Vinson Cole is an American operatic tenor. A native of Kansas City, the tenor studied at the University of Missouri, Kansas City; the Philadelphia Musical Academy; and at the Curtis Institute of Music with Margaret Harshaw. He made his European debut in Angers, France in Handel's Acis and Galatea and followed that with the role of Belmonte in Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio with the Welsh National Opera. In 1977, his youthful promise was recognized when he won the Metropolitan Opera Auditions, the WGN Competition, and was awarded both Rockefeller Foundation and National Opera Institute grants. As his career unfolded, he went on to sing leading roles in many major opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Op�ra National de Paris and Paris Opera-Bastille, Teatro alla Scala, and the theatres in Berlin, Vienna, and Hamburg. For nine years, he sang at the Salzburg Festival. In the United States, he has sung with the New York City, Seattle, Houston, Santa Fe, and St. Louis opera companies. In 1997, he returned to open the season at La Scala as Renaud in Gluck's Armide with Riccardo Muti conducting. 

November 21st, 1950 in (Age 74)