Icelandic tenor Jon Ketilsson commenced his training at Reykjavik’s New Music School before continuing his studies with Professor Leopold Spitzer in Vienna, going on to receive the opera diploma from the city’s University for music and performing arts.
Since beginning his career, he has performed throughout Europe and participated in numerous radio, CD and TV recordings. Jon Ketilsson made his professional operatic debut at the Prague State Opera as Alfredo and has gone on to amass a diverse repertoire including Hoffmann, Macduff, Radamès, Rodolfo, Enée, Bacchus, Sergei, Tamino, Erik, Max, Don José, Pinkerton and Cavaradossi etc. An extensive concert repertoire includes Beethoven’s Symphony No 9, Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mahler´s Das Lied von der Erde as well as the Dvoràk and Verdi Requiems.
Jon Ketilsson was engaged in 1997 by the Theatre of Dortmund, and from 1998 to 2000 was a member of the ensemble of the Cologne Opera before pursuing his freelance career. He enjoyed particular success as Don José at Brussels’ La Monnaie, conducted by Antonio Pappano, as well as at the Grand Théâtre Genève, and with his début at both the Salzburg Festival and l’Opera National de Paris as Énée in Berlioz’ Les Troyens. Further appearances to date have included Der Freischütz in Frankfurt, Pinkerton in Essen, Der Fliegende Holländer in Karlsruhe and at the Icelandic Music Festival, Bacchus with both l’Opéra du Rhin and l’Opéra de Lausanne, Radamès in Göteborg and Copenhagen, Florestan in Gothenburg and Marseille, Königskinder at the San Carlo Opera in Napoli, Don Carlos at the Royal Opera Copenhagen, Die Frau ohne Schatten in Göteborg, Brussels, Helsinki and Dresden, Ariadne auf Naxos at the Reykjavik Opera and Lausanne, Cherubini’s Medea at the Hellenic Festival, Carmen in Valencia.
Previous seasons have included debuts of 5 of Wagner’s most demanding tenor roles namely Tristan, Tannhäuser, Parsifal, Lohengrin and Rienzi as well as making house debuts with the Canadian Opera Company as Florestan/Fidelio and Peter Grimes in Torino