Canadian tenor Colin Ainsworth has built a career defined by versatility and dramatic presence, captivating audiences with repertoire ranging from the Baroque to the present day. His performances have taken him to the stages of the Royal Opera House, Canadian Opera Company, Glimmerglass Opera, the Greek National Opera, Teatro Nacional São Carlos, and Seattle Opera, as well as Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (San Francisco), and Carnegie Hall.

This season, Colin returned to the Vancouver Bach Choir for Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, the Grand Philharmonic Choir for Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, and both the Elmer Iseler Singers and Guelph Chamber Choir for Handel’s Messiah. He debuted in New Zealand with the ADAM International Chamber Music Festival Nelson, presenting six programs alongside artists including pianist Jeremy Denk and the New Zealand String Quartet. A frequent collaborator of Toronto’s Opera Atelier, Colin appeared as Tamino in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, after critical acclaim in the titular role of Charpentier’s David and Jonathan with the company last season. Additionally, he joined the Vancouver Symphony, and the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, debuting with Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem respectively.

Upcoming, Colin returns to the Canadian Opera Company for the world premiere of Ian Cusson’s Empire of Wild. On the concert stage, he returns to Chicago’s Music of the Baroque, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, and joins Montréal’s Ensemble Caprice.

Recent season highlights include Handel’s Messiah with Dame Jane Glover and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, recitals in Ottawa, Victoria, and Vancouver, Alceste with Toronto’s VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert, and the recording release of Jeffrey Ryan’s Afghanistan: Requiem for a Generation with the Vancouver Symphony.

In recent seasons, Colin has performed the titular roles of Idomeneo, Orphée et Euridice, Pygmalion, Castor et Pollux, Roberto Devereux and Albert Herring; as well as Steuermann in Der fliegende Holländer; Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Fenton in Falstaff, Alfredo in La Traviata, Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Admète in Alceste, and Lensky in Eugene Onegin. An avid supporter of new works, he has appeared in the world premieres of John Estacio’s Lillian Alling (Vancouver Opera), Stuart MacRae’s The Assassin Tree (Edinburgh International Festival), Victor Davies’ The Transit of Venus, and Rufus Wainwright’s Prima Donna (Sadler’s Wells, Luminato Festival).

As a prolific concert singer, Mr. Ainsworth has appeared with the Cincinnati Symphony, Ensemble Pygmalion, Vancouver Symphony, Calgary Symphony, Music of the Baroque (Chicago), Les Violons du Roy, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Orchestre Métropolitain, the Grand Philharmonic Choir, and Rhode Island Philharmonic. He has also appeared at Festival de Lanaudière, the Oregon Bach Festival, and the Göttingen Handel Festival. His vast concert and recital repertoire includes Bach’s Mass in B Minor, St. Matthew Passion, St. John’s Passion, Handel’s Messiah, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Mozart’s Requiem, Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin and Janácek’s Diary of One Who Vanished. He has had the pleasure of singing under the batons of Dame Jane Glover, Bernard Labadie, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Leon Botstein, Jeffrey Kahane, John Nelson, Nicholas McGegan, and Leonard Slatkin.

Mr. Ainsworth’s growing discography includes Vivaldi’s La Griselda (Naxos), Castor et Pollux (Naxos), Schubert Among Friends (Marquis Classics), Gloria in Excelsis Deo with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra (CBC Records), the collected masses of Vanhal, Haydn, and Cherubini with Nicholas McGegan (Naxos), and the première recording of Derek Holman’s The Heart Mislaid which was included on the Aldeburgh Connection’s Our Own Songs (Marquis Classics). His second recording featuring the music of Derek Holman, A Play of Passion, features music written for him with Stephen Ralls and Bruce Ubukata on piano. He also appears in a live DVD recording of Lully’s Persée with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra (Euroarts) and has been invited twice to guest host on CBC Radio 2’s program, This is my music.

April 2026

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