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The Canadian tenor, Ryan Downey, obtained his Bachelor's degree from Memorial University, Newfoundland and Labrador (September 2009-April 2013); and his Masters of Music degree from the Opera School of the University of Toronto (September 2013-April 2015), where he studied with Dr. Darryl Edwards. He is a proud alumnus of the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy, Highlands Opera Studio and Halifax Summer Opera Workshop summer programs. He joined a major Canadian young artist program for the 2016-2017 season. He has been quite active on the competition scene in Ontario. In the Ontario NATS 2013 Competition, he took home honours as the Most Promising Singer as well as the Best Graduate Level/Young Professional Singer. He also won the 2013 Kitchener Waterloo Chamber Orchestra Concerto Competition, debuting with the ensemble as prize-winner in May 2014. He has been honoured and humbled to be supported by the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council as a recipient of a 2013 Project Grant, as well as by generous donors through University of Toronto’s Opera Division and Memorial University.
Ryan Downey made a number of notable debuts; the first being onstage at the Place des Arts Salle Wilfred Pelletier as a finalist in the Opéra de Montréal’s Atelier Lyrique competition and secondly with Toronto Operetta Theatre as Corcoran in HMS Pinafore. He was busy preparing for J.S. Bach's Oster-Oratorium BWV 249 in Toronto, a program of arias with the Timmins Symphony Orchestra and a recital at the Toronto Arts and Letters club in early 2016. Later in 2016, he sang in the premiere of John Estacio's Ours with Opera on the Avalon.
Recent credits include Corcoran in HMS Pinafore and the Lyric Tenor in Postcard from Morocco, both with U of T Opera as well as Edward/Georgie (Opera on the Avalon Ours workshop), Arbace in W.A. Mozart's Idomeneo and Basilio/Curzio in W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Soldier 1 in Andrew Ager’s Führerbunker; select credits as a lyric baritone include Mr. Gedge in Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Dancairo in Georges Bizet's Carmen, Schaunard in La boheme, Sciarrone in Tosca, Guglielmo in W.A. Mozart's Così fan tutte, Count Almaviva in W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, Marquis de la Force in Francis Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites.
Ryan Downey is also an eager concert singer, having performed George Frideric Handel's Messiah, W.A. Mozart's Requiem, Schubert’s Mass in G, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and excerpts from Rossini’s Stabat Mater, J.S. Bach's Magnificat in D major BWV 243, and Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah.
In addition to performing as an opera and concert tenor, Ryan Downey is also a Digital Marketing Specialist and Market Researcher. He currently lives in Toronto, Ontario |
