BIOGRAPHY

French bass-baritone Paul Gay is known internationally for his portrayals of leading roles in the French repertoire.  He collaborates with conductors such as Ivan Fischer, Seiji Ozawa, Michel Plasson, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Semyon Bychkov, Philippe Jordan, Alain Altinoglu, William Christie, Emmanuelle Haïm and has been invited for new productions by Willy Decker, Luc Bondy, Peter Stein, Richard Jones, Claus Guth, Laurent Pelly, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Robert Carsen….

His principle repertoire includes Golaud (Pelléas et Melisande), a role he has sung at the Paris Opera, at La Monnaie Brussels, in Frankfurt, Torino and in Lyon, Mephisto (Faust), which he has been invited to sing at the Paris Opera, the Maggio Musicale Firenze and at the Bordeaux Opera. Other signature roles include Saint François, which he debuted in a new production at the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, where he has also appeared in productions of Der Zwerg, I Capuletti e i Montecchi,  L’enfant et les sortilèges.

Paul is a regular guest at the Paris Opera where his roles have included Don Fernando (Fidelio), Harasta (The Cunning little Vixen), Achilla (Giulio Cesare), Don Diègue (Le Cid), Flint (Billy Budd) and Le Comte des Grieux (Manon). He also appears regularly in Brussels, Frankfurt and Lyon and he made his North American debut as Escamillo (Carmen) at the Canadian Opera Company.

He has taken part is several contemporary creations including ‘L’Ecole des Femmes’ by Rolf Liebermann at Bordeaux Opera and Philippe Boesman’s opera, Yvonne Princesse de Bourgogne, a production seen in Paris, Brussels and Vienna.

Having completed his studies, winning  a ‘Premier Prix’  at the Paris Conservatory,  Paul went to gain his first operatic experience as a company member in Osnabrück, performing roles such as Colline (la Bohème), Walter (Luisa Miller) and the title role of Don Quichotte. He gained attention as a prize-winner in several international vocal competitions and he continued his vocal development taking lessons in Cologne with the renowned bass Kurt Moll.

Among future projects , Paul will be singing the title role of Oedipe from Enescu in London and Bucarest under the baton of Vladimir Jurowsky, and will be Ramfis in Aïda in Hong Kong. He will also be back in one of his favorite roles: Gounod’s Méphistophélès, in Monte Carlo and sing in l’enfant et les Sortilèges from Ravel conducted by Seiji Ozawa with the Berlin Philharmonic, Opera for which he received a Grammy award in 2016 for best opera recording with the same conductor.