American tenor Kyle van Schoonhoven, a Metropolitan Opera National Council Grand Finals winner, is a Wagnerian star on the rise. The New York Times praises him for possessing a “gleaming, potent” instrument with a “steady, burnished sound.” Of a concert performance with the San Francisco Opera, the San Francisco Chronicle raved: “the title character’s prayer from the final act of Wagner’s Rienzi elicited a gleaming, potent performance from tenor Kyle van Schoonhoven, marked by suave phrasing and tonal freshness.”

Last season, Van Schoonhoven returned to The Metropolitan Opera as the Messenger in Aida and in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, covering Zinovy Ismailov. Kyle also sang performances of Apollo in Strauss’ Daphne with the American Symphony Orchestra and Britten’s War Requiem with the Prague Philharmonic Choir, in support of the crisis in Ukraine. This season, Van Schoonhoven returns to the San Francisco Opera to cover the title role of Lohengrin and to the Met to cover Walther in Tannhäuser. He will also sing Samson in Samson et Dalilia with Opera Carolina, Erik in Der fliegende Holländer with Fort Worth Symphony, and concert performances with Allentown Symphony and Harrisburg Symphony.

In previous seasons, Mr. van Schoonhoven made his European début with Opera de Rouen as Laca in Jenůfa, performed the role of Don José in The Tragedy of Carmen with Hawaii Opera Theatre, joined the Bard Music Festival for Chausson’s rarity Le roi Arthus, and joined The Metropolitan Opera for their production of Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice, covering Loud Stone, as well as their Carnegie Hall concert performance of Die Walküre, covering Siegmund. He sang performances of Tchekalinsky (while covering Hermann) in The Queen of Spades with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos with Cincinnati Opera, the title role in Act III of Siegfried with the New York Repertory Orchestra, Lensky in Eugene Onegin with Livermore Valley Opera, and he returned to Buffalo Philharmonic for Songs of a Wayfarer. Engagements that fell victim to the Covid-19 pandemic included his Metropolitan Opera début in Tristan und Isolde, his first performances of Erik in Der fliegende Holländer for Opera Maine, an Asian tour with The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and Samson et Dalila with Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Notable highlights of previous seasons include van Schoonhoven’s début as Don José in Carmen with the Buffalo Philharmonic, the role of Hades in Julian Wachner’s Rev. 23 with the Prototype Festival, and Rodolfo in La bohème with Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. During his two-year tenure with the prestigious Adler Fellowship Program at San Francisco Opera, van Schoonhoven made his company début as the Young Servant in Elektra. He also covered Froh in Das Rheingold, Siegmund in Die Walküre, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Aegisth in Elektra, and Uncle Billy/Billy Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life.

Kyle van Schoonhoven is the recipient of a 2019 George London Award, has received the Nicolai Gedda Memorial Award, and was a finalist in the 2016 Jensen Foundation Voice Competition. Additional repertory includes the title role in Chandler Carter’s Bobby, Alfredo in La Traviata, Hoffmann in Les contes d’Hoffmann, Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oronte in Alcina, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Peter Fallow in Stefania de Kenessey’s Bonfire of the Vanities, and Genaro in the U.S. Russian-language premiere cast of Prokofiev’s Maddalena. Van Schoonhoven holds a Master of Music degree from Westminster Choir College as well as a Bachelor of Music from Fredonia School of Music.