Paul Gay Bass baritone

Season 23/24 Artist

After earning first prize at the Conservatoire national de musique in Paris and studying with Kurt Moll in Cologne, Paul Gay made his debut in Germany. He then performed in Geneva (Colline in La Bohème), Frankfurt (Leporello in Don Giovanni), and Liège (Ferrando in Il Trovatore). He has worked in close collaboration with the Lyon Opera performing the roles of Basilio (Barber of Seville), Alidoro (La Cenerentola), Collatinus (The Rape of Lucrecia), Colline (La Bohème), Rangoni (Boris Godunov) and Golaud (Pelléas et Mélisande). In 2004, he made his debut at the Glyndebourne Festival as Garibaldo (Rodelinda) and he was nominated in the best newcomer category (“Révélation de l’Année”) at the French music awards the Victoires de la Musique.

He sang the role of Klingsor (Parsifal) for the first time in Frankfurt, the Music Master (Ariadne auf Naxos) in Lyon, and he performed in L’Enfance du Christ in Moscow under the direction of Vladimir Fedoseyev then at the Monnaie in Brussels. He has also performed the roles of the King (Le Roi d’Ys), and Frère Laurent (Roméo et Juliette) in Toulon, Mephistopheles (Faust) in Bordeaux, the Athlete (Lulu) in Madrid, Escamillo (Carmen) in Toronto, Don Estoban (Der Zwerg de Zemlinsky), the title role in Saint François d’Assise and Lorenzo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) in Munich, the Marquis de La Force (Dialogues des carmélites) and Palémon (Thaïs) in Avignon, the title role of Don Giovanni in Berne, Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress) in Saint-Étienne, Don Inigo (L'Heure espagnole) in Glyndebourne, Golaud in Frankfurt, Brussels and the Auditorium in Turin, Don Alfonso (Lucrezia Borgia) at the Monnaie in Brussels, Nilakhanta (Lakmé) at the Opéra-Comique, Bluebeard (Bluebeard’s Castle) in Bordeaux, Maurice Koch (in the world premiere of Régis Campo’s Quai Ouest at the Opéra du Rhin, the Minotaur (in Martinů’s Ariane) at the Berliner Philharmoniker, Philippe II (Don Carlos) at the Gars am Kamp Festival in Austria, and Don Pedro (Béatrice et Bénédict) at the Matsumoto Festival in Japan. He has made frequent guest appearances at the Paris Opera, notably in the roles of Kolenaty (The Markopoulos Affair), the Monk (Don Carlos), Harasta (The Cunning Little Vixen), Don Fernando (Fidelio), Roi Ignace (Yvonne, Princesse de Bourgogne), Mr. Flint (Billy Budd), Mephistopheles (Faust), Comte Des Grieux (Manon), Capellio (I Capuleti e i Montecchi), Golaud, and Don Diègue (Le Cid).

Projects:
Frère Laurent at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, and Colline at the Liceu in Barcelona.