Association for Opera in Canada / Association pour l'Opéra au Canada Directory

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Anna Pompeeva

https://www.youtube.com/@annapompeeva Contessa - Le Nozze di Figaro - Mozart Aida - Aida - VerdiDezdemona - Otello - VerdiLeonora - Il Trovatore - VerdiToska - Toska - PucciniNedda - Pagliacci - LeoncavalloLisa - Queen of spades - ChaikovskySinderella - MassenetMichaela - Carmen - BizetRequiem - Verdi

Antonina Ermolenko

Ukrainian-Canadian dramatic soprano Antonina Ermolenko is fast gaining international acclaim for her “diva’s vocal technique and dramatic flair” (Promin), along with her sense of “lyricism and emotional depth” (New Pathway). A disciple of Martina Arroyo, Antonina’s musical approach hearkens back to the Golden Age of opera, while infusing her own unique, character-driven approach to the art form.Her wide range of repertoire includes dramatic coloratura roles such as Bellini’s Norma, Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, and Mozart’s Mme. Herz alongside heroines such as Puccini’s Tosca, and Verdi’s ...

Bronwyn Thies-Thompson

Bronwyn Thies-Thompson is a young Canadian soprano with an affinity for early and new music. She is sought after for her solid and inspired performances as a soloist and amongst small vocal ensembles, regularly performing and recording with the leading early and contemporary music ensembles in Montreal and abroad, including with Daniel Taylor’s Theatre of Early Music and JUNO-nominated Trinity Choir. Her “clean and clear voice” (National Capital Opera Society) and “natural and assured musicianship,” (Ottawa Citizen) informed by her musical upbringing as a cathedral chorister and ...

Camryn Dewar

Camryn Dewar

A champion of vocal versatility and accomplished Métis/Indigenous musician Camryn is known for her dynamic range across contemporary classical, opera, musical theatre, and jazz. Described as an “incredible performer and instrument,” Camryn has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Centre, Manitoba Opera and across Canada and Italy. Camryn is a Fulbright Scholar and holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Manitoba and is completing her Master of Music (Opera Performance) at Montclair State University with Metropolitan Opera’s Barbara Dever. Passionate about amplifying Indigenous voices, ...

Daniela Agostino

Danielle Buonaiuto

Canadian soprano Danielle Buonaiuto is known for “terrific clarity” (Baltimore Sun), “agile coloratura” (Schmopera), “entrancing and fluid” singing (DC Metro Theatre Arts), and “etherealvocals” revealing “exquisite vocal technique and luscious colors” (OperaWire). Danielle maintains an active schedule as a soloist and consort musician throughout the United Statesand Canada. Though an accomplished performer of standard repertoire, she primarily focuses on working with living composers. Most recently, Danielle made her Prototype Festival debut creating the roles of Miranda/Caroline in Eat the ...

Danika Lorèn

Deantha Edmunds

(Photo creditJennie Williams) Deantha Edmunds is Canada’s first Inuk professional classical singer, and an award-winning performer. An urban Inuk, creator, and mentor, Deantha aims to empower Indigenous people and share their stories. She is currently based in St. John’s, Newfoundland & Labrador.Deantha was longlisted for the prestigious 2023 Kenojuak Ashevak Memorial Award from the Inuit Art Foundation. Her work has international reverberation as well as community integrity. From solo and internationally broadcast performances for His Holiness, Pope Francis in Iqaluit to acting in ...

Emily Rocha

Emily Rocha is a soprano from Courtice, Ontario currently living in Toronto. She is a student at the University of Toronto’s renowned Opera School for her Masters degree under the tutelage of Lorna MacDonald. She is a recent graduate of U of T’s Voice Performance undergraduate program, where she was selected to perform in masterclasses for renowned artists, including Joyce DiDonato and Eric Owens. At U of T, Emily has been a recipient of the ARIAS All Past Presidents’ Scholarship (2021), the ARIAS Anne & John Craine Memorial Scholarship (2021), the Paul and Celestine Lin Graduate ...

Erin Bardua

Erin Bardua is primarily a singer, voice teacher, and stage director. Like many performers, much of Ms. Bardua's most recent work has been on film and online. In 2020, her company Essential Opera produced two operatic films: Mirror, mirror, by Anna Pidgorna; and December, by Monica Pearce. In 2021, Erin created a solo programme of contemporary and original music for unaccompanied voice and voice with flute titled Afterwards-Day, which premiered at Sappyfest: Infinite Variety, a 24-hour streamed performance event. She also played the role of Helen in a hybrid live and streaming production of ...

Frédérique Vézina

Celebrated for her warm voice and sense of dramatic immediacy, Canadian soprano Frédérique Vézina has performed with many opera companies including the Canadian Opera Company and Washington National Opera. A young artist with the Canadian Opera Company and the Juilliard Opera Center (New York), Mrs. Vézina made her mainstage debut as Liza in Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades during her first season as an ensemble member at the COC. She has collaborated with internationally renowned conductors including Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Richard Bradshaw, James Conlon, Hans Fricke, Bernard Labadie, Jacques ...

Grace Quinsey

https://gracequinsey.ca/

Gwendolyn Yearwood

Calgary born soprano Gwendolyn Yearwood has graced stages around the world with a voice that is "a force to be reckoned with" (Summerland Review). Gwendolyn is a graduate of the University of British Columbia where she completed a Bachelor's of Music (2015) and a Master's of Music (2017). During her time with UBC Opera Gwendolyn performed all over Canada, The Czech Republic, Germany, and China. Some of her more notable professional operatic performances include Mimi in La Bohème (Against the Grain Theatre), Lady Dunmow in A Dinner Engagement (Opera by Request), Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus ...

Irina Medvedeva

Soprano Irina Medvedeva is described as being a “flexible, supple, yet powerful soprano” (The Globe and Mail) and has been praised for having “a large voice with an astonishing range” (Opera Canada).Irina was a recent Yulanda M. Faris Young Artist at the Vancouver Opera for the 2019-2020 season. This engagement included singing Annina in the mainstage production of La Traviata with the Vancouver Opera as well as covering Violetta Valéry, and Rosina in Rossini’s Barber of Seville. Past operatic engagements include Galatea in Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Norina in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, the ...

Jaclyn Grossman

Jaclyn Grossman (she/her) is defining what it means to be a portfolio artist. Comfortable in roles both onstage and off, as a soprano, she has been hailed for her “unique voice type” (Opera Canada) and “command over a powerful range of expressive emotion” (The Whole Note). As a Co-Founder of Likht Ensemble, this season Jaclyn will curate and perform in the Shoah Songbook, a concert series with the Harold Green Jewish Theatre, sharing music by Jewish composers from the Holocaust. Likht Ensemble will also perform with the Schulich School of Music’s Alumni Concert Series in the spring of 2022. ...

Jacqueline Ko

Jacqueline Ko (she/her) is a multi-award-winning soprano who “knows exactly what to do with an absolutely gorgeous voice” (Review Vancouver). A versatile performance and recording artist whose work spans opera, theatre and film, a few of her notable role credits include Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Angelica in Suor Angelica, Sharon in Terrence McNally's Master Class, Lauretta and La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi, and Königin der Nacht in Die Zauberflöte. She has been praised for her “definite aptitude” (Opera Canada) as the founding artistic director of Opera Mariposa, Canada's first fully ...

Jennier Tung

Artistic director of Toronto City Opera and assistant conductor of the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra, conductor Jennifer Tung leads a uniquely versatile career as music director, collaborative pianist, and soprano. In 2020/21, she joins Tapestry Opera as a conducting fellow in the inaugural year of the Women in Musical Leadership program, in partnership with Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Pacific Opera Victoria.Jennifer debuted with the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival conducting The Mikado in 2017 and has returned to conduct Sweeney Todd and Tragedy of Carmen. In 2019, she debuted with Opera ...

Jennifer Carter

Soprano Jennifer Carter has been praised as “a wonderfully honest and communicative performer” (Opera Programs Berlin) and “consummate singing actor” (BarzcaBlog). In summer 2021, she completed a role study of Chrysothemis in Strauss' Elektra with Dramatic Voices Program Berlin. She opened 2020 as both Rheinmaiden and Valkyrie in the joint Toronto production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle by Opera by Request and Berlin Opera Gruppe, singing Wellgunde (Das Rheingold, Götterdämmerung) and Waltraute (Die Walküre). Additional roles have included Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), First Lady/Erste Dame & ...

Lindsay McIntyre

Maureen Batt

Maureen focusses on celebrating Canadian classical contemporary repertoire by collaborating with established and emerging composers to commission, premie`re, and re-perform their works. Her discography includesLighthousewith Grej (ECMA Winner Classical Recording of the Year 2022);Breathing in the Shadows(JUNO nomination 2022);Aunt Helen(ECMA and Music NS nominations 2021-2);Mirror, Mirror; andLady of the Lake(ECMA and Music NS nominations 2017-8). She is the co-artistic director with Erin Bardua of Essential Opera, an opera company founded in 2010. In 2015, Maureen founded Crossing Borders, a ...

Michaela Chiste

Michaela Chiste is a soprano hailing from Okotoks, Alberta. Originally trained as a stage actor, she spent most of her life studying and performing in the dramatic arts and musical theatre before crossing over to the world of classical singing in 2013. She completed her Bachelor of Musicunder the tutelage of John Tessierat the University of Alberta in 2017. She is currently working towards her Master's degree in Vocal Literature and Performance at the University of Western Ontario. She has performed as a concert soloist and recitalist both internationally and across Canada. She has served as ...

Michal Aloni

Opera artist, originally from Israel, nowadays based in Montreal. Involvement in operatic creation is my life's passion, on stage and behind the scenes. Singer, Actress, Dramatic coach, Hebrew coach, Assistant director/stage manager, Translations and surtitles. Hebrew, English, French, German, Italian .

Morgan Reid

Morgan Reid is a Nova Scotian-born portfolio artist whose diverse skillset informs her career as a performer, administrator, and academic. Morgan works as a freelance social media manager/consultant for a handful of arts organizations and individuals, was the administrator for COSA Canada’s 2020-2021 online season, and has worked as an administrative assistant and teaching assistant with Voice Studies at the University of Toronto Faculty of Music. Additionally in 2020-2021, Morgan was selected as an RBC Future Launch/LINK Emerging Artist Fellow with the Association for Opera in Canada. As a ...

Nansee Hughes

Dramatic Coloratura Soprano, Nansee Hughes, recently made her role debut in the roles ofPterodactyl in Langan'sDino Operaand Mother Gothel inRapunzelwithVera Causa Opera(2020). She has performed the roles ofThe Fire, The Princess, and the Nightingale in Ravel'sThe Child & The Spellswith Vera Causa Opera (2019),Lillian in McCune & Cavanagh'sY2K Black Death OratoriowithPop Goes the Opera(2018), Giulietta in Bellini’sI Capuleti e i Montecchiwith Opera NUOVA (2016), Atalanta in Handel'sSerse(2010) and the Dew Fairy in Humperdinck'sHansel and Gretel(2009) with the University of Alberta ...

Natalya Gennadi

Ukrainian-Canadian soprano Natalya Gennadi is gaining attention in North America for her performances in wide-ranging repertoire. Natalya caused a sensation in the leading role of Oksana G, Tapestry Opera’s harrowing tale about human trafficking. Her Dora Award-nominated performance in this world premiere was described as “stunning... piercing in its openness and vulnerability” (Toronto NOW Magazine).As Mimi in La Boheme with Highlands Opera Studio, Dawn Martens of Opera Canada wrote: “Natalya was a gorgeous Mimi; not only did she look the part of the consumptive heroine, she allowed her ...

Nicole Chan

Nicole Ross

Rachel Krehm

A multi-faceted artist, soprano Rachel Krehm is the co-founder and General Director of Opera 5. As a performer she works in opera, new music, art song, improvisation, and voice and web-series acting. Along with performing, she is a writer and producer. In 2019, Rachel performed the title role of Strauss’Ariadne auf Naxoswith Highlands Opera Studio where her performance was described as “soulful” by Opera Canada. She has performed Poulenc’sLa voix humainemultiple times, most recently with Toronto City Opera, where her performance was described as “a breathtaking virtuoso performance of ...

Robin Hahn

Hailed as “sublime, with a beautiful resonant soprano full of colour” (Opera Canada), lyric soprano Robin Hahn has accrued credits all over the world, from Amsterdam to New York to Disneyland. Previous performances include Despina in a toured production of Così fan tutte in the Netherlands; concerts across Germany singing excerpts as Violetta in La traviata and Antonia in Les contes d’Hoffmann with the Thüringer Symphoniker; and a Canadian national tour as a soloist with the Chinese Radio Broadcasting Orchestra. Her wide variety of past roles include Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni); Musetta (La ...

Sara Schabas

Sarah Albu

Sarah Albu is a soprano, experimental vocalist, composer and performance-maker. She is currently based in Tio'tia:ke - Mooniyang (Montréal). Her background in theatre and obsession with science fiction feed quirky and darkly comedic imagined worlds. She has been an invited artist at the Banff Centre for the Arts, the National Arts Centre of Canada, the Koumaria Residency in Greece, and international series and festivals across the land now known as Canada, Europe, the US and Mexico. An active soloist specializing in new/experimental music, 20th century repertoire and free improvisation, she ...

Teiya Kasahara 笠原貞野

Nikkei-Canadian settler Teiya Kasahara they/them) is a queer, trans non-binary, interdisciplinary creator-performer based in Tkarón:to. Heralded as "a force of nature" (Toronto Star) and "an artist with extraordinary things to say" (The Globe and Mail) Teiya comes from a background of over a decade of singing both traditional and contemporary operatic roles across North America and Europe such as the Queen of the Night/THE MAGIC FLUTE (Aalto-Essen, Vancouver, Edmonton), Flora Sandes/DEAD EQUAL (Edinburgh) and Fata Morgana/L'AMOUR DES TROIS ORANGES (Aalto-Essen).Appearances this season: S.O.S. ...

Thera Barclay

Praised for her “sparkly coloratura” (Opera Ramblings) and “[being] full of character and spot on in timing and delivery” (Review Vancouver), soprano Thera Barclay is in demand as an interpreter of operatic, recital, and concert repertoire. She is the recipient of many scholarships and awards for her achievements in music, including the Sheila K. Piercey Vocal Scholarship, the Lillian and Don Wright National Voice Travel and Study Scholarship, and various other prizes in the Kiwanis Music Festival and NATS Competition. She has graced stages across the nation, having performed in Ontario, Nova ...