Out of a pool of 120 aspiring opera singers from across the country, eight were selected to compete at Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition on November 3, 2015, our annual celebration of the next generation of opera stars selected from nationwide auditions for the COC Ensemble Studio—Canada’s premier training program for young opera professionals. The competition features the young singers vying for cash prizes ranging in value from $1,500 to $5,000. We interviewed our eight young finalists to learn more—check out all of the interviews, linked by name as they become available, here (or here if on a mobile device). 

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Halifax native and baritone Zachary Read is currently a member of Vancouver Opera’s Yulanda M. Faris Young Artist Program, and he studied opera at the University of Toronto (UofT) and Western University. His credits include Marullo in Rigoletto, Jonas Fogg in Sweeney Todd, Le Podestat in Le Docteur Miracle, Ivan in Die Fledermaus, and Morales in Carmen (Vancouver Opera); Sid in Albert Herring and Malatesta in Don Pasquale (UofT Opera); and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte (Accademia Europea dell’Opera). Mr. Read was a Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions regional finalist and won the District People’s Choice Award. He was also a semi-finalist in the 2015 Lotte Lenya Competition. Upcoming roles include Prince Yamadori and Imperial Commissioner in Vancouver Opera’s Madama Butterfly. 

Three Things about Zachary Read 

Why opera? How did you come to be an opera singer and what do you find so compelling about the art form?

I grew up playing and singing Scottish, Irish, and folk music. I had not been exposed much to opera before going to university, but knew that I wanted to improve my singing and songwriting. I decided to pursue a vocal performance degree at the University of Western Ontario, where I learned a lot about the operatic repertoire and was very intrigued by how a human voice could make such a glorious sound. Once I learned more about the French, German, and Italian languages, I was able to appreciate the poetry and storytelling that inspires these great works. 

There are many reasons why I think this art form is so intriguing: how composers marry text to music and the way both of those elements influence one another, the sound and colours possible in the voice and orchestra, and the immediacy of creating live theatre in front of an audience, to name a few.

What are your hobbies, interests, other projects, outside of opera?

Another passion I have in my life is playing the Scottish Highland Bagpipes. I am currently a member of the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band (six-time world champions) and will be traveling with the band to compete at the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow this summer. 

I also love entertaining and cooking for friends and family, single-malt whisky, and University of Michigan football.

Do you have a dream role?  What is it?

There are so many roles I would love to perform. It would be hard to pick one. The Verdi baritone roles are ones I would dearly love to grow into someday, but for the nearer future, I would say my top “dream” roles would be Valentin in Gounod’s Faust, Figaro in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, and Marcello in Puccini’s La Bohème.

 

Follow Zachary on Twitter at @ZakRead

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For more information and to purchase tickets, visit COCCentreStage.ca, call COC Ticket Services at 416-363-8231 or visit the Four Seasons Centre Box Office (145 Queen St. W.).

To buy competition tickets, click here.
To buy Under 30 competition tickets sponsored by TD, click here.
For more information about the the Centre Stage Dinner event and how to purchase tickets, please contact the PC Office at 416-363-5801