Tobias Cole

Counter Tenor

Tobias Cole, Artistic Director of Canberra Choral Society and Distinguished Artist in Residence at the Australian National University, is one of Australia’s most successful counter-tenors, having performed throughout Australia, the UK and USA.

After winning the Metropolitan Opera Young Artist Study Award, spending three months studying in New York at The Metropolitan, Tobias made his U.S. debut in 2004 playing Ottone in (L’Incoronazione di Poppea), returning to sing Apollo in (Death in Venice) and Oberon in (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) all for the Chicago Opera Theater.

He has sung with West Australian Opera (Orlando), Opera Queensland (Julius Caesar), The Renaissance Players, The Song Company, Kent Opera (Masque of Dioclesian), Australian Ballet (Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater), at Sydney and Melbourne Festivals Shaun Parker’s “This Show is About People”, London Handel Festival (Deidamia) with director Keith Warner and with the English Bach Festival (The Fairy Queen).

Highlight performances include the title role in Julius Caesar,  Medoro (Orlando), Oberon (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Mozart Anniversary Concerts for Opera Australia; the title role in Xerxes (Handel)  for NZ Opera and Victorian Opera (winning a Green Room Award); Studz in Alan John’s How to Kill Your Husband for Victorian Opera; Roberto (Griselda) and Athamas (Semele) for Pinchgut Opera; La Speranza and Pastore 3 in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo with Australian Brandenburg Orchestra; Carmina Burana for West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Queensland Music Festival; Messiah and St. John Passion with Queensland Symphony Orchestra; Dr Who Symphonic Spectacular with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; Dido and Aeneas and John Adams’ El Ñino with Sydney Philharmonia, and Bach’s B minor Mass at the Canberra International Music Festival.

Recent engagements have included the Lycanthropy Aria from Torsten Rasch’s The Duchess of Malfi with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, title role in Philip Glass’ Akhnaten for State Opera of South Australia, the title role in the Australian premiere of Handel’s Alexander Balus with Canberra Choral Society, Bach Mass in B minor  for The Song Company and at Woodend Winter Arts Festival , a staged version of St Matthew Passion (Opera Queensland), Didymus in Handel’s Theodora (Canberra Choral Society), Carmina Burana (Canberra Symphony Orchestra) and Handel’s Messiah (Canberra Choral Society and Collegium Symphonic Chorus Perth), as well as appearances at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music.

In 2015 Tobias will return to West Australian Symphony Orchestra to perform Carmina Burana, The Canberra International Music Festival in their Bach on Sunday and Russian Masters concerts, and to Canberra Choral Society as Lychas in Handel’s Hercules.