Biography
Hailed by the Ottawa Citizen as a singer possessing “…an instrument of rare beauty, majestic and commanding from the bottom of his range to the top…”, bass-baritone Stephen Hegedus is frequently heard with leading orchestras and opera companies in Canada and abroad.
His operatic roles include Figaro and the Count (Le nozze di Figaro), Leporello (Don Giovanni), Colline (La Bohème), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Alidoro (La Cenerentola), Albert (Werther), Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress), Collatinus (The Rape of Lucretia), Talbot (Maria Stuarda), Sprecher (Die Zauberflöte), Masetto (Don Giovanni) and Angelotti (Tosca). He has been engaged by the Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Canadian Opera Company, Vancouver Opera, L’Opéra de Montréal, Opera Atelier, Pacific Opera Victoria, Edmonton Opera, Opera Columbus, Opera Hamilton and Against the Grain Theatre.
A prize winner at the Lyndon Woodside Oratorio Solo Competition, hosted by the Oratorio Society of New York, Mr. Hegedus’ extensive concert experience includes appearances with the Vancouver and Seattle Symphonies (Mozart’s Requiem) , Winnipeg Symphony (Haydn’s Creation), the Grant Park Festival (Dvorak’s The Spectre’s Bride, Brahms’ Requiem), l’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (Bernstein’s A Quiet Place), the Florida Orchestra (Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9), the Aldeburgh Festival (Bach’s B-minor Mass) and the l’Orchestre symphonique de Québec (Bach’s Magnificat).
Stephen has performed Handel’s Messiah with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, l’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Seattle Symphony, Houston Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Naples Philharmonic and Victoria Symphony.
His 2024/2025 season includes apperances as Publio in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito with Pacific Opera Victoria, Achis in Charpentier’s David et Jonathas with Opera Atelier, Mozart’s Coronation Mass with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, an all Bach program with Les Violons du Roy, and a return to the National Arts Centre to perform Handel’s Messiah.
A finalist at Placido Domingo’s Operalia, Stephen made his Carnegie Hall debut singing Bach’s Mass in B-minor with the Oratorio Society of New York and later returned for Handel’s Messiah as well as with Les Violons du Roy.