“There were no brakes here on Ainsworth as he disgorged a virtuoso series of scales, trills, and breath-defying virtuosity in his prayer to Venus...”
Ludwig van Toronto, Steven Bonfield
“As David, he delivered clarion tone, secure and beautiful throughout its range. His diction is pristine, making the surtitle translations almost superfluous. He moves with confidence and unabashedly inhabits his conflicted character who embodies heroism, loyalty, love and grief.”
Gianmarco Segato, La Scena Musicale
“Ainsworth delivers an extended monster aria of coloratura and awesome high notes, seemingly without a drop of sweat.”
Schmopera, Jenna Simonov
“...tenor Colin Ainsworth dons the role of the reluctantly heroic Tamino in such a way that it’s hard to believe it wasn’t tailor-made for him…”
The Toronto Sun, John Coulbourn
“Ainsworth’s instrument is seriously robust with an enormous reach but there is a delicacy, a fine-tooled exquisiteness much in evidence here, too.”
Opera Going Toronto, Ian Ritchie
“As Olga’s fiancé, the impetuous poet Lensky, Colin Ainsworth’s tenor is as clear and warm as a sunny August day”
THE SEATTLE TIMES
Known for his “exquisite control and emotional directness,” Colin Ainsworth has built a versatile and compelling career performing both the iconic roles of Classical and Baroque opera and bringing new contemporary works to life, while continuing to expand into the repertoire of the 19th and 20th centuries. Renowned for his stage presence and impeccable diction, he has performed over fifty roles spanning from Renaud in Lully’s Armide to Steuermann in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer. As a prolific concert singer, Mr. Ainsworth has appeared with the Cincinnati Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Pygmalion, Vancouver Symphony, Calgary Symphony, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra of San Francisco, Music of the Baroque, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Göttingen Handel Festival, Mercury Baroque, Les Violons du Roy, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Orchestre Métropolitain, the Grand Philharmonic Choir, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and at Carnegie Hall. Over his career, he has worked under the baton of some of the most influential conductors of our time, including Dame Jane Glover, Jeffrey Kahane, Bernard Labadie, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jonathan Darlington, Leonard Slatkin, Leon Botstein, John Nelson, and Nicholas McGegan.
