John Glenn Paton lives in Granada Hills, in the part of Los Angeles called the San Fernando Valley. He and Joan Thompson have been married since 1987. They are both retired from full time teaching and continue to teach privately at home.
Paton received his bachelor of music in voice from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in 1955. He studied voice with Sonia Essin (student of Anne-Marie Schoen-René), piano with Melba Smith, and organ with Parvin Titus (student of André Marchal).
Paton spent the summer of 1955 at the Tanglewood Festival singing as a tenor chorus leader in performances under Leonard Bernstein, Charles Munch, and Hugh Ross.
After two years in the U.S. Navy, he studied at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester (NY) with Julius Huehn (another student of Schoen-René). He received the Master of Music in Music Literature with an applied voice emphasis in 1959. His master’s essay was a study and performance edition for Psalm 39 by Benedetto Marcello, an excellent preparation for his later career as an editor of Italian Baroque vocal music.
Paton remained at the Eastman School one more year to earn the Performer’s Certificate. He sang a newly composed work, “Fern Hill” by Richard Lane, with the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra, conducted by Dr. Howard Hanson.
On a Fulbright scholarship, Paton studied German lieder in Stuttgart, Germany. With his mentor, Prof. Hermann Reutter, at the piano, Paton sang recitals and recorded for Südwestfunk (Southwest German Radio). He also recorded contemporary American songs for broadcast by Studio Basel (Switzerland).
From Germany, Paton went directly to the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he taught from 1961-1968. During those years he made seven annual recital tours, performing lieder of Romantic and contemporary composers, including Prof. Reutter. He sang tenor leads in the first productions of the UW Opera, Dido and Aeneas and Cosí fan tutte and in the first production of the Madison Opera, La Bohème. A highlight in Madison was a full recital of Schubert lieder with Austrian pianist Paul Badura-Skoda at the piano.
In 1965 Paton returned to the Tanglewood Festival as a soloist. His performance of Brahms’s Liebeslieder Waltzes is available from the Tanglewood archives. He sang in several concerts conducted by Erich Leinsdorf, including Wagner’s Lohengrin, which was subsequently recorded with the Boston Symphony in Boston.
In 1968 Paton began to teach at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Hi Dr. Paton,
I teach a voice class at Cuyahoga Community College in Ohio. We have been using your wonderful textbook “Foundation in Singing” for years. This year we were told it went out of print. We have tried another textbook but we really miss yours. Is there anywhere we can continue to purchase your book? If not, could you recommend another textbook?
Thank you very much for your valuable time.
Sincerely,
Miki Saito
Hi, Professor Paton,
I am currently studying your book “Gateway to French Diction” and thank you for such a great, helpful book.
As a matter of fact, one of the reasons I’m studying this book is because, in addition to being a conductor, I’m preparing to publish several 18th century scenas for voice and orchestra which are in French. As I do so, it would be great to be able to consult with an expert such as yourself to make sure that I set the text correctly (the composer is often unclear about this). So I’m wondering… would you have the inclination and time to undertake such a consultation? If so, it would really be great to go over my questions with you!
Hello Sir,
Two years ago, I was terribly interested in studying the music of Robert Franz. Since then, I have given two performances of his Lieder; I will attach one in this message from YouTube. However, I have to confess that I have a greater desire to be an entertainment lawyer and study at UCLA. I still practice, study, and learn his Lieder diurnally. I want to thank you for allowing me to have the music books and I want you to know that I will always cherish them along with our correspondences. I wish you the best and will update you as time progresses.
GOD bless,
Ja’Mont
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pihybZrhCQk
Post Script: Please feel free to critique. I would really appreciate it. Thanks!
So nice to see your face after all this time! My best to you & Joan, Merry Christmas!
Dr. Patton
Can you please tell me how you determined the true composer of Caro mio ben?
Thank you,
M. Huebner
Dear John:
A very fine German singer who is in the process of recording a great deal of Fanny Hensel’s songs and duets just sent me an email to say that Furore has snatched some of your editions, as they have mine. She wondered if you knew this?
Suzanne in Fairbanks, Alaska
Dear Dr. Paton,
I had the pleasure of meeting you this summer at NATS in SLC and I have been an enthusiastic teacher with your music editions, in particular the second volume of the Italian arias and the Gateway edition. I have a student who is in love with “Un boccacin d’amante” and wants to use this for our concerto/aria audition with our university orchestra. We need to ascertain if there is indeed an orchestral score available for this aria before she auditions. We did contact music distribution service that the orchestra routinely uses to order music, and they did not have anything on record for an orchestra score for this aria. Can you help us with this? It is such a charming aria and so good for the younger voice, but we need the orchestra part.
Thank you.
Serena Kanig Benish seventhwife@gmail.com
Utah Valley University
Music Department
Orem, Utah
I copied a list of your books and I tell my friends [both of them}that I graduated with you. Thank You for sending me your website it is now on my list of favorites. “E.T.”
Congratulations, John and Joan! The Parents, Families and Friends is a remarkable ogtanizarion. I am so glad to hear the good things that are happening at PFLAG Simi! Since we joined PFLAG in 1990, it has transformed our lives!
So nice to find a genuine response in among all of the spam that comes to my site. PFLAG Simi is still small but almost every meeting is blessed with some new visitor who really needs a place to tell and story and hear others’ stories. We are proud to be there.
Hello John and Joan
After many, many years I have the opportunity to welcome.
All the best to you and all your friends.