Steven Cole

Vocalists — Tenor

• Manager: Elizabeth Crittenden, Damon Bristo
  Management Territory: Sundry Territories

"Steven Cole took on Don Basilio for the first time in his career--33 years in the business--and delivered a small masterpiece of a performance; he sang with the utmost polish, carefully crafting each word and note with color and meaning" —Charles Parsons, Opera News, August 2009 -- Don Basilio in 'Le nozze di Figaro' at Cincinnati Opera

“Ah, if French singers pronounced like him, we would not need surtitles in our theatres.” —Le Figaro (Paris, France)

About

Internationally acclaimed American character tenor Steven Cole made his professional debut singing Monsieur Triquet in 'Eugene Onegin' with the Boston Symphony under Seiji Ozawa at Tanglewood. Specializing in character tenor roles, he has a remarkably varied repertoire with more than 70 roles from Monteverdi to Ligeti.

Mr. Cole’s recent seasons exemplify his extraordinary versatility: 'Ariadne auf Naxos' at the Liceo in Barcelona, the Witch in 'Hansel und Gretel' with the Boston Symphony, the Four Valets in 'Les contes d’Hoffmann' in Lausanne, Le prince de Boetie in 'Orphée aux enfers' in . . . Granada, Monostatos in 'Die Zauberflöte' in Cagliari, Prince Orlofsky in 'Die Fledermaus' at the Austrian operetta festival of Bad Ischl, performances of his “Animals, Big and Small” recital in Hannover, and a concert version of Ligeti’s 'Le grand macabre' with the BBC Orchestra at the Barbican. He also recently performed in 'La fanciulla del West' in Seattle, 'Die Zauberflöte' in Rome, Sartorio’s 'Giulio Cesare' at the Innsbruck Baroque Festival in Austria, and 'Les contes d’Hoffmann' with the Marseille Opera.

Mr. Cole made his Metropolitan Opera debut as the Tanzmeister in 'Ariadne auf Naxos' under James Levine. He has sung with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony and performed Janacek’s 'From the House of the Dead' with Rafael Kubelik conducting the New York Philharmonic. During the course of his career, he has returned many times to the San Francisco Opera ('Die Zauberflöte', 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream', 'Boris Godunov', 'Khovanshchina') and he returns in spring of 2006 for 'La fanciulla del West', and has performed with Canadian Opera, Houston, Washington, Chicago Lyric, and Seattle Opera.

Mr. Cole performs regularly in Europe, especially in France and Switzerland (Le Figaro, Paris: “Ah, if French singers pronounced like him, we would not need surtitles in our theatres.”)

He has performed with the Opéra National de Paris (most recently 'Billy Budd'), the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, the Opéra Comique, the opera companies of Lyon, Nice, Marseille, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Nantes, Nancy, Geneva, and Lausanne. He has performed at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, where he has recorded two productions for the ERATO Label: 'Die Zauberflöte' under William Christie and 'The Rake’s Progress' under Kent Nagano. Mr. Cole’s performance of 'Orphée aux enfers' under the musical direction of Marc Minkowksi was recorded for EMI.

Mr. Cole has a particular interest in contemporary repertoire, having participated in the world premieres of Jean Prodromides 'La noche triste', Gavin Bryar’s 'Medea', and the revised version of Györgi Ligeti’s 'Le grand macabre' in a production by Peter Sellars at the Salzburg Festival in 1997 under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen (recorded by Sony Classical). Mr. Cole has also been heard in Berg’s 'Lulu', 'Boulevard Solitude' by Hans Werner Henze and in Carlisle Floyd’s 'Susannah', the latter recorded under Kent Nagano for Virgin records. He has also collaborated with baroque specialists like Michel Corboz ('Orfeo', 'Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria', 'L’incoronazione di Poppea'), and René Jacobs (Cesti’s 'L’argia' and recently, Cavalli’s 'La Calisto' at the Salzburg Festival).

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