Gino Quilico 

His career spans over forty years, following a remarkable course through the most prestigious opera houses in the world: Metropolitan Opera (New York), la Scala (Milan), The Royal Opera House (London), The Berlin Staatsoper, The Vienna Staatsoper (Vienne), to name a few.

Among all his accomplishments, one must not forget his participation in the world premiere of the Opera The Ghosts of Versailles, created to mark the centennial celebrations of the Metropolitan Opera in 1991. Four years earlier, in 1987, for the first time in the history of the Metropolitan Opera of New York, a father (Louis) and his son (Gino) were singing in the same production of Manon by Massenet.

Mr. Quilico has participated in more than thirty opera recordings. In 1995, he received a Grammy Award for his participation in Les Troyen de Berlioz with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. 

It goes without saying that Gino Quilico sang under the direction of the greatest conductors of the symphonic world: Herbert Von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa and of course Kent Nagano and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Gino Quilico has also performed with great success musicals including Notre-Dame de Paris by Plamondon-Cocciante where he played the role of "Quasimodo" and the role of "Jean Valjean" in Les Misérables.

His life work has not been exclusively dedicated to opera and music. In 1990, he is one of the rare Canadians to be dubbed a Goodwill Ambassador by the United Nations High Commission For Refugees (UNHCR).

He has always taken the promotion of opera to heart while being a worthy representative of Canadian culture. This commitment has been noted when he was awarded the title of Officer of the Order of Canada in 1993, thereby acknowledging his talent. By the same token, the Canada Music Council named him “Artist of the Year” in 1993 to recognize his exceptional contribution to classical music in Canada.

Distinctions and honorary performances

1983 - Mr. Quilico performed for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at the National Arts Center in Ottawa for the new Constitution of Canada.

1986 - Private recital for Prince Charles and Princess Diana at the Canadian Ambassador’s residence in London.

1988  - Nominated Artist of the Year by Le Conseil Canadien de la Musique

1990  - Goodwill Ambassador (High Commissioner for Refugees) United Nations.

1993  - Officier of The Ordre du Canada in recognition for his musical contribution around the world

1995  - Grammy Award  for the recording of  Les Troyens by H. Berlioz  (Decca) rôle Chorèbe

2003  - GOLD Record - Novem  (Noel’)

World Premieres:

Ghosts of Versaille (John Corigliano) at Metropolitan Opera. New York (1991)

Montségur (L.Lamdowski) Toulouse Opera, Bordeaux, Lyon, Paris Opera (1985)

L’hèritière (J”P” Damase) at Paris Opera-Comique (1980)

Cinematography:

La Boheme (G.Puccini) Opera-film directed by Luigi Commencini (1988)

L’Orfeo (C.Monteverdi) Opera-film directed by C. Goretta (1988)

L’heure Espagnol (M.Ravel)

Several other opera’s on DVD 

Discography:

More than thirty classical recordings with:

Deutsche Grammophon, Philips, Erato, Sony Classical, London/Decca  et  EMI/Angel.

Press and letters of appréciation:

Luciano Pavarotti (Italy, août 1990)

"Gino is a great talent, a great voice, a real personality and a beautiful actor. He is going to be a verdi baritone who will achieve probably one of the greatest careers of all time. He has everything. Audiences are wild about him. Its a great pleasure for me to see that".

Philadelphia Don Giovanni

NEW YORK TIMES, John Rockwell

"Mr. Quilico enunciates the Italian with relish, looks handsome and acts with convincing dash.This is a real baritone Don Giovanni, elegant and light on his feet".

San Francisco Chronicle by Joshua Kosman

"Quilico sounded fine, in full command of his suave, expressive baritone. Lithe and strikingly handsome, Quilico looks every bit the licentious libertine. His singing was energetic and precise, with a pleasantly dark timbre".

The Gazette, Arthur Kaptainis

"Both the sneer of Quilico’s tone and the confidence with which he could occupy even a dark cranny left no doubt of his high calibre as a singing actor".

Bill Clinton, President of the United States of America (Personal letter – December 9th 1997)

"Thank you so much for the copy of Le Secret, which Saverio Mancina passed along to me. It brings back fond memories of seeing you at the Metropolitan Opera. Hillary and I appreciate your sharing your work with us, and we send our best wishes.

Sincerely, Bill Clinton".

Brian Mulroney, Prime Minister of Canada (Personal letter – November 9th 1987)

"On behalf of the Government of Canada, I am pleased to convey to you my warmest greetings and best wishes on this historical first performance by a father and son at the Metropolitan Opera House. Canadians and, indeed, all those who have an appreciation of opera may take great pride in your accomplishments as well as your contributions to music in Canada and throughout the world. I know that your performance will reflect your commitment to musical perfection and I trust that those in the audience this evening we highly entertained.

Yours sincerely,  Brian Mulroney"