South African-born tenor, Colin Lee is rapidly establishing 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.


In 2007 Colin made two highly successful role débuts which brought him to the attention of major opera 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. Such was his performance that Opera 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 Opera de Paris’ new production directed by Pierre Audi and conducted by Daniel Oren where he was praised for his elegant singing and impeccable French.


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 plucked from obscurity by director Ian Judge and cast 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, and FREDERIC Pirates of Penzance and TAMINO The Magic Flute.


In 2002, after covering NEMORINO in ENO's L'elisir d'amore, Colin was invited to join ENO’s 3 year Young Singers Programme where he performed roles such as ALMAVIVA, IOPAS/HELENUS Les Troyens, FERRANDO and FENTON. It was also in 2002 that Colin started a special relationship with the Opera Rara recording label, which endures to this day. He has collaborated on 9 Opera Rara recordings to date.


After leaving ENO, Colin continued to make significant débuts in major Opera Houses in Europe, the most notable being MARZIO Mitridate, Re di Ponto (ROH, 2005 and Salzburg Festival, 2006); ALMAVIVA Il barbiere di Siviglia (Welsh National Opera, 2005); TONIO La fille du Regiment (ROH, 2007); LEOPOLD La Juive (Opera de Paris, Bastille, 2007); RAMIRO La Cenerentola (WNO, 2007).


Other role débuts include the title role in Le Comte Ory; ERMANNO L'equivoco stravagante, UBERTO/GIACOMO V La donna del lago; NEMORINO L'elisir d'amore, LINDORO L'italiana in Algeri and ERNESTO Don Pasquale.


Engagements for 2008-2010 include Le Comte Ory (Greek National Opera), ELVINO La Sonnambula (De Vlaamse Opera), ALPHONSE in Herold’s Zampa (L'Opera Comique, Paris) conducted by William Christie, ALMAVIVA Il barbiere di Siviglia (Opera de Paris, WNO, Vienna Staatsoper and ROH), MARZIO, Mitridate, Re di Ponto (Theater an der Wien), MITRIDATE Mitridate, Re di Ponto , NARCISO Turco in Italia (ROH), TONIO La fille du Regiment (ROH) and ORESTE Ermione, Opera Rara Recording.


Colin has worked with conductors such as Pappano, Campanella, Rizzi, Minkowski, Hickox, Petrenko, Parry and Daniel and 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 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.

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Colin Lee Tenor Biography Profileesign: Ainize Txopitea