Zach Finkelstein

Supports: National Resources Defense Council (preservation), Planned Parenthood (women’s reproductive rights), NAACP (equal rights)

American-Canadian Zach Finkelstein is a leading tenor soloist in North America and abroad, from Seattle’s Benaroya Hall to New York’s Lincoln Center to London’s Sadler’s Wells to the National Arts Center in Beijing, China. Zach’s debut album, ‘Britten and Pears: the Canticles’, featuring acclaimed recitalist Byron Schenkman, singers Vicki St. Pierre and Alexander Hajek, and Seattle Symphony principals Jeffrey Fair (horn) and Valerie Muzzolini Gordon (harp) was launched on October 1st, 2017 on Scribe Records with CD release recitals in Seattle, Toronto and New York during the 2017-18 season.

In the concert world, Zach is known for his “refined” and “elegant” (Vancouver Observer) interpretation of the works of Bach, Mozart and Handel, among others. In the spring of 2018, Zach stepped in on an afternoon’s notice for the soloist in Carmina Burana with the Seattle Symphony; in the summer, the Seattle-based tenor was heard in such works as Handel’s Samson, Israel in Egypt andAlexander’s Feast from Maryland to Ontario. Of special interest was his appearance in Guadalajara in the staged premiere of Comala by Zohn-Muldoon for tenor, mezzo-soprano and chamber orchestra with re-engagement at the University of Notre Dame in March 2019.  Recitals claimed his attention for the Brooklyn Song Society, Resonance in Seattle and as a UC Davis Artist in Residence. Highlights of the coming season include Messiah for the Portland Chamber Orchestra, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung for the Florida Orchestra, Elijah for the Grand River Chorus and Bach’s Johannespassion for Calgary’s Luminous Voices.  

During the 2017-2018 season, he was heard in Messiah for the Calgary Philharmonic, Regina Symphony and the Florida Orchestra in Tampa and for the Elora Festival, he was featured inMagnificats by J.S. Bach and his son, C.P.E Bach. Advent Cantatas, Matthäus Passion andJohannespassion were the Bach works on his schedule for Pacific Music Works, Chorus Niagara and the McGill Chamber Orchestra.

In 2016-17, Zach’s schedule included Satie’s Socrate with the Mark Morris Dance Group,Weihnachtsoratorium for the Masterworks of Oakville Chorale, Messiahs for the Elmer Iseler Singers and Amadeus Choir in Toronto, We Play On in London and Ottawa’s Thirteen Strings, Beethoven’sSymphony No. 9 in Walla Walla and for the Portland Chamber Orchestra and Bach’s Matthäuspassionfor Thirteen Strings. He was featured by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir in Haydn’s Die Schöpfungand he has appeared in recitals in San Antonio, TX; Lake George, NY; Seattle, WA and New York City. In 2016, Zach also was a finalist in the Tafelmusik Vocal Competition and was selected as a Virginia Best Adams Fellow at the Carmel Bach Festival.

In the 2014-2015 seasons, Zach sang 13 performances of Handel’s Messiah with the Virginia Symphony, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Victoria Symphony and the Rogue Valley Symphony; seven performances of Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium (his Evangelist “first among equals”, Vancouver Sun) with Stephen Stubbs’ Pacific Music Works, Early Music Vancouver, Victoria’s Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Portland Baroque and the Symphony Nova Scotia. Further credits include the MozartRequiem under Ludovic Morlot for the Seattle Symphony, Bach’s Johannespassion with the Portland Baroque Orchestra, Handel’s Dettingen Te Deum and Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli with Jane Glover and Music of the Baroque in Chicago, Handel’s Israel in Egypt with Orchestra Seattle, and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle with the Bach Elgar Choir in Hamilton, Canada.

Hailed by Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times as a “compelling tenor,” he made his New York City Opera debut as Mambre in Rossini’s Mosè in Egitto. Young Finkelstein has sung the role of Damon “with sensitivity and grace” (Boston Classical Review) in Acis and Galatea, performances conducted by Nicholas McGegan leading Philharmonia Baroque in Berkeley, CA as well as with the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston, MA. He made his haute-contre debut as Orphee in back-to-back productions of Gluck’s Orphee et Eurydice with Brava! Opera Theatre (English) and Opera Grand Rapids (French).

Mr. Finkelstein is also an evangelist for new and contemporary classical works, an oeuvre he discovered as a two-time Vocal Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival. In New York City, he premiered a new work, Threshold, for tenor and orchestra with the Argento Ensemble, a piece created specifically for him by Prix-de-Rome-winning composer Jesse Jones. The New York Times’ James Oestrich commended this “excellent” performance: “Zach Finkelstein negotiated Mr. Jones’s high tenor flights with aplomb”. He also presented the American premiere of Harrison Birtwistle’s Songs from the same earth with pianist Mike Brofman at the Brooklyn Art Song Society, returned in the 2017 season to perform a recital devoted to the art songs of Jake Heggie and Reynaldo Hahn and tours new music with BASS in 2018 in Seattle, California and New York. This coming Spring, Zach will record the world premiere of John Liberatore’s Hold Back Thy Hours for tenor and orchestra with the Zohn Collective on Albany Records.    

In the media, Zach has performed opera excerpts on CBC’s Saturday Afternoon at the Opera as well as Toronto’s Classical 96.3 FM and Seattle’s KING FM. Both Musical Toronto and Opera Canada Magazine have profiled Mr. Finkelstein as a singer to watch.

Mr. Finkelstein is currently with Dean Artists Management and holds an Artist Diploma (Voice) from the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Glenn Gould School in Toronto and a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) in Political Science from McGill University, in Montreal. As a young artist, Zach participated in the Tanglewood Music Festival, Banff Opera as Theatre, the Oregon Bach Festival, the International Vocal Arts Institute and the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme.

Zach Finkelstein belongs to Beyond Artists, a coalition of artists that donates a percentage of their concert fees to organizations they care about. He supports the National Resources Defense Council, Planned Parenthood, and the NAACP through his performances.