Ryan Bryce Johnson, tenor, is a dynamic and versatile performer with experience spanning opera and music theatre. Most recently, he appeared at The Santa Fe Opera as Borsa in Verdi’s Rigoletto, Giuseppe in Verdi’s La Traviata, and Faninal’s Major-Domo in Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier. He also made his debut with Dayton Opera as Lt. Joseph Cable in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. In 2025, he appears with The Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra and Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and Chamber Chorus in performances of Handel’s Messiah. In 2023, Ryan appeared at The Glimmerglass Festival as the Grand Inquisitor and Governor in Bernstein’s Candide.
Ryan has enjoyed success in various singing competitions, most recently winning First Prize in the 2023 Lotte Lenya Competition. He has also been a finalist for the George London Foundation Competition and a district winner for The Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition. Previous performances include joining Opera Saratoga as Ira in Lembit Beecher’s groundbreaking opera Sky on Swings and serving as a Gerdine Young Artist at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where he performed Borsa in Verdi’s Rigoletto and covered the roles of Nero in Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea and Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi.
At Lyric Theatre @ Illinois, he performed as Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème, and the Male Chorus in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. With an extensive repertoire, Ryan has also portrayed Sam in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, Basilio in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Piangi in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, and Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance. Ryan holds a master’s degree in music from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a bachelor’s in music from Texas Tech University.