|
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.
For
detailed printable biography click on this link
|
