Lawrence Jones, tenor
Tenor Lawrence Jones is quickly establishing an active presence on the concert and operatic stages. Recently he has received praise for his portrayals of Tom Rakewell in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress. Mr. Jones sang the title role in 2011 at the Princeton Festival, for which the New York Times wrote, “Tenor Lawrence Jones brought a light, sweet voice and lyricism to Tom…he had the right earnestness for this gullible slacker.” Opera News magazine praised him for his “clean, ringing tenor” and for having “emerged as fully fleshed out and tenderhearted throughout Tom’s subsequent travails…. his madness in the asylum was gripping.” Of a 2006 production with the Aldeburgh Festival (UK), The Guardian newspaper described Mr. Jones as “a smooth-voiced Tom, and his first-act aria, lamenting the loss of love, is especially affecting”.
Most recently this season, Mr. Jones sang the title role in Britten’s St. Nicolas with the Cambridge Chorus, and reprised the role of Goro in Madama Butterfly with Amarillo Opera. He had previously sung the role in Opera Saratoga’s critically acclaimed 2009 production. In 2011, Mr. Jones made company debuts with New York City Opera in performances of Oliver Knussen’s Where the Wild Things Are, as well as with the Utah Symphony as tenor soloist in Stravinsky’s Pulcinella. In 2012 Mr. Jones returned to New York City Opera to cover the roles of Gastone in La Traviata and Eurimedes in Telemann’s Orpheus, and he made his debut with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project in Arvo Pärt’s Passio. Mr. Jones frequently performs the works of Bach, and last season he sang as the tenor soloist in the St. Matthew Passion with the Bach Society of St. Louis, tenor soloist in the St. John Passion at both the Kalamazoo Bach Festival and at New York City’s renowned St. Thomas Church, and sang the Evangelist in the Christmas Oratorio with the Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus & Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra.
During the 2009-2010 season, Mr. Jones sang in a concert collaborating with pianist Steven Blier, as part of the Five Boroughs Music Festival. This was followed by performances of Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne in his company debut with Boston Baroque. In the role of Bastien, the Boston Globe praised him for “pleasing tone and excellent diction“. Mr. Jones continued his collaboration with Boston Baroque later that season in performances of Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine. Other solo appearances included Haydn’s Paukenmesse at Carnegie Hall, Mendelssohn’s Die Erste Walpurgisnacht with Cambridge Chorus, and a Mozart program with the Albany Symphony. In the summer of 2010, Mr. Jones sang the role of Brighella in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos at the Tanglewood Music Festival, and reprised the role several months later at Toledo Opera.
Mr. Jones has been engaged by companies such as Sarasota Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, and Opera North. Roles performed with these and other companies include Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff, Flute in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Don Ramiro in
La Cenerentola, Borsa in Rigoletto, and Acis in Handel’s Acis and Galatea. His passion for contemporary music has lead to featured roles in works such as the American Stage Premiere of Elliott Carter’s opera What Next? at Tanglewood, conducted by James Levine.
On the concert stage he has sung as a soloist with numerous choruses and orchestras including The Charlotte Symphony, Back Bay Chorale & Orchestra, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Allentown Symphony, Norwalk Symphony, and the Boston Pops, with which he made his Boston Symphony Hall debut as a featured soloist in a Sondheim Review.
Mr. Jones has been a recipient of awards and has been a finalist in competitions such as the Oratorio Society of New York Solo Competition, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and the Liederkranz Art Song Competition.
