Bio
Baritone John Buffett enjoys a versatile career singing music from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, but also lending his “warm tone and ringing top notes” (Salt Lake Tribune) to Bel Canto opera, 20th Century masters like Vaughan Williams, Debussy and Copland, and to Hollywood studio sessions.
Recent solo engagements include Bach’s “St. John Passion” arias with the Oregon and Charlotte Bach festivals, Copland’s “Old American Songs” with the Pacific Symphony and Carl St. Clair, Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s cantata BWV 62 with Seraphic Fire and Patrick Quigley, Vaughan Williams’ “Dona Nobis Pacem” with the Cal Poly Orchestra and Choirs, and Bach’s solo cantata “Der Friede sei mit dir” BWV 158 with Ruben Valenzuela and Bach Collegium San Diego. Other staples of his repertoire include Bach’s “B minor mass”, “St. Matthew Passion’, “Easter Oratorio”, “Magnificat”, Cantatas 32, 42, 75, 153, and 140, Monteverdi’s “Vespers of 1610”, the Mozart, Brahms and Faure Requiems, and Vaughan William’s “Five Mystical Songs”. His wide ranging roles on the Opera stage include Dandini in “La Cenerentola”, Belcore in “L’elisir d’amore”, Adonis in “Venus and Adonis”, Uberto in “La Serva Padrona”, Marullo in “Rigoletto”, Wagner in “Faust”, Golaud in “Pelleas é Mellisande”, and Figaro in “Le Nozze di Figaro.”
Buffett has been a featured soloist with the Pacific Symphony, the Utah, San Antonio, Winston-Salem, and Syracuse Symphonies, The Mark Morris Dance Group, The Pacific Chorale, and the Rochester Philharmonic. He has also been a featured performer with many of the Nation’s leading Early Music Ensembles including: Apollo’s Fire, Ars Lyrica, Bach Collegium San Diego, The Boston Early Music Festival, Con Gioia, The Charlotte Bach Academy, The Oregon Bach Festival, and Tesserae Baroque. In the Opera house, Buffett has performed numerous roles with Utah Opera, Sarasota Opera, Opera Memphis, Utah Festival Opera, San Diego Baroque, Mercury Opera, and The Ohio Light Opera. Also an accomplished Chamber musician, he regularly performs with some of America’s best choral ensembles like Seraphic Fire, The Santa Fe Desert Chorale, and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Buffett was part of the Grammy-winning recording of Mahler’s 8th symphony with the LA Master Chorale, LA Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel.
Solo appearances at the Tanglewood Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival and the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center highlight other important performances. Buffett, currently on voice faculty at CSU Long Beach’s Bob Cole Conservatory of Music, and for the Professional Choral Institute at the Aspen Music Festival, received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Eastman School of Music. John is originally from Hudson, Ohio and currently lives in Los Angeles, California.
