John Mark Ainsley works with the London Symphony under Davis, Rostropovich and Previn, Les Musiciens du Louvre under Minkowski, Concert d’Astrée under Haim, Philharmonia Baroque under McGegan, Berlin Philharmonic under Haitink, Kraemer and Rattle, New York Philharmonic under Masur, Boston Symphony under Ozawa, San Francisco Symphony under Tate, Vienna Philharmonic under Sir Roger Norrington, Trevor Pinnock and Welser-Moest, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Rattle, Cleveland Orchestra under Welser-Moest and both the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Orchestre de Paris under Giulini.

His discography includes the Evangelist in the St. Matthew Passion under Ozawa, Rameau’s Dardanus with Minkowski, the Britten Spring Symphony with Gardiner and L’Heure Espagnol with Previn. His song repertoire includes Schubert, Vaughan Williams, Purcell, Fauré, Mozart, Warlock, Quilter and Ireland for Hyperion records.

He has sung Don Ottavio at the festivals of Aix-en- Provence, directed by Brook and conducted by Abbado, and Glyndebourne, directed by Warner and conducted by Rattle, with the San Francisco Opera, Dresden Opera, and Royal Opera House Covent Garden under Mackerras. He has appeared in Sydney as Tito and Idomeneo, in Amsterdam as Handel’s Samson, in Salzburg as Handel’s Solomon and Der Daemon in the world premiere of Henze’s L’Upupa and in Munich as Jonathan in Saul, Oronte in Alcina and Orfeo, which won the Munich Festival Prize.