Newfoundland native Ryan Downey is a recent graduate of the University of Toronto with a Masters of Music degree from the Opera School studying with Dr. Darryl Edwards. Ryan is fresh off a number of notable debuts; the first being onstage at the Place des Arts Salle Wilfred Pelletier as a finalist in the Opéra de Montréal’s Atelier Lyrique competition and secondly with Toronto Operetta Theatre as Corcoran in HMS Pinafore. Ryan is currently busy preparing for JS Bach’s Easter Oratorio in Toronto, a program of arias with the Timmins Symphony Orchestra and a recital at the Toronto Arts and Letters club in early 2016. Later in 2016, Ryan will be singing in the premiere of John Estacio’s Ours with Opera on the Avalon. He will also be joining a major Canadian young artist program for the 2016-2017 season.

Recent credits include Corcoran (HMS Pinafore) and the Lyric Tenor (Postcard from Morocco), both with U of T Opera as well as Edward/Georgie (Opera on the Avalon Ours workshop) Arbace (Idomeneo) and Basilio/Curzio (Le Nozze di Figaro) Soldier 1 (Andrew Ager’s Führerbunker); select credits as a lyric baritone include Mr. Gedge (Albert Herring), Malatesta (Don Pasquale), Dancairo (Carmen), Schaunard (La boheme), Sciarrone (Tosca), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Count Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro) Marquis de la Force (Dialogues of the Carmelites). Ryan is also an eager concert singer, having performed Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Schubert’s Mass in G, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and excerpts from Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Bach’s Magnificat, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah. Ryan is a proud alumnus of the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy, Highlands Opera Studio and Halifax Summer Opera Workshop summer programs.

Ryan has been quite active on the competition scene in Ontario. In the Ontario NATS 2013 Competition, he took home honours as the Most Promising Singer as well as the Best Graduate Level/Young Professional Singer. He also won the 2013 Kitchener Waterloo Chamber Orchestra Concerto Competition, debuting with the ensemble as prize-winner in May 2014. Ryan has been honoured and humbled to be supported by the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council as a recipient of a 2013 Project Grant, as well as by generous donors through University of Toronto’s Opera Division and Memorial University.