Steven Cole

Vocalists — Tenor

• Manager: Elizabeth Crittenden , Artistic Advisor & Consultant
  Management Territory: Sundry Territories

"The trio is thoroughly excellent and it's a pleasure to hear Steven Cole, again, that great specialist of character roles, particularly Offenbach (how could you forget his ineffable cashier in "Les Brigands" at L'Opéra de Paris, Bastille)" —Jean-Marcel Humbert, www.forumopera.com, November 15, 2012, "Trouble in Tahiti," (trio), "L'Enfant et les Sortilèges," (3 tenor roles) Théatre de Caen, France

"Steven Cole contributed four incredibly inventive, appealingly sung comprimario turns as Andreas, Cochenille, Frantz, and Pittichinnacio. In fact I have never seen anyone do these better, making Mr.Cole a wonderful discovery" —James Sohre, www.operatoday.com, June 4, 2012, "The Tales of Hoffman," Canadian Opera Company, Toronto.

"Steven Cole delivered a Sporting Life of epic proportions, not just in characterizations and textual detail, but exurberent in dance and mime" —Charles Parson, OPERA, December 2012, "Porgy and Bess," Cincinnati Opera

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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