J. Christian Bygott

“Help heal the world through laughter.”

On July 10th, 2024, just before noon, such a commandment was not so easy. J. Christian Bygott, 41, manager of The Philadelphia Bar & Grille and talent buyer for The Fire rock club housed within was discovered on the bathroom floor by his mother, Karen Saillant-Bygott, in the apartment they shared together just above the bar. Christian was confirmed dead by his neighbors, the firemen of Engine 29 who rushed in to save him at his mother’s harrowing plea for help; it was all too late. Christian had passed away an hour earlier. His decades-long battle with congestive heart failure due to hypertensive cardiovascular disease, and an autoimmune disease affecting his thyroid that made it impossible to lose weight was finally over.

“Help children and youth achieve their goals, no matter where they are, through theater and the arts.”

Though, since 2018, Christian was intensely devoted to his work at the Northern Liberties bar and rock club, generally fixing the daily problems that small businesses face, and quietly making the final call if any band should play the stage, his artistic journey prior to a commitment to save the business his mother and father had started in 1988, could provide provisions for several lifetimes.

Christian was born on December 2nd, 1982 in Philadelphia. He grew up in Center City with an opera singing mother, Karen, entrepreneur father, Bernie, and older brother, Bernard. They lived on Addison Street between 13th and Juniper. Christian’s devotion to the arts began when he began. As an infant, he waved his arms as if conducting when he heard classical music, he drew fabulously evocative portraits of faces as early as kindergarten, studied Suzuki violin and played piano; he dictated poems to his mom in 1st grade; he memorized movies like The Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and performed passages with his brother for his delighted family in the living room. The Tin Man from Oz was an especial early favorite which he portrayed with a metal funnel as his cap. Soon enough he was performing in front of bigger audiences in school plays, and theater camps, where he took on parts that capitalized on his vulnerability, charm, and disarming quick wit all wrapped in a package of such sweet sensitivity and the simplest of earnest nobility one could hardly pin him down to one “type.” He portrayed the lead in The Little Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings at Burn Brae Day Camp of Creative Arts in Dresher, PA and his course was set; his compass was true. His counselors would later describe him as “filled with wonder.”

Christian studied and performed with The Rock School of The Pennsylvania Ballet, performing in the Nutcracker at The Academy of Music in 1994 and 1995. He played baseball and soccer at Fairmount Sports Association. He was a soloist in Old St. Joseph’s Children’s Choir, where he also joined Care-Walk distributing food to those in need, performed musical theater with New Mermaid Players, and sang in the All Philadelphia Senior High School Choir, CAPA Concert Choir, and Lauda! as a choral scholar. He graduated from The Philadelphia High School for The Creative and Performing Arts in 2001.

A year prior to his graduation, Christian lost his father who had been in a coma for nearly 16 months. He was a devoted and loving son who sat by his father’s side, rushing home to help care for him after school, and an eternal optimist and cheerleader for his mom and brother.

Christian began his operatic vocal studies with Maestro Vittorio Rosetta from LaScala, private coaching in Italy from 2001-2003. He began his study of Commedia dell’Arte with Maestro Antonio Fava in 2003 as well. He received his diploma from Maestro Fava after attending both of his acting schools in L’Aquila and Reggio Emilia, Italy, having put in 1500 hours. Opera and commedia were the principal art forms he explored over the next twenty years.

In 2004, Christian co-founded International Opera Theater with his family, participating in the creation of 16 world premiere Italian operas in 16 years. He adored the town of Città della Pieve, Italy where the operas were premiered and for which he performed early leading roles, wrote original librettos, designed lighting for 13 premieres, consulted on dramaturgy, and even carried sets in massive duffel bags from the US to Italy. In addition to Città della Pieve, Christian took operas to Rome, Pavia, Orvieto, Città di Saluzzo, and his home of Philadelphia to name but a few. He was the original librettist for Sacco & Vanzetti by John M. Pasternak and Shim Chung by Angelo Inglese–the first Italian lyric opera set in South Korea. He was co-librettist for The Buffalo Soldier by Carlo Pedini and AZA’IO by David Mathew Brown. He wrote the original story for the opera Jago in collaboration with his mother, a sequel to Verdi’s Otello. Unafraid of hard work, he was often seen in the streets of Italian towns carrying mattresses and bed frames on his back to furnish housing for the artistic staff, singers, orchestra members, interns of IOT and more. He was just as often seen moving the 3 pianos rented out for rehearsals.

In addition to a prolific body of opera work in Italy squeezed into just 16 years, Christian found time to collaborate with companies both large and small outside of his own: The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The National Constitution Center, Ibrahim Theater, Prince Music Theater, The Rosenbach Museum, The Kimmel Center, International House, The Academy of Music, Allen’s Lane Arts Center, The Gershwin Y, University of The Arts, The Media Theatre, Temple University, The Philadelphia Ethical Society, Walking Fish Theater, The American Composers Forum, Richland Library (Columbia, SC), The Claudio Merulo Chorus in Chiostro di Sant’Agostino, Arte Diem (Sicily), Teatro Valle (Rome’s oldest opera house), Il Teatro Civico di Saluzzo, Festival Borghi & Valli (Pavia), Assisi Suono Sacro Festival and more. He was perhaps proudest of all to have stepped into the shoes of maestro Fava, creating the role of Pulcinella (the mask Fava had inherited from his own father) in “The Pulcinella Suite” by Igor Stravinsky with the Philadelphia Orchestra at both the Kimmel Center and Academy of Music in 2007. Soon after Christian was selected by Maestro Fava to do a one-man show celebrating the 25th anniversary of his acting school. Christian co-founded the American International School of Commedia dell’Arte in Philadelphia to bring maestro Fava to several theaters, schools, and workshops throughout the USA. Although the project had lapsed for several years due to many global factors outside of his control, he was in the process of re-inventing the school in a new location with his family who were working together to create a healthier life for everyone. Maestro Fava’s The Comic Mask in the Commedia Dell’Arte was the sole published work in his desk; it rested atop a hand drawn manuscript by a fellow commedia artist depicting and illustrating the techniques for each stock character.

One of Christian’s greatest joys was the nine years he spent working on Brundibar and The Children of Theresienstadt, a children’s opera in 4 languages that shares the story of the 55 performances of Hanz Kraza’s folk opera, Brundibar, presented by children in the Terezin concentration camp, a piece designed to give the camp hope. This elegy to children who were never able to go home was conceived and directed by his mother. The project brought together hundreds of Philadelphia area children and their families in remembrance of those who were lost. Christian was beloved as the assistant director, lighting designer, and general child wrangler. They climbed on him during many a rehearsal break, which he loved. The final moments of the opera when each child steps forward to say the name of a child their own age and gender who never made it home, had Christian and his brother weeping with every name in the lighting booth.

The final weeks before Christian died, he had many more plans. More than usual, even. Because his greatest dream was to have children, and he did not yet have a partner, Christian had a plan to teach music, theater, and games at Somerset Academy Early Learning Center where had received an overwhelming invitation to join; he was putting together curriculum to unlock creativity for teachers and students for MicroSociety, an educational system that puts kids in charge of their own societies, run by his family friend, and guardian angel, Carolynn King-Richmond. He was developing a top secret fantasy TV series, as well as a sitcom based on his time at the bar.

“I love you better than ice cream.”

Though Christian had an immensely theatrical life, his biggest dreams were as simple as his childhood summers spent on the Brigantine sands, gentle, nurturing, and loving, just as he was picking flowers in the outfield of his baseball games: he wanted to marry, have a family, a friendly dog, that picket fence, to laugh with friends, and drive a sweet 1972 Chevy Monte Carlo just like his dad. He wanted to make his mom happy, his brother happy, and his children happy no matter the odds, no matter the circumstance, never hold back. Love. And Christian did.

“Mom, don’t be afraid to try new things.”

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The J. Christian Bygott Creative Boy Fund: bit.ly/3LlY81S