John Duykers


John Duykers is a prominent American operatic tenor, especially known for his work in modern and contemporary opera. He made his formal debut with the Seattle Opera, in 1966.

Career

Since then, Duykers has appeared with the New York City Opera, and the opera companies in Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Santa Fe, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Philadelphia.
Abroad, he has been seen at the Royal Opera House, the Netherlands Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Frankfurt Opera, Opéra de Marseille and the Canadian Opera Company.
Duykers most celebrated role has certainly been that of Mao Tse-tung in the 1987 world premiere of John Adams' Nixon in China, which was televised, and recorded. He was in the world premiere of O corvo branco, by Robert Wilson and Philip Glass, in 1998; he has sung in Glass' Orphée and the name part of Galileo Galilei. He appeared in San Francisco as the title character in Erling Wold's Mordake, and as the Captain in the new chamber-orchestra version of Alban Berg's Wozzeck, and, for Long Beach Opera, reprising the role of Mao Tse-tung. Another of his successes has been in Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' Eight Songs for a Mad King.