News

Renowned tenor John Mac Master joins the Voice Faculty of the Schulich School of Music

Published: 6 June 2016

The Schulich School of Music welcomes tenor John Mac Master to the Voice Faculty of the Schulich School of Music this fall, building on its remarkable faculty.  

I am thrilled to be returning to McGill where teachers like Jo-Anne Bentley, Jan Simons, Helmut Blume and so many others helped form and shape me as a singer and an artist. After many years of honing my craft  and art with colleagues onstage, I am eager to help in shaping the next generations of performers that come through the Schulich School of Music. It is also a particular pleasure for me to be returning to Montréal where I have performed so often with Opéra de Montréal, the Orchestre Métropolitain and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal.” John Mac Master 

John Mac Master has performed the most demanding roles of the dramatic repertoire the world over. Roles such as Canio (Pagliacci), Otello, Manrico (Trovatore),Cavaradossi(Tosca), Calaf (Turandot), Florestan (Fidelio), Tristan, Peter Grimes, Erik (Fliegende Holländer), Herodes (Salome), Aegisth (Elektra), Bacchus (Ariadne auf Naxos), have been his calling cards at the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra Nationale de Paris, Vienna Volksoper; in Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Dresden, Barcelona, Singapore, Seoul, Beijing; for San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera, Opera Australia, all over the United States, and with every major symphony orchestra and opera company in Canada. He has performed with many of the greatest conductors of our time: Sir Colin Davis, Bernard Haitink, Richard Hickox, James Levine, Sir Charles Mackerras, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Bernardi, Gergiev, Harding, Tovey, Spano and others.  Engaged on countless occasions for Beethoven Symphony No 9, the Verdi Requiem and Orff Carmina Burana, he is also regularly heard in concert in Mahler’s Symphony No 8 and Das Lied von der Erde, Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass, Schoenberg Gurrelieder, and Elgar Dream of Gerontius. Mac Master is a graduate of both Concordia and McGill Universities, and before his accomplished career in “art music” was a performer in rock bands, in traditional and contemporary church music, and in musical theatre across Canada and on Broadway.

“John Mac Master brings to the Schulich School of Music decades of experience on some of the world’s most prestigious stages, as well as deep commitment to the training of young singers. A brilliant, insightful and caring individual, he will enrich our community and be an inspiring addition to our already stellar voice faculty."  Stéphane Lemelin, Chair, Department of Performance 

In addition to performing, Mac Master has taught privately for the past twenty years, and since 2013 he was a member of the Don Wright Faculty of Music at Western University. He will begin his position as Assistant Professor in Vocal Studies at the Schulich School of Music in September, 2016.

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