Background
Devlin, Michael Coles was born on November 27, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Son of John Stott and Jane (Coles) Devlin.
Devlin, Michael Coles was born on November 27, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Son of John Stott and Jane (Coles) Devlin.
Bachelor of Music, Louisiana State University, 1965.
The protégé of the great Norman Treigle, Devlin began his career with the Association, where he debuted in a small role in Louisiana bohème (with Audrey Schuh as Mimì), in 1963. His next appearance was as Spalanzani in Les contes d"Hoffmann (a performance now available on Compact Discs, from VAI), with Beverly Sills and Treigle, in 1964. He was subsequently seen in Werther (opposite Giuseppe di Stefano), Carmen, Ariadne auf Naxos, Aïda (as Amonasro, with Marisa Galvany) and, in 1999, returned for The Ballad of Baby Doe (as William Jennings Bryan).
At the, Devlin first sang the Hermit in Ginastera"s Don Rodrigo, conducted by Julius Rudel and staged by Tito Capobianco, in 1966.
Further appearances there included L"amour des trois oranges (as Léandre), Giulio Cesare (as Nireno, later the title role), The Crucible (opposite Chester Ludgin), Bomarzo, Nine Rivers from Jordan (world premiere, by Weisgall), Louisiana bohème (as Colline), Le coq d"or, Lucia di Lammermoor, Manon, Œdipus rex, Le nozze di Figaro (in the title role), Mefistofele (with Harry Theyard), Louise, Carmen, Maria Stuarda, Susannah, Così fan tutte, Les contes d"Hoffmann, Faust (in Frank Corsaro"s production) and Pelléas et Mélisande (as Golaud). He returned to the company in 2000, for The Mother of Us All, portraying Daniel Webster.
Devlin made his debut in 1978 as Escamillo in Carmen. His other performances at that venue have included Hänsel und Gretel (as Peter), Les contes d"Hoffmann (as the Villains, opposite Plácido Domingo), Die Fledermaus (as Doctor Falke), Bluebeard"s Castle (with Jessye Norman), Salome (as Jokanaan), Samson et Dalila (as Abimélech), Faust, and Wozzeck (as the Doctor), altogether singing 229 performances in over thirty years with the Metropolitan
He has also appeared with companies in Chicago, Amsterdam, Salzburg, Verona, Madrid, London (Salome at Covent Garden), Paris, Prague, Los Angeles (Don Pizarro in Fidelio, with Karan Armstrong), San Francisco (Il prigioniero), et cetera
In a fifty-year career, he collaborated with such conductors as Leopold Stokowski, Eugene Ormandy, Sir Georg Solti, Erich Leinsdorf, James Levine, Sir Bernard Haitink, Leonard Bernstein, Sir Neville Marriner, Riccardo Muti, Christoph von Dohnányi, Pierre Boulez, and many others In January 2012, Mr Devlin portrayed Pope Street Leo I, "the Great," in Attila for the Seattle Opera. He is now retired and lives in Seattle.
Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel (Blegen, von Stade.
Fulton, Merrill/Donnell, 1982)
Meyerbeer: L"africaine (Verrett, Swenson, Domingo, Díaz. Arena, Mansouri, 1988)
Strauss: Salome (Ewing, Knight, Riegel.
Downes, Hall, 1992)
Berg: Wozzeck (Dalayman, Neumann, Struckmann. Levine, Lamos, 2001).