NEWS
The 2024-25 Season
This season continues with powerful music and new collaborations! I’ll be performing King Admète in Gluck’s Alceste with Opera in Concert and the role of David in Charpentier’s David and Jonathan with Opera Atelier. Our Schöne Müllerin Project brings the workshop to Radford University in Radford, Virginia. I’m looking forward to appearances with Off Centre Music Salon and returning to the Festival of Sound. More announcements coming soon!
The 2023-24 Season
Exciting projects are on the horizon this season! I’ll be singing the title role in Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice with Opera Atelier and joining the Toronto Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jane Glover for Handel’s Messiah. Our Schöne Müllerin Project travels to Ithaca College and the University of Toronto. For the summer, I’ll be joining the New Zealand String Quartet with Laura Loewen at Westben and returning to the Festival of the Sound for our annual summer concert. Check out the link for other events!
The 2022-23 Season
There’s so much to look forward to this season as performances continue to rebound! I’m thrilled to be bringing the Schöne Müllerin Project to the University of Ottawa and Wilfred Laurier University, and to be joining the Oregon Bach Festival under the legendary Jane Glover. I’ll be back in the beautiful Okanagan Valley for concerts with Laura Loewen, and performing in Dido and Aeneas later this year with Opera Atelier. Other highlights include Handel’s Messiah with the Philharmonic Choir, a new composition titled The New Normal, by Brian Irvine, Handel’s La resurrezione as St. John, and a return to the Festival of Sound.
The 2021-22 Season
There are glimmers of hope with signs of companies planning for re-opening with live audiences! Colin's season begins with some online events but also plans for in-person concerts. Concerts this year are in the Okanagan Valley, BC for a recital tour with Laura Loewen on piano, Opera Atelier’s online presentation of ANGEL in Toronto, The Merry Widow in Calgary, and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in Rhode Island with more to come!
Recital with Pacific Opera Victoria
Back to work! Colin has put together a recital entitled Solatium for Pacific Opera Victoria to be streamed beginning April 16, 2021. Works include Vaughan-Williams’ Along the Field, Britten’s Holy Sonnets of John Donne and a new commissioned work by Jeffrey Ryan, The Length of a Day. Details will be posted on POV’s website!
Seattle Opera's Eugene Onegin
The reviews are in! Colin achieved a huge success with his performance of Lensky in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin with Seattle Opera.
"...The profound self-reflective pathos of this aria was made more moving through Ainsworth’s exquisite vocal control, launching the second verse with a haunting, clean-lined pianissimo.” – Operawire.com
The 2019-20 Season
After his successful debut with Seattle Opera as Steuermann in Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer, Colin returns as Lensky in Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece, Eugene Onegin, based on the novel of Russian writer, Alexander Pushkin. Performance dates are Jan 11, 12, 15, 18, 19, 22, 24, & 25, 2020. More information including cast, photos, and sound recordings can be found at www.seattleopera.org
Opera Atelier’s Don Giovanni
Colin will reprise the role of Don Ottavio in Opera Atelier’s production of Mozart’s beloved opera Don Giovanni. The cast includes Gustav Andreassen, Mireille Asselin, Stephen Hegedus, Carla Huhtanen, Olivier Laquerre, Meghan Lindsay, and Douglas Williams. The show opens October 31 and run until November 9. Single tickets will be available for purchase August 13 at Opera Atelier.
Oregon Bach Festival
Colin has been invited to make his debut at the Oregon Bach Festival performing in a number of concerts including Mozart’s Requiem with Jane Glover conducting, Berlioz’ Romeo and Juliet with John Nelson conducting, and C.P.E. Bach’s Magnificat with John Butt conducting. Details can be found at the Oregon Bach Festival.
New Recordings
A new recording of the music of Derek Holman has just been released! This new CD comprises of pieces written specifically for Colin Ainsworth as early as 2004 to most recently in 2012. A Lasting Spring (2004) and The Death of Orpheus (2005) were commissioned by and performed with the Aldeburgh Connection in their recital series. The second piece, The Death of Orpheus, was also performed at the Nikki Goldschmidt memorial concert given at Roy Thompson Hall. The most recent composition, A Play of Passion (2012) was requested by Mr. Ainsworth himself. Also on the disc, is the Variations on a Melody by Doctor Arne (1999) for two pianos featuring Bruce Ubukata and Stephen Ralls.
Now on YouTube
Hear Colin on YouTube singing Britten’s Sally Gardens, Holman’s The Burning of the Leaves, Liszt’s Benedetto sia ‘l giorno, Gluck’s Orphée et Euridice, Schubert’s Am Feierabend and Das Wandern. Also, hear Colin belt out the American and Canadian National Anthems at the Edmonton Oilers - Nashville Predators hockey game.
