Press Kit

Reviews

Tapestry New Opera Works - Omar Daniel: The Shadow

“All [the performers] were strong, but special mention must be made of Peter McGillivray's Raoul/Hernando, which was nothing short of magnificent... He held us in the palm of his hand for most of the time he was on stage.”

-Robert Harris, The Toronto Star

“Peter McGillivray delivers as Raoul, being as haughty or harried as needed”

-Eye Weekly, Toronto

COC Ensemble Studio - Puccini: La Bohème

“Former Ensemble member Peter McGillivray nearly stole the show as a lively and big-voiced Schaunard.”

-Joseph So, La Scena Musicale

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra - Händel: Messiah

“Handel's soaring music continues to stir, especially when performed by a wonderful ensemble that included ... Peter McGillivray... Emerging talent McGillivray's more introspective delivery grew stronger as the evening progressed, hitting its stride in The trumpet shall sound”

-Holly Harris, Winnipeg Free Press

Off/Centre Music Salon: Schubert: Winterreise with Boris Zarankin, piano

“McGillivray's rich, colourful voice is a natural for this music, and he and Zarankin were wonderfully matched in the intensity they brought to the young man's wanderings.”

-Catherine Belyea, The Toronto Star

Ottawa Chamber Music Festival

-Solo Recital

-Handel Aria Concert with Theatre of Early Music

“Peter McGillivray is a young Canadian baritone, born in Saskatchewan and raised in Ontario, the winner of numerous awards and altogether a rising star in the vocal world. McGillivray's voice is strong and flexible, dark enough to suit most of the material without sounding ponderous. This as particularly appropriate to the second and third of three songs by the American iconoclast, Charles Ives. These songs can be trashed by too arty a presentation, but yesterday's performances had just the right feeling.”

“Baritone Peter McGillivray sang Where'ere you walk from Semele with great authority and in splendid voice. Later, he did Revenge Timotheus Cries from Alexander's Feast.”

-Richard Todd, The Ottawa Citizen

Saskatoon Opera - Donizetti: L’elisir d’amore

McGillivray carries the pompous, self-centered role of the sergeant with aplomb; he’s funny, but convincing as competition for the pining Nemorino.

-Joannne Paulson, Saskatoon Star-Phoenix

Calgary Opera - Bizet: Carmen

The various Gypsy roles were nicely cast too...The two gypsy men, Peter McGillivray as Dancairo and James McLennan as Remendado, provided comic relief and together with the ladies sang an excellent version of the famous quintet in the second act.

-Kenneth DeLong, Calgary Herald

Canadian Opera Company - Gounod: Faust

In the smaller role of Valentin's soldier friend Wagner, baritone Peter McGillivray also sang well.

-Ken Winters, Globe and Mail

Ottawa Symphony Orchestra - Brahms: Requiem

Baritone Peter McGillivray sang with force and conviction

-Richard Todd, Ottawa Citizen

Orchestre symphonique de Québec - Extraits d’Opéra

Une très jolie voix...McGillivray a heureusement eu l’occasion de montrer sa réelle qualité d’acteur dès l’air suivant, celui où Leporello décline la list des maîtresses de Don Juan. Très a l’aise, l’interprète a bien fait rire quand il a sorti de sa poche un agenda électronique... L’extrait du Thaïs de Massenet, servi vers la fin de la première partie, est sans doute celui où le baryton a le mieux montré la qualité de son étoffe, à la fois ronde, brillante et riche... Un autre bon moment que celui où McGillivray a chanté l’air d’Onéguine, tendrement, en russe et, comme l’ensemble de son programme, de mémoire.

-Richard Boisvert, Le Soleil (Québec)

Inaugural Celebrations for Toronto’s new Opera house, The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts

“Tenor Michael Colvin and baritone Peter McGillivray were quite thrilling in the Pearl Fishers duet.”

-Ken Winters, The Globe and Mail

Barber/Finzi/Korngold with the Super NOVA quartet in Montreal for the CBC/McGill series

“Deuxième prix au Concours international de Montréal l'an dernier, le baryton Peter McGillivray fut magnifique dans les deux oeuvres: timbre riche, conduite vocale impeccable, intelligence du texte, présence imposante. Il montra ces mêmes qualités- dignes du premier prix- dans un lied tiré d'un recueil de Korngold qui annonçait le Quintette pour piano et cordes du célèbre compositeur de musique de film.”

-Claude Gingras, La Presse (Montreal)

Toronto Opera in Concert - Mazeppa

“A uniformly strong cast was led by baritone Peter McGillivray in the title role. Making a welcome return to Canada from his current program of studies in Germany, McGillivray is clearly still on track for the important career that his success in competitions over the past couple of years has promised. The voice is full and strong, and he uses it with a great feel for cadence and line. He’s frankly a bit young to carry this role off convincingly, but that’s picky in the face of such musicality and commitment. His performance was extraordinarily rewarding to the audience.”

-Wayne Gooding, Opera Canada

The Aldeburgh Connection - "A Country House Weekend"

"The music... represents the pinnacle of British songcraft. These are works that sound deceptively easy when performed right, as they were yesterday. But underneath all the pulse, shimmer and motion is a lot of hard work demanding great artistic subtlety. Fortunately, everyone present was up to the task.

Particularly engaging was McGillivray, whose warm voice continues to develop, and who can convey a wide range of moods with just a few gestures and inflections. He had the luck to sing one of the wittiest works of the art-song repertoire, Britten's "Tell Me the Truth About Love," from a poem by W.H. Auden. Where else, in all of Western music, does anyone ask if love might sneak up on them while they are picking their nose?"
-John Terauds, The Toronto Star

Albert Herring at the Britten Festival with the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in Aldeburgh, UK

“Things perked up enormously with the arrival of the excellent trio of singers cast as Sid (Peter McGillivray), Nancy (Cerys Jones) and Albert (Allan Clayton): when all three were together, the stage crackled with sexual energy, fuelled both by the expressions of evidently love of butcher boy and baker’s girl, and unwillingly virginal Albert’s mounting frustration.”

-Graeme Kay, Opera Magazine

Montreal International Musical Competition, 2005

Peter McGillivray, héros de la soirée

"La prestation de vendredi placerait nettement McGillivray à la place de la Coréenne qui, entrant après lui, a paru complètement écrasée. La voix large et sonore du baryton, grand et bien droit, s'est superbement déployée dans une Romance à l'étoile (de Tannhäuser)... Mais le difficile air de Ford, de Falstaff, allait ensuite révéler un mécanisme vocal d'une rare clarté."

-Claude Gingras, La Presse

Montreal International Music Competition Finals: Day One - McGillivray Hands Down

"McGillivray has been singularly successful in competitions lately, and his performance tonight clearly demonstrated why. He is without a doubt a major talent, well on his way to a significant career. From the time I first heard him about five years ago when he was just finishing up his studies at University of Toronto to now, he has made stunning progress. Along the way, he has developed a rich, beautiful baritone, backed by a solid technique that allowed him to sing the top notes with assurance, not to speak of exemplary musicality and intelligence. There is a sincerity and directness of communication to his singing that is striking — this is a singer with something to say to his audience. To my ears, on this particular night, McGillivray really outdid himself. He sang an extremely demanding program, from Mozart to Verdi to Wagner, with the obligatory French piece, and an English oratorio thrown in for good measure. He matched [the other baritone’s] formidable expressive powers — especially in the Ford aria, but never descending into hamming it up. His top voice tonight was better than I had ever heard from him. His diction in the Gerontius was terrific. Only in a few low notes did he have less than true support. The Wolfram aria was sung with a lovely cantabile that made Wagner sounding almost bel canto. I have to say he won hands down this evening and his performance is now the one to beat."

-Joseph So, La Scena Musicale

Mahler: Songs of a Wayfarer, Regina Symphony Orchestra

Baritone likely set for stardom
"A little Mahler often goes a long way. Imagine a little Mahler not going long enough? The difference comes with the right voice. Prince Albert-born baritone Peter McGillivray joined the Regina Symphony Orchestra for Saturday evenings concert at the Centre for the Arts. He sang only Gustav Mahler's song cycle, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer), and it seemed to be over too soon. The cycle is a rather self-pitying aggregation of young Mahler's own verses on lost love. What elevated the listening here was the range of McGillivray's voice. He has the delicacy, he has the power; he has a most enviable low register, and he is capable of rising beautifully to tenor heights. One should expect to see McGillivray rise to international operatic stardom."

-David Green, The Regina Leader-Post

In Recital, Rosza Centre, Calgary

"The second half was devoted to three groups of songs sung by baritone Peter McGillivray. Also a CBC competition winner... McGillivray is a first-class recitalist. Blessed with a voice of considerable amplitude with a ringing top and a strong lower register, McGillivray showed his interpretive flexibility in exquisite performances of songs by the Canadian composer Derek Holman, Francis Poulenc, and Jean Sibelius. While all three sets were excellent sung, the Poulenc and Sibelius groups were especially fine, the character of the modern French songs beautifully interpreted, and the intense romanticism of the early Sibelius songs warmly presented."

-Kenneth DeLong, The Calgary Herald

La Boheme, Canadian Opera Company

"Two other Ensemble members, baritone Peter McGillivray as Schaunard, the musician, and bass-baritone Robert Gleadow as Colline, the philosopher, did themselves more than proud. Both sang outstandingly well, both took their lion's share of the comedy with panache and (in the absence of girlfriends for them in the libretto) with a legitimate touch of camp."

-Ken Winters, The Globe and Mail

Albert Herring, Canadian Opera Company

"The finest singing of the evening came from baritone Peter McGillivray, as Albert's friend Sid. He caught the colour and nuance of every word in his lines and delivered them with a round, cultivated tone that perfectly reflected his character's self-satisfied suavity."

-Christopher Hoile, Opera News, March 2005

"Among the current crop of Ensemble members, baritone Peter McGillivray remains a stand-out. As Mr. Gedge the Vicar, he played with his rich voice to turn lyrics into conversation."

-Paula Citron, Classical 96.3 FM

“standouts are Peter McGillivray and Michèle Bogdanowicz as Sid and Nancy whose splendid duet showed their emotions and sensuality”

- John Kaplan, NOW magazine

Opera Now (Nov/Dec 2004) "Who's Hot?"

"With some agonizing, I reduce a long list of 15 candidates to three to fit my allotted space...[As] a member of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, Peter McGillivray has a rich, suave baritone and the kind of stage presence that has won him a number of prizes recently, including the CBC/Radio-Canada Vocal competition, (etc)..."

-Wayne Gooding, Opera Now's "Who's Hot?" panel

2003 Opera Canada Magazine Awards

"As his big, rolling, manly voice strengthens, the natural warm tone is being revealed, as well as his ability to summon different colors and emotional levels, adding an extra bite or easing up for a romantic sound as needed. McGillivray is also blessed with good instincts and he is an excellent actor"

-Paula Citron, Opera Canada magazine

CBC Young Performers Competition:

"His mastery of technique, the radiant timbre and even tone of his voice and his salient intelligence throughout, give Canada a truly great singer."

-Jean-Jacques van Vlasslaer, Le Droit (Ottawa)

John Beckwith’s Taptoo! at the University of Toronto:

"Peter McGillivray as John Graves Simcoe was a stand-out among the talented student cast."

-Paula Citron, Classical 96.3 FM

Don Giovanni at the Centre d’Arts Orford, Quebec:

"Peter McGillivray was believably egotistic in the title role, singing strongly and moving well."

-Arthur Kaptainis, Montreal Gazette