Colin Lee tenor
Biography
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 new productions in 2007 (TONIO La fille du Regiment, ROH; LEOPOLD La Juive, Opéra national de Paris, Bastille and RAMIRO La cenerentola, WNO) 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 2008 Colin made his house début in Athens for Greek National Opera in the title role Le Comte Ory, before returning to Opéra national de Paris to sing ALMAVIVA at the Bastille. In December 2008 he made his début at Opéra Comique, Paris in Herold's Zampa under the baton of William Christie. In February 2009 he made his Metropolitan Opera house début as ARTURO in Lucia di Lammermoor, alongside Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon in the lead roles and in April 2009 he made his house début at the Vienna Staatsoper as ALMAVIVA. In December 2009 he makes his house début at Berlin Staatsoper as NARCISO, Il turco in Italia.
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 2010 include NARCISO Il Turco in Italia (Berlin Staatsoper, ROH); TONIO La fille du Regiment (ROH) and RODRIGO La donna del lago (Opéra national de Paris, Garnier), alongside Joyce Di Donato (Elena), Juan Diego Florez (Giacomo V) and Daniela Barcellona (Malcolm).
Colin has worked with conductors such as Antonio Pappano, René Jacobs, William Christie, Bruno Campanella, Carlo Rizzi, Marc Minkowski, Riccardo Frizza, Marco Armiliato, Roberto Abbado, Richard Hickox and Paul Daniel. He has also worked with directors such as David Alden, Pierre Audi, Laurent Pelly, Mary Zimmerman, Richard Jones, Graham Vick, Günter Krämer, Stephen Lawless 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.