A 2016 Grand Finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and former Ensemble member of the Bayerische Staatsoper, American tenor Jonas Hacker regularly receives high praise for his “attractive tenor voice,” “honeyed tone and easeful delivery,” and his ability to convincingly portray characters across genres from Mozart to Britten. Highlights of his upcoming 25/26 season include Hacker’s debut at the Metropolitan Opera as the Shepherd in Tristan und Isolde and covering the Bridegroom in Innocence, his debut with Den Norske Oper as Tamin in The Magic Flute, a return to the Bayerische Staatsoper as Predrillo in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and as the Tanzmeister in Ariadne auf Naxos with the Salzburg Festival.

Recent performances include Alfredo in La Traviata at the Municipal Theater of Santiago, Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress with Des Moines Metro Opera, and as Kyle in The Listeners at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Hacker was a member of the Ensemble of the Bayerische Staatsoper from the fall of 2021 to the summer of 2024, where he was heard as Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Walther von der Vogelweide (Tannhäuser), Hylas (Les troyens), Pedrillo (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Arbace (Idomeneo), Jaquino (Fidelio), and Sladek/Pierrino in Christoph Marthaler’s conceptual production of Giuditta.

A frequent soloist in America, Hacker has sung at the Dallas Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington Concert Opera, Opera San Jose, Arizona Opera, and Des Moines Metro Opera, among others.  Role highlights include Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress, Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Tamino in The Magic Flute, Fenton in Falstaff, Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Tebaldo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Mercury in Rameau’s Platée, and Laertes in Ambroise Thomas’ rarely performed operatic version of Hamlet.  He is at home in modern repertoire, having sung Timothy Laughlin in Gregory Spears’ Fellow Travelers, Kyle in The Listeners, the Novice in Billy Budd, and the Prince in Cinderella by Alma Deutscher, the young British prodigy.  He also workshopped the role of Hades in Matthew Aucoin’s opera Eurydice at the Metropolitan Opera.

Frequently seen on the concert stage, Hacker has sung the Tenor Soloist in Handel’s Messiah twice with the Philadelphia Orchestra, first under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin (2018) and then with Jane Glover (2019).  He also sang Messiah, Obadiah in Elijah, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Columbus Symphony, Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor with the Orchestre Métropolitain in Canada under Nézet-Séguin, Mozart’s Requiem and Bach’s B minor mass with Jane Glover at Music of the Baroque, and Bach’s B minor mass and Bach’s cantata 150 with Nézet-Séguin at the Philadelphia Orchestra.  He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2019 singing excerpts from Cinderella by Alma Deutscher.

Hailing from Lake Delton, Wisconsin, and residing in Oslo, Norway, Hacker trained at many prestigious schools and programs in the United States, including The Academy of Vocal Arts, Wolf Trap Opera, and the Glimmerglass Festival, and attended the prestigious Mozart Residency at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in France.

Photo by Kristin Hoebermann