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JULIUS AHN
TENOR
BIOGRAPHY
Versatile tenor Julius Ahn delights audiences around the world with his unique interpretations. Of his signature role, Goro in Madama Butterfly, critics hail “As the marriage broker Goro, tenor Julius Ahn was in his element, delivering the wickedness of his character with gusto.” Mr. Ahn performed the role in his début at San Francisco Opera and returned there to reprise it, as well as with the Canadian Opera Company, Palm Beach Opera, Vancouver Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Opera Carolina, Nashville Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Virginia Opera, and at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
This season, Mr. Ahn makes exciting returns to Cincinnati Opera as Spoletta in Tosca and Canadian Opera Company as Borsa in Rigoletto. In addition, he makes house débuts with Calgary Opera as his incomparable Goro in Madama Butterfly and Florentine Opera as the Valet tenors in Les contes d’Hoffmann. Last season, Mr. Ahn returned to The Metropolitan Opera to cover the Valet tenors in Les contes d’Hoffmann, and he sang Goro at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, Pittsburgh Opera, and Vancouver Opera.
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In recent seasons, Ahn returned to Detroit Opera as Goro in Madama Butterfly and made house débuts with Palm Beach Opera as the Valet tenors in Les contes d'Hoffmann and Los Angeles Opera as both Gastone in La traviata and Pong in Turandot. Additionally, he was thrilled to reprise the lead role of Guang in Stuck Elevator by Byron Au Yong and Aaron Jafferis for Nashville Opera in addition to performing Borsa in Rigoletto with the Dallas Opera, Kaspar in Amahl and the Night Visitors with On Site Opera, Mime in Das Rheingold with The Atlanta Opera, and Bardolf in Sir John in Love with Bard Music Festival. In his signature role of Goro in Madama Butterfly, Ahn joined the San Francisco Opera for their centennial celebratory production of the opera, as well as The Atlanta Opera, Cincinnati Opera, and New Orleans Opera.
Mr. Ahn grabbed the attention of opera goers as he joined the roster of The Metropolitan Opera for performances of The Nose, Turandot, Rigoletto, and Die Fledermaus, making his main stage début as the Second Priest in Die Zauberflöte. Ahn also returned to the Canadian Opera Company as Goro, joined Cincinnati Opera as Spoletta in Tosca, sang Gherardo in Tulsa Opera’s Gianni Schicchi, and sang Borsa in Opera Philadelphia’s Rigoletto. He performed in two productions with the Korean National Opera: Gastone in La traviata and Nick in La fanciulla del West. He has now performed the role of Pang in Turandot in more than ten productions including with San Francisco Opera, Vancouver Opera, Detroit Opera, Utah Symphony & Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Pittsburgh Opera, The Atlanta Opera, Tulsa Opera, Seattle Opera, and Cincinnati Opera.
Previous engagements have also included Monostatos in Die Zauberflöte with Opera Carolina, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Detroit Opera, Opera Omaha, and the Pacific Symphony; Mark in Michael Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage with Boston Modern Orchestra Project at Jordan Hall; and Basilio and Curzio in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro with Lyric Opera Baltimore; Bardolfo in Falstaff with Opera Omaha; and Antenore in a concert version of Zelmira with Washington Concert Opera.
Ahn was cast in the lead role of Guang in Stuck Elevator by Byron Au Yong and Aaron Jafferis with the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab 2011 at The Banff Centre, as well as with the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab 2012 at White Oak. He performed the role in the world premiere with the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, which earned him an Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre (Principal Actor in a Musical) from the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. He later reprised the role with The Arts and Ideas Festival in New Haven, Connecticut, and did so again with New York Theatre Workshop.
He portrayed Sellem in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress with Princeton Festival; Bégearss in Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles with Aspen Opera Theater Center; and Demo in Cavalli’s Giasone with Chicago Opera Theater. He was also seen as Conrado in a workshop performance of Long Season by Chay Yew and Fabian Obispo, as part of Huntington Theatre Company’s Breaking Ground Festival. Ahn attended the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with world-renowned tenor Vinson Cole and performed a wide range of operatic roles.
Current as of June 17, 2025
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"...delivering the wickedness of his character with gusto..." – Palm Beach Daily News
Madama Butterfly – "As the marriage broker Goro, tenor Julius Ahn was in his element, delivering the wickedness of his character with gusto."
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"...his powerful voice molds itself around the operatic melodies..." – Broadway World
Stuck Elevator – "Julius Ahn is brilliant as the unassuming delivery man, neatly balancing the passive nature of a man who needs to remain invisible from the police with the deep desire to be seen and known for who he really is. His powerful voice molds itself around the operatic melodies provided by Yong, and we get our first glimpse of the real Guang; commanding and brave beneath the veneer of docile deliveryman."
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"...gave a lithe, multi-faceted performance..." – Opera News
Turandot – "Eugene Villanueva (Ping), Julius Ahn (Pang) and Scott Ramsey (Pong), dressed in lively, brilliantly colored costumes, were smartly matched in vocal power and skill, giving us an extra dose of credibility and humanity instead of pandering for comic relief. Ahn in particular gave a lithe, multi-faceted performance."
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"...his voice rises gracefully among the romance of the scene..." – The Uptempo Magazine
The Emperor of Atlantis – "Ahn’s tenor voice is pleasant and lovely, portraying truth and virtue to his role, as his voice rises gracefully among the romance of the scene."
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"...great physical humor... " – Chicago Stage Review
Giasone – "Enough cannot be said for the astonishing cast. Julius Ahn displays great physical humor as Demo and makes the on-going joke of his character’s stutter funnier with every scene"
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"...a refined singing voice..." – South Florida Classical Review
Les Contes d'Hoffman – “...Julius Ahn had the job of playing the various servants who help preside over Hoffmann’s doomed romances. Particularly impressive was his portrayal of the valet Frantz in the Antonia scene. In Frantz’s whiny aria about his servant life and artistic talents, he allowed a refined singing voice to show through the comic moments—the arpeggios ending in a sustained raspberry or a fall flat on his back.”