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The young French bass-baritone, Paul Gay received a first prize at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Paris, where he studied with Robert Dumé. He continued at the Hochschule in Cologne, perfecting his technique with Kurt Moll.
After being noted in 1996 as a finalist of the Queen Elisabeth Competition, Brussels Paul Gay gained his first experiences singing a range of roles in Germany as a company member in Osnabrück for instance Kécal in Smetana’s Bartered Bride, Colline in Puccini´s La Bohème and Walter in Verdi’s Luisa Miller or Don Quichotte by Massenet and Dr. Kolenaty in Janécek’s The Makropulos Case. This led to further engagements in Hannover, Münster and Detmold where he performed the title roles of Figaro and of Don Giovanni.
From 2000 to 2002 Paul Gay was a company principal at the Opéra National Lyon where he sang the roles of Alidoro, La Cenerentola conducted by Maestro Pidó, Collatinus in Britten's Rape of Lucretia, Basilio in Il Barbiere de Siviglia, and Colline in La Bohème, Rangoni in Boris Godounov, Le Bailli, Werther, and Sourine, Pique Dame. 2001 marked his debuts at both International Festivals in Aix en Provence and Edinburgh as the Speaker in The Magic Flute.
Last season (2001-2002), Paul Gay made a widely acclaimed debut as Golaud at the Opera de Lyon in the famous Peter Stein production. He also appeared at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera as Garibaldo/Rodelinda with Emmanuelle Haïm. He also sang at the Grand Theatre in Geneva as Colline, and in Frankfurt, where he was invited first for the role of The Athlete in Alban Berg's Lulu followed in spring 2004 by performances as Leporello, Don Giovanni. In recent past, he appeared with the Berliner Philharmoniker under the baton of Christie for Rameau’s Iindes Galantes and George Frideric Handel's Messiah.
2002-2003 season saw Paul Gay at the Opéra de Lille for G.F. Handel's Tamerlano under Emmanuelle Haïm and in Paris and Bordeaux for the same project. He sang the Athlete in Lulu and the Speaker in the Magic Flute at the Opéra National du Rhin. He also performed Gabriel Fauré's Requiem with the Orchestre National de Lyon conducted by Graeme Jenkins. In 2006 he will make his debut at the Bastille Opera in Martinu's Juliette.
Paul Gay recently recorded the role of Temrouk in Georges Bizet’s Ivan IV under conductor Michael Schonwandt with the Orchestre National de France (CD Naïve). |
