Artists

Biography:

One of the leading collaborative pianists of his generation, John Churchwell enjoys a career on the concert stage as well as in the nation’s leading opera houses.

In 2011, John was named Head of Music for San Francisco Opera. Previously, he was an assistant conductor for both the Metropolitan Opera and the San Francisco Opera for 14 years. He has assisted on more than 150 productions and has collaborated with some of the world’s leading conductors including James Levine, Nello Santi, Nicola Luisotti, James Conlon, Donald Runnicles, Sir Charles Mackerras, Marco Armiliato, Fabio Luisi and Lawrence Renes. In 2022, John Churchwell was named Co-Director of the Lehrer Vocal Institute at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. He has been mentoring young singers and pianists since he began teaching there in 2000.

A champion of American music, John has prepared many world premieres in the past 25 years, including Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, Mark Adamo’s The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Christopher Theofanidis’ Heart of a Soldier, Philip Glass’ Appomattox, the Stewart Wallace/Amy Tan collaboration The Bonesetter’s Daughter and Tobias Picker’s Dolores Claiborne, as well as John Adams’ Girls of the Golden West and Huang Ruo’s The Monkey King (2025), all for San Francisco Opera. From 2005–2008 John was the official accompanist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions.

Mr. Churchwell has partnered in recital with vocalists including Sasha Cooke, Renée Fleming, Michael Fabiano, Lawrence Brownlee, Joyce DiDonato, Isabel Leonard, Lisette Oropesa, and Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen.

A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, John studied song literature at the Banff Centre for the Arts and for three summers as a Tanglewood Fellow. He is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program.