PRESS

Acclaimed Tenor Jonathan Tetelman Signs To Deutsche Grammophon

Acclaimed 33-year-old Chilean-American tenor Jonathan Tetelman, described by The New York Times as “a total star” and by Opera News as “a major talent”, has signed to Deutsche Grammophon. He has taken the opera world by storm since launching his career five years ago. Forum Opéra noted, “The star of the evening was tenor Jonathan Tetelman – think of a kind of Franco Corelli with a good helping of Jonas Kaufmann too. His voice is broad and glowing, moving almost effortlessly from one end of his range to the other and – as if that weren’t enough – luxuriating in the pianissimos with a silken grace.”

Jonathan Tetelman is currently in Las Palmas recording his debut album for Deutsche Grammophon at the Auditorio Alfredo Kraus with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria and its Chief Conductor, Karel Mark Chichon. The recording, featuring a programme of Verdi and verismo arias and other lyric works, will be released in summer 2022.

“It is a great personal honour to become part of Deutsche Grammophon’s family of artists,” said Jonathan Tetelman. “This album creates a portrait of what I feel represents my path as an artist, combining a few lesser-known works with arias and duets for the romantic tenor voice. We’re focusing on the Italian and fuller lyric French repertoire, which is a great place to start. Since making the switch from baritone to tenor, I have honed my craft and sharpened my focus. It’s an amazing thing for me now to record the results of all that work. I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity and determined to give my best.”

“He’s truly a major talent with a brilliant career ahead”

“We are delighted to welcome Jonathan to the Yellow Label,” noted Dr Clemens Trautmann, President Deutsche Grammophon. “Critics have already compared him to the finest tenors of yesterday and today, comparisons justified by his exceptional artistry, vocal qualities and gift for expressive communication. He’s truly a major talent with a brilliant career ahead.”

Jonathan Tetelman joins Deutsche Grammophon fresh from his debut in the title-role of Verdi’s rarely performed Stiffelio for Opéra national du Rhin (“an absolute gem …as convincing in the lyricism of the love duets as he is in the violence of anger or the serenity restored by forgiveness” – ResMusica).

Jonathan Tetelman was born in 1988 in Castro, Chile. When he was seven months old he was adopted by American parents and raised in Princeton, New Jersey. His vocal talent was noticed when he was a child by a local music teacher and nurtured at Princeton’s American Boychoir School. He earned his undergraduate degree, as a baritone, from the Manhattan School of Music and completed the graduate performance studies program at Mannes School of Music, where he started to make the gradual transition to tenor, a process he later finalised with Mark Schnaible, who remains his teacher and mentor. He then worked for three years as a DJ at a Manhattan club before entering an immersive six months of practice and study and then launched his career.

Jonathan Tetelman’s credits include Rodolfo (La Bohème) for Komische Oper Berlin and English National Opera; Cavaradossi (Tosca) for Teatro Regio Torino, Opéra de Lille and the Liceu, Barcelona; and both Alfredo Germont (La Traviata) and Rodolfo at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. His schedule for the 2021-22 season includes returns to the roles of Puccini’s Cavaradossi and Pinkerton for his respective debuts at the Theater an der Wien and Bregenz Festival and his role debuts as Loris Ipanow in Giordano’s Fedora at Oper Frankfurt and Jacopo Foscari, alongside Plácido Domingo, in Verdi’s I Due Foscari for the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
-uDiscoverMusic

STIFFELIO
OPERA DU RHIN

“Jonathan Tetelman, in the title role, was announced to be recovering after being ill during the week. We wonder in the end what he should be like when he is in great shape! The young American tenor is a real revelation. The voice, with its solar timbre and high emissions, seems to play with the intense range. One could have imagined darker colors for this role which resembles certain Otello accents, but the singer compensates with astonishing intensity and power: we do not come out unscathed from such a commitment.”
-Forum Opera

“Verdi wrote the role of Stiffelio for Gaetano Fraschini, his favorite tenor, with qualities deemed to be exceptional. He spared him no difficulty, and we are captivated by the way Jonathan Tetelman approaches these challenges ... brazenly.  His voice is at the same time noble, luminous, but also ardent, capable of murderous changes of register for this unstable and exalted character who evolves from uncontrollable fury to the humility of the man who doubts. His vocal power is impressive in the scene where, like Otello, he loses his footing and stuns the audience, as it is when he reveals his rival and challenges him to a duel, then, at the end, in the refined scene where he gives his forgiveness, and manages to get over all the suffering he is enduring.”
-Toute La Culture

“Tenor Jonathan Tetelman embodies a charismatic and deeply human Stiffelio, torn between his passion for Lina and his pastoral duty. Clean and precise, his stage presence is filled with the dilemma that tears him. Carried by this same dramatic force, his singing easily embraces the entire expressive palette of this rare and demanding role. If the American tenor was ill a few days before, as Alain Perroux announced before the performance, this vocal weakness is only felt at the beginning of the first act, very quickly erased by a fiery vibrato, slender and flexible highs including the fortissimi. All the sweetness of bel canto colors its smooth and flowing mediums, while its timbre is swiftly tinted with tremors, sighs and subtle mezza voce, making each emotion palpable.”
-Olyrix

The biggest revelation of this beautiful production is the Chilean tenor Jonathan Tetelman in the title role, although we have already heard him at the Lille Opera in Cavaradossi last June. An amber tone, a powerful projection, a deep incarnation in the character… With his great stature which gives him a real stage presence, he has all the assets to take on key roles in a whole large repertoire. If, from the first act, he shows a magnificent vocal flow, this is accentuated over the scenes and, in the third act, when he asks Lina, his wife, to sign the act of divorce, his song is so emotionally charged that we literally experience the drama with him.
-Crescendo Magazine

“For the title role, the Opéra national du Rhin has been able to find an absolute gem: Jonathan Tetelman, a young American tenor who is still almost unknown in France, but it’s unlikely to stay that way for long. Endowed with a handsome physique, a very seductive tone, a brilliant high register, he is dazzling with good vocal health and commitment, and as convincing in the lyric amorous duets as he is in the moments of violence of anger or this of regained serenity of forgiveness.”
-ResMusica

“The greatest theatrical challenge falls on tenor Jonathan Tetelman, which he skillfully achieves in addition to a breathtaking vocal performance. The intuition of the role leads him on a conquest of the absolute that never escapes its obligations. He is as much an influential preacher as he is an "other" Messiah, yet remains a tormented man of the earth. He is able to use his voice like a material that he works with in all its forms. The sounds expand or tighten, water turns into wine or a kale smoothie, lead takes on the colors of gold or recycled plastic. The virtues of his acting extend to even syllables, sometimes nicely aspirated to better serve the intent of the text. It is not every day that such sculpture of song is unveiled in such just, constructive and devastating emotions.”
-Opera Online

“Jonathan Tetelman, in the title role, was announced to be recovering after being ill during the week. We wonder in the end what he should be like when he is in great shape! The young American tenor is a real revelation. The voice, with its solar timbre and high emissions, seems to play with the intense range. One could have imagined darker colors for this role which resembles certain Otello accents, but the singer compensates with astonishing intensity and power: we do not come out unscathed from such a commitment.”
- ForumOpera.com

“…the cast gives hope for a return of Stiffelio to operatic stages, perhaps neglected for lack of tenors ready to compete with the very demanding title role: in the 1990s, Plácido Domingo and José Carreras sang it a lot, but we really hope that Jonathan Tetelman taking the role on will give ideas to more directors and programmers…here is a Stiffelio who seems to have inexhaustible resources of breath and endurance, and unyielding…”’
- ConcertClassic.com

“The constant emotion with which Jonathan Tetelman adorns his singing, his constant vocal and stage commitment, his remarkable acting skills, ensuring him absolute credibility, made his performance a rare moment of music and theater.“
- Premiére Loge

“After first noticing the young American tenor Jonathan Tetelman in Francesca da Rimini in Berlin, here his brilliance is confirmed. A remarkable stage presence, even if the production hardly emphasizes his sex appeal, and a voice that with good technique and endurance, even when the character calls for angry outbursts - strikingly foreshadows Otello - which could otherwise endanger the instrument.”
- ConcertoNet

"Jonathan Tetelman…quickly imposes himself as Stiffelio, by the beauty of the voice and line, even in these moments of fury… he was in no way hampered by the difficult range that is quite central: he alone fully meets the requirements of his role.”
- DIAPASON Magazine

FRANCESCA DA RIMINI OUT ON DVD

The Süddeutsche Zeitung praised the live stream of the opera FRANCESCA DA RIMINI from the Deutsche Oper Berlin as "perhaps the best stream premiere" since the beginning of the Corona pandemic. The premiere of this rarely performed masterpiece by Riccardo Zandonai had to be staged on 14 March 2021 without physically present visitors. The livestream, which nevertheless allowed the audience to participate in this new production, was part of a DVD production that had been planned for some time by the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the producer Naxos. In addition to the live-streamed premiere, another performance and the dress rehearsal were recorded to optimise the DVD recording.

Director Christof Loy, set designer Johannes Leiacker and Sara Jakubiak, who sang the title character of Francesca, had already been at the centre of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's opera DAS WUNDER DER HELIANE, which had been recorded three years earlier as the first joint DVD project of Deutsche Oper Berlin and Naxos. Other participants in the production of FRANCESCA DA RIMINI included conductor Carlo Rizzi, soloists Jonathan Tetelman, Ivan Inverardi and Charles Workman, and the orchestra and chorus of Deutsche Oper Berlin.

The DVDs and Blu rays of FRANCESCA DA RIMINI are expected to be available in spring 2022 as the fourth joint DVD production of Deutsche Oper Berlin with Naxos after DAS WUNDER DER HELIANE, DER ZWERG and HEART CHAMBER.
-Deutsche Oper Berlin

(In conversation with Jonathan Tetelman)

Outwardly, he fulfills almost all of the “Latin Lover” clichés and brings a TV smartness that is unavoidable today on stage and in front of the camera: “The guy is a total star,” wrote the New York Times about JONATHAN TETELMAN

With a black mane, athletic, slim 1.93 figure. A picture of a man! And right now, after the Berlin success in Riccardo Zandonai's “Francesca da Rimini”, his innate down-to-earth attitude and the sober eye for dangerous offers are particularly beneficial: consequently, he wants to “take it easy” - and so there was time for a quiet conversation .

What is the greatest threat to you right now?

"Too much too early" roles that range from "Spinto" to heroic - something like Dick Johnson in "La fanciulla del West" or Florestan. I've also been asked about Lohengrin - and refused. You can risk something once a year, but with careful consideration and planning: not a house that is too big, not a blindly demanding conductor ...

Many colleagues say that after a lot of Italianità Mozart is always training and relaxing ... Unfortunately, there is not that much for me. Also on the Italian subject: Nemorino's tessitura does not really fit. So I work a lot on colors in the voice - I already think of Pollione in “Norma” and deal with the early Verdi. I am currently working on »Stiffelio«, a complex, difficult role, but one of the most beautiful music that Verdi has written and is clearly underestimated. Hopefully in autumn ...

After this outlook, let's look back: your beginnings?

I was born on an island in southern Chile, adopted by an American couple when I was six months old, and then grew up in Princeton, New Jersey. There I joined the choir as a boy soprano at the American Boychoir School and I loved it. After my voice changed, I started as a baritone at Mannas College of Music, met very good teachers who said "Come back as a tenor" - but I was not yet on my way to sing Rossini. So I didn't have the usual »midlife« (laughs), but rather a »quarter-life crisis« and worked as a DJ for three years ... from paycheck to paycheck. That wasn't it, as it turned out. At that time I was 26 and made up my mind to concentrate on singing seriously and with discipline as a Tenor.

Were there any role models?

Of course I listened a lot of Caruso, then di Stefano, del Monaco, also Franco Corelli. And the young Jonas Kaufmann was a current example of how you can find your way to a fully developed lyrical tenor.

And Carlo Bergonzi?

That came later - with and for the sense of style.

Was there then also the right voice teacher for this path?

At first you are very alone. It is not easy to meet someone who understands you beyond all the vowels as a person and as a human being. I found him in Mark Schnaible and am still in contact with him now.

You as a young aspiring singer in the USA - what did musical Europe mean for you?

I knew very little. But when I stood at the London Coliseum for the first time after a successful audition, the tradition and gradually the whole breadth became clear to me: that there are many opera houses scattered there that are older than the USA, that these rooms are mostly were built in such a way that they carry our voices and you can sing without a microphone ...

How was it with the language training? Isn't it excellent in US music studies?

Unfortunately not. I learned Italian along the lines of each work, so to speak. Unfortunately, that doesn't go in depth with us. Of course you can study it, but it will be very expensive in the USA.

Oh - and I read Einstein in “Die Fledermaus" in your repertoire and think we can speak German ...

Unfortunately, no. We did the wonderful piece entirely in German, with all the dialogue, two months of rehearsal - and I think my German was really good. But then nothing more came and I forgot everything ... (laughs)

Are there any English-language roles - including works that we don't know here - that you enjoy singing?

Nothing that I have now. I sang Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius - a challenging role that I loved and would love to do again.

Then you came to German opera houses and encountered what is often referred to as »German Trash« in the conservative opera scene in the USA: the German »Regietheater«. You sang Rodolfo at the Komische Oper Berlin in a production by Barrie Kosky - an experience of a different kind?

I basically like both, a historically precisely located scene as well as a completely new perspective. With Kosky, it was this idea with the old photographs that would then come to life in the audience's imagination. That worked wonderfully and confirmed this other approach: that the imagination is stimulated in the opera and that it is not just a fixed piece. This appealed to young viewers in particular.

And then Riccardo Zandonai's little-known “Francesca da Rimini”, directed by Christof Loy. An experience of a completely different kind?

Yes, Christof Loy, that was special. He came and talked to us in detail that he wanted to show the timeless validity of the content. He had understood everything and had done the "homework before work" in his head. He gave us the subtext, the environment for each character and developed these many little moves from them. You have to see the performance several times to discover it all. Even when you're not singing, you have to live with and react on stage - and then Loy breathed with you and understood that you were now must be able to produce the sound, to sing. Remarkable and rare, this approach. I understood that it is more important and expressive than standing in a great costume.

From this surely wonderful experience to the darker side of the singing profession ...

As much as I love singing in many different houses: You travel a lot and are often alone. I often miss my parents and have lost many friends from before, simply because we can no longer do or experience anything together. You have to accept that and bring concentration and seriousness with you, never accept mediocrity. Yes, I even say a little “blood, sweat and tears” is part of it, just the passion for this job.

It sounds like there's no time for a hobby.

Little. I am interested in old watches and collect a little. I cycle and do some fitness training. I discovered the old churches in Europe, so I drive around a little every now and then. They were mostly open even during the pandemic. In contrast to the restaurants during my rehearsals in France - of all places!

Again to the future of singing: Are there any desired roles for the coming years? Perhaps in Corelli's footsteps Andrea Chénier?

Oh yes, Chénier would be something - and if the name Corelli has already been mentioned: this recording of »Adriana Lecouvreur« with him, Magda Olivero, Ettore Bastianini and Giulietta Simionato ... wonderful! Incidentally, I already had an offer for this opera, but with only two weeks of rehearsals, I didn't think that was appropriate. As in this epochal recording, you have to aim for “greatness” and, so to speak, “pay homage to the composer”.

And then the heavier Verdi is waiting too ... Is there a guideline for you for the years to come?

I have internalized a sentence by Daniel Barenboim: “Never let ambition cloud talent” - never let your ambitions overshoot and cloud what and where you are. Always be fully aware of where you are.

CARMEN GALA
BELGRADE SERBIA

And the great tenor Jonathan Tetelman is staying in this "Carmen" for a more than valid reason. Its interpretive appeal stems from a passionate dive into the role of Don Jose, and the vocal possibilities promise that there is an unimaginable multitude behind the abundance shown here. Tetelman does not swallow the colossal hearing of the work and the roles intended for it. He is a long-distance runner, and his impressive stakes evoke genuine enthusiasm in the audience and loud shouts of "bravo!" At least a few times.
— Nova.rs

Hello, Jonathan, thank you for accepting our invitation! It’s an honour to interview one of the most sought after tenors of the younger generation. How’s it going? What is an opera singer doing in a time like this, when time is passing but we can’t do more in our field? How are you spending it and what are your thoughts and state of mind regarding the situation?

Hello, OPERA Charmers, thank you very much for inviting me to interview. I have been a big fan of your opera write-ups and interviews and it’s a privilege to be speaking with you. Last year, it was a rough one. For everyone. Countless contracts and opportunities lost along with income. And not to mention loss of family and friends, it was truly horrible. Personally I lost a number of house debuts in the Americas and Europe as well as concert performances / festivals. I spent the majority of my time studying for my new role debuts that I hoped would happen, as well as learning some new pieces that are not yet in the books. And last but not least, I bought myself an amazing espresso machine which took me a while to finally make an excellent cup of coffee.

This bad situation can inevitably involve asking yourself important questions about where the opera world is heading. Have you participated in online performance activities or streaming projects? What’s your opinion on digitizing live performances? And, in your opinion, how important are social media networks for artists during these times?

I think that the opera world will always remain in the theatre: there is simply nothing that could replace an in person live performance. But with all of the digital live streaming that has taken place, I think that it has given the opera world an opportunity to reach people that otherwise cannot attend a theatrical in-person performance. I believe that, when done properly, digitizing a live performance is a great thing. As far as Social Media, it is now the great connector for people across the globe. Even my parents are on it. I believe that it is important but at the same time should be taken lightly. 

TOSCA
OPERA DE LILLE

The cast also has a lyrical revelation ( for the French public who did not attend his take on the role of Pinkerton in Montpellier at the end of 2019 and before the title role of Verdi's Stiffelio next season at the Opéra du Rhin ): the American tenor Jonathan Tetelman embodies a Mario Cavaradossi somewhat removed from the character of the tortured artist, but imperious and solar. Showing as much boldness in the bass as in its strong treble, with a skilfully dosed vibrato, it shows dazzling lyrical inflections (notably in its two great arias, Recondita Armonia and also the overwhelming E lucevan le Stelle ).
— Ōlyrix

The star of the evening is the tenor Jonathan Tetelman , a sort of Franco Corelli who would have eaten Jonas Kaufmann for breakfast. Ample and radiant song, with an almost nonchalant ease from the cellar to the ceiling and which - in addition - basks in pianissimi of silky grace. Next to this beast of the stage, how to exist?
— ForumOpera

Jonathan Tetelman is one of the most embodied Mario Cavaradossi, of those who impose their vocal richness through the majesty of sincerity and the power of projection. We could praise the solar emission as much as the great reliefs. It represents a palette of the extreme and unrolls a ball of song which does not know the crisis, until an “ E lucevan le stelle ” of the last forces which is filled with overwhelming modesty.
— OperaOnline

Francesca da rimini
deutsche oper berlin

The Deutsche Oper Berlin was once again able to bring Sara Jakubiak together with director Christof Loy for the title character, who is challenging as a singer. Then the young Franco Corelli - no, his vocal and outward revenant Jonathan Tetelman - met the sensitive, beautiful Jakubiak - Francesca, gasping for breath …
Jonathan Tetelman had already given it a restrained tenor glamor in the first conversations with Francesca. A little later one could marvel at its captivating transitions from “tenore lirico” to “eroico”, because beyond its urgent glow, soprano and tenor phrases came together in passionate, radiant duets. Fortissimo not as the “loudest”, but the most powerfully sounding emotion. An overwhelming finale
— Orpheus Magazin

Despite all the demands made on her and the strapping and equally admirable Jonathan Tetelman as Paolo, they both sounded stronger as the opera progressed. Act 3’s duet was white hot with passion but intimate thanks to a variety of dynamics and sensitive phrasing from both singers.
— Backtrack

Paolo, adored by women for his white teeth, is first-class cast with tenor Jonathan Tetelman, who develops from lyrical suppleness to dramatic verve.
— NMZ

Jonathan Tetelman As Paolo il Bello (tenor) is not inferior to Francesca, his use of the high g has a transparent timbre and a passionate expression.
— Online Merker

Jonathan Tetelman has been chosen as your lover Paolo, who fully lives up to the claim to be the "beautiful Paolo". Vocally, his spinto tenor gets along very well with the part, he has both smoothness and strength. In the scenes of the lovers, no wish remains unfulfilled.
— Klassik-Begeistert

The love scenes between Jakubiak and Tetelman - the looks, the touches, the execution, which in the "Valkyrie" usually leads to prayers for the curtain to fall quickly - surpass most of the beauty and persuasiveness that can be found on stage in this sector get to see. Jakubiak's darkly primed, luxurious soprano and Tetelman's radiant, but not boastful Italian tenor complete the dreamy pairing.
— FrankfurterRundschau

Madama Butterfly
Semperoper

In the great love duet in the first act, too, her voice harmonizes wonderfully with the equally expressive tenor of Jonathan Tetelman in the role of BF Pinkerton. His radiant tenor drowns out the orchestra with ease, the highs come with apparent ease, creating melodious phrases. Both the love duet in the first act and the farewell song in the third act complete the wonderful vocal picture. Pinkerton's heartbreaking final calls from the backstage are shocking and add to the grandiose finale.
-- O-Ton

The only guest singer of the evening was Jonathan Tetelman . He was born in Chile, grew up and trained in the USA. With his remarkably crystal clear tenor, he sang the not particularly sympathetic Pinkerton, with effortless highs .
-- IOCO

TOSCA
phoenicia FESTIVAL

… He was replaced by a rising star, Chilean-born New Jerseyan Jonathan Tetelman, who offered highly telegenic looks and committed stage deportment, as well as a ringing, healthy spinto sound well suited to Cavaradossi's music. Tetelman … bound some phrases with greater legato flow, and the skillful dynamic layering starting his Act III aria ... Tetelman confirmed a major talent.
-- Opera News

Jonathan Tetelman proved an ideal Cavaradossi. His voice rang out with an intriguing baritonal ardour, and, in addition to being a highly involved and empathetic actor, he had the right Tyrone Power looks for the part.
-- Opera Magazine

Tenor on track

Princeton-Raised Jonathan Tetelman is One of Opera’s Rising Stars

By Anne Levin | Princeton Magazine

Opera star Jonathan Tetelman spent the first few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic sheltering at his parents’ house in Princeton. Only a month before, he had sung lead roles in La Traviata and La Boheme on the stage of London’s Royal Opera House.

Upcoming European engagements for the 30-year-old tenor were being canceled. But Tetelman, an American Boychoir School graduate who was born in Chile and raised in Princeton, didn’t seem fazed. “It’s nice to spend some time at home, relaxing, doing my taxes,” he said at the time.

A month later, Tetelman was back at his apartment in New York, waiting for things to settle down and clearly feeling more restless. “I was supposed to go to Italy, Warsaw, Germany, and Seattle, but those dates have been canceled,” he said. “And now Tosca in Buenos Aires was just canceled, with the next scheduled performance not until August. It’s very difficult for freelance artists, and so many others around the world, who aren’t able to work during this pandemic, and have no other means of support for themselves and their families.”

Judging by reviews he has been receiving in publications across the globe, this interruption in Tetelman’s schedule shouldn’t pose much of a problem once the music world returns to some semblance of normal.

“In this production we were lucky to have the extraordinary tenor Jonathan Tetelman, a young figure who already receives excellent reviews and begins his career in the great theaters,” reads a review in the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio. “His presence on stage is difficult not to compare to the young Jonas Kaufmann of the 2000s, just before being today’s superstar, with a voice in the transition from light to dramatic-lyrical repertoire.”

From GB Opera Magazine: “His voice, bright and luminous, projects itself clearly into the room, with lively lyricism but without tenoristic caricatures of any kind.”

And on Tetelman’s website, there is this quote from the New York Times: “The real treat, however, came in the Duke sung by the tenor Jonathan Tetelman…. The guy’s a total star.”

Adopted when he was 7 months old, Tetelman doesn’t know if his musical talent is genetic. But he always loved to sing, and remembers his mother singing to him when she put him to bed each night. When he was 8 years old, he attended a local summer program led by well-known local vocal music teacher Paul Chapin, who told Tetelman’s parents their son had a unique, natural ability. Chapin suggested they look into Princeton’s American Boychoir School.

“I went to a summer program there, and then entered the school the following year. I just loved it,” Tetelman said. “Just being in that atmosphere — singing with them, rehearsing with them, and then performing with professional orchestras and going on tours all over the world at a young age — it was amazing. And it was like a family. I loved the camaraderie, and made lifelong friends.”

While at the school, Tetelman was one of a few boys chosen to sing on The Lost Christmas Eve album by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The album went gold, earning the seventh- and eighth-graders Gold Records.

As he matured, Tetelman was “diagnosed” as a baritone. “I didn’t really have the high notes yet because of my technical inability as a young singer,” he said. “Baritone just felt more natural. And I wanted to be like those lower voiced guys. I thought that was cooler.”

Tetelman’s teacher at the Manhattan School of Music was Maitland Peters, the chairman of the voice department. It was with Peters that Tetelman began to realize he was more suited to a higher vocal range.

“He was always eager to learn and went from a young kid who liked to sing to a consummate artist,” Peters wrote of Tetelman in an email. “He never missed a lesson, and always was curious, diligent, and eager to learn. While he started as a baritone it became clear after a few years of establishing a solid vocal technique that he was destined to be a tenor. We trained carefully and consistently to develop a solid technique that would last a lifetime. I told him that his fame would come about the age of 30 … and it has! He is perhaps the most talented young man I have worked with in 40 years of teaching at the highest level! I am so proud and honored that I was able to teach him for those formative years. He is a wonderful and creative artist and I am certain will go on to have a tremendous career.”

The transition to tenor continued when Tetelman was a graduate student at the Mannes College of Music. “I officially became a tenor when I was about 26,” he said. “I really started to understand what it meant. I noticed that I was gaining the technical ability for a higher register.”

There was more study after graduate school. Tetelman trained in the Young Artist Programs, which are similar to residency training programs, at Opera North, the Martina Arroyo Foundation, Gulf Shore Opera, and the International Vocal Arts Institute, where he began working with two of the top vocal teachers for opera performers, Mark Schnaible and his wife, Trish McCafferty, based in New York City. “They have been guiding me and my voice development for the past four years,” Tetelman said. “I would not be where I am today without the unconditional support they have given me — just like family.”

But the relentless work became too much. Tetelman stepped away, trading his vocal studies for a stint as a DJ at a Manhattan club.

This “quarter life crisis,” as he jokes, lasted three years. But living paycheck to paycheck got old. “I just kind of woke up a little bit and realized this was not really the work I wanted to do in the future,” he said. “And I missed singing. I knew I had an ability and I had already invested so much time. So I shut myself in my apartment, worked as a waiter, and spent all my time listening to old records.”

He also saw his voice teacher once or twice a week. “Basically, it was what you would do in a conservatory, but in a six-month period,” he said. “It was like singing on steroids. The concentration was there this time. I knew the goal. I actually could see it, rather than have somebody else tell me this was what it could be like. I had focus.”

Tetelman told himself that if he hadn’t started singing professionally in a year, he would go into real estate. “After six months, I got an agent, and after one year, my first Met (Metropolitan Opera) contract,” he said. Since then, he has performed nationally and internationally. Last season, he sang in San Francisco and at the Tanglewood Music Festival. He performed with the Komische Oper Berlin, the English National Opera, the Opera del Teatro Solis in Uruguay, and the Wurth Philarmoniker in Kunzelsau, Germany. Most recently, he sang in Moscow and London.

It was in London last year that Tetelman and his girlfriend, famed soprano Kristine Opolais, sang together at Buckingham Palace. A fundraiser for the Royal Opera House hosted by Prince Charles, the event brought 250 guests for dinner and a performance by the couple of the love duet from Tosca.

“It was just amazing,” Tetelman said. “We were in this huge, gorgeous room. I’ve never seen anything like it. And then we attended the dinner. We got to meet Prince Charles, and he was so nice and very appreciative. It was really a thrill.”

Equally thrilling was getting the chance to perform with Opolais, a full lyric and dramatic soprano. “We bring out the best in each other, which is why we really like to sing together,” Tetelman said. “We do it three or four times a year, but would like it to be closer to five or six. There are a lot of moving parts involved; a lot of back scratching and politics that we’re not in control of. But whenever we get a chance to sing together, it’s heaven.”

Once the COVID-19 pandemic is under control, Tetelman’s busy schedule of globe-hopping from opera house to concert hall is sure to resume. It isn’t an easy life.

“You have to have talent, but also focus, focus, focus, and you can’t give up,” he said. “You have to push yourself. It’s not just a hobby. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears are poured into it. It’s not worth it if you don’t have the passion.”