Great Big Story: CCM Alum John Holiday Sings Highest of High Notes
The award-winning countertenor talks about how his naturally high voice became his greatest asset
UC College-Conservatory of Music alumnus John Holiday (MM Voice, '12) sings everything from opera to spirituals on stages all over the world. His journey to singing is featured in a micro-documentary profile by Great Big Story, an Emmy-winning global media company devoted to cinematic storytelling.
Growing up in Texas, Holiday says that he sang in the soprano section of the church choir and was often teased for his high voice. However, the countertenor knew he was destined to be a singer. Watch the profile video on the Great Big Story website.
Holiday has been the recipient of numerous major competitions and award programs such as the 2017 Marian Anderson Vocal Award; the 2014 Catherine Filene Shouse Career Development Grant from the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts; the Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation; the 2014 Richard Tucker Foundation Sara Tucker award; first place at the 2013 Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, the 2012 Sullivan Foundation, and the 2011 Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition; and third place winner in the 2014 OPERALIA competition. In addition, Holiday was named one of Broadway World’s “New York Opera 2015 Gifts that Keep on Giving,” nominated for “Newcomer of the Year” by the German magazine Opernwelt, and listed as one of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts 100 honorees for 2018. He was a 2007 District Winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
Learn more about his accomplishments on Holiday's professional website.
Featured image at the top: John Holiday. Photo/Shervin Lainez
Impact Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is leading public urban universities into a new era of innovation and impact. Our faculty, staff and students are saving lives, changing outcomes and bending the future in our city's direction. Next Lives Here.
Read more #UCtheGood stories, or take a UC virtual visit and begin picturing yourself at an institution that inspires incredible stories.
Related Stories
Wrongful conviction: ‘I lost my mother and father while in...
November 13, 2024
Robert McClendon, an Ohio Innocence Project exoneree, speaks with WYSO about wrongful conviction.
New effort aims to keep unsold clothing donations out of the...
November 13, 2024
WVXU hosts leadership from Ohio Valley Goodwill Industries and UC fashion design student Wesley Beisel to speak to how donated items contribute to sustainable living. Beisel is the student lead of the Sustainable Fashion Initiative (SSI) which originated at UC.
The long and complicated — and expensive — effort to replace...
November 13, 2024
Cincinnati's public water utility is on a years-long effort to replace its lead service lines, guided by a model designed by Christopher Auffrey, a professor of planning at DAAP. The EPA has just ramped up the deadline for replacements across the U.S. and professor and city officials discussed the undertaking on NPR's "All Things Considered."