Bud Roach

Tenor Bud Roach maintains a busy schedule of performances from the Baroque to the contemporary. His recordings for the Musica Omnia label have been recognized internationally as ground-breaking achievements in historically-informed performance practice.  “Roach is marvellous throughout….Five stars” (Early Music Today, UK).  Recent highlights include music theatre works by Claude Vivier on tour in Berlin and London, UK (Soundstreams Canada, 2022), concert appearances with La Chapelle de Quebec, the Hamilton Philharmonic, the London Symphonia, the Bach Elgar Choir, Nota Bene Baroque Players, the Menno Singers, Soundstreams Canada, the Spiritus Ensemble, Talisker Players, Toronto Masque Theatre, and the Toronto Consort. He founded and leads the vocal quartet Capella Intima, and their recordings of Canzonette Spirituali, e Morali, 1657, and Alessandro Scarlatti’s “Gli equivoci nel sembiante”  have met with critical acclaim in Canada, the US, and Europe. Bud has also premiered works by Jeffrey Ryan, Andrew Staniland, Melissa Hui, Abigail Richardson-Schulte, Norbert Palej, and John Burge.

Bud’s musical career began as an orchestral oboist, after earning a Bachelor of Musical Arts from the University of Western Ontario and a Master of Music degree from Yale University. He played often with the orchestras of the Canadian Opera Company, the National Ballet of Canada, and Phantom of the Opera before moving to the United States, where from 1997-2004 he held positions with the Toledo Symphony, the Michigan Opera Theater, and the Buffalo Philharmonic.

His career as a tenor began in 2005, when he was invited by Lydia Adams to join the Elmer Iseler Singers, with whom he performed for seven years. Other ensemble affiliations include the Canadian Opera Company Chorus (2008-2012), La Chapelle de Quebec under Bernard Labadie (2008-2023), and Soundstreams’ Choir 21.

Engagements for the 2022-2023 season include guest appearances with the Toronto Consort (Praetorius), the Spiritus Ensemble and the Bach Elgar Choir (Bach cantatas), the National Academy Orchestra (Messiah), leading performances of “Worship in a Time of Plague” with Capella Intima (Toronto, St. Catharines, Hamilton) as well as debut performances with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra; solo recitals in Toronto, Hamilton, and Boston (Boston Early Music Festival Fringe Series); and a residency with Pacific Opera Victoria with composer Jeffrey Ryan and librettist James Fagan Tait (2022), followed by a Canada Council-supported workshop in Vancouver at the Canadian Music Centre (2023). Two new recordings for Musica Omnia are now available internationally—a solo recording (Affetti Amorosi, voice and theorbo) of Venetian arias from the 1620s, and Capella Intima’s third recording, featuring sacred Venetian motets for 1-6 voices with the Gallery Players of Niagara (Worship in a Time of Plague).

Bud is committed to the cultural enrichment of his local community of Hamilton, Ontario. He has served on the boards of the Hamilton Arts Council and the Bach Elgar Choir, and volunteers as the Founder and Artistic Director of HAMMER BAROQUE, a monthly, pay-what-you-can concert series for Early Music guest artists from across North America.

Bud is currently enrolled in the Doctor of Musical Arts program at the University of Toronto, continuing his exploration of self-accompanied performance practice with the theorbo and baroque guitar. His current research into the use of digital media in historical performance began at McMaster University (MA, Communications and New Media, 2019), and he has presented on this topic at international academic conferences online (Sydney and Vilnius) and in person, at Indiana University and the University of Toronto.