One of the most commanding and exciting singers of his generation, French-Canadian bass Alain Coulombe has been enjoying an international singing career for over thirty years. He has collaborated with outstanding conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Kent Nagano, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Richard Bradshaw, Helmut Rilling, Bernard Labadie, Alain Altinoglu, Jacques Lacombe, Ingo Metzmacher and Richard Bonynge.
Highlights from recent opera seasons include Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni at the Salzburg Festival, Der Doktor in Wozzeck and Archangel Uriel in the world premiere of CO2 at Il Teatro alla Scala, Clark Gable in the world premiere of Waiting for Miss Monroe and Geronte di Ravoir in Manon Lescaut at De Nationale Opera, Amsterdam, as well as Bishop Taché in Louis Riel at the Canadian Opera Company, le Festival d’opéra de Québec and the National Arts Centre. He was also Oroveso in Norma and Frère Laurentin Roméo et Juliette at the Calgary Opera, Merlinin Kopernikus and Arkel in Pelléas et Mélisande at Against the Grain Theatre, Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette and José Tripaldi in Ainadamar at l’Opéra de Montréal, Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni at l’Opéra de Québec, as well as Timurin the Vancouver Opera production of Turandot.
Recently in concert, he was Don Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia at l’Opéra de Québec, as well as bass soloist in the world premiere of Paul Frehner’s L.E.X. with Soundstreams, in a Tribute Concert to bass Joseph Rouleau at Le Domaine Forget and in the Gala L’Opéra Français en Fête at Le Festival d’opéra de Québec. Bass soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with l’Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, as well as in Mozart’s Requiem at the Festival Music And Beyond, Alain was Zuniga in Carmen with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, The Gravediggerin Schumann’s Der Rose Pilgerfahrt Op.112 at Le Festival de Musique de Lanaudière and Le Père de Famillein Berlioz’s L’Enfance du Christ with the National Orchestra of Spain, Pax Christi Chorale, the Boston Symphony and the Dresdner Philarmonie.
On DVD, he is Phinée in the EuroArts production of Lully’s Persée and Masettoin the film Don Giovanni Unmasked by Rhombus Media. On disc, he is Clark Gable in Robin de Raaff’s Waiting for Miss Monroe for Challenge Classics, Sam Jarvis Senior in Harry Somers’ Serinette, and the bass soloist in Somers’ The Death of Enkidu and Chura Churum for Centrediscs Records.
This season, he is Gaston in the world premiere of Messe Solennelle pour une pleine lune d’été by Michel Tremblay and Christian Thomas at le Festival d’opéra de Québec, l’Assistant de Descartes in the world premiere of La Reine Garçon by Michel Marc Bouchard and Julien Bilodeau at l’Opéra de Montréal, Zuniga in Carmen at the Vancouver Opera and in concert with l’Orchestre Philarmonique et Choeur des Mélomanes. Next season, he will be Le Spectre du roi défunt in Hamlet at l’Opéra de Montréal, l’Assistant de Descartes in La Reine Garçon at the Canadian Opera Company and Simone in Gianni Schicchi at the Calgary Opera.
An esteemed Canadian artist, in 2023 Alain Coulombe was a nominee for the prestigious Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award by the Ontario Arts Council for the importance and the longevity of his singing career in Canada and abroad.
APRIL 2024
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