Tenor JOHN TRELEAVEN was born in Cornwall. He studied at the London College of Music under William Lloyd Webber, the London Opera Centre Covent Garden and in Naples with Maestro Campanino.

After completing his studies he performed in all the major opera houses in Great Britain, making his début at the Royal Opera Covent Garden, Welsh National Opera and English National Opera where his roles included Don José, Cavaradossi, Hoffmann, Pinkerton, Don Carlos, Faust, Prince (RUSALKA), Tamino, and Florestan.

After his successes at the Edinburgh Festival i.e. Jenik/THE BARTERED BRIDE, Radamès/AIDA, Erik/THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, and Florestan/FIDELIO followed guest performances in many important opera houses and international festivals. In 1992 he sang Faust in THE DAMNATION OF FAUST in the Adelaide Festival and in Bologna, then followed engagements in Amsterdam, Paris and New York (Dick Johnson/LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST). In the Taormina Festival he sang Don José and in 1990 Calaf in Puccini's TURANDOT with Ghena Dimitrova and Katia Ricciarelli, also at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires he sang Radamès, Peter Grimes and in 1992 Erik.

In 1991 John Treleaven made his début in Germany at the Nationaltheater Mannheim with PETER GRIMES and since then has been a permanent guest in many German opera houses.

John Treleaven recently had many successes in the German Heldentenor roles including Siegmund and later on the title role in SIEGFRIED. In 1993 he made his début at the Cologne Opera as Boris in KATIA KABANOVA, Peter Grimes in Bremen, Genova and in 1998 at the Hamburg State Opera. In June 1999 he was Peter Grimes in the new Alfred Kirchner production at the Opéra du Rhin in Strasburg and in June/July followed Canio in I PAGLIACCI in Frankfurt and Bacchus in ARIADNE AUF NAXOS at the Hanover State Opera and the new production of LOHENGRIN in Basel.

At the beginning of the millennium he made his début at the Vienna State Opera as LOHENGRIN with great success (C: Peter Schneider). Shortly afterwards he sang the same role at the Hamburg State Opera (C: Ingo Metzmacher).
In April 2000 he sang his first Siegfried / GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG and in July 2000 Tristan in a new production in Karlsruhe.

He had his international breakthrough in January 2001 with a new production of TRISTAN UND ISOLDE in Amsterdam (C: Simon Rattle, Isolde: Gabriele Schnaut). Both the audience and the press were thoroughly convinced of his interpretation of the title role, celebrating his Tristan.

Further milestones of his career

2001:

A new production of PETER GRIMES (title part) in Frankfurt, where he also appeared in I PAGLIACCI (Canio).

Revival of MAHAGONNY and FREISCHÜTZ at the Hamburg State Opera.

2002:

Revival TANNHÄUSER (title part - debut) at the Hamburg State Opera

New production TANNHÄUSER (title part) in Nancy

New production TRISTAN (title part) in Barcelona

Munich Festival: MEISTERSINGER (Stolzing) at the Bavarian State Opera

New production MEISTERSINGER (Stolzing) at the Hamburg State Opera (directed by Konwitschny, C: Metzmacher)

2003:

New production TRISTAN (title part) Frankfurt

New production SIEGFRIED and GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG (Siegfried) at the Chicago Lyric Opera

2004:

New production GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG (Siegfried) in Tokyo (D: Keith Warner)

SIEGFRIED and GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG in Barcelona and Helsinki

Future plans include:

2004:

Revival WALKÜRE (Siegmund) in Dresden (C: B. Haitink)

SIEGFRIED at the Vienna State Opera

2005:

Revival RING at the Chicago Lyric Opera

Revival MEISTERSINGER and LOHENGRIN in Hamburg

Revival TRISTAN (title part) in Frankfurt

New production of SIEGFRIED (Siegfried) in London (Covent Garden), C: Pappano, D: Keith Warner

2006:

New Production of GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG (Siegfried) in London (Covent Garden), C: Pappano, D: Keith Warner

Production of LOHENGRIN in Barcelona