Brett Colby-Noorigian

Tenor

Armenian-American character tenor Brett Noorigian Colby is garnering acclaim throughout the U.S and Europe for his strong comedic and vocal skills. In his European debut, he joined Theater Görlitz (Germany), singing the roles of Nathanaël and The Four Servants (The Tales of Hoffmann), for which German papers commented that he "mastered his diverse roles vocally, theatrically, and with immaculate diction".
    Recent engagements include Goro (Madama Butterfly) with Virginia Opera, Anchorage Opera, Opera Illinois, Midland Symphony, Metro Lyric Operaand Cedar Rapids Opera; The Four Servants (The Tales of Hoffman) with Theatre Goerlitz (Germany); Beppe (I Pagliacci) with Opera Delaware; Spoletta (Tosca) and Blind (Die Fledermaus) with Opera Illinois; Basilio/Curzio (Nozze di Figaro) with Connecticut Grand Opera; Camille (The Merry Widow) with Rimrock Opera; Piquillo (La Perichole) with West Bay Opera; El Remendado (Carmen) with Mobile Opera; Bardolfo (Falstaff), Little Bat (Susannah), and Basilio/Curzio (Le Nozze di Figaro) with Cedar Rapids Opera. As an Apprentice Artist at Utah Festival Opera and Sarasota Opera, Brett was seen as Little Bat (Susannah), Professor (South Pacific), Florenze (Naughty Marietta), and Tanzmeister (Ariadne auf Naxos).
    Equally at home on musical theatre stages, Brett has starred in and recorded albums for two original musicals in New York: Vivianna (a re-telling of La Traviata) and My Heinous Life, for which NYC papers said, “Brett’s commanding tenor voice and sure stage presence kept the nonsense moving briskly”, and was dubbed “sweet candy”. Other musical theatre roles to his credit are Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar, a modernized version of The Pirates of Penzance at NYC's South Street Seaport, and two summers in Elmira, NY and Hartford, CT, portraying Young Mark Twain in Mark Twain: The Musical. He has been featured in the independent comedy film The War on the War on Drugs, and been heard frequently on Power 105.1 FM's "Dr. Dre in the Morning" Show, singing operatic renditions of popular Rap songs in a segment called "Hip-Hopera".

A resident of Asbury Park, NJ, Brett currently serves as President of the Arts Coalition of Asbury Park (www.artscap.org).

10/15/08