Alain Coulombe makes his Cincinnati Opera debut in 2008 as The Bonze in Madame Butterfly and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor (Lucie de Lammermoor).
Praised for “his deep stentorian bass voice” and “his powerful presence”, bass Alain Coulombe is one of Canada’s rising stars. Well known and acclaimed for his musical versatility and his basso profundo quality, Mr. Coulombe has a repertoire ranging from Claudio Monteverdi to James Rolfe. An alumni member of both L’Opéra de Montréal and the Canadian Opera Company’s Young Artists Programs, he has worked with conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Andrew Parrott, Hervé Niquet, Jacques Lacombe, Daniel Lipton, Stephen White, Jonathan Darlington, Helmut Rilling, Richard Bradshaw and Bernard Labadie.
Over the last three seasons, on the operatic stage, he performed roles such as Sarastro in The Magic Flute, The Priest in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Doctor Grenvil in La Traviata, Superintendent Budd in Albert Herring, Zuniga in Carmen and he understudied Wurm in Luisa Miller and The Old Convict in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at the Canadian Opera Company. He also was Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia with L’Opéra de Montréal and Pacific Opera Victoria, Sparafucile in Rigoletta and Oroveso in Norma with Pacific Opera Victoria, Seneca in The Coronation of Poppea for Cleveland Opera, Count Horn in Un Ballo in Maschera for Vancouver Opera, Colline in La Bohème for Edmonton Opera and for L’Opéra de Québec, Créon in Charpentier’s Médée and Hidraot in Lully’s Armide for Toronto Opera Atelier.
Over the last three seasons, on the concert stage, he performed Tiresias in Oedipus Rex with L’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Lord Valton in Bellini’s I Puritani, Die Heremit in von Weber’s Der Freischütz, Nourabad in Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles and Arkel in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande for Festival Vancouver and Vancouver Opera, Le Roi de Trèfles in L'Amour des Trois Oranges by Prokofiev with Toronto Opera In Concert, Christos Hatzis’ Kyrie for CBC Radio, Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins and The American Songbook for Calgary Opera Association, Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and a Bellini Gala with L’Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal, Schubert’s A Flat Mass with The CBC Orchestra for Festival Vancouver, Mozart’s Requiem with The Elora Festival, Orchestra London and the Symphony Orchestras of Windsor, Thunder Bay, Victoria and Edmonton. He also performed at the opening ceremonies of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, new home of the Canadian Opera Company and in Berlioz’s L'Efance du Christ with the Boston Symphony and the Dresdner Philharmonie, Germany.
Other operatic credits include Pistola in Verdi’s Falstaff at the Tanglewood Music Festival, The Sacristan in Tosca and Sparafucile in Rigoletto for L’Opéra de Québec, Ashby in Puccini’s La fanciulla del West for Vancouver Opera, Colline in La Bohème, Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia, Masetto in Don Giovanni, Count Horn in Un Ballo in Maschera, Lieutenant Ratcliffe in Billy Budd, Lodovico in Otello, Talpa in Il Tabarro and Don Prudenzio in Il Viaggio a Reims at the Canadian Opera Company. He was The High Priest in Nabucco and The Mayor in Jenůfa with L’Opéra de Montréal, as well as Don Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola for Les Jeunesses Musicales du Canada. He also marked more acclaimed appearances as Cadmus in Handel’s Semele for Toronto’s Opera In Concert and as Seneca in Monteverdi’s L'Incoronazione di Poppea for Opera Atelier.
Mr. Coulombe appeared as Leporello with Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Don Giovanni in concert at the George Weston Recital Hall and was featured as Masetto in the Gemini winning Rhombus Media film Don Giovanni Unmasked, again starring Hvorostovsky. He also sang the role of Phinée in the live DVD production of Lully’s Persée under EuroArts with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Opera Atelier.
His recording credits include the roles of the Tree and the Chair in Ravel’s L'Enfant et Les Sortilèges with the Prague Symphony Orchestra for Le Théâtre Sans Fil, Harry Somers’ Serinette, Chura Churam and The Death of Enkidu for Centrediscs Records, as well as the soundtrack of Rhombus Media’s movie Don Giovanni Unmasked under CBC Records.
Upcoming performances include the bass solo in Mahler’s 8th Symphony with Boris Brott Music Festival, Lignière in Di Chiera’s World Premiere of Cyrano for Michigan Opera Theatre, Don Fernando in Fidelio with Vancouver Opera, The Doctor and the understudy of Arkel in Pelléas et Mélisande with the Canadian Opera Company, as well as Il Bonzo in Madama Butterfly and Raymond in Lucia di Lammermoor with Cincinnati Opera.
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View a Q&A with Alain Coulombe.
