Hailed as “every inch the hero in stature and voice” (Classical Voice North America), award-winning American tenor John Riesen is consistently impressing audiences with his "impassioned...and vibrant" voice (Opera Today). Riesen’s growing career boasts a variety of roles in which he excels and includes significant work in opera, musical theatre, studio recording and concert. He has released two studio recording albums: What You'd Call a Dream (2019) and Christmas at Home (2020), and several singles that have reached over 2 million streams on Spotify and Apple Music. John is also the head of Spotify promotion and PR for Emitha LLC, building an ecosystem for classical and crossover singers around the world to be heard on streaming services.

Most recently seen as the voice of Howie Mandel on season 17 of America's Got Talent where he sang Nessun Dorma as part of the group Metaphysic. Upcoming John will perform as Younger Thomson in Glory Denied with Knoxville Opera (Sept) and Opera Roanoke (Feb 2023), and as Camille in the Merry Widow with Knoxville Opera (Nov). He will also be making his debut with Las Vegas Opera in his return to Evan L. Snyder's murder-mystery opera "A Capacity for Evil" (Jan 2023) before making his role debut as the Duke of Manuta with Intermountain Opera Bozeman's production of Verdi's Rigoletto (May 2023). John will also be seen in concert for the Patriot Awards Gala in Knoxville, Christmas Concert in Columbus, OH, and in Saugatuck, MI among others.

In the 2021/2022 season, John returned to signature roles including Frederic in Pirates of Penzance with Utah Opera, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi with On Site Opera, Chris in the Emmy-Nominated performance of Favorite Son by GRAMMY award winning song-writer Marcus Hummon with Nashville Opera, as well as performing in concerts around the United States.