John Riesen

Gifted with a beautiful, powerful, classically trained voice, American singer JohnRiesen straddles the line between Opera and Popular music with ease. Originallyinspired by the voices of Josh Groban and Michael Buble, John pursued a career asan operatic tenor where he performed more than 40 leading roles with opera andmusical theater companies throughout the United States including Atlanta Opera,Michigan Opera Theatre, Des Moines Metro Opera, Anchorage Opera, OperaBirmingham, Opera Columbus, Shreveport Opera, Pensacola Opera, IntermountainOpera Bozeman, Tri-Cities Opera, Ithaca Opera, among others. Recently John was seen in his Lincoln Center debut as the voice of Tony in LeonardBernstein’s West Side Story Suite as well as the tenor soloist in Stravinsky's LesNoces with the New York City Ballet, and tenor soloist in Rachmaninoff's Vesperswith the NY Oratorio Society. He will be making his Carnegie Hall Debut as TenorSoloist in the Messiah December 2021.Seen most recently in classical crossover collaboration with Emmy-Nominatedpianist-composer and PBS TV star Marina Arsenijevic singing new arrangements ofCrossover standards by Frank Sinatra, Michael Bublé, Tom Jones and many others. This touching, heartfelt song was written 20 years ago by my father, Craig Riesen, for thepassing of his mother (my grandmother). I recall its conception vividly. My father had writtena letter saying many of the things he'd wished to say to her (as we knew she was dying fromcancer), and soon after she passed away. He was heartbroken.I remember him sitting in the living room, with tears rolling down his face as he began to playthis simple, sweet, and longing melody. Soon, words came flowing out with the tune, and thissong was created. At the time, I could not sing. I was still an avid baseball player, but as theyears passed and my vocal talents became apparent the song was passed from my father tome.I get chills to this day, recalling how it felt to say goodbye with song. Needless to say,You're The Best; has been an important part of my life for many years, and I believe that itcan touch other people in the same way that it has touched my heart. We all haveexperienced loss or nostalgia for our loved ones, and this piece pulls at those strings.Originally composed for piano and voice, we have expanded the instrumentation to add soloviolin, electric bass, slight percussion, and synth to fill out the texture. It is a truly specialsong. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.