Phoenix Opera
Founder and artistic director; productions include La Bohème, Tosca, Aida, Carmen, Madama Butterfly, The Magic Flute, and La Traviata.
Italian American Conductor · Composer · Pianist
John
Massaro
Opera leadership shaped by close work with Leonard Bernstein and Zubin Mehta — from the Arizona podium to Carnegie Hall and opera stages in Italy.
Carnegie HallDebut conducting Mozart’s Requiem, 2005
Bernstein & MehtaAssistantships spanning A Quiet Place and Madama Butterfly
Phoenix OperaFounder and artistic director since 2006
FIO MondoConducts opera in Urbania, Italy
01 / Performances
At the podium
Selected Phoenix Opera performances, including the gala with Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Each selection opens on YouTube.
Phoenix Opera Gala
“Resta immobile” from Guillaume Tell
Orchestral excerpt
Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia
Verdi
Prelude to Act III of La Traviata
Gala preview
An evening with Jonas Kaufmann
02 / Experience
A life in music
A career built in the rehearsal room: coaching singers, preparing choruses, shaping opera productions, and leading orchestras across the United States and Europe.
The score is the beginning. Performance comes alive through trust, breath and dramatic purpose.
Leonard Bernstein & Zubin Mehta
Assistant to Bernstein during the creation of A Quiet Place; assistant to Mehta for the Israel Philharmonic’s Madama Butterfly in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem.
Arizona Opera
Chorus master and assistant conductor; conducted a critically acclaimed production of The Mikado.
Phoenix Symphony & Scottsdale
Former associate conductor of the Phoenix Symphony and resident conductor of the Scottsdale Philharmonic; led the debut of the Scottsdale Symphonic Orchestra.
Europe & FIO Mondo
Guest engagements in Kraków, Prague, České Budějovice, and Vienna; conducts opera in Urbania, Italy, with FIO Mondo.
03 / Profile
Musician first
John’s work at the podium grows from decades of collaboration with singers, instrumentalists, composers, directors, and young artists.
John Massaro brings an opera conductor’s dramatic instinct and a pianist’s ear for breath, line, and ensemble to every score.
His early career took him from coaching at the Los Angeles Opera Repertory Theatre and the Metropolitan Opera Young Artist Development Program to study with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf at the Britten-Pears School, Frankfurt Opera, and in Zurich.
As a guest conductor, he has led symphonic, operatic, and choral-orchestral repertoire in the American Southwest and throughout Central Europe. His 2005 Carnegie Hall debut featured Mozart’s Requiem.
Based in Phoenix, he is also an award-winning composer and arranger, with works for the stage, chorus, and orchestra.
04 / Composition
Works for the stage
Original operas created with librettist John E. Kramer, alongside a wider catalog of choral and orchestral music.
Isabella
A dramatic opera based on John E. Kramer’s novel Blythe.
The Seven Sisters
An English-language opera written for young artists, with libretto by John E. Kramer.
05 / Engagements
Let’s make music.
John welcomes guest conducting, artistic collaboration, opera coaching, and choral-orchestral engagements. A complete conducting reel, repertoire list, references, and direct contact details are available with professional materials.