For baritone Korin Thomas-Smith, the Canadian Opera Company’s (COC) spring season is both an artistic homecoming and a thrilling step forward. As a Toronto native and member of the COC Ensemble Studio, Thomas-Smith calls it a dream to make music in his hometown. But he is smilingly modest about his talents, quipping that he’s “an okay singer and bad at most other things”—but more than makes up for it “with gusto.”
Thomas-Smith is now deeply immersed in the world of opera but came to this place almost by accident. “I surprisingly was not an opera fan — I think I had been to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra once in my childhood. So when I applied to the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, I really didn’t know much about music at all, and actually wanted to teach high school choir more than anything,” he recalls. “Only after taking my first lessons and learning what classical singing was about did I realize that this was something I even liked – much less wanted to pursue.” Of course, he winks, “It didn’t help that my first opera was Götterdämmerung, so I had a harder time getting into the opera vibe than most!”
No small roles
This spring, he performs in two vastly different COC productions. First, he plays the Second Apprentice In Wozzeck, Berg’s groundbreaking atonal opera based on Büchner’s play Wozzeck is the harrowing story of a soldier’s psychological unraveling in a world of violence, poverty, and social control. “Wozzeck has been a great deal of fun preparing, both in my individual preparation and in observing and participating in rehearsal”, he explains. “Just listening to Berg’s writing has been challenging to my understanding of harmony and musicality – but that challenge births an especially interesting potential for discovery.”
This production is staged by South African artist William Kentridge, whose distinctive multimedia direction blends hand-drawn animation, archival film, and layered projection. The result is an arresting visual language that mirrors the fragmented consciousness of the opera’s central figure. Canadian Opera Company Music Director Johannes Debus conducts, and the principal cast features Michael Kupfer-Radecky as Wozzeck, Ambur Braid as Marie, Matthew Cairns as the Drum Major, Michael Schade as the Captain, and Anthony Robin Schneider as the Doctor.
“They say there are no small roles, only small actors,” Thomas-Smith notes, before leaning into the sentiment: “My part, muuuuuch more straight-forward than others, offers not nearly the same amount of vocal and dramatic challenge, but it is a privilege to be in the room to watch experienced artists tackle what is one of the most difficult, interesting, and influential operas written in the last hundred years.” In fact, he is as much a fan as a co-star: “Ambur Braid and Michael Kupfer-Radecky are such superstars and make such genius choices musically and dramatically that it is a feast for the senses.”
“On the flipside” of “a wonderful pair” of COC productions is the starkly different, lushly romantic Eugene Onegin, in which Thomas-Smith sings the Captain. Eugene Onegin “is really a masterwork in the realm of opera repertoire,” he declares. “Tchaikovsky is such a perfect representation of the romantic era of opera—it’s just such lush, exciting, goosebump-raising harmony!”
Eugene Onegin tells the story of a jaded aristocrat who coldly rejects the love of a young woman, only to regret it years later when she has matured into someone he cannot have. Set against a backdrop of sweeping melodies and emotional depth, the opera explores longing, regret, and the irrevocable passage of time. This revival of Robert Carsen’s internationally celebrated production is directed by Peter McClintock with choreography by Serge Bennathan.
“Now, do I only sing two lines in the total work?” asks Thomas-Smith, with a grin. “Well, yes. But do I need to rise to the occasion to match the beautiful singing of a wonderful international cast? Oh, you bet your heinie!” That cast is led by Ukrainian baritone Andrii Kymach as Onegin, Australian soprano Lauren Fagan as Tatyana, and American tenor Evan LeRoy Johnson as Lensky. Mezzo-sopranos Niamh O’Sullivan and Emily Treigle appear as Olga and Filipyevna, respectively, while Dimitry Ivashchenko sings Prince Gremin. Krisztina Szabó and Michael Colvin round out the ensemble as Madame Larina and Monsieur Triquet. As the Captain, Thomas-Smith performs alongside fellow Ensemble Studio artist Duncan Stenhouse as Zaretsky. The production is conducted by Speranza Scappucci, with the COC Orchestra and Chorus under the leadership of Sandra Horst.
Deep appreciation
Of course, every production brings surprises, and Wozzeck and Onegin are no exception. “For Onegin, we are working with what has become an internationally iconic production. Robert Carsen’s telling of the story, directed by Peter McClintock—the leaves, the minimalist scenery is just beautiful”, Thomas-Smith enthuses. The surprise? “An unforeseen hazard in the workplace—hoopskirts! I will be dodging hoopskirts left and right the entire night,” he deadpans. “And for Wozzeck, I don’t want to spoil anything. But I will say it is the most unconventional place I have ever sung from in my career so far. Good thing I don’t have a fear of heights!”
Beneath his winking sense of humour lie a deep love and abiding appreciation for opera, as both an art form and a career. “I thought to myself the other day (and it is a thought I often echo to my friends in the Ensemble Studio) – I don’t know if, or how, I could do anything else,” he reflects. “It is a career, as I have yet experienced it, that is so social, spontaneous, and liberating. I love that I have the freedom to make choices, and that I can meaningfully contribute to art and storytelling. Singing is such a visceral art form, and though so many more hours are spent practising it than performing it, there is no feeling like singing for an audience.”
And Thomas-Smith’s memories are already filled with unforgettable instances of that feeling. Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro holds a “special place” in his heart – as it likely does “in the hearts of all baritones”, he notes wryly. “If I had known when I learned it nearly a decade ago just how much mileage I would get out of the Count’s Aria, I would be gobsmacked,” he marvels. “But I think one of my most special moments performing has been singing Dottore Malatesta on stage at the Four Seasons Centre in the Ensemble Studio performance of Don Pasquale. I have always dreamt of performing on this stage, and singing a principal role was just an unforgettable rush. I felt so professional! My dressing room had a couch!”
Reflecting on the broader path he’s walked, he is quick to credit both his training and his mentors. Thomas-Smith holds a Master of Music in Opera and a bachelor’s degree in voice performance from the University of Toronto, and has completed a Master of Musical Arts at Yale University. He has participated in the Ravinia Steans Music Festival, the Music Academy of the West, and the Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Performance Residency at the Royal Conservatory of Music. After graduating from the Ensemble Studio program, he will head off to Santa Fe Opera as an apprentice artist as a step towards what he foresees as a “very formative chapter” in his professional life. “I’m so lucky to have had the access that I have had over my artistic journey so far. And it is very humbling just how much people have given me: in time, wisdom, and opportunities. I have been a recipient of such amazing musical mentorship throughout the years that I think it is hard for me to even narrow down the options,” he says, before underlining the extra-special example of performing at the Glimmerglass Festival. This “allowed me to create one of the most interesting and captivating productions of Handel’s Rinaldo with director Louisa Proske that I will always cherish.”
Other stories . . . and a vision of one’s own
Beyond the stage, Thomas-Smith is deeply committed to fostering inclusive spaces within classical music. His work as a diversity consultant and curator with the University of Toronto Opera exemplifies a belief in storytelling that reflects his wide spectrum of experiences. “When I was studying at the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto, I made very known my passion for song that went contrary to the mold as it were: songs in languages, by composers, and of subjects that were not typically seen in the traditional Western canon of art music,” he explains. “It was a lot of fun, and it allowed me to form such close relationships with fellow students and to learn of singing traditions: of Uyghur music, Slovak folk song, traditional Jewish religious music, Irish song—the sharing of personal intersectional identity.”
He recalls a specific student-led video project that sprung from this well and was shaped by the constraints of the pandemic: “Joseph Bologne, William Grant Still, Filipino composer Felipe Padilla de Leon, and female composers like Tania Leon and Florence Price — we really tried to run the gamut as a broad survey of composers, Canadian music, and different cultures,” he explains. “I think it is very necessary for students to be aware of the many stories around them: to be empathetic performers who are able to source emotion and history from the many varied voices who are now able to collaborate in our classical framework.”
“An amazing side effect of this is that it also teaches students to have a vision of their own” – as the vigorous, vulnerable and always-genial Thomas-Smith himself so clearly does, whether in our conversation, on stage, in rehearsal, or out in the broader community.
You can see him this spring in the Canadian Opera Company’s Wozzeck (April 25 to May 16, 2025) and Eugene Onegin (May 2 to 24, 2025) at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Tickets and more information are available at coc.ca.
© Arpita Ghosal, Sesaya Arts Magazine 2025
