John Charles Britton, a native of Fort Worth, TX, is a classical guitarist and vocal accompanist of the highest caliber. He studied with world-renowned guitarist Sergio Assad at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he received a Professional Studies Diploma in the spring of 2013 and a Masters degree in the spring of 2012. John also holds an undergraduate degree from the Peabody Conservatory, where he was a student of Julian Gray. He has performed in master classes with Odair Assad, Adam Holtzman, Nigel North, Pepe Romero, Eduardo Fernandez, William Kanengiser, and Anna Vidovic, among others.
A sensitive accompanist, John frequently collaborates with bass-baritone Philippe Sly. In addition to regular recitals in the United States and Canada, John and Phil recently appeared on the second season of PBS's Great Performances: Now Hear This mini-series. John is also accomplished solo performer; he gave the North American premiere of Jean Francaix's Concerto pour guitare in collaboration with Maestro Alasdair Neale and the San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra in November of 2013.
A sensitive accompanist, John frequently collaborates with bass-baritone Philippe Sly. In addition to regular recitals in the United States and Canada, John and Phil recently appeared on the second season of PBS's Great Performances: Now Hear This mini-series. John is also accomplished solo performer; he gave the North American premiere of Jean Francaix's Concerto pour guitare in collaboration with Maestro Alasdair Neale and the San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra in November of 2013.
A gifted arranger, John was the winner of the first and second prize at the First Annual Seconda Prattica International Guitar Arranging Competition with arrangements of piano works by Debussy and Durey for solo guitar. In addition to solo guitar settings, John's work in voice and guitar arrangements have put him in high demand. He arranged a variety of repertoire for guitarist Milos Karadaglic and soprano Angela Gheorghiu, who performed John's arrangements at an intimate concert at the Verbier Festival in the summer of 2015. He also regularly performs his own arrangements, which are available through John's exclusive publisher, Productions d'Oz.
John has recorded two albums, accompanying well-loved spirituals with baritone Lester Lynch for a Pentatone release, On My Journey Now, and Schubert lieder
with Philippe Sly on an album titled Schubert Sessions for Analekta. The arrangements featured on these albums are available through Productions d'Oz. Schubert Sessions was nominated for a 2018 Juno Award, Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral.
John is also an award-winning distiller and homebrew geek.