Bass-baritone Scott Brooks has only recently returned to Canada after a stint in St Andrews, Scotland, where he earned his Ph.D. in English literature. Now back in his native country, he is pursuing a career in opera. His most recent performances include Mephistopheles (Gounod/Faust), with Highlands Opera Studio and Philip Morehead conducting, Bottom (Britten/A Midsummer Night’s Dream), with UBC Opera and Leslie Dala conducting, and Count des Grieux (Massenet/Manon), also with UBC Opera, conducted by Rosemary Thomson. He has also performed with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra as Mephistopheles, and as Papageno (Mozart/The Magic Flute), under conductor Gordon Gerrard, and as Leporello (Mozart/ Don Giovanni), under Leslie Dala. His portrayals have been frequently noted, in Opera Canada and elsewhere, with reviews centering on his commanding stage presence and powerful voice. As Mephistopheles, Scott ‘delivered one of the strongest performances… He was every inch the devil, embodying evil with his strong and focused baritone’. Scott has also performed with the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra, under conductor Bruce Dunn, in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, and Mozart’s Coronation Mass, and with Okanagan Symphony Orchestra, with Rosemary Thomson, in Handel’s Messiah. His earliest forays into opera were at the University of British Columbia, where he earned a double-major in opera and honours English. His professional debut came in 2010 at the Wexford Opera Festival, in Ireland, in the role of Schaunard (Puccini/La bohème). In May of 2017 Scott will make his Canadian professional debut, as Bartolo in Vancouver Opera’s production of Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart), with Leslie Dala conducting. In September, 2017, Scott will join Opéra de Montréal as a member of l’Atelier lyrique.
