Aria's Artists Management

Jon Ketilsson - Tenor

Icelandic tenor Jon Ketilsson commenced his training at Reykjavik’s New Music School before continuing his studies with Professor Leopold Spitzer in Vienna, going on to receive the opera diploma from the city’s University for music and performing arts.

Since beginning his career, he has performed throughout Europe and participated in numerous radio, CD and TV recordings. Jon Ketilsson made his professional operatic debut at the Prague State Opera as Alfredo and has gone on to amass a diverse repertoire including Hoffmann, Macduff, Radamès, Rodolfo, Énée, Bacchus, Sergei, Tamino, Erik, Max, Don José, Pinkerton and Cavaradossi and has worked with such esteemed conductors as Antonio Pappano, Jeffrey Tate, Lorin Maazel, Sylvain Cambreling, Zubin Mehta, Jesus Lopez Cobos, Bertrand de Billy and Kent Nagano.

An extensive concert repertoire includes Beethoven’s IX Symphony and Missa Solemnis, Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah as well as the Dvoràk and Verdi Requiems, Zemlinsky’s Eine Florentinische Tragödie and Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder.

Jon Ketilsson was engaged in 1997 by the Theatre of Dortmund, and from 1998 to 2000 was a member of the ensemble of the Cologne Opera before pursuing his freelance career. He enjoyed particular success as Don José at Brussels’ La Monnaie, conducted by Antonio Pappano, as well as at the Grand Théâtre Genève, and with his début at both the Salzburg Festival and l’Opera National de Paris as Énée in Berlioz’ Les Troyens. Further appearances to date have included Der Freischütz in Frankfurt, Pinkerton in Essen, Der Fliegende Holländer in Karlsruhe and at the Icelandic Music Festival, Bacchus with both l’Opéra du Rhin and l’Opéra de Lausanne, Radamès in Göteborg and Copenhagen, Florestan in Gothenburg and Marseille, Koenigskinder at the San Carlo Opera in Napoli, Don Carlos at the Royal Opera Copenhagen, Die Frau ohne Schatten in Göteborg, Torino, Helsinki and Dresden, Ariadne auf Naxos at the Reykjavik Opera, Cherubini’s Medea at the Hellenic Festival, Carmen in Valencia.

Last season Jon Ketilsson debuted two of Wagner’s most demanding tenor roles namely Tristan and Tannhäuser with the operas in Munster and Chemnitz respectively, as well as making a house debut with the Canadian Opera Company as Florestan/Fidelio and as Kaiser/Die Frau ohne Schatten with the Finnish National Opera.

Future plans include Ariadne auf Naxos and Carmen at Vienna’s Volksoper, Tannhäuser in Chemnitz, Parsifal in Munster and Peter Grimes in Torino.

Artists Management
phone / fax +39 0473 200 200

e-mail: info@arias.it