John Osborn
tenor

Tenor John Osborn, the show’s uncontested star, was an ideal choice in the title role. Endowed with a brilliant lirico spinto, he was able to confront the role’s high tessitura and semi‑heroic fach. This demanding role was written for the legendary Gilbert-Louis Duprez (1806‑1896) of the “ut de poitrine“ — the operatic high C delivered from the chest. In his Act One romance, “La gloire était ma seule idole,” Osborn convincingly portrays a self-sufficient, ambitious artist’s transformation by love. He was truly affecting in his Act Two soliloquy “Seul pour lutter, seul avec mon courage… Sur les monts les plus sauvages,” in which he expresses an artist’s predicament, almost a confession by Berlioz himself, regarding the joy and burden of creativity. Though not a native French-speaker, the American tenor had impeccable diction.

~ Ossama el Naggar
"Operawire"