Biography

A proud Newfoundlander, tenor Ryan Downey is quickly gaining nationwide recognition for his “nimbleness of voice” (Bachtrack) and “attractive lyric tenor colour” (Edmonton Journal).

You’ll have seen Ryan on the opera stage recently with the Canadian Opera Company, Vancouver Opera, Toronto Operetta Theatre/Opera in Concert and Tapestry Opera. Recent solo credits include the title role in Candide, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Rodolfo in La boheme, Ralph Rackstraw in HMS Pinafore, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Goro (Pinkerton cover) in Madama Butterfly, the Gingerbread Witch in Hansel and Gretel and Basilio and Curzio Le nozze di Figaro. This past season, Ryan made his solo debut at the Canadian Opera Company as the Peasant Leader in Eugene Onegin and A Townsman in Wozzeck, as well as having covered numerous roles in his three seasons with the company.

On the concert stage, Ryan has sung Handel’s Messiah with the Edmonton Symphony and Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Mozart’s Requiem with the Windsor Symphony, as well as having made his Kennedy Centre debut in Washington, DC, singing Adolphus Hailstork’s I will lift up mine eyes. Other select concert credits include Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and The Creation, Scriabin’s Symphony No. 1, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy.

Ryan is thrilled to be back with the Guelph Symphony having performed as the Gingerbread Witch in Hansel and Gretel (2018) and as Tenor Soloist in Beethoven’s Mass in C (2019).