John Mark Ainsley is a leading British tenor especially associated with repertory from the Classical era and earlier. He studied at Oxford, where his teacher was Diane Forlano. In his earliest professional appearances, he established himself as a Mozart tenor, including the role of Idomeneo at the Welsh National Opera and as Don Ottavio at the Aix-en-Provence and Glyndebourne Festivals. His first American appearances were in concerts in New YorkRead more and Boston, and in 1992 he debuted with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
His first Viennese appearances were in performances of both the St. Matthew and St John Passions by Bach with the Musik Verein in 1992. The conductor on those occasions was Peter Schreier, who is also one of the era's finest lieder and Bach tenors. Among his other leading roles are the title part of Gluck's Orfeo (his debut role at the Netherlands Opera, 1966), Tito in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito (for his first appearance in Sydney, 1997), Fenton in Verdi's Falstaff, Lensky in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, and Jonathan in Nielsen's Saul and David. He has sung and recorded the role of Lysander in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
He is also an active recitalist and concert artist who has appeared with Les Musiciens du Louvre, the New York Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, L'Orchestre de Paris, the London Symphony, the Vienna Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Boston Symphony. He records for several labels, but is most closely associated with Hyperion, which has selected him to appear on six discs of its great series of the complete Schubert songs. His repertory for that company includes music of Stravinsky, Vaughan Williams, Warlock, William Lloyd Webber, Grainger, Britten, Ireland, Finzi, and Quilter. Read less
Label: Opus Arte
Catalog: 1051
Release Date: 06/28/2011
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Benjamin Britten
Performer:
Iain Paterson,
Phillip Ens,
John Mark Ainsley,
Jacques Imbrailo
...
Conductor:
Mark Elder
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Philharmonic Orchestra,
Glyndebourne Chorus
Recommendation
Label: Opus Arte
Catalog: 7086
Release Date: 06/28/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Benjamin Britten
Performer:
Alasdair Elliott,
Darren Jeffery,
Matthew Rose,
Jacques Imbrailo
...
Conductor:
Mark Elder
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Philharmonic Orchestra,
Glyndebourne Chorus
Recommendation
Label: Brilliant Classics
Catalog: 94214
Release Date: 05/31/2011
Number of Discs: 40
Composer:
George Frideric Handel
Performer:
Robin Miller,
Maria Grafova,
Stefanie True,
Kristine Gether
...
Conductor:
Robert Haydon Clark,
Sir Alexander Gibson,
Hartmut Haenchen,
John Lubbock
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Consort of London,
Scottish Chamber Orchestra,
Janácek Philharmony
...
Label: Brilliant Classics
Catalog: 94127
Release Date: 04/19/2011
Number of Discs: 3
Composer:
George Frideric Handel
Performer:
Alastair Miles,
Lynne Dawson,
Hilary Summers,
John Mark Ainsley
Conductor:
Stephen Cleobury
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Brandenburg Consort,
Cambridge King's College Choir
Recommendation
Label: Archiv Produktion (Dg)
Catalog: 427663
Release Date: 04/07/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Henry Purcell
Performer:
Michael Chance,
Tim Wilson,
Stephen Richardson,
Jennifer Smith
...
Conductor:
Trevor Pinnock
Orchestra/Ensemble:
English Concert,
English Concert Choir
Recommendation
Label: Helios
Catalog: 55433
Release Date: 02/08/2011
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Percy Aldridge Grainger
Performer:
John Mark Ainsley,
David Wilson-Johnson,
Libby Crabtree
Conductor:
Stephen Layton
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Polyphony,
Polyphony Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: House Of Classics
Catalog: 220306
Release Date: 01/25/2011
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:
Stephen Richardson,
Catherine Bott,
Michael Chance,
Stephen Varcoe
...
Conductor:
Stephen Cleobury
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Brandenburg Consort,
Cambridge King's College Choir
Label: House Of Classics
Catalog: 220304
Release Date: 01/25/2011
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
George Frideric Handel
Performer:
Alastair Miles,
Lynne Dawson,
Hilary Summers,
John Mark Ainsley
Conductor:
Stephen Cleobury
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Brandenburg Consort,
Cambridge King's College Choir
Recommendation
Label: Abc Classics
Catalog: 4804589
Release Date: 11/30/2010
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
George Frideric Handel
Performer:
John Mark Ainsley,
Emma Kirkby,
Anne Sofie von Otter,
Sara Macliver
...
Conductor:
Stephen Cleobury,
Paul McCreesh,
Christopher Hogwood,
Trevor Pinnock
...
Label: Hyperion
Catalog: 30025
Release Date: 10/12/2010
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer:
Anne Dawson,
Linda Kitchen,
Amanda Roocroft,
Diana Montague
...
Conductor:
Matthew Best
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Corydon Singers,
English Chamber Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalog: 001470109
Release Date: 09/28/2010
Number of Discs: 33
Composer:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Chaya Czernowin
Performer:
Elina Garanca,
Michael Schade,
Dorothea Röschmann,
Barbara Bonney
...
Conductor:
Nikolaus Harnoncourt,
Riccardo Muti,
Roger Norrington,
Manfred Honeck
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra,
Vienna State Opera Chorus Konzertvereinigung,
Vienna State Opera Chorus
...
Label: Musical Concepts
Catalog: 1102
Release Date: 07/13/2010
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach,
George Frideric Handel,
John Weldon,
Henry Purcell
...
Performer:
Roy Goodman,
Gillian Fisher,
Lisa Beznosiuk,
John Mark Ainsley
...
Conductor:
Robert King
Orchestra/Ensemble:
King's Consort
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Catalog: 2908336
Release Date: 11/10/2009
Number of Discs: 5
Composer:
Felix Mendelssohn
Performer:
Matthias Gorne,
James Taylor,
Annette Markert,
Melanie Diener
...
Conductor:
Philippe Herreweghe
Orchestra/Ensemble:
La Chapelle Royale,
Champs-Élysées Orchestra,
Ghent Collegium Vocale
Recommendation
Label: Chandos
Catalog: 10568
Release Date: 10/27/2009
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Frank Bridge,
Benjamin Britten,
Ralph Vaughan Williams,
Felix Mendelssohn
...
Performer:
James Gilchrist,
Pamela Helen Stephen,
Roderick Williams,
Bruce Martin
...
Conductor:
Richard Hickox
Orchestra/Ensemble:
BBC National Orchestra of Wales,
City of London Sinfonia,
London Symphony Orchestra
...
Recommendation
Label: Brilliant Classics
Catalog: 93948
Release Date: 10/13/2009
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
George Frideric Handel
Performer:
Alastair Miles,
Lynne Dawson,
Hilary Summers,
John Mark Ainsley
Conductor:
Stephen Cleobury
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Brandenburg Consort,
Cambridge King's College Choir
Recommendation
Label: Coro
Catalog: 16072
Release Date: 09/08/2009
Number of Discs: 5
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:
Gillian Fisher,
David James,
Ian Partridge,
Michael George
...
Conductor:
Harry Christophers
Orchestra/Ensemble:
The Symphony of Harmony and Invention,
The Sixteen
Recommendation
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 54859
Release Date: 08/31/2009
Number of Discs: 3
Composer:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer:
Gerald Finley,
Nancy Argenta,
Gregory Yurisich,
John Mark Ainsley
...
Conductor:
Roger Norrington
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Heinrich Schütz Choir,
London Classical Players
Recommendation
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalog: 459615
Release Date: 07/06/2009
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
George Frideric Handel
Performer:
Russel Smythe,
Lynne Dawson,
John Mark Ainsley,
Brian Bannatyne-Scott
...
Conductor:
Marc Minkowski
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Les Musiciens du Louvre
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 64218
Release Date: 04/21/2009
Number of Discs: 5
Composer:
John Gay,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Benjamin Britten,
Giuseppe Verdi
...
Performer:
Michael Redgrave,
Constance Willis,
Audrey Mildmay,
Roy Henderson
...
Conductor:
Michael Muddie,
Fritz Busch,
Reginald Goodall,
Sir Thomas Beecham
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Glyndebourne Festival Chorus,
Glyndebourne Festival Orchestra,
English Opera Group Orchestra
...
Label: Decca
Catalog: 458081
Release Date: 03/17/2009
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer,
Heinrich Ignaz Biber
Performer:
Philip Pickett,
Michael George,
Catherine Bott,
Tessa Bonner
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
New London Consort Orchestra