Brian McIntosh, BA(Mus)’79

Recipient of the 2024 Don Wright Faculty of Music Alumni Wall of Fame

Canadian bass-baritone Brian McIntosh has earned international acclaim for his “powerful, voluminous voice and imposing presence” (New York Newsday). As a regular performer with opera companies and festivals in North America and Europe, McIntosh enjoyed success in roles such as Nourabad in Pearl Fishers, Bonze in Madama Butterfly, Commendatore in Don Giovanni and Rambaldo in La Rondine with the renowned New York City Opera, Banquo in Macbeth with Opéra de Montréal, Bailli in Werther, Commendatore in Don Giovanni and Doctor Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with  Vancouver Opera, Bartolo in Marriage of Figaro with New Orleans Opera, also in Cenerentola, Fledermaus, Les Pêcheurs des Perles, and Falstaff with Opera Lyra Ottawa. He appeared in Cosi fan tutte, Salome, La Traviata and many other productions with the Canadian Opera Company. He performed in Orfeo with Helsinki Festival, in Bartered Bride with Kiel Opera and Essen Stadt Theater, and in Parsifal with Landestheater Detmold, Germany. He appeared in La Cenerentola with Calgary Opera, Daphne and Macbeth with Pacific Opera Victoria, Otello with Opera Lyra Ottawa and Manitoba Opera, and Der Freischütz, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Barber of Seville at the Zwingenberg Schlossfestspiele in Germany. He also performed with Arizona Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Grand Rapids Opera and Edmonton Opera. McIntosh has appeared in opera broadcasts on CBC Radio, CBC TV and PBS TV.  

McIntosh made a name for himself performing in new works, including the world premieres of Serinette by Harry Somers for Music at Sharon, Florence by Tim Sullivan at Elora Festival and Game Misconduct by Leslie Uyeda at Festival Vancouver.  

Concert engagements included performances with Riverside Choral Society in New York City, with Seattle Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Singapore Symphony and Rutgers Orchestra. He performed with the Aeolian Winds, with Placido Domingo in Maple Leaf Gardens, as well as in concerts in Stuttgart and Salzburg with Die Brücke Orchestra, and in Detmold with Deutsche Bach Solisten.

McIntosh was a highly regarded pedagogue, teaching voice and opera at Western University, Rutgers University (tenured) and University of Alberta (tenured). McIntosh received three teaching awards while at Western. He was a guest professor at the Hochschule für Musik in Köln, Germany, and also a guest voice instructor at COSI in Sulmona, Italy and Opera Nuova in Edmonton. Most recently, he was on the voice faculty at Western from 2016-19.