American singer JOHN ALER has been singled out as one of the most acclaimed lyric tenors on the international stage. A consummate soloist, he often performs in America with such orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, the Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco Symphonies, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In Europe he has sung with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, l’Orchestre Nationale de France, the London Sinfonietta, and the BBC Symphony, among others, with such conductors as Barenboim, Dutoit, Mehta, Norrington, Ozawa, Rattle, Slatkin, and Zinman, to name a few.

In opera he has performed with most of the major companies and opera houses in Europe including the Royal Opera at Covent Garden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Vienna, Geneva, Madrid, Lyon, and Brussels, as well as the New York City Opera and the operas of Baltimore, St. Louis, Santa Fe, and Washington.

Aler has made over 50 recordings. Recently released is an Arabesque recording of Haydn’s opera L’isola disabitata with the Padua Chamber Orchestra conducted by David Golub. Other recent releases include Adolphe Adam’s Le Toréador under Richard Bonynge with the Welsh Opera Orchestra for Decca; the Berlioz Te Deum with the Voices of Ascension Chorus and Orchestra for Delos International; a solo collection also for Delos entitled “Songs We Forgot to Remember”; the Glyndebourne Opera recording of The Merry Widow on EMI; a collection of songs by Berlioz for Deutsche Grammophon; and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella and Renard, with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Hugh Wolff for Teldec. He was heard on the soundtrack of the most recent film version of “Little Women” singing a duet with Barbara Hendricks from the EMI recording of Bizet’s Pearl Fishers.

John Aler is featured on two 1994 Grammy-winning recordings: as Jupiter in an all-star recording of Handel’s Semele, with the English Chamber Orchestra and John Nelson for DG, winner of the Grammy Award for “Best Opera Recording”; and Bartók’s The Wooden Prince and Cantata Profana, with Pierre Boulez and the Chicago Symphony, also on DG, winner of “Best Classical Album.” He was awarded a Grammy in 1985 for Best Classical Vocal Soloist for his Telarc recording of the Berlioz Requiem with the Atlanta Symphony.

A native of Baltimore, John Aler attended Catholic University in Washington, D.C. before going on to pursue his musical education at the Juilliard School. His most recent performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic were in May 2000 with Sir Simon Rattle conducting Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges. At the Ojai Festival they also performed Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias.