Monday Magazine, Ian Cochran
Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress
“Lyrical tenor Colin Ainsworth’s Tom Rakewell maintains a glimmer of his callowness even as he descends into debauchery and madness.”
November 15, 2009
Victoria Times Colonist, Kevin Bazzana
Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress
“The clear, articulate voice and boy-next-door quality that made the tenor Colin Ainsworth so appealing as Tamino in The Magic Flute last season are also well suited to the role of Tom Rakewell, and as an actor Ainsworth is convincing and affecting at every stage of the duped, doomed hero’s ‘progress’.”
November 14, 2009
International Opera Review, Bernard Jacobson
Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress
“…in Colin Ainsworth’s Tom Rakewell we were treated to a tenor who confounds our expectations of the type by being tall, slim, and intelligent.”
November 14, 2009
The Globe and Mail, Elissa Poole
Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress
“Tenor Colin Ainsworth is an affecting Tom.”
June 15, 2009
Straight.com, Lloyd Dykk
Orff’s Carmina Burana
“Everything is memorable about this joyously bewildering collection, which says only that life is a matter of luck and change, but two sections are especially so: “Olim lacus colueram” (“Once I Lived on Lakes”), a swan song performed by the excellent tenor Colin Ainsworth in slightly strangulated tones, as the bird laments the end of its freedom while turning on a spit…”
April 18, 2009
Review Vancouver, John Jane
Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte
“Colin Ainsworth leads the talented cast as the intrepid hero, Tamino, who is given a magic flute as a gift that, when played, can render fierce creatures to be tractable and playful. Ainsworth puts his fine lyric tenor to its best singing Dies bildnis ist bezaubernd schön early in the first act. His tender delivery set a tone of easy authority throughout the evening.”
Times Colonist, Kevin Bazzana
“Colin Ainsworth's Tamino, a pink-cheeked, open-hearted boy next door, is winning and believable.”
Summer 2009
Opera Canada, Bill Rankin
Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles
“In fine voice, Ainsworth’s ‘Je crois entendre encore’ had everything opera lovers delight in – a beautiful melody sung with exquisite control and emotional directness.”
February 9, 2009
Edmonton Journal, Elizabeth Withey
Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment
“Toronto-area tenor Colin Ainsworth, who played the besotted Tonio, earned his operatic stripes on Saturday with an early aria featuring – yowzers – nine high Cs. He nailed them, though, and the dapper Ainsworth even made it look fun. The audience of 1,850 rewarded him with heartfelt applause.”
December 8, 2008
The Globe and Mail, Ken Winters
Handel’s Messiah
“Colin Ainsworth was quite marvellous in all he sang. From his serene opening recitative, Comfort ye my people, to his passionate and convincing great succession of recitatives and arias beginning Thy rebuke hath broken His heart, to the ferocity of his aria Thou shalt break them, he sang with real distinction. I doubt you'd hear better anywhere, with his perfect enunciation, his sound at once lyrical and virile, and his spot-on coloratura.”
November 1, 2008
Hamilton Spectator, Leonard Turnevicius
Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte
“Colin Ainsworth was a lyric Prince Tamino, firm, yet graceful”
October 3, 2008
Classical 96.3, Paula Citron
Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux
“Tenor Colin Ainsworth was Roberto and there are intriguing changes in his voice. Long known as a haute-contre, he is developing a strong middle which means his high notes might be taking a beating until the voice settles. Nonetheless, his phrasing was exquisite and clearly a new repertoire is opening.”
September 16, 2008
San Francisco Classical Voice, Georgia Rowe
Rameau’s Pygmalion
“In his Bay Area debut, Colin Ainsworth impressed as a Pygmalion of remarkable strength and agility. The Canadian tenor sang "Fatal Amour" with firm, ringing tone and ardent phrasing. His large voice was always audible, yet his soft singing was just as clear. In his concluding ariette, "Regne, Amour" (Reign, love), the juiciest line, "Epuise ton carquois" (Empty your quiver), was both softly floated and pointedly direct.”
San Francisco Chronicle, Joshua Kosman
“The singing in both pieces was first-rate and alert to the respective stylistic demands of the two
composers. Colin Ainsworth brought a bright, beautifully articulated tenor to the Arne, then darkened and deepened it as Pygmalion.”
July 21, 2008
The Globe and Mail, Ken Winters
Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin
“Ainsworth’s voice, a finely focused lyric tenor firm and steady throughout its range, is ideally suited to the work. His enunciation of Wilhelm Muller’s text was a model of clarity…his vocal technique encompassed every note of the score with ease.”
July 21, 2008
The Record, Stephen Preece
Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin
“The most immediate impression was Ainsworth’s striking physical appearance –with his long blond hair and broad smile – though as the music began, it was all about his wonderfully engaging vocal talent. The wildly expansive piece tested the full range of vocal expression, from the most tender, achingly-wistful sigh, to the full-throttle gesticulation of giddy glee; Ainsworth conquered all with confident technique, tone and temperament.”
May 2008
BBC Music Magazine, Nicolas Anderson
CD Review of Vivaldi’s Griselda
“…it is Marion Newman in the title role and Colin Ainsworth’s Ottone, rejected lover of Griselda, who steal the show for me.”
May 8, 2008
The Toronto Star, John Terauds
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Haydn Missa Cellensis & Mozart Requiem
“Colin Ainsworth with his exceptional expressivity.”
May 10, 2008
The Globe and Mail, Colin Eatock
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Haydn Missa Cellensis & Mozart Requiem
“The best singers in the quartet were Mercer and Ainsworth. Both have bright voices, with fine intonation and an impressive palette of vocal colours at their disposal.”
2008
CD Review, Brigitte Cormier
Vivaldi’s Griselda
“Le ténor Colins Ainsworth (Ottone) est doté d’une bonne diction. Sa ligne de chant bien tenue rend son interprétation assez convaincante.”
December 2007
Vancouver Sun
Vancouver Bach Choir, Handel’s Messiah
“Ainsworth, with the bulk of recitatives, the bearer of news, was heraldic and clear, making the darkness in "[Thy rebuke hath broken his heart]" seem palpable, and giving virulence to the aria, ‘Thou shalt break them’.”
June 3, 2007
Review Vancouver
Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, J H Stape
“Colin Ainsworth's beautiful light and honey-coloured tenor was a revelation”
April 2007
The Globe and Mail, Colin Eatock
Gluck’s Orphée et Euridice
“Central to any staging of the Orpheus myth – especially Gluck’s 1774 version, created for the greatest tenor in Paris – is a character who must literally sing his way in and out of Hell. Happily, Opera Atelier has a firm foundation for its production in Colin Ainsworth. This young Canadian tenor proved himself entirely equal to the taxing role of Orpheus: in the aria [L’espoir renâit dans mon âme] – a fiendishly difficult vocal marathon – he displayed rock-solid technique, excellent diction, and a virile tone…Ainsworth looked every inch the part…Ainsworth was consistently simpatico with conductor Andrew Parrott. In the aria J’ai perdu mon Eurydice, they charted a course through shifts in tempo and dynamics that wrung every drop of emotion from this famous lament.”
April 2007
Toronto Star, John Terauds
Gluck’s Orphée et Euridice
“Tenor Colin Ainsworth is Orpheus incarnate, his high, lyric voice doing justice to the different vocal role. His magnetic stage presence was the ideal embodiment of a romantic lead.”
November 2006
Toronto Star, John Terauds
Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte
“Handsome tenor Colin Ainsworth is every inch the prince, and his lyric voice is a golden treasure.”
November 2006
The Globe and Mail, Ken Winters
Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte
“Much of the singing was excellent, beginning with Ainsworth, one of the few singers-in-English whose words are discernible.”
2006
The London Independent, Raymond Monelle
“His successor - another tenor, Colin Ainsworth, firm and commanding - kills the king by a ruse, until the final terrible denouement, which I will follow the programme-note in concealing.”
Fall 2006
Opera Canada
MacRae’s The Assassin Tree
“Tenor Colin Ainsworth (the Youth) also did a fine job, displaying a firmly supported sound and excellent diction.”
December 2005
The Globe and Mail, Ken Winters
Elmer Iseler Messiah
“Tenor Colin Ainsworth was similarly alive to the Handelian discourse, with gleaming clarity of enunciation and a dramatic intensity”
November 2004
Toronto Star, William Littler
Opera Atelier, Mozart’s Don Giovanni
“…mellifluous Ottavio”