Ian Koziara

“A Tenor is born”, raved La Libre after Ian’s performance in Mozart’s Idomeneo at Opéra Royal de Wallonia. “He is not only a beast on stage but a formidable voice with a rich, substantial top, generous middle and sonorous bottom voice.”

In the 2024-2025 Season, Ian Koziara will debut in Das Rheingold with The Bayerische Staatsoper, directed by Tobias Kratzer and conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. Further debuts will occur at Teatro Real Madrid, The Gran Liceu Barcelona, and The Hamburg Elbphilharmonie. Ian debuts in the title role of Wagner’s Parsifal with Oper Frankfurt, as well as in Janacek’s underappreciated work, From The House of the Dead.

Check out Ian’s new album, SILENCED: Unsung Voices of the 20th Century. This album with Cedille Records and Bradley Moore on piano sheds a spotlight on four underappreciated composers of the early 20th century: Franz Schreker, Alexander Zemlinsky, Viktor Ullmann, and Vítězslava Kaprálová. The album is available for stream on Spotify from the link below:

Chicago native Ian Koziara was a three-year member of The Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, having worked with such notable conductors as Yannick Nezet-Séguin, Bertrand de Billy, and Marco Armiliato. He debuted at the Metropolitan Opera as Enrique in Thomas Adès’ The Exterminating Angel, with subsequent appearances in Parsifal, Nico Muhly’s Marnie, The Magic Flute, and La Fanciulla del West. Ian’s recent appearance as Fritz in Franz Schreker’s Der Ferne Klang (Oper Frankfurt) was hailed by the Wiesbadener Tagblatt as “so strong as Fritz that one is amazed at how naturally a sense of beauty and despair can go hand in hand”. His performance in the title role of Mozart’s Idomeneo yielded accolades from the Washington Post, praising his “striking beauty of tone… His King was royal and haunted and evoked nothing so much as Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes”.

Ian is equally at home on the concert stage as in opera.  In Honegger’s Le Roi David with New York’s Voices of Ascension and F. Murray Abraham, Ian was described as “a vigorous, compelling David… using his powerful voice to convey the full range of David’s very human strengths and weaknesses.” His repertoire in non-opera works includes Messiah, The Dream of Gerontius, and Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, among many others.

In his capacity as a member of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, Ian performed many excerpts and acts of important roles from such works as Wagner’s Lohengrin, Berlioz’s Les Troyens, and Verdi’s Stiffelio. Ian is a graduate of Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, and Rice University in Houston, Texas.

Performance Highlights

• Oper Frankfurt, Fritz, Der Ferne Klang (2019)

• The Metropolitan Opera, Derek, Marnie (2018)

• Wolf Trap Opera, Idomeneo, Idomeneo (2018)

• The Metropolitan Opera, Enrique, The Exterminating Angel (2017)

• Aspen Opera, Tito, La Clemenza di Tito (2017)