TORONTO - The room falls silent as Toronto opera singer Robert Pilon sings the first lines of the Les Miserables classic “Bring Him Home.”“Bring Him Home” echoes the beginnings of Caritas: A mother whose son was addicted to drugs made an appeal to Fr. Gianni Carparelli, the organization’s founder, to help her son recover from his addiction.
Pilon’s first association with Caritas began when he met Carparelli and Caritas’ board of directors president Michael Tibollo. Since then, Pilon has formed a choir of Caritas graduates which highlights the organization’s success in helping individuals turn their lives around.Musical talent runs deep in the Pilon family. His love of singing began with his mother, Rita, who would sing to him at home. A soprano who sang in Montreal’s many cathedrals, she was one of 16 children from a musical family with English and Irish Catholic roots. Their talent was homegrown since they couldn’t read music but could sing four-part harmony.
She passed on her love of music and faith to her son. Pilon counts “Danny Boy” as one of his favourites because it was first taught to him by his mother.
At 20, Pilon moved from Montreal to Toronto to accept a scholarship to the Royal Conservatory of Music, in 1976.
Four years later, he studied voice at the famed Julliard music school in New York.
Outside of this three-year turn in Phantom of the Opera, Pilon also played Jean Val Jean in Les Miserables and had a leading role in the Toronto production of Annie. He sang for Queen Elizabeth II during Canada’s 125th anniversary in Ottawa and for survivors’ families of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City.