Hailed for his ringing top notes and spine-tingling power, Canadian tenor Richard Margison is one of the most critically acclaimed singers on the international stage today. He performs regularly in many of the world's leading opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the San Francisco Opera, the Théâtre Royale de la Monnaie in Brussels, Covent Garden, the Sydney Opera and the Grand Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona.

2009-2010 Season
Old favourites and two major role debuts feature on Richard Margison's 2009-2010 calendar. He opens the season in two of his signature roles: Bacchus in Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos at the Teatro Campoamor in Oviedo, Spain and Radamès in Verdi's Aida at the Metropolitan Opera. In November, Richard brings his "vocal ardor, pinging top notes and lyrical sensitivity to his portrayal of Pollione" (New York Times) in Bellini's Norma when he returns to the Vancouver Opera. Richard makes two significant role debuts in the New Year, both in operas by Wagner. In January, he returns to the stage of the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona to take on the title role in Tristan und Isolde and in June he appears as Walther von Stolzing in a major new production of Die Meistersinger conducted by James Levine for the Cincinnati Opera.

Recent Highlights
Last season saw Richard debut as Aegisthus in Strauss's Elektra with the Seattle Opera and the New York Philharmonic as well as reprisals of the familiar roles of Riccardo in Un Ballo in Maschera at the Hamburgische Staatsoper, Manrico in Il Trovatore with Manitoba Opera and Bacchus in the Calgary Opera's production of Ariadne auf Naxos. Other recent highlights include his debut at Milan's famed La Scala as O'Brien in Lorin Maazel's 1984, a role he originated at the ROH Covent Garden in 2005, recently released on DVD. Renowned for his interpretations of Verdi, Puccini, Strauss and Beethoven, recent seasons have featured performances of Un Ballo in Maschera (l'Opéra de Montréal, Hamburg, the ROH Covent Garden), Turandot (New York, Barcelona, Toronto), Aida (New York, Cincinnati, l'Opéra de Montréal, Chicago, Orviedo), Ariadne auf Naxos (Madrid, London, Hamburg, New York), Fidelio (Seattle, Vancouver), Il Trovatore (New York, Toronto, Berlin, San Francisco), La Gioconda (Barcelona) and Don Carlo (New York).

A much sought after concert artist, Mr. Margison took Toronto by storm in a concert at Roy Thomson Hall garnering such praise as "…it is an important experience to hear Margison live, simply to come into contact with the physical presence of the voice. It has both brass and beauty, and its power is so forceful and concentrated that you have to remind yourself that its source is a human throat…" (Globe and Mail). As well, he has appeared with the Royal Philharmonic in London, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto Symphony Orchestras, the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and at the Ravinia Festival. He has also performed with Bryn Terfel at his opera gala at the Faenol Festival in Wales.

Recordings
Mr. Margison's most recent releases include an all-Verdi recording on CBC Records and the highly acclaimed recording of Beethoven's Fidelio with Christine Brewer on Chandos. He has also recorded Lanza (Warner Music), a recording made for the film on the life of Mario Lanza, in which he sings the title role. Other recordings include Verdi's Don Carlo with the Royal Opera House Orchestra and Chorus under the direction of Bernard Haitink (Philips) and Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Neeme Järvi (Deutsche Grammophon). He has made three recordings with the late Richard Bradshaw and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra: a solo album of French and Italian Arias (CBC Records), Rarities by Rossini and Verdi, with Gary Relyea (CBC Records) and Aria, une sélection de Radio-Canada with Anita Krause, Wendy Nielson and Gary Relyea (CBC Records). Richard Margison is also a featured artist on the Millennium Opera Gala recording released by CBC Records.

Highlands Opera Studio
In the summer of 2007, Richard Margison and Opera Director Valerie Kuinka founded the Highlands Opera Studio, which provides advanced operatic training to a select group of talented young professionals with the main objective to provide these singers with the necessary skills to embark on a career in opera. Looking forward to its 4th season in the summer of 2010, the program includes vocal master classes, individual voice lessons, movement classes, stagecraft coaching and staging rehearsals for a fully staged production. The faculty includes renowned singer-pedagogues Timothy Noble, John Fanning, Christianne Riel, and Mark Pedrotti.

Honours and Benefit Work
Although Richard is in great demand on the great opera stages of the world, he gives generously of his time to support a number of causes. He has offered his talent at benefits in Chicago, for the Metropolitan Opera, Leukaemia Research (Ontario), LOFT Community housing (Toronto), the Children's Opera Chorus (Toronto), the Royal Conservatory of Music, and many others. He has been particularly active in his home province of British Columbia, where he has raised more than two million dollars through benefit concerts including Victoria Symphony, Pacific Opera Victoria, the Victoria Conservatory of Music, Vancouver Symphony, Vancouver Opera and the Rotary Club.

Richard Margison was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2001 not only in honour of his contribution to musical life in Canada but in recognition of his presence on the international stage. In October 2009 he received Lifetime Achievement Awards from both the The Giulio Gari Foundation and The Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation. He also holds Honorary Doctorates from the University of Victoria (DMus), University of British Columbia (D.Litt) and McMaster University (D.Litt).

He shares his home in Toronto, Canada with his wife, opera director Valerie Kuinka and his daughter Lauren, a budding singer.