Gerald Finley Canadian operatic bass-baritone Date of Birth: 30.01.1960 Country: Canada

Content:

1. Biography of Gerald Finley
2. Early Career
3. Breakthrough and Career Highlights
4. Critical Acclaim and Discography

Biography of Gerald Finley

Early Life and Education

Gerald Finley, a Canadian operatic bass-baritone and one of the leading performers of his generation, is known for his unparalleled technique and impeccable diction. He was born on January 30, 1960, in Montreal, Canada. Finley began singing as a child soprano in the choir of St. Matthew's Anglican Church in Ottawa, under the direction of conductor and organist Brian Law. His family moved to Ottawa in 1968, anticipating the exodus of the English-speaking population from Quebec ten years later after the adoption of the French Language Charter.

Early Career

After his voice broke, Finley joined the Ottawa Youth Choir and also sang with the Ontario Youth Choir, the Cantata Singers, the Ottawa Choral Society, and the National Arts Centre Choir. Sir William McKie, an Australian conductor and composer who occasionally served as an organist at Westminster Abbey and happened to be Finley's great-uncle, convinced him to continue pursuing music. Finley studied at the University of Ottawa for a while before moving to the UK in 1979 to study choral music at King's College, Cambridge. Following his time at Cambridge, Finley studied at the Royal College of Music in London and joined the chorus of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1986. In 1988, he transitioned from the chorus to performing smaller roles and was awarded a grant to participate in a year-long training program at the National Opera Studio. He also studied with Armen Boyajian in New York City.

Breakthrough and Career Highlights

Glyndebourne proved to be a turning point in Finley's career. He received the John Christie Award and made his debut there as Sid in Benjamin Britten's opera Albert Herring. Finley is particularly renowned for his interpretations of Mozart's roles, including Figaro, Papageno, Guglielmo, and Don Giovanni. In 1989, conductor Roger Norrington offered Finley the role of Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, which became a breakthrough for him. He debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on January 24, 1998. He went on to perform Don Giovanni and Marcello in La bohème at the Metropolitan Opera. In addition to his successes with Mozart's operas, Finley frequently performs works by contemporary composers and has participated in several world and American premieres. He was the first performer of the role of Doctor Oppenheimer in John Adams' opera Doctor Atomic at the San Francisco Opera on October 1, 2005. Three years later, on October 13, 2008, the opera premiered at the Metropolitan Opera, once again featuring Finley in the lead role. He was also the first performer of the main role in Fantastic Mr. Fox by Tobias Picker at the Los Angeles Opera.

Critical Acclaim and Discography

Critics highly regard Finley as both an operatic and concert performer. He has recently added the role of Eugene Onegin in Tchaikovsky's opera to his repertoire at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. This was the second time he performed a Tchaikovsky role at Covent Garden, having previously sung the role of Yeletsky in The Queen of Spades. In 2011, he portrayed Hans Sachs in the Glyndebourne production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Gerald Finley is an avid recording artist and has released several solo albums on the Hyperion label.

Bass-baritone

James Morris	Justino Diaz	Jose Van Dam
Michael Devlin	William Dooley	Poll Robeson