tenor

This internationally acclaimed Korean-American tenor, who has been lauded as “brilliant” [Broadway World] and praised for his “golden-toned” voice [San Francisco Chronicle] with "unexpected stentorian power" [Boston Phoenix], opens his 2017-2018 Season with San Francisco Opera as Pang in Turandot by Puccini, a role that has become a signature in his wide-ranging repertoire.  He has performed the role with Seattle Opera, Utah Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Cincinnati Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Opera, and Atlanta Opera.  He will reprise the role this season in his return to Vancouver Opera, as well as, in his début with Tulsa Opera.  This season also includes Mr. Ahn’s role début as Bardolfo in Falstaff by Verdi with Opera Omaha as well as his début with Pacific Symphony, as Monostatos in The Magic Flute by Mozart.

The 2016-2017 season included débuts with Opera Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Opera, and Atlanta Opera, as Pang; Goro in Madama Butterfly by Puccini with San Francisco Opera and Northern Lights Music Festival -- another signature role, which he has also performed in his débuts with Palm Beach Opera, Opera Carolina, Nashville Opera, Canadian Opera Company, and Vancouver Opera, as well as with Michigan Opera Theatre, and in his London début with Raymond Gubbay, Ltd., in a spectacular in-the-round production at the famed Royal Albert Hall; and, a return to The Metropolitan Opera for The Magic Flute by Mozart, and Rigoletto by Verdi.

Mr. Ahn joined the roster of The Metropolitan Opera as part of its 2013-2014 Season in its production of The Nose by Shostakovich, and went on to make his stage début as the Second Priest in The Magic Flute.  Additional productions with The Metropolitan Opera include Turandot and Die Fledermaus by J. Strauss, Jr.  Other notable engagements include roles in The Nose with Opera Boston; Tanzmeister and Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos by R. Strauss, Soldier in The Emperor of Atlantis by Ullmann, and Padre Ruffiano in The Inspector by Musto, with Boston Lyric Opera; Demo in Giasone by Cavalli with Chicago Opera Theater; Sellem in Rake's Progress by Stravinsky with the Princeton Festival; Basilio and Curzio in Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart with Lyric Opera Baltimore and Bar Harbor Music Festival; Monostatos in The Magic Flute with Opera Carolina, Opera Omaha, Hawaii Opera Theatre, and Michigan Opera Theatre; and, Mark in The Midsummer Marriage by Tippett, in concert, with Boston Modern Orchestra Project at Jordan Hall.

After being cast in Stuck Elevator by Byron Au Yong and Aaron Jafferis, as part of the 2011 Sundance Institute Theatre Labs at Banff Centre, directed by Chay Yew, and again, at White Oak, Mr. Ahn went on to create the lead role of Guang in the triumphant World Premiere with American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.  His performances earned him San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre in 2013 for Principal Actor in a Musical.  He later reprised the role with The Arts and Ideas Festival in New Haven, Connecticut, and with New York Theatre Workshop.  Mr. Ahn has also performed the principal role of Conrado in a workshop performance of Long Season by Chay Yew and Fabian Obispo, as part of Huntington Theatre Company’s Breaking Ground Festival.  Additional role credits include King of Siam in The King and I, and Duke/Dr. Carrasco in Man of La Mancha, as well as, roles in Camelot, Ragtime, and Titanic.

Julius attended the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with the world-renowned tenor Vinson Cole, and performed a wide range of roles.

Performances

Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | November 10, 2012

News and Press

[Concert Review] Michael Tippett's Midsummer madness

The first American production of any of Michael Tippett's five operas was Sarah Caldwell's The Ice Break for the Opera Company of Boston in 1979. In 1991, BU students did The Knot Garden. This year, Opera Boston scheduled the first Boston production of The Midsummer Marriage, Tippett's first opera (completed in 1952, after six years of work). But Opera Boston folded.

The Boston Phoenix Full review
[Concert Review] BMOP proceeds with Tippett's 'Midsummer Marriage'

Before a note was played, Saturday night’s Boston Modern Orchestra Project performance of Michael Tippett’s first mature opera, “The Midsummer Marriage,” generated more good will and broader public curiosity than the average season-opener. That’s because the now-defunct Opera Boston had this rarely spotted Tippett opera on its agenda long before the company abruptly folded last December.

The Boston Globe Full review
[Concert Review] A Phoenix Rises from the Ashes of Opera Boston

Boston opera buffs were dealt a hard blow last December when Opera Boston, a company known for innovative productions of less familiar repertory, announced it was shutting down amid a financial and managerial crisis. But the company’s ambitious plans were not entirely sent to the scrap heap of operatic history: Sir Michael Tippett’s opera, The Midsummer Marriage – planned as the centerpiece of the company’s 2012 season – was reconceived as a concert production Saturday at Jordan Hall by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP).

WQXR Full review
[Concert Review] BMOP gives worthy advocacy to Tippett's unwieldy "Midsummer Marriage'

One door closes, another opens. With the demise of the ambitious company Opera Boston last year, director Gil Rose lost a chance to explore some of the gems in the outermost reaches of the stage repertory.

Fear not. Rose simply brought one such rarity, Michael Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage—slated last season for Opera Boston but left unperformed—to his other adventurous ensemble, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. BMOP performed a semi-staged version of the mid-20th century opera Saturday evening at Jordan Hall.

Boston Classical Review Full review