MADAME BUTTERFLY CAST BIOS

JON BURTON, Lt. Pinkerton
Jon Burton made his Central City Opera debut this summer as Don Jose in Carmen, after a thrilling season including a Cavaradossi with Annapolis Opera of which Mary Johnson with  the Baltimore Sun praised him for having a voice that "has thrilling power and beauty enough to make him a world-class tenor."  Maria Nockin of Music and Vision Magazine said: " As Cavaradossi, Jon Burton showed strong acting ability and sang with a secure, fluid line. His final act rendition of 'E lucevan le stelle' (The stars were shining) was particularly poignant and brought tears to many eyes in the audience."

Mr. Burton is a Portsmouth, Ohio native where he began singing in high school musicals such as Hello Dolly!, and West Side Story.  Upon graduating, he became a member of the Southern Ohio Light Opera Company where he took on leading roles in many operettas, musicals, and much of the Gilbert and Sullivan Canon.  He sang his first year as a baritone, and sang Florian in Princess Ida, and Giuseppe in The Gondoliers, but the next season made the jump to tenor, and from then on took on such roles as Alfred in Die Fledermaus, Camille in The Merry Widow, Caliph in Kismet, and many others totaling over 20 leads with the company. 

Throughout his formative years while in college at Westminster Choir College, and the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, he took on many concert soloist duties, as well as oratorio soloist spots.  He sang the Kentucky premier of Rene Clausen's A New Creation, and The Tenor solos in the 9th Symphony of Beethoven with the Lexington Philharmonic.  Soon, he was asked to sing Ferrando in Cosi fan Tutte, and Rodolfo in La boheme for the UK Opera.

After winning the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition, Mr. Burton was asked to sing supporting roles for the company including Borsa in Rigoletto, and Arturo in Lucia Di Lammermoor, and First Officer in Dialogues of the Carmelites, under the baton of Julius Rude, and was then asked to sing Rodolfo in La boheme for the company.  Attention over his Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly secured for him a spot in Florida Grand Opera's Young Artist Program, where he sang Spoletta in Tosca, and during the same season, bowed as Don Jose, in the Tragedy of Carmen, with Opera Omaha, where his voice was praised for being "large, and intensely musical." 
Most recently Mr. Burton was seen as Cavaradossi in Tosca with Opera on the James, and B.F. Pinkerton with Phoenix Opera, and performing the tenor solos in Verdi's Requiem with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra.