John Easterlin

John Easterlin is an American operatic tenor specializing in character and Spieltenor roles, who has performed at major opera houses across the United States and internationally. Before establishing himself in opera, he built a career in musical theatre, with Broadway appearances spanning 1988 to 1999 that included The Phantom of the Opera and Band in Berlin. His academic background encompasses a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Miami and a Bachelor of Science degree from Florida International University, and he worked in corporate advertising before pursuing a performing career.

Among the American opera companies and festivals where Easterlin has appeared are the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, New York City Opera, Dallas Opera, the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Ravinia Festival, and Spoleto Festival USA. At the Ravinia Festival he performed with the Chicago Symphony under Daniel Barenboim for the opening night of the Centennial Season. His Spoleto appearance was in a new production of Ariadne auf Naxos conducted by Emmanuel Villaume. At the Glimmerglass Opera Festival in the summer of 2009, he made his debut there as The Magician in a new production of Menotti's The Consul, a role for which Opera News reported he spent 200 hours learning magic tricks, including producing a live rabbit on stage. In 2006, Houston Grand Opera cast him as the Witch in an all-puppet production of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, in which he also operated the character's twelve-foot-high puppet.

Easterlin made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2004 in a new production of Richard Strauss's Salome alongside Karita Mattila. He subsequently returned to the Met for Der Rosenkavalier in 2005, Prokofiev's The Gambler in 2008, the 2008 revival of Salome which was screened as part of the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD series, Elektra in 2009 opposite Susan Bullock and Deborah Voigt, and both Khovanshchina and The Makropoulos Case in 2012. In 2008 he performed the role of Jack O'Brien in Kurt Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny with Los Angeles Opera, sharing the stage with Patti LuPone and Audra McDonald in a production conducted by James Conlon. That performance was recorded for PBS's Great Performances and released on DVD through the EuroArts label, and the recording received two Grammy Awards in 2009 for Best Classical Album and Best Opera Recording.

Easterlin's European career began in 2008 when he sang The Hunchback in Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Paris Opera, where he returned in 2010 as Squeak in Billy Budd. His debut at the Vienna State Opera came in 2009 as Herod in Salome. At London's Royal Opera House he first appeared in 2010 as Prince Nilsky in a new production of The Gambler, and returned in 2011 as The Steersman in The Flying Dutchman. He performed the role of Jack O'Brien/Toby Higgins in Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at both the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 2010 and 2011 respectively, and sang the Shabby Peasant in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at the Teatro Real in 2011. The Canadian Opera Company engaged him in 2011 for two productions: Monostatos in Die Zauberflöte and the roles of the Dancing Master and Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos. Earlier international engagements included Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos with the New Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv in 2007, The Captain in Wozzeck at Japan's Saito Kinen Festival in a production conducted by Seiji Ozawa in 2004, and Pedrillo in Die Entführung aus dem Serail at Opéra de Québec in 2003.

The son of Presbyterian minister Merrill Lincoln Easterlin, Easterlin has appeared as a guest soloist at numerous churches, among them Knox Presbyterian Church in Toronto, the Crystal Cathedral in California, First Baptist Church in Dallas, First Presbyterian Church in Orlando, St. George's United Methodist Church in Philadelphia, and John Street Methodist Church in New York City, where he sang during the congregation's first Sunday service following the September 11, 2001 attacks.