Collin Shay is a French-American countertenor based in London. In spring 2017 he will sing Ottone in L’Incoronazione di Poppea with Hampstead Garden Opera and Frauenliebe und -leben in a non-gender normative recital at the Guildhall School of Music. Recent opera credits include Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the title role of Cavalli’s Giasone, Silvio in Handel’s Il Pastor Fido, and Tolomeo in Handel’s Giulio Cesare. Passionate about both early music and that of living composers, Shay frequently works with London composers, recently premiering a work by James Ratcliffe at Wigmore Hall.

Equally at home on the harpsichord and piano, Shay recently played continuo in a performance of Handel’s La Lucrezia in the London Handel Festival. He frequently collaborates with singers, and has played for masterclasses with Emma Kirkby, David Gowland, and others. He is currently undergoing postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music, where his principal teachers are Janice Chapman and Marie Vassiliou for voice, and James Johnstone on early keyboards. His study at the Guildhall is generously supported by the Sidney Perry Foundation and the Guildhall School Trust.