Occupation(s) Musician Education Royal College of Music Role Musical Artist | Name Tobias Cole Instruments Vocalist Genres Opera | |
Born 7 August 1971 (age 52)
Leiden, Netherlands ( 1971-08-07 ) Similar People Royal Melbourne Philharmonic, Pinchgut Opera, Martin Wesley‑Smith, David Hansen, Sara Macliver | ||
Tobias Cole performing Handel's Ombra mai fu
Tobias Martin Piers Trevor Cole (born 7 August 1971) is an Australian countertenor and leading artist with Opera Australia.
Contents
- Tobias Cole performing Handels Ombra mai fu
- Early life
- Tertiary education
- Performance career
- Conducting career
- Recordings
- References
Early life
Cole was born in Leiden, Netherlands while his father was working at the Leiden University as a radio astronomer. In 1976 he commenced his education at Newington College. Aged eight, he joined the choir of St. James Church in Sydney, as a treble. As a boy soprano, Cole sang with The Australian Opera (in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Tosca) and with the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. As a teenager, in 1986/87 Cole toured Europe with the Chapel Choir of Newington College. He was later appointed head chorister of the choir.
Tertiary education
Cole is an honours graduate in music from the University of Sydney, having studied singing, composition, conducting and musicology. He was awarded a 1994 Churchill Fellowship, sponsored by Dame Roma Mitchell, to continue his vocal training with Ashley Stafford at London's Royal College of Music and to also further his studies in Early Music. He later received a Queen's Trust Achiever Award for operatic studies in London. In 2002, he was the first countertenor to win Opera Foundation Australia's Metropolitan Opera Young Artist Study Award and spent three months in New York at the Met.
Performance career
Cole has sung with choirs and vocal ensembles including:
Cole has performed with companies including: