John Riesen

Riesen is a singer (tenor), actor, and musician (piano). In high school he excelled in sports as a baseball pitcher then began pursuing a career in opera and musical theatre.^[14] He has performed with Marcus Hummon and Marina Arsenijevic and released two studio albums, What You’d Call a Dream (2019) and Christmas at Home (2020).^{[15][16][17][18]}

In 2013, Riesen won 1st place "Tenor" and "Audience Favorite" at the Harold Haugh Opera Vocal Competition as well as being awarded a "Jackson Symphony Contract Winner".^[19][20] In that same year, playing Frederic, he sang, "When You Had Left our Pirate Fold (A Paradox)", from the Pirates of Penzance, at Ruth Bader Ginsburg's speech on how the "law plays a palpable role in opera."^[21] In 2014, he won the "Apprentice Award" by the Chautauqua Opera.^[11][22] In 2022, he sang, the "American Anthem" at the Patriot Gala Awards ceremony for Medal of Honor recipients, hosted by Gary Sinise in Knoxville, Tennessee.^[23]

Riesen has played lead roles in such musicals as Sweeney Todd, West Side Story, Glory Denied, La traviata and Beethoven's Ninth, performing with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, New York City Ballet, and Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.^{[24][25][26][4][3] [27][28]} He played the lead role of Tony in West Side Story Suite at Lincoln Center^[29] and was a featured tenor in Messiah, conducted by Kent Tritle, at Carnegie Hall.^[4][6] Riesen played a lead role as a tenor and actor in Marcus Hummon's Favorite Son, which premiered at the Nashville Opera in 2022.^[30][15] He is an associate producer on Aaron Lazar's 2024 album release, Impossible Dream, featuring Josh Groban, Neil Patrick Harris, Kristin Chenoweth, and Kelli O'Hara, among others.^[31]

Riesen was a semifinalist on America's Got Talent (Episode 1716). The trio (Riesen, Patrick Dailey, and Daniel Emmet) using Metaphysic AI and deepfake multimedia, sang, "Nessun dorma" from Turandot with imagery of Simon Cowell, Terry Crews and Howie Mandel singing together. Riesen performed as Mandel and they received a standing ovation from judges, Cowell, Heidi Klum, and Sofia Vergara as well as Cowell saying that it was "the best act of the series."^[32][33][34]

Riesen resides in Buffalo, New York with his wife, Gillian (née Cotter), their son, Roman, and daughter, Eleanor.^[1]