French bass-baritone Paul Gay, a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Grammy Award winner, is internationally recognized for his commanding interpretations of leading roles in the French operatic repertoire.

His core repertoire includes Golaud (Pelléas et Mélisande), a role he has performed at the Paris Opera, La Monnaie in Brussels, Oper Frankfurt, the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo, the Shanghai Grand Theatre, Teatro Regio di Torino, and the Opéra de Lyon. Another of his signature roles is Méphistophélès (Faust), which he has sung at the Paris Opera, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Cologne Opera, Monte-Carlo, and the Bordeaux Opera.

He has also been acclaimed for his portrayal of Saint François (Saint François d’Assise) at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich under the baton of Kent Nagano, where he has also appeared in Der Zwerg, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, and L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. More recently, he added the highly demanding title role of Enescu’s Œdipe to his repertoire, performing it in London and Bucharest under Vladimir Jurowski.

Paul Gay is equally at home in the Verdi repertoire, with roles such as Philippe II (in both the French and Italian versions), Sparafucile, Walter, and Ramfis among his credits.

He has worked with some of the world’s leading conductors, including Ivan Fischer, Seiji Ozawa, Michel Plasson, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Semyon Bychkov, Philippe Jordan, Alain Altinoglu, Vladimir Jurowski, William Christie, and Emmanuelle Haïm. His collaborations with distinguished stage directors include Willy Decker, Luc Bondy, Peter Stein, Richard Jones, Claus Guth, Laurent Pelly, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Tobias Kratzer, Barrie Kosky, and Robert Carsen.