John Massaro

John Massaro (b. 1957) is an American conductor, opera director, composer, and pianist. Massaro is the co-founder and current Artistic Director of the Phoenix Metropolitan Opera.

Massaro began his career in California working as an accompanist and coach for the Los Angeles Opera Repertory Theatre. He coached Lieder repertoire with the great soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf at the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh, the Frankfurt Opera and also at her home in Zurich. After moving to New York, he became a coach for several of the members of the Metropolitan Opera Young Artist Development program. During his time in New York, Massaro had the fortune of working closely with many wonderful singers and conductors including Leonard Bernstein, assisting him with his last opera A Quiet Place. During this time, Massaro began to expand his work into the field of conducting. He met Zubin Mehta for whom he served as a conducting assistant during a production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly with the Israel Philharmonic.

In 1998, Massaro became the Chorus Master and Assistant Conductor for Arizona Opera. While there he conducted several highly acclaimed productions. In 2002, while still maintaining his position with Arizona Opera, Massaro became Associate Conductor of the Phoenix Symphony. He made his debut with the orchestra conducting a 9/11 memorial concert which included his own arrangement of the National Anthem.

In 2005, Massaro made his Carnegie Hall debut conducting a production of Mozart's Requiem.

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