John Parr is currently Head Coach at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin, Germany, where in addition to his work preparing singers and assisting conductors in preparing the productions he is also Musical Director of a series of song and poetry recitals, ‘Lieder und Dichter’ (Songs and Poets). From 2000-2011 he was San Francisco Opera’s Head of Music Staff. He was a Master Coach for the Merola Opera Program and works frequently with San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows as a guest teacher. Since the summer of 2018 he has been Master Coach at the American Wagner Project in Reno, Nevada, led by Luana DeVol, a division of the Institute for Young Dramatic Voices (IYDV).
A native of Birmingham, UK, Parr studied piano at the Royal Northern College of Music with Sulamita Aronovsky and musicology at Manchester University. He worked for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden from 1985–88, touring with the company to Japan and Korea in 1986. He was engaged at Scottish Opera from 1988-90. In 1991 he joined the Lower Saxony State Opera in Hannover, Germany, where he was Head of Music Staff and Musical Assistant to Music directors George Alexander Albrecht, Christof Perick and Andreas Delfs, specializing in the Wagner and Strauss operas. During this time he developed an extensive series of Lieder Recitals and Chamber Music programs for the Opera, and also broadcast on SFB Radio Berlin and on NDR Television. With San Francisco Opera, Parr has developed and performed in numerous recital programs. He promoted his own series of recitals entitled ‘Basically British’ at Old First Concerts, and appeared many times with San Francisco performances and other promoters in the Bay Area as a song accompanist and chamber musician. He has performed over 10 years for the Lieder Alive! recital series in San Francisco.
From 2002-2005 he worked as a coach at the Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, and has also given recitals in the Wagner Museum. From 2011 to 2014 he was Casting Director and Musical Assistant to the Music Director at the Badisches Staatstheater, Karlsruhe, Germany, where he also promoted and performed song and chamber music programs.
Recently at the Deutsche Oper he has been heavily involved in the preparation for the new production of Wagner’s ‘Ring Cycle’, conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles and directed by Stephan Herheim.
