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The Scottish tenor, Iain Paton, tudied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He won the first Eric Vertier Award at Glyndebourne.
Subsequently Iain Paton appeared in Australia, New Zealand and Norway singing the Lloyd Webber's Requiem; with the Scottish Early Music Consort in Northern Ireland, Germany and Poland; and in Zaide with the City of Birmingham Touring Opera. For Scottish Opera he has sung Pedrillo in Die Entführung, Janek in Makropoulos Case, The Novice in Billy Budd, Vanya in Katya Kabanova, Tamino in Magic Flute and Shepherd in Tristan und Isolde. He has recorded the role of Eurimachos in Luigi Dallapiccola's Ulisse for the BBC, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. In 1995-1996 he sang and recorded Purcell's King Arthur in London, Paris and New York with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, also appearing with them as Pedrillo in Strasbourg.
In the 1996-1997 season Iain Paton made his debut with De Vlaamse Opera in Venus and Adonis and Dido and Aeneas and returned there to sang Ferrando in a new production of Così fan tutte. In the autumn of 1997 Iain returned to Strasbourg for Die Entführung, which was also recorded for Erato conducted by William Christie. He sang performances of Messiah with the RIAS-Kammerchor and Freiburger Barockorchester in Montreux and Paris, Ferrando with Scottish Opera and Almaviva in The Barber of Seville for Opera North. He also sang in a performance of Il Primo Omicidio conducted by René Jacobs at the Innsbruck Festival.
In 1998 and 1999, Iain Paton's engagements included Mozart's C minor Mass with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the role of Vasek in The Bartered Bride with Opera North and the title role in The Rake’s Progress for Opera Theatre Company, Dublin; Haydn’s The Seasons with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco; Pedrillo at Garsington Opera; he made his debut at the Bastille Opera, Paris in performances of Les Indes Galantes with Les Arts Florissants and took part in a USA tour with the same orchestra conducted by William Christie. He also sang performances of Messiah with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Nicholas McGegan in Spain.
Subsequent engagements included Cosi fan tutte with the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki, performances of George Frideric Handel's L'Allegro, Il Penseroso e Il Moderato with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in Berkeley (USA) Mozart's Requiem with the Akron Symphony Orchestra, Grimoaldo in G.F. Handel's Rodelinda and Messiah at the Göttingen Festival with Nicholas McGegan; the Last Night of the Scottish Proms with the RSNO and the role of Nemorino in L'Elisir d’amore with the Dublin based Opera Theatre Company. Iain Paton returned to the Bastille for a revival of Les Indes Galantes with William Christie and sang Les Illuminations on a tour of Scotland with the BT Scottish Ensemble. He also sang in G.F. Handel's Saul with Peter Neumann in Köln.
More recently Iain Paton sang Haydn's The Creation with the Ulster Orchestra under Thierry Fischer, the title role in The Rake’s Progress in Berlin, Lensky in Eugene Onegin for Opera North, Acis and Galatea with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco and Gloriana with Opera North in Barcelona. In 2002 he made his role debut as Albert Herring for Opera North, sang Oronte in Alcina at the Göttingen Festival (with Nicholas McGegan) Benjamin Britten's War Requiem in Istanbul, Beppe in I Pagliacci at the Royal Albert Hall and Ferrando with De Vlaamse Opera. In 2003 he sang concerts in Istanbul, a concert tour of the Far East with Les Arts Florissants under William Christie, his first Orfeo (Monteverdi) in Bilbao with Peter Neumann, Tamino in a new production of The Magic Flute for Scottish Opera, Belfiore in La Finta Giardiniera at Garsington and his first Dream of Gerontius in Scotland. Last year he sang Vasek for Opera North and a concert of B. Britten's Les Illuminations at the Liceu, Barcelona, Beppe, Count Alberto in L'Occasione fa il ladro, The Seven Deadly Sins and Ferrando for Opera North.
In 2005 Iain Paton sang his first Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni for Opera North, Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia for De Vlaamse Opera and L’Allegro under Nicholas McGegan at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York. In 2006 he sang Almaviva in Dijon, Belfiore in La Finta Giardiniera at the Zürich Opera, Publio in Il Sogno di Scipione in Klagenfurt, L.v. Beethoven’s 9th Symphony San Francisco, Astromonte in Der Stein der Weisen at Garsington, Messiah in Boston, Arbace in Idomeneo for Chelsea Opera Group and he made his Salzburg Festival debut as Publio. Last year he sang Albert Herring in Tokyo, Alexander’s Feast in Florence and Prato and Alessandro in Il re pastore at Garsington, a role he repeated with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco last autumn and B. Britten’s Serenade and St Nicolas in Florence and Arezzo.
This year (2008) Iain Paton has sung Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Opéra National de Lyon and the tenor roles in Thomas Adès’s Powder Her Face at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Plans include Flute in Athens and Arbace in Idomeneo for City of Birmingham Opera. |
