Tomislav Lavoie studied at the Conservatoire de Musique in Montréal as a violinist before being hired by several renowned orchestras among which the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec.
As he happened to replace a singer in the part of Masetto (Don Giovanni) after a last-minute cancellation, he decided to study singing at Montréal University in Mark Pedrotti’s class. While he was still in his first year, he was given the main role in Le Nozze di Figaro. That same year he was appointed « Young Lyrical Ambassador » a distinction that allowed him to take part in several sessions and festivals in the Czech Republic as he carried on studying with Marie Daveluy.
He then appeared as Basilio (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) during a tour of the “Jeunesses musicales du Canada” and was invited once again the following season for Les Contes d’Hoffmann in the part of the Four villains. He also sang the role of Leporello (Don Giovanni) for the Toronto Summer Academy and Festival under the direction of Agnès Grossmann.
In December 2010, he takes part in the Gala of the Quebec Opera house in which the audience warmly acclaimed his performance.
He has sung Le Deuxième Philistin (Samson et Dalila) with the Orchestre du Capitole under Tugan Sokhiev in Toulouse and Paris, Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte) at the Banff Center for Performing Art under the direction of David Agler, Il Barbiere di Siviglia during the St Eustache festival in Canada.
Recently, he sang a Rossini-themed evening, La Traviata, Elektra conducted by Yannick Nézet-Seguin, the world creation of Les Féluettes at the Opera House of Montreal, Don Giovanni (Leporello) in Tours and at the Icelandic Opera in Reykjavik. He made his debut at the Paris National Opera with Alceste, in Amsterdam with Faust conducted by Marc Minkowski and at the Opéra Comique with La Muette de Portici. He then sang in Armide by Lully in Potsdam and Innsbruck, Le Pré aux Clercs by Hérold at the Wexford Festival, L’Enfant et les Sortilèges and L’Heure espagnole at the Cologne Opera. He also sang in Die Zauberflöte at the Nice Opera and the Paris National Opera, Léonore, ou l’Amour conjugal by Gaveaux in New York and Washington, La Légende du Roi dragon in Lille and Bordeaux, Alceste and Guillaume Tell (Melcthal) at the Lyon Opera, La Traviata, Les Huguenots and Les Troyens at the Paris Opera, La Flûte Enchantée (Sarastro) in Versailles and Avignon, Les Huguenots at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Don Giovanni (Leporello) in Avignon, Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Luther/Crespel) in Valencia, Le Songe d’une nuit d’été in Lille, L’Amour des trois oranges in Nancy, L’Inondation by Francesco Filidei at the l’Opéra Comique and in Luxembourg, Armide by Lully in Dijon and Versailles, Roméo et Juliette in Québec…
In concert he sang Castor et Pollux with the Ensemble Pygmalion conducted by Raphaël Pichon, Le Sacre de Napoléon by Méhul in Grenoble, Nîmes, Versailles and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, L’Heure espagnole in Aix-en-Provence, Grenoble, Évian, Soissons with Les Siècles under the baton of François-Xavier Roth, Rinaldo with the Kammerorchester Basel and Christophe Rousset at the Halle Händel Festival, at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and in Basel, La Reine de Chypre by Halévy at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Faust (Méphistophélès) with the Orchestre Symphonique de Trois-Rivières under the baton of Jacques Lacombe, Ein deutsches Requiem with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Les Abencérages de Saint-Saëns in Budapest, Ariane et Bacchus by Marin Marais with the Concert Spirituel, Hamlet at the Festival de Radio-France, Apollo e Dafne by Haendel at the Prangins Baroque festival.
Among his main future engagements, Lucie de Lammemoor at the Opéra de Québec, L’Enfance du Christ with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Iphigénie en Tauride by Campra at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Mozart Great Mass in C minor in Limoges, La Traviata in Massy, Der Kaiser von Atlantis at the Classica festival…
Tomislav Lavoie is supported by the Fondation Cédric Ferguson and the Jeunesses Musicales du Canada.
October 2023
This biography should not be edited without permission from Intermezzo.
Photo credits – © Brent Calis
