Before he became a leader in the operatic world, bass-baritone Gerald Finley started singing as a chorister in Ottawa.JENNIFER ROBERTS/The Globe and Mail
Gerald Finley recently reconnected with his heritage in a way Canadians might recognize.
“I was in Ottawa, standing by a lake, hearing the rustle of the leaves and being bit by mosquitoes and deer flies. I found it so moving – I thought, ‘I’m here; I’m from this place.’”
A leading dramatic interpreter within the operatic world for nearly three decades, Finley, who turned 65 in January, is known for his onstage portrayals of both good guys (Hans Sachs in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) and bad guys (Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca).
The bass-baritone is also committed to new works, appearing as the lead in John Adams’s Doctor Atomic in 2005. This past February he was part of the world premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Festen at the Royal Opera Covent Garden in London. In May he gave his 100th performance at the Metropolitan Opera, in John Adams’s Antony and Cleopatra.
Julia Bullock as Cleopatra and Gerald Finley as Antony star in the opera Antony and Cleopatra at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in May 2025.SARA KRULWICH/The New York Times News Service
Born in Montreal, Finley got his start singing as a chorister in Ottawa and completed formal studies in the U.K. at the Royal College of Music, King’s College, Cambridge, and the National Opera Studio. His Met debut came in 1998, as Papageno in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. “A bus-load of people from Ottawa came down, including my parents,” he remembers. “It was amazing – that huge stage, and that vast shell of an auditorium. You think, ‘Will my voice carry? Will what I do on stage be noted?’”
Finley has indeed been noted and has since worked with famous names in the classical world (Daniel Barenboim, Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen) and on famous stages (New York, London, Vienna, Paris, Munich), performing opera, oratorios and concerts, plus giving recitals and masterclasses.
Appointed an Officer to the Order of Canada and Commander of the Order of the British Empire, he was also featured on a postage stamp issued by Canada Post in 2017. His last appearance in Toronto was in 2023 but he’ll be returning this December for Handel’s Messiah. “I offer what I feel is my genuine response to the overall drama of the situation,” he says, “even – or especially – if it’s Messiah. Why Do the Nations So Furiously Rage Together? for example, is a really great, raging aria.”
Along with a Juno Award-winning album Great Operatic Arias, in English, Finley’s discography includes a number of works that showcase his immense talent for art song. His skill in formal opera, Finley says, is thanks in part to his “intensive work with Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Ives, Barber, Fauré, Ravel – people that haven’t necessarily been associated with big opera but nevertheless have found ways to encapsulate mini-dramas in their music.”
Finley’s own capacity for “mini-drama” was on full display recently when he performed with pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason as part of a European recital tour, with a program featuring works by Beethoven, Schubert, Grieg, Vaughan Williams and Turnage. He recounts telling Kanneh-Mason in rehearsals he was hearing things in the piano part of the repertoire, one he knows well, that he’d never heard before. “That’s a dialogue, and it’s exciting.”
Finley’s last performance in Toronto was in 2023, as Bluebeard in Bluebeard’s Castle.MIHAELA BODLOVIC/Supplied
The tour concluded in mid-July with a performance at Munich’s Prince Regent Theatre as part of the Bavarian State Opera’s annual summer festival. Finley’s crisp diction and immense vocal flexibility were especially noticeable in the German repertoire, and his confident shifts between eras and styles showcased his immense gift for storytelling.
Schubert’s Erlkonig conveyed genuine (and appropriate) terror, while Turnage’s Mourned, part of his Three Animal Songs written for Finley and premiered in 2000, was touchingly quiet, delivered with layered colours and textures. He and Kanneh-Mason were called back by an enthusiastic audience for two spirited encores.
Yet for all his success abroad, when it comes to inspirations, Finley looks homeward. Renowned Canadian bass Joseph Rouleau (1929-2019), who was a member of the Canadian Opera Hall of Fame and enjoyed a long career on stages across Europe and North America, was also national president of Jeunesses Musicales du Canada, a non-profit organization dedicated to classical music education. For Finley, Rouleau “really epitomized what an itinerant opera singer with a heart for their country would do.”
The demands of a busy classical career make any emulation a bit of a challenge, at least for the moment. Finley’s 2024-2025 season closed just after his date in Munich with a performance of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s oratorio Sancta Civitas at First Night of the BBC Proms, the celebrated classical music festival that takes place in the U.K. every summer. His 2025-26 season includes his 175th performance with the Royal Opera and his house debut at the famed Teatro alla Scala in Milan.
Still, Canada lives in the bass-baritone’s heart. “What I do, I know, seems so distant, but I’d like to feel that yes, I am somebody who carries the Canadian flag absolutely faithfully.”