Senior Finalist: Colum Donovan-Paterson

Our third finalist in this year's Senior Class is Colum Donovan-Paterson.

Born and raised in Scotland, Colum is a recent graduate of the Master’s programme at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

He is an alumnus of The Sixteen’s flagship training programme, Genesis Sixteen, and of the Dunedin Consort’s inaugural young artist programme. He was highly commended at the Leonie Kayser Prize for Singing, 2020 and won 3rd Place in the Hugh S Roberton Prize for Scottish Singing in 2019.

Opera appearances include chorus work in Donizetti’s L’Elisir D’Amore (New Generation Festival, Florence) and Wagner’s Götterdämmerung with Sir Andrew Davis and the RSNO. He also played The Boy in Kurt Weill’s Der Jasager with Scottish Opera Connect. Colum has performed alongside The Sixteen in the world premiere of Sir James MacMillan’s 5th Symphony Le Grand Inconnu at The Usher Hall and with The Dunedin Consort on their Golden Age tour and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Colum appears in the Netflix Originals feature film Outlaw King and the official live recording of Le Grand Inconnu at the Barbican Centre in London.

This year, Colum is a fellow of Music Academy of the West, a summer programme held in Santa Barbara, California, where he will cover the principal role of Marcello in La Bohème. Colum is deeply grateful to the Dewar Arts Awards, the McGlashan Trust and Help Musicians UK for their generous support towards his studies.

Song Competition tickets are now available and can be purchased here.