Jonathan Estabrooks (born 1983) is a Canadian record producer, filmmaker, trained Operatic baritone, and graduate of the Juilliard School.
In 2024, Estabrooks produced Impossible Dream for American actor and singer Aaron Lazar alongside fellow producers Kitt Wakeley, Aaron Lazar, Patrick Conlon, David Das and Christina Giacona. It includes duet with Josh Groban, Neil Patrick Harris, Leslie Odom Jr, Loren Allred, Kelli O'Hara, Kate Baldwin, and featured Sting among others. It was released on August 23, 2024, by Lexicon Classics and was developed by Studio Seven Media and Emitha LLC. It charted at #2 on Billboard's Classical Crossover Album chart in September, 2024. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album" in November, 2024. [1][2][3]
Jonathan has produced and mixed over 75 projects to date in the classical, jazz and crossover genres. He was executive producer and creator of Artists for the Arts, a charity single and music video in support of Americans for the Arts in their efforts to save the National Endowment for the Arts[4] He was active in the Canadian and American opera, concert and musical theatre worlds and on YouTube.
Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Estabrooks began his musical training as a member of the Opera Lyra Ottawa Boys Choir and Opera Lyra Chorus.[6] He first sang with orchestra in 1994 as the Shepherd Boy in Tosca by Puccini.[7] In 1993 he joined the Company of Musical Theatre, appearing is such productions as Annie, Oliver!, the Will Rogers Follies and West Side Story.[8]
In October 1999, he sang as part of a vocal quartet for the opening of a new US Embassy in Ottawa, Ontario for then President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister of Canada Jean Chrétien.[9]
He earned his Bachelor of Music from the University of Toronto in 2006 and his Masters of Music from the Juilliard School in 2009, where he was a student of Marlena Malas. He is a graduate of Ashbury College. He has coached with Brian Zeger, Joan Dornemann, Craig Rutenberg, Margo Garrett, Nico Castel, Joan Dornemann and Denise Massé.
Estabrooks sang with the Juilliard Orchestra for the New York Premiere of Siarra, a work for baritone and orchestra as part of the 2009 Juilliard Focus Festival.[10] Estabrooks was a finalist in the 2007 Bryan Law Opera Competition[11] and the 2009 Lyndon Woodside Solo Competition[12] performed at Carnegie Hall.
Estabrooks was the baritone soloist in Brahms' Eine Deutsches Requiem with Coro Vivo Ottawa in 2008[16] and has also performed with the Kennett Symphony of Chester County[17] and the Aldeburgh Connection[18] recital series. He was also a 2009 finalist in the Brian Law Opera Scholarship in Ottawa sponsored by the National Capital Opera Society.[19] He appeared with pianist Joel Harder at the Caramoor Festival, presenting three concerts for the Holiday Musicale series at the Rosen House.[20]
On June 19, 2009 in Ottawa, he made his National Arts Centre Recital debut with soprano Meghan McPhee as participants in the NAC Summer Music Institute.[21] Other recent credits include performances with the Israeli Chamber Orchestra, and a 20-city tour in L’Elisir d’Amore with Jeunesses Musicales. In April, at New York's Weill Recital Hall, Estabrooks won the top prize in a competition presented by the Oratorio Society of New York.[22]
Estabrooks made his Opera Lyra Ottawa main-stage debut in the role of Silvio in September 2011 at the National Arts Centre.[22][23] He debuted with the Greenwich Choral Society singing the baritone solo for In Terra Pax and a world premiere by composer Rob Mathes.[24][25]
He made his Toronto Symphony Orchestra debut on October 9 and 10, 2012 with conductor Steven Reineke in a program entitled "Some Enchanted Evening: The Music of Rodgers & Hammerstein" with Broadway stars Ashley Brown and Aaron Lazar.[26] He returned to Roy Thomson Hall with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra on May 20 and 21, 2014 to perform in Classical Broadway: Lerner and Loewe.[27]
On July 15, 2013, Estabrooks successfully raised US$25,730 on the funding website Kickstarter for the recording of his debut album with orchestra.[30] Titled These Miles, it was released on April 8, 2014. Collaborations included tenor Jonathan Antoine, formerly of the duo Jonathan and Charlotte, and New Age classical pianist and composer Jennifer Thomas (pianist). It was produced by Dave Reitzas, Oran Eldor and himself.[30]
On September 24, 2015, he played the lead role of Bum Phillips in Bum Phillips All American Opera. The performance marked the opera's Houston premiere at the Stafford Township Arts Center and a benefit for the Dan Pastorini charity.[33]
In October 2019, Estabrooks created the role of Mat Burke in the world premiere production of Anna Christie, a music drama based on the Eugene O'Neill play. It was composed by Edward Thomas with libretto by Joseph Masteroff and produced by Encompass New Opera Theatre at Baruch College Performing Arts Centre. A recording with the original cast, produced by Thomas Z. Shepard and conducted by Julian Wachner, with the orchestra NOVUS New York, was released by Broadway Records on August 16, 2019. It was a collaboration of Trinity Church and Encompass New Opera Theatre, and it debuted at #6 on the Billboard classical album chart.[34]
On September 15, 2020, The NYC center produced a celebration of the late Jessye Norman on what would have been the operatic soprano's 75th birthday. It was produced in partnership by Kenneth Overton, Jonathan Estabrooks, Miranda Plant, and Ras Dia. Artists included Emmy nominee Laverne Cox, Pulitzer Prize finalist Anna Deavere Smith, J'Nai Bridges, Harolyn Blackwell, Martina Arroyo, Simon Estes, Damien Sneed, George Shirley, Measha Brueggergosman, Krysty Swann, Karen Slack, Chauncey Packer, John Holiday, Audrey DuBois-Harris, Sidney Outlaw, Justin Austin, Brandie Sutton, and Russell Thomas, plus Norman's family and students from the Jessye Norman School of the Arts.[35]
