Russell Thomas is many singers at once—and he aims to excel at them all. The Miami-born tenor, celebrated for his interpretations of Italian repertoire and, more recently, German works, is preparing to make his role debut in Toronto this spring as Werther in Jules Massenet’s popular opera of the same name, with the Canadian Opera Company (COC). Hailing the French opera’s “immense emotional impact,” Thomas says the work is a supreme marriage of music and text. “From the very beginning, when Werther walks in and sees the house and looks at the children playing, a whole world is being painted,…
