Kyle Briscoe
Kyle Briscoe is blazing his own trail as a queer interdisciplinary artist focusing on opera performance and his love of pop music. From Winnipeg, Manitoba, Kyle is a prairie boy at heart and achieved a B.Mus. in vocal performance at the Desautles Faculty of Music while studying under Mel Braun. In the Fall of 2023, Kyle began his studies towards a M.Mus in Opera and Voice from McGill University in Montréal. In his short time at the Schulich School of Music, Kyle has performed a recital of Brahms songs as part of Michael McMahon’s song interpretation class, appeared in Opera McGill’s production of Sondheim at Segal and covered the role of Prince Ramiro in La Cenerentola. Colleagues describe Kyle as a joy and light; he has been praised for his vocal tone and endearing vulnerability. Kyle was featured in the Winnipeg Free Press in “Survival Songs” (August 2023) and was a guest on CBC’s Now or Never podcast (September 2023), where he was invited to discuss his unique career and share his music live on the air (There are many great singers in pop, but Briscoe’s precise voice, honed by hours of training at the U of M and other lessons — contrasts greatly from the breathy vocals that have dominated the charts in recent years – Alan Small, Winnipeg Free Press). Recent highlights include “What A Time – Live,” a behind-the-scenes look into the meaning and making of his first original song, performing as a soloist in Dead of Winter’s Montiverdi’s Vespers, and singing the role of Speaker in the Little Opera Company’s production on The Magic Flute (John Geer Adaptation).
Last summer, Kyle made his role debut with Manitoba Underground Opera as Don Basilio in their gender-bent Marriage of Figaro, performed at Club 200, one of Canada’s longest-running gay bars. “Kyle Briscoe was possibly one of the most charming Don Basilios I’ve seen, and balanced elegance and sass as he fueled the drama with gossip and scandal” (Schmopera). This summer, Kyle released his debut EP, “LESSONS,” and will return to Winnipeg to sing the tenor solos in the WSO’s special performance of Handel’s Messiah, Kyle’s favourite oratorio.
Kyle has been awarded the Schulich Scholarship (2023), Berythe Brise Scholarship (WMC, 2022), the Andrew Kuryk Memorial Scholarship for leadership in the University of Manitoba Singers choral ensemble (2021 & 2020), Second Prize in the Zita Bernstein Competition for an outstanding performance of German Lieder (2020), and the University of Manitoba Undergraduate Research Award to pursue research in perceptual studies (2019). Kyle has performed with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (Solomon), Manitoba Opera, Manitoba Underground Opera, Little Opera Company, Opera McGill, Dead of Winter, Canzona, PolyCoro, the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul, and the Winnipeg Singers.
In his spare time, Kyle is an avid long-distance runner, sits on the board of trustees for the Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg, is working on a new “popera” combining his self-composed pop and opera songs to tell his story of domestic violence survival, and was hired to coordinate the Association for Opera in Canada’s 2023 Opera Summit which took place in Winnipeg this November.
