John Graham-Hall (Herod) studied at King’s College‚ Cambridge and the Royal College of Music. He has sung with all the major British opera companies where roles include Albert Herring at the Royal Opera House‚ Covent Garden; Albert Herring‚ Vanya Kudrjas (Katya Kabanova)‚ Flute (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Bob Boles (Peter Grimes) for Glyndebourne Festival Opera; Valzacchi (Der Rosenkavalier)‚ Don Basilio‚ Monostatos‚ Lysander (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Herod for English National Opera; Cassio (Otello) for Welsh National Opera; Eisenstein and Schoolmaster (The Cunning Little Vixen) for Scottish Opera; and Aschenbach (Death in Venice)‚ Lysander‚ Albert Herring and Ferrando (Così fan tutte) for Glyndebourne Touring Opera.
As one of Britain’s leading international singers his operatic engagements abroad have included the Dancing Master (Ariadne auf Naxos)‚ Cassio and Basilio at La Monnaie in Brussels; and two roles in Moses and Aaron for Netherlands Opera and at the Salzburg Festival. He sang Shapkin (From the House of the Dead) for Nice Opera; Lysander in Paris‚ Lyon‚ Caen‚ Montpellier‚ Rome‚ at the Ravenna Festival; Lensky (Eugene Onegin) in Lyon and Toronto; Ferrando in Vancouver; Cassio and Telemacus (Il ritorno d’Ulysse in Patria) in Lisbon; Achilles (King Priam) and Painter (Lulu) in Antwerp; and Basilio and Spoletta (Tosca) for Netherlands Opera. He was until recently a member of English National Opera where roles include Eisenstein (The Merry Widow), Mime (The Ring Cycle)‚ Herod‚ Valzacchi‚ Sylvester (The Silver Tassie)‚ Goro (Madam Butterfly)‚ Triquet (Eugene Onegin)‚ Monostatos (The Magic Flute)‚ Shabby Peasant (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk) and Alwa (Lulu).
Recordings for Chandos include Hob (Vaughan Williams’ The Poisoned Kiss), and, for the Opera in English series Alwa (Lulu), the Idiot (Wozzeck), Vítek (The Makropulos Case), Monostatos (The Magic Flute) and Isacco (The Thieving Magpie).