Canadian-American tenor Isaiah Bell last appeared with Pacific Opera in a presentation of his solo show The Book of My Shames in May 2023. He has also mentored several generations of emerging artists, through POV’s Civic Engagement Artist Residency program, on the creation and development of original work. When not at home in Victoria, Isaiah sings across North America as a soloist in concert and opera. Having distinguished himself early as an interpreter of Handel, Benjamin Britten, and Bach’s Evangelists (Lincoln Center, Edinburgh Festival, Toronto Symphony), he has also found an artistic home in new creations. He was Antinous in the world premiere of Rufus Wainwright and Daniel MacIvor’s Hadrian at the Canadian Opera Company (2018), and brought “immense stage presence” and a “powerful, beautiful instrument” to La Reine-garçon (Bilodeau/Bouchard, 2024) at Opéra de Montréal. Reviewing his queer pandemic-era revamp of Poulenc’s La voix humaine (filmed for City Opera Vancouver, 2020), Opera Canada admired “a finely tuned performance, so perfectly married to his own sensitive and intelligent adaptation.”