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“…Scherch’s resonant bass outstanding among his peers.” – Opera News

“Mr. Scherch, in the scenes where he resembled a Munchkin on steroids, was particularly funny.” – Pittsburgh in the Round

John was a regular presence in the Baltimore-Washington music scene before moving to his current home of Philadelphia, appearing in roles ranging from comic to noble to terrifying, sometimes in the same production, and sometimes at the same time. He regularly appeared with Bel Cantanti Opera, the Friday Morning Music Club, Handel Choir of Baltimore, the Young Victorian Theatre Company, and IN Series.

A frequently-seen (and sometimes emergency) Sarastro (Mozart’s The Magic Flute), John has also appeared on the lighter side in several Gilbert and Sullivan performances with the Young Victorian Theatre Company in Baltimore, as well as Vanuzzi in Richard Strauss’s Die schweigsame Frau and Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, and even heavier as Frank Maurrant in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene, Sobakin in Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride, and the premiere of the Man from the City in Frances Pollock and Robert Misbin’s Briscula. He has also sung the bass solo part in Verdi’s Requiem with both the Friday Morning Music Club and with IN Series, the latter a staged production entitled Viva V.E.R.D.I. that resides on former Washington Post classical music critic Anne Midgette’s “lifelong best-ever list.” John was scheduled to sing Sparafucile in Verdi’s Rigoletto with IN Series before the pandemic hit.

John is the weekday morning classical host on WRTI 90.1 in Philadelphia. He is available locally for staged productions, as well as for weekend engagements and productions of The Magic Flute. He is also a voice actor, recording from his home studio, and the host of Pause and Listen, a new music discussion podcast.