About
Joseph Kaiser is recognized by audiences for his beauty of tone, intelligence of programming, and innate sense of style and elegance. He is internationally acclaimed as one of the most gifted artists of his generation and enjoys success in opera, oratorio, and concert throughout North America and Europe.
The Canadian tenor returns this season to the Metropolitan Opera to sing the role of Steva in Janácek’s Jenůfa conducted by David Robertson and to the Wiener Staatsoper to reprise the role of Matteo in Strauss’s Arabella led by Peter Schneider. A dynamic concert schedule includes performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic, with Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, as well as with Christoph Eschenbach and the National Symphony Orchestra; Bernstein’s A Quiet Place with Kent Nagano and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal; Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra; and Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia at London’s South Bank Centre.
Past highlights include a debut at the Opernhaus Zürich in Martinů’s Juliette directed by Andreas Homoki and led by General Music Director Fabio Luisi; performances at the Opéra national de Paris as Lensky in Eugene Onegin in a Willy Decker production conducted by Vasily Petrenko and as Flamand in Strauss’s Capriccio in a production by Robert Carsen and conducted by Music Director Philippe Jordan; at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Narraboth in a new Sir David McVicar production of Salome under Philippe Jordan’s baton (commercially available on DVD) and a return as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte directed by Sir David McVicar and conducted by Sir Colin Davis; as well as at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Jenůfa in the acclaimed Barbara Frey production conducted by Tomáš Hanus and as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni conducted by Constantinos Carydis.
Opera credits also include the title role of Messager’s Fortunio in a new production by Denis Podalydès at the Opéra Comique under the baton of Louis Langrée, and new productions at the Salzburg Festival of Händel’s Theodora directed by Christoph Loy and conducted by Ivor Bolton as well as of Eugene Onegin directed by Andrea Breth and conducted by Daniel Barenboim (both Salzburg productions are commercially available on DVD).
Kaiser’s many Metropolitan Opera performances include the title role of Roméo et Juliette, opposite Anna Netrebko, Die Zauberflöte conducted by Kirill Petrenko, and Salome, opposite Karita Mattila, conducted by Patrick Summers and seen internationally on The Met: Live in HD experience. Additional performances include Capriccio with Renée Fleming in a production by John Cox under the baton of Sir Andrew Davis, Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream conducted by James Conlon, and Stephen Wadsworth’s masterful production of Rodelinda with Harry Bicket conducting.
Concert highlights include performances of Beethoven’s Fidelio – singing the role of Florestan – with Jérémie Rhorer conducting Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri with Sir Simon Rattle and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and Principal Conductor Pablo Heras-Casado at Carnegie Hall, Mozart’s Requiem with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra conducted by Music Director Jaap Van Sweden, Bruckner’s Te Deum with Daniel Barenboim and the Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro alla Scala, Bruckner’s Mass No. 3 in F minor with Marek Janowski leading the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, and Berlioz’s Requiem under Marek Janowski with the combined forces of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande as well as with Donald Runnicles both with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Berliner Philharmoniker.