Colin Ainsworth has been praised for his “exquisite control and emotional directness” and has long distinguished himself not only with his interpretations of the major Classical and Baroque tenor roles but also by his performances in contemporary opera. His many roles have included the title characters in Orphée et Euridice, Pygmalion, Castor et Pollux, Idomeneo,
Roberto Devereux and Albert Herring; Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Fenton in Falstaff, Tonio in La Fille du Régiment, Nadir in Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Pylades in Iphigénie en Tauride, Renaud in Lully’s Armide, Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress, Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Steuermann in Der fliegende Holländer. An avid supporter of new works, he has appeared in the world premieres of John Estacio’s Lillian Alling at the Vancouver Opera, Stuart MacRae’s The Assassin Tree at the Edinburgh International Festival, Victor Davies’ The Transit
of Venus with the Manitoba Opera, and Rufus Wainwright’s Prima Donna at Sadler’s Wells in London and at the Luminato Festival. Other past opera engagements have included appearances with the Royal Opera (London), Canadian Opera Company, Seattle Opera, Chicago Opera Theatre, Glimmerglass Opera, L’Opéra Français de New York, Vancouver Opera, Opera Atelier, Pacific Opera Victoria, Calgary Opera, and the Greek National Opera. Most recently, he made his debut with Opera Columbus in Lully’s Armide and with Teatro Nacional São Carlos as Pylades in Iphigénie en Tauride.
Also a prolific concert singer, Mr. Ainsworth has appeared with the Cincinnati Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Pygmalion, Vancouver Symphony, Calgary Symphony, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra of San Francisco with Nicholas McGegan, Music of the Baroque with Jane Glover, Mercury Baroque in Houston, Les Violons du Roy in Montreal, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra in Toronto. He has also appeared at the Lanaudière, Montreal Baroque, Elora and the Aldeburgh Connection festivals, and has toured throughout Germany. His vast concert and recital repertoire includes Bach’s Mass in B Minor and St. John’s Passion, Handel’s Messiah, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Mozart’s Requiem, Schubert’s Dichterliebe and Die Schöne Müllerin and Janácek’s Diary of One Who Vanished.
Mr. Ainsworth’s growing discography includes Vivaldi’s La Griselda (Naxos), Castor et Pollux (Naxos), Schubert Among Friends (Marquis Classics), Gloria in Excelsis Deo with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra (CBC Records), the collected masses of Vanhal, Haydn, and Cherubini with Nicholas McGegan (Naxos), and the premiere recording of Derek Holman’s The Heart Mislaid which was included on the Aldeburgh Connection’s Our Own Songs (Marquis Classics). He also appears in a live DVD recording of Lully’s Persée with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra (Euroarts). He has also realeased a new disc, A Play of Passion, featuring the music of Derek Holman with Stephen Ralls and Bruce Ubukata. Mr. Ainsworth’s recent highlights include the title roles in Actéon and Pygmalion with Opera Atelier with performances at Chicago’s Harris Theater and the Palace at Versailles after which, he joined Pacific Opera Victoria for his role debut as Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata. He then made his role debuts with Opera Atelier in the title role of Mozart’s Idomeneo and as Lensky in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin with Seattle Opera. On the concert stage, he joined the Guelph Chamber Singers, Uxbridge Messiah Singers and the Cellar Singers for Handel’s Messiah, Bach Elgar Choir for Beethoven’s Mass in C, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra for Bach’s Magnificat, and the Oregon Bach Festival for Berlioz’ Roméo et Juliette with John Nelson and Mozart’s Requiem with Jane Glover.
This coming season, he joins the Festival of the Sound for an evening of Italian arias, Opera Atelier for their production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Handel’s La Resurrezione, a recital tour in the Okanagan Valley, Calgary Opera as Camille in The Merry Widow, Handel’s Messiah with the Grand Philharmonic Choir, returns to the Oregon Bach Festival for Bach’s B Minor Mass, St. John Passion, and St. Matthew Passion.
If you’ve missed any of Peterborough Singers’ artistic director Syd Birrell’s Organ Talks, fear not, they are all available online. Each features Syd at the fine Casavant pipe organ of Murray Street Baptist Church, playing organ pieces by J.S. Bach, recorded by Peterborough Singers’ board chair-slash-gifted-tech-guy Carey Gibson.