Biography v Highlights of 2006-2007

As Calaf in Turandot (COC)
"Richard Margison [gave] a superbly confident rendition of 'Nessun dorma.' Few are the tenors who can walk easily in Luciano Pavarotti's footsteps in this aria. Toronto's Richard Margison happens to be one of them." (Toronto Star)

As Florestan in Fidelio (Seattle Opera)
"When Richard Margison...opened the second act, the opera seemed to come alive with his sweet, beautiful singing. No leathery tenor here. Everything he did had impact and purpose. The evening marked his stage debut in the role. He will excel in it." (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

As Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos (Metropolitan Opera)
"This dramatic tenor role, with its punishing tessitura, was sung with impressive confidence by Richard Margison." (New York Times)

One of the most critically acclaimed singers on the international stage today, Canadian tenor Richard Margison has performed in many of the world's leading opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, the Vienna Staatsoper, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the San Francisco Opera, the Théâtre Royale de la Monnaie in Brussels, Covent Garden, the Sydney Opera and the Netherlands Opera.

Verdi, Wagner, Beethoven and Strauss all feature on Richard Margison's 2007-2008 calendar in addition to two reprisals of Lorin Maazel's recent opera 1984. He begins the season as Ricccardo in Verdi's great masterpiece Un Ballo in Maschera with l'Opéra de Montréal before travelling to Spain for the premiere of 1984 in Valencia and Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer in Seville. In the spring he returns to Vancouver in his critically acclaimed role of Florestan in Beethoven's Fidelio and returns to Europe for the La Scala premiere of Maazel's 1984 in Milan. June sees Richard back in Hamburg as Bacchus in Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos.

Future seasons will include a major new production of Die Meistersinger conducted by James Levine for the Cincinnati Opera in June 2010. Richard will take on the role of Walther von Stolzing.

Richard Margison's 2006-2007 featured performances as Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos and Canio in I Pagliacci, both for the Teatro Real in Madrid, Riccardo in Un Ballo in Maschera and a concert performances of Norma with Edita Gruberova in Hamburg. He also performed Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, the composer's farewell to the joy and beauty of the world, to a ballet choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan and performed for the National Ballet of Canada before returning to the Metropolitan Opera for one of his signature roles - Calaf in Turandot. In June Richard appeared in the Luna opera gala at Toronto's Luminato Festival opera gala in Toronto before taking on the role of Radamès in Verdi's Aida for the Cincinnati Opera.

Richard Margison's 2005-2006 season included performances as Enzo in La Gioconda in Barcelona, Riccardo in Un Ballo in Maschera at the ROH Covent Garden, a role he reprised in Cincinnati later in the season, Florestan at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and Radamès in the l'Opéra de Montréal's production of Aida.

The highlight of the 2004-2005 season was Richard Margison's performance as O'Brien in the Royal Opera House Covent Garden's premiere production of Lorin Maazel's 1984. In that same season, Richard also appeared as Manrico in Il Trovatore at Berlin's Deutsche Oper, Radamès at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Oviedo, Spain, in the title role in Don Carlo at the Metropolitan Opera and as Calaf in Barcelona.

Recent seasons have featured performances in the Washington Opera's production of Norma, productions of Turandot and Il Trovatore for the Canadian Opera Company, as Dick Johnson in La Fanciulla del West and Florestan in Fidelio for the Seattle Opera, and as Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos at the ROH Covent Garden as well as regular appearances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in Ariadne auf Naxos, Don Carlo, Aida, and Turandot. He also made a highly acclaimed appearance as Manrico in the San Francisco Opera production of Il Trovatore.

A much sought after concert artist, Mr. Margison took Toronto by storm in a concert at Roy Thomson Hall garnering such praise as "…it is an important experience to hear Margison live, simply to come into contact with the phsyical presence of the voice. It has both brass and beauty, and its power is so forceful and concentrated that you have to remind yourself that its source is a human throat…"(Globe and Mail). As well, he has appeared with with the Royal Philharmonic in London, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto Symphony Orchestras, the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and at the Ravinia Festival. He has also performed with Bryn Terfel at his opera gala at the Faenol Festival in Wales.

Recordings
Mr. Margison's most recent releases include an all-Verdi recording on CBC Records and the highly acclaimed recording of Beethoven's Fidelio with Christine Brewer on Chandos. He has also recorded Lanza (Warner Music), a recording made for the film on the life of Mario Lanza, in which he sings the title role. Other recordings include Verdi's Don Carlo with the Royal Opera House Orchestra and Chorus under the direction of Bernard Haitink (Philips) and Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Neeme Järvi (Deutsche Grammophon). He has made three recordings with Richard Bradshaw and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra: a solo album of French and Italian Arias (CBC Records), Rarities by Rossini and Verdi, with Gary Relyea (CBC Records) and Aria, une sélection de Radio-Canada with Anita Krause, Wendy Nielson and Gary Relyea (CBC Records). Richard Margison is also a featured artist on the Millennium Opera Gala recording released by CBC Records.

Honours and Benefit Work
Although Richard is in great demand on the great opera stages of the world, he gives generously of his time to support a number of causes. He has offered his talent at benefits in Chicago, for the Metropolitan Opera, Leukaemia Research (Ontario), LOFT Community housing (Toronto), the Children's Opera Chorus (Toronto), the Royal Conservatory of Music, and many others. He has been particularly active in his home province of British Columbia, in which he has raised more than two million dollars through benefit concerts including Victoria Symphony, Pacific Opera Victoria, the Victoria Conservatory of Music, Vancouver Symphony, Vancouver Opera and the Rotary Club.

Richard Margison was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2001 not only in honour of his contribution to musical life in Canada but in recognition of his presence on the international stage. He also holds Honorary Doctorates from the University of Victoria (DMus), University of British Columbia (D.Litt) and McMaster University (D.Litt).

He shares his home in Toronto, Canada with his wife, opera director Valerie Kuinka and his daughter Lauren, a budding opera singer.

HONOURS & RECOGNITION

Last Updated: January 22, 2008

© 2000 Moira Johnson Consulting, All Rights Reserved