Photo by: Ione Saizar
South African-born tenor, Colin Lee has rapidly established himself as one of Britain's leading young tenors in the bel canto repertoire. Since his début 8 years ago, he has worked with many of the major UK and European Opera Houses as well as in the USA, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Since his three highly successful role débuts in 2007 which brought Colin Lee to the attention of major opera houses around the world, he has continued to début in leading houses around the world.
In January 2007 Colin sang TONIO La fille du Regiment at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, sharing the role with Juan Diego Florez in the critically acclaimed Laurent Pelly production, conducted by Bruno Campanella. Opera magazine wrote "If Juan Diego Florez hadn't anything to do with the Royal Opera's new Fille du regiment and Colin Lee had sung the complete run of Tonio... I can't imagine anyone would have felt remotely short-changed." Then in March 2007 Colin sang LEOPOLD La Juive at the Bastille in Opéra National de Paris' new production directed by Pierre Audi and conducted by Daniel Oren where he was praised for his elegant singing and impeccable French. In October 2007, Colin sang the role of RAMIRO, in WNO's new production of Rossini's La cenerentola, again receiving universal praise from audiences and critics alike.
In 2008 Colin made his house débuts in Athens for Greek National Opera in the title role Le Comte Ory, before returning to Opera de Paris to sing ALMAVIVA at the Bastille. In December 2008 he made his début at the Opera Comique, Paris in Herold's Zampa under the baton of William Christie. In 2009 he made his Metropolitan Opera house début as ARTURO in Lucia di Lammermoor, alongside Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon in the lead roles. Thereafter, he will make his house débuts at the Vienna Staatsoper and Berlin Staatsoper.
Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, Colin attended the world renowned Drakensberg Boys' Choir School as a young boy. After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, Colin came to London in 1994 and commenced private vocal studies with the Welsh tenor, Jeffrey Talbot, all the while working as an accountant. During the next 7 years, he concentrated solely on acquiring a solid vocal technique before finally starting his new profession as a classical singer in 2000.
Colin's first operatic engagement came in October 2000, when he was cast by director Ian Judge as NANKI POO Mikado in a new D'Oyly Carte production at the West End Theatre, Savoy. The show ran for 4 months with Colin singing 142 consecutive performances to critical acclaim. Following this success, Colin was engaged by a number of regional festivals in the UK and Ireland for 2001, singing RINUCCIO Gianni Schicchi, ALFREDO La Traviata, NANKI POO Mikado, FREDERIC Pirates of Penzance and TAMINO The Magic Flute, before joining the ENO's Young Singers Programme in 2002. During his 3 years on the programme, he performed roles such as ALMAVIVA, IOPAS/HELENUS Les Troyens, FERRANDO and FENTON.
Engagements for 2009/2010 include ALMAVIVA, Il barbiere di Siviglia (ROH); ARGIRIO Tancredi (Theater an der Wien); NARCISO Turco in Italia (Berlin Staatsoper, ROH) and ORESTE Ermione, Opera Rara Recording and TONIO in La fille du Regiment (ROH).
Colin has worked with conductors such as Sir Colin Davis, Pappano, William Cristie, Campanella, Rizzi, Minkowski, Hickox, Petrenko, Parry and Daniel. He has also worked with directors such as David Alden, Pierre Audi, Laurent Pelly, Richard Jones, Graham Vick, Günter Krämer and Ian Judge. He has performed with orchestras such as Les Arts Florissants, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Les Musiciens du Louvre - Grenoble, LPO, BBC Symphony, LSO and RLPO.
Colin is a Trustee of the Concordia Foundation, which supports and develops young musicians around the world.
For detailed printable biography click on this link (PDF)