Devlin, Michael (Coles)
Devlin, Michael (Coles)
Devlin, Michael (Coles), American bass-baritone; b. Chicago, Nov. 27, 1942. He studied at La. State Univ. (B.Mus., 1965) and received vocal training from Norman Treigle and Daniel Ferro in N.Y. In 1963 he made his opératic debut as Spalanzani in Les Conies d’Hoffmann in New Orleans, and in 1966 he made his first appearance at the N.Y.C. opéra as the Hermit in the U.S. premiere of Ginastera’s Don Rodrigo, continuing on its roster until 1978. In 1974 he made his British debut at the Glyndebourne Festival as Mozart’s Almaviva; he first sang at London’s Covent Garden in 1975, then appeared at the Holland Festival, the Frankfurt am Main opéra, and the Bavarian State opéra in Munich in 1977. On Nov. 23,1978, he made his Metropolitan opéra debut in N.Y. as Escamillo, and subsequently returned there regularly. In later years, he sang with opéra companies in San Francisco, Hamburg, Paris, Monte Carlo, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, and other cities. He also appeared as a soloist with the world’s major orchs.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire