Göttlichen” by Icelandic composer Kjartan Sveinsson with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra, and a recital as part of the Belvedere Series in Richmond, VA, which will include the world premiere of his own monodrama, Uncivil Relief.
During the 2021-2022 season, he sang The Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance and Monterone in Rigoletto for Delaware Valley Opera, the bass solos in Bach’s B Minor Mass with Music Worcester, and stage directed Speed Dating Tonight! and Signor Deluso for the University of Arkansas Opera Theatre. In 2020, he was scheduled to sing Dandini in La cenerentola at Salt Marsh Opera, the Four Villains in Les contes d’Hoffmann and Falke in Die Fledermaus at the Stara Zagora Opera House in Bulgaria, and the solos in Bach’s B Minor Mass with Connecticut Choral Artists, but these engagements were canceled due to Covid-19.
Recent solo concert work includes Carmina Burana with the Sullivan County Community Chorus, Messiah with Connecticut Choral Artists, and Vaughan-Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem for the Lougheed-Kofoed Festival of the Arts in Potsdam, NY.
A huge advocate for new music, Mr. Stinson has workshopped leading roles in operas by Tom Cipullo, Anthony Davis, Douglas Cuomo, Patrick Soluri, and Elizabeth Kelly. As a composer, Jonathan has written two one-act operas for young audiences, two operatic vignettes, seven song cycles, a monodrama, and several choral works. In 2015, his church anthem “Beloved” won the Grand Prize of the International Anthem Competition held by First Baptist Church in Worcester, MA. His children’s operas have been toured by Atlanta Opera, Opera Memphis, Seagle Music Colony, and Chicago Opera Playhouse, and have been performed at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the Lougheed-Kofoed Festival of the Arts (NY).
Jonathan was a past Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and received the “Bel Canto Award” at the Orpheus National Voice Competition. Jonathan holds voice performance degrees from Oberlin Conservatory, Indiana University, and University of Cincinnati–College-Conservatory of Music.
