REVIEWS

Basilio / Il Barbiere di Siviglia / West Green House Opera / 2024 / Cond. Matthew Kofi Waldren / Dir. Victoria Newlyn

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"Trevor Eliot Bowes... steals the stage as Don Basilio.  His combination of creepiness, craftiness and comedy is priceless.  As the spin doctor extraordinaire, beetle-browed Bowes’ flexible physicality, elastic expression, and dour demeanour paint a larger than life portrait of the character.  And my, is his resonant bass voice a delight.  His rendering of the Calumny Aria is as acrobatically amazing as it is musically mesmerising."  (Markaspen.com)

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"Trevor Eliot Bowes made Don Basilio a comic delight... The combination of Bowes' imaginative physicality and his highly expressive eyes (allied to rather camp mannerisms) meant that though the character only makes two appearances, Bowes made him linger. The calumny aria was a virtuoso combination of music and theatre, visually and musically gripping" (Planet Hugill / Robert Hugill)

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"With his strong yet refined bass, Trevor Eliot Bowes... makes Don Basilio’s ‘La calunnia è un venticello’ a real highlight of the evening. While still capturing the character’s sinister nature, Bowes ensures that this Basilio is not some oafish or galumphing figure, but rather an extremely intelligent person who constantly has a glint in his eye." (Musicomh.com / Sam Smith)

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Seneca / L'Incoronazione di Poppea / English Touring Opera / 2023 / Cond. Yshani Perinpanayagam / Dir. Robin Norton-Hale

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Trevor Eliot Bowes is an imposing presence as Seneca, with a nicely-rounded bass voice which seems to ground the narrative. (Theoperacritic.com / Catriona Graham)

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“Trevor Eliot Bowes as Seneca, the wise philosopher who embraces death, is firm in declamation and moving 
at his end.” (The Telegraph / Nicholas Kenyon)

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“Bass Trevor Eliot Bowes, meanwhile, brought immense dignity to his Dignitas moment, Seneca’s suicide” (Bachtrack / Mark Valencia)

“Trevor Eliot Bowes brings a concentrated bass to Nero’s tutor Seneca” (The Stage / George Hall)

“Trevor Eliot Bowes is suitably grave as the philosopher tutor Seneca” (Financial Times / Richard Fairman)

“Trevor Eliot Bowes with dignified poise, the gravitas in his robust bass lending an air of authority.” (markaspen.com)

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Alidoro / La Cenerentola / Nevill Holt Opera / 2023 / Cond. Dionysis Grammenos / Dir. Owen Horsley

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"Trevor Eliot Bowes tiptoed dandyishly around as Alidoro, with a depth to his voice that – once again – made a droll contrast with his feline aura." (The Spectator / Richard Bratby)

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"But equal first, arguably top, came the agile and inventive lyric bass, Canadian Trevor Eliot Bowes, as the godfather of it all, Alidoro. There are long periods when he's not onstage, though he's manipulating behind the scenes, but my, quite apart from his teasing bowler-hatted acting, what a colossal voice... A bass surely in the top bracket" (classicalmusicdaily.com / Roderic Dunnett)

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"Trevor Eliot Bowes, with his beguiling bass, only has to enter to give the character of Alidoro an otherworldly feel." (musicomh.com / Sam Smith)

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Colline / La Bohème / English Touring Opera / 2022 / Cond. Dionysis Grammenos / Dir. James Conway 

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"Trevor Bowes was appropriately moving in Colline’s standout moment at the end of Act 4" (Bachtrack / Dominic Lowe)

"Trevor Bowes’ Colline offered a luxurious “Vecchia zimarra,” fulsome and tender in a way that had “soulful philosopher” written all over." (Opera Wire / Benjamin Poore)

"Trevor Eliot Bowes making a nobly resonant Colline" (inews.co.uk / Michael Church)

"Trevor Eliot Bowes finds dignity in Colline’s Coat Aria." (The Stage)

"Bowes gave a finely subtle account of his Act Four farewell to his overcoat, but again it was part of the natural ebb and flow with no sense of here's my famous aria." (Plant Hugill

Polifemo / Aci, Galatea e Polifemo  / Orchestra of the age of enlightenment / 2022 / Cond. Steven Devine

"But the true star of the evening was Trevor Bowes: ... Bowes’s achievement was not just technical: one really felt for him as he meditated on the cruelty meted out to him in ‘Non sempre, no, crudele’ (‘Not forever, no, cruel one’), a true lament and, in purely musical terms, almost as impressive as anything in this extraordinary evening. Almost. That aria for bass (‘Fra l’ombre’/ ‘Among the shadows’) was the technical and emotive tour de force of the performance though. Handel begins in the chthonic depths of the instrumental group, over which the bass offers a drooping, arpeggiated opening phrase. Yes, there are huge leaps in this aria, but Bowes presented them so musically, so tenderly, that one was completely enraptured by the unfolding experience. Bowes’s sense of phrasing was what gave the music its sense of perfection. One of the most interior and profound of all arias for bass Bowes offered us a complete musical triumph." (Seenandheard-international.com / Colin Clarke)

"This was a triumphant, idiosyncratic, courageous performance of one of the strangest roles in the repertoire – with a costume to match." (Backtrack / Stephen Pritchard)

"Bowes made a terrific Polifemo, bringing a wonderful confidence and swagger to the the arias with a great sense of the character's self-belief.  The character comes on with the aria that Handel would move into Rinaldo, with Bowes giving it real bravura swagger, but then in his second aria Bowes made Polifemo almost touching, though the deliberate unevenness in Handel's writing brings out an element of roughness too. The range of the role clearly pushed Bowes to his limits, but in his second aria in part one, which has the widest range, Bowes showed superb control and ability to sing gently despite the wide leaps" (Planet Hugill)

Sergeant of Police / The Pirates of Penzance / Opera Holland Park / 2021 Cond. David Eaton / Dir. John Savournin

"Trevor Eliot Bowes's Police Sergeant was a triumph of bleak, straight-faced humour..." (Opera / Peter Reed)

"Trevor Eliot Bowes was a charmingly perplexed Sergeant of Police, inflecting the vocal line in an understated but meaningful way as it sank low as he lamented the unhappy lot of the policeman..." (Opera Today / Claire Seymour)

"Trevor Eliot Bowes is a woefully dejected Sergeant of Police..." (The Stage / George Hall)

"Trevor Eliot Bowes laments the Policeman’s un’appy lot in laconic style." (The Sunday Times / Hugh Canning)

"Trevor Eliot Bowes and his two mates performed stalwartly the Sergeant of Police and his hopeless colleagues." (The Daily Mail / David Mellor)

"Trevor Eliot Bowes' seriously funny Sergeant..." (Planet Hugill)

Benoît / La bohème / English National Opera Drive & Live / 2020 Cond. Martyn Brabbins / Dir. PJ Harris

“Trevor Eliot Bowes sang the role with a resonant bass voice, appropriately biting in tense, dramatic moments.” (Opera Wire / Kirsten Scott)

“Trevor Eliot Bowes is painfully lifelike as grumpy security guard Benoît.” (The Stage)

Ben Benny / Paul Bunyan / English National Opera at Wilton’s Music Hall / 2018 Cond. Mathew Kofi Waldren / Dir. Jamie Manon

“The other singer whose timbre was particularly pleasing was the Canadian in the cast, Trevor Eliot Bowes, as the ‘bad cook’ Ben Benny. His warm, smooth bass carried without effort and his comic double act with Graeme Lauren as Sam Sharkey was very well judged.” (Opera Canada / Brian David)

“Trevor Eliot Bowes with his velvety bass” (Opera / Yehudu Shapiro)

“Tenor Graeme Lauren and bass Trevor Bowes were superbly (mis)matched as Sam and Ben, the useless cooks: so heartfelt was their acting that, unexpectedly, I found myself thinking, 'I could actually go some soup and beans' - they never let their ludicrous personas get in the way of their powerful delivery.” (adrianspecs.blogspot.com)

Silvano / Un ballo in maschera / Grange Park Opera / 2018 Cond. Gianluca Marcianò / Dir. Stephen Medcalf

“Trevor Bowes was particularly fine as the drunken ‘sailor’, Silvano.” (Opera Today / Claire Seymour)

“Trevor Bowes produced a nice vignette as the sailor in that scene, wittily remaining in character for the curtain calls.” (Mark Ronan Theatre Reviews)

Figaro / Il barbiere di Siviglia (Paisiello) / New Chamber Opera / 2017 Cond. Steven Devine / Dir. Michael Burden

“Bowes was indefatigably characterful and mischievous as the resourceful and quick-witted servant.” (Seen & Heard International / Curtis Rogers)

Arimanes / Santanella (Balfe) / Victoria Opera Orchestra / Naxos / 2016 Cond. Richard Bonynge

“Trevor Bowes is suitably black-toned and sonorous as the demon-king Arimanes." (Gramophone)

"Parmi les hommes, c'est surtout le baryton-basse Trevor Bowes qui s'impose dans le personnage Maléfique d'Arimanes." (Forumopera.com / Laurent Bury)

José Castro / La fanciulla del West / English National Opera / 2014 Cond. Keri-Lynn Wilson / Dir. Richard Jones

"Trevor Bowes's savagely desperate Castro... prominent among them." (The Independent)

Talbot / Maria Stuarda / Opera North / 2010 Cond. Guido J Rumstadt / Dir. Antony McDonald

“Trevor Bowes's Talbot supports [Sarah] Connolly tenderly in the act III duet.” (Independent on Sunday)

Father Trulove / The Rake’s Progress / Aldeburgh Festival / 2006 Cond. Martyn Brabbins / Dir. Neil Bartlett

“Trevor Bowes a sympathetic Father Trulove” (The Guardian / Tom Service) 

Don Inigo / L’heure espagnole / RSMAD / 2007 Cond. Timothy Dean / Dir. Martin Lloyd-Evans

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“A hilarious Chaplinesque figure” (Opera / Raymond Monelle)