James N Kryshak (tenor) a native of Baldwinsville, NY made his professional opera debut in 2008 as Don Ottavio in Raylynmor Opera’s production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Other opera roles include; Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Nanki-Poo in The Mikado, Camille in The Merry Widow, Frederik in Pirates of Penzance, and Pelléas in Pelléas et Mélisande. A winner in both the District and Regional levels of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2008, James will sing on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera as a National Semi-Finalist in February 2009.
James graduated with a BA in Music and German from Elmhurst College (Elmhurst, IL) in 2006. Currently he is a MM candidate in Opera Performance at the University of Wisconsin Madison where he studies with Julia Faulkner (MONC Grand Finalist 1985) as a recipient of the Voice Excellence Wisconsin Distinguished Fellowship. Further studies have included two years of vocal study in Vienna with Michele Friedman, as well as the Tyrolean Opera Program under the direction of Elizabeth Bachman in the summer of 2006.
While in Austria, James was a Finalist in the Ferruccio Tagliavini International Vocal Competition in Deutschlandsberg (April 2005) as well as a Semi-Finalist in the Klassik Mania Competition in Vienna (July 2005).
