Performance Year: 2018
French-Canadian bass-baritone Philippe Sly is already gaining international notoriety for his “beautiful, blooming tone and magnetic stage presence” (San Francisco Chronicle). Mr. Sly is the first prize winner of the prestigious 2012 Concours Musical International de Montréal and a grand prize winner of the 2011 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions singing the varied repertoire of Mozart, Bach, Handel, Stravinsky and Wagner. Recently, he was awarded Concert of the Year in Romantic, Post-Romantic and Impressionist Music at the 16th annual ceremony of the Prix Opus in Québec .
In the 2012 – 2013 season, Mr. Sly becomes a member of the prestigious Adler Fellowship Program at the San Francisco Opera where he will make his mainstage debut as Guglielmo in ‘Così fan tutte’ under music director Nicola Luisotti. On the concert stage, he will sing Mozart’s ‘Requiem’ with Pro Coro Canada in Edmonton, Haydn’s ‘Die Schöpfung’ in Montreal, Brahms’s ‘Ein deutsches Requiem’ with the Ottawa Bach Choir, Bach’s ‘Christmas Oratorio’ with the Ottawa Chamber Society, among others. In recital, he will tour Canada in recital with the Debut Atlantic Series and will be heard at the Toronto Summer Music Festival with pianist Julius Drake. Mr. Sly is a Révélation Radio-Canada artist for the 2012-2013 season.
After winning the MET National Council Auditions, Mr. Sly became a member of the ensemble at the Canadian Opera Company in the 2011 – 2012 season where he was seen as Hermann in ‘Les contes d’Hoffmann’, Amantio di Nicolai in a new production of ‘Gianni Schicchi’ directed by Catherine Malfitano and conducted by Andrew Davis, as well as A Scythian Man in ‘Iphigénie en Tauride’ alongside the Iphigénie of Susan Graham. In the summer of 2012, Mr. Sly joined the Young Singers Project at the Salzburg Festival where he made his Festival debut as Sithos in von Winter’s ‘Das Labyrinth’ under the baton of Ivor Bolton. He also sang Bach’s ‘St. John Passion’ with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under music director Kent Nagano and was soloist with the Malaysian Philharmonic in Kuala Lumpur in a concert of opera arias. As a recitalist, Mr. Sly performed with the Canadian Chamber Players in Ottawa and will perform in recital in Montreal, Paris, London, and The Hague.
Mr. Sly holds a Bachelor of Music degree in voice performance from McGill University’s Schulich School of Music in Montreal. He is also an alumnus of San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program where he performed the role of Dr. Barolo in ‘I barbiere di Siviglia’. His roles at McGill University include Marcello in ‘La bohème’ and Nick Shadow in ‘The Rake’s Progress’. A recording artist with Analekta Records, his first solo album entitled “In Dreams” was released in October 2012 to great critical acclaim. The album features works by Schumann, Ravel, Ropartz, and a new commission by Jonathan Dove.
