+++
date = "2016-08-30T11:43:00+01:00"
discipline = "Tenor"
lastmod = "2016-08-30T11:43:00+01:00"
primary_image = "https://res.cloudinary.com/schmopera/image/upload/v1545409169/media/webhook-uploads/1472553734019/2016-08-30---Steven-Cole.jpg.jpg"
publishDate = "2016-08-30T11:43:00+01:00"
related_companies = ["scene/companies/opra-national-de-paris.md","scene/companies/canadian-opera-company.md","scene/companies/gran-teatre-del-liceu.md","scene/companies/lyric-opera-of-chicago.md","scene/companies/san-francisco-opera.md","scene/companies/seattle-opera.md","scene/companies/lyric-opera-of-kansas-city.md","scene/companies/houston-grand-opera.md","scene/companies/washington-national-opera.md","scene/companies/salzburg-festival.md"]
slug = "steven-cole"
title = "Steven Cole"
+++

Internationally acclaimed American character tenor Steven Cole made his professional debut singing Monsieur Triquet in *Eugene Onegin* with the Boston Symphony under Seiji Ozawa at Tanglewood. Specializing in character tenor roles, he has a remarkably varied repertoire with more than 70 roles from Monteverdi to Ligeti.

Mr. Cole’s recent seasons exemplify his extraordinary versatility: Don Buscone in *Veremonda* with the Spoleto Festival USA, performances as the narrator in a world premiere of Chris Theofanidis’s *Creation/Creator* with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Goro in *Madama Butterfly* and the ‘Abbé de Chazeuil’ in *Adriana Lecouvreur* with Opéra de Nice, Nick in *La Fanciulla del West* with the San Francisco Opera, the four valets in *The Tales of Hoffmann* with Edmonton Opera and the Canadian Opera Company, the three tenor roles in *L’enfant et les Sortilèges* with Théâtre de Caen, Sportin’ Life in *Porgy and Bes*’ with the Cincinnati Opera, and Monostatos in *Die Zauberflöte* at the Théatre Champs Elysées in Paris.

Mr. Cole made his Metropolitan Opera debut as the Tanzmeister in *Ariadne auf Naxos* under James Levine. He has sung with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony and performed Janacek’s *From the House of the Dead* with Rafael Kubelik conducting the New York Philharmonic. During the course of his career, he has returned many times to the San Francisco Opera (*Die Zauberflöte'*, *A Midsummer Night’s Dream*, *Boris Godunov*, *Khovanshchina* and *La fanciulla del West*), and has performed with Canadian Opera, Houston, Washington, Chicago Lyric, and Seattle Opera. 

Mr. Cole performs regularly in Europe, especially in France and Switzerland (*Le Figaro*, Paris: “Ah, if French singers pronounced like him, we would not need surtitles in our theatres.”)

He has performed with the Opéra National de Paris (most recently *Billy Budd*), the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, the Opéra Comique, the opera companies of Lyon, Nice, Marseille, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Nantes, Nancy, Geneva, and Lausanne. He has performed at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, where he has recorded two productions for the ERATO Label: *Die Zauberflöte* under William Christie and *The Rake’s Progress* under Kent Nagano. Mr. Cole’s performance of *Orphée aux enfers* under the musical direction of Marc Minkowksi was recorded for EMI.

Mr. Cole has a particular interest in contemporary repertoire, having participated in the world premieres of Jean Prodromides *La noche triste*, Gavin Bryar’s *Medea*, and the revised version of Györgi Ligeti’s *Le grand macabre* in a production by Peter Sellars at the Salzburg Festival under the direction of Esa-Pekka Salonen (recorded by Sony Classical). Mr. Cole has also been heard in Berg’s *Lulu*, *Boulevard Solitude* by Hans Werner Henze and in Carlisle Floyd’s *Susannah*, the latter recorded under Kent Nagano for Virgin records. He has also collaborated with baroque specialists like Michel Corboz (*Orfeo*, *Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria*, *L’incoronazione di Poppea*), and René Jacobs (Cesti’s *L’argia* and recently, Cavalli’s *La Calisto* at the Salzburg Festival).
