Artists on Stage

Asitha Tennekoon

The first time I met Asitha Tennekoon, we were backstage after a Bach Magnificat in Ottawa in December. I had wanted to introduce myself to Tennekoon, an engaging young Sri Lankan lyric tenor who has called Toronto home since 2014. As we were chatting, the conductor interrupted to ask if we were related (I’m bi-racial; my mother is from India).

I brought up the incident when I saw Tennekoon again in January in Montréal, where he was rehearsing the role of Luis Griffith in Terence Blanchard’s jazz opera Champion at Opéra de Montréal. Tennekoon laughed and shook his head.

“In 2010 I was singing Tamino in the Magic Flute at BayView (a summer festival affiliated with a well-heeled cottage community in northern Michigan),” the 33-year-old singer recalled over brunch at Leméac, a popular bistro on tony Laurier Avenue. “An older lady came up and said she had enjoyed the performance, but she was wondering why I hadn’t been cast as Monostatos instead.”

A glance at any season brochure shows that opera and