Dr. Bartolo's Umbrella and Other Tales from My Surprising Operatic Life

Dr. Bartolo?s Umbrella and Other Tales From My Surprising Operatic Life is a funny, touching, irreverent memoir about Chris Cameron?s thirty year career as an opera and concert singer on stages across the country. Cameron might have been a nondescript face in a crowd, but when he sang, he was somebody.

Dr. Bartolo?s Umbrella and Other Tales From My Surprising Operatic Lifeinvites readers along on Cameron?s journey from ordinary suburban teenager to professional musician performing principal roles on the operatic stage. His often hilarious stories about performing offer insight into their historical context, plus such arcane facts as why an opera singer?s voice can be heard above a whole orchestra while other people can barely be heard across the dining room table. Without trivializing the art form, the genial, approachable tone of the book makes it accessible to people of diverse ages and interests.

Dr. Bartolo?s Umbrella and Other Tales From My Surprising Operatic Life will have readers singing its praises to the back of the hall.

Christopher Cameron spent a large part of his life as a professional opera singer. He worked steadily and made a good living at his craft, performing on opera and concert stages across Canada. In 1989, he left full- time singing and began a career in the world of finance and technology, from which he retired in 2013. He spent the final years of his singing career with the Canadian Opera Company Chorus, leaving in 2009, thirty-three years after he first started with the company. Several years ago he began a third career as a freelance writer and editor. Cameron is also a marathon runner, long-distance cyclist, and seven-time Ironman finisher.

Dr. Bartolo’s Umbrella and Other Tales From My Surprising Operatic Life is Chrisopher Cameron’s first book.