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

Français

Adam Da Ros

Adam Da Ros is a Canadian stage and music director from Dawson Creek, B.C. active in opera and musical theatre. He is on academic staff at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as adjunct instructor and director of the UWM Opera Theatre program. He recently completed two seasons as Resident Artist Stage Director at Minnesota Opera, where he assisted on eight mainstage productions, including two world premieres, as well as directing members of the Resident Artist Program in promotional and outreach activities, including a concert at the National Opera Center in New York City.Adam holds a ...

Alan Corbishley

As a baritone, Alan has sung throughout North America and Europe. In the UK, he sang Marcello in Puccini’s La Bohème, Mozart’s Mass in C minor, and Bach’s St. Matthew's and St. John's Passion, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus in London, and Papageno in The Magic Flute in Belfast. He sang Schaunard in La Boheme with Vancouver Opera and with Opera Theátre Besançon in France and returned to Besancon and Dijon, France in Peter Eötvös’ contemporary opera Le Balcon and in Rossini’s opera L’occassione fa il Ladro. Alan performed many times with the Kamloops Symphony including Mahlers’ Das Lied von der ...

Alex Chen

Alex Chen is a collaborative pianist, baritone, and vocal coach whose curiosity brings fresh perspectives on a diverse body of musical works. In the words of his mentor John Hess, he is "an immensely musical and sensitive player" with "a deeply inquisitive mind." Alex performs regularly both as a singer and collaborative pianist in the Victoria music community, exploring genres such as art song, opera, and choral music. Moreover, as a faculty member at the Victoria Conservatory of Music he supports a wide variety of students and young professional singers from the piano. He currently studies ...

Alexander Cappellazzo

Born on the auspicious Feast Day of Bach, Handel and Purcell, it was surely fated that Alexander Cappellazzo would immerse himself in music!Starting with Strauss’ Die Fledermaus in 2017, he has since performed roles like Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Lensky (Eugene Onegin), Acis (Acis & Galatea), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Oronte (Alcina) and many more with companies across Canada including: VOICEBOX: Opera In Concert, Toronto City Opera, Opera By Request, OperOttawa, Nózki Opera, Opéra Queens, Cantabile Chorale, the Ashkenaz Festival, 23 Degree Theatre, the Halifax Summer Opera Festival and ...

Barbara King

Canadian mezzo-soprano Barbara King, is a force on the stage, blending artistry and athleticism in her performances. From winning a Québec Provincial Gymnastics Championship to dazzling audiences with her "exquisite vocal command of a three-octave range," Barbara has captivated in roles like Carmen, Dalilah, Princess de Bouillon, and Octavian. Barbara has graced stages across Canada and Italy, with highlights including performances with Edmonton Opera, Calgary Opera, Manitoba Opera, Opera Kelowna and the Amalfi Coast Music Festival. As Artistic Director of Calgary Concert Opera Company, she ...

Barbara Scales

Barbara Scales is the founder and President of Latitude 45 Arts Promotion, Inc. since 1981 and also a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Music Centre since 1993. Her work is on the creative development of artists and the assurance of stability in the field. Her work has always focused on composers and their creative collaborators including performers, videographers, choreographers, directors directors and librettists.

Camille Rogers

Camille Rogers (they/them) has been praised for their “tremendous stage presence” and “real flair for comedy” (Operaramblings).Camille’s “gossamer mezzo-soprano” (Mooney on Theatre) has been described as “even-keeled and grounded even in times of intense physicality” (Schmopera).Opera roles include Suli/Suzie in Buddies in Bad Times’s world premiere of Pomegranate, Lake in FAWN's collectively improvised techno opera Belladonna, Young Girl in The Marriage of Figaro with Opera Atelier, and the title role of L’Italiana in Algeri with MYOpera.Camille has also been featured as a soloist with Pax ...

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 ...

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 ...

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. ...

Jeannette Aster

Born in Linz Austria, Jeannette Aster was brought up and educated in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Trained initially as a classical dancer, she obtained her BMus in Voice Performance from McGill University before earning a graduate diploma in Opera Production at the London Opera Centre in London, England. She has since enjoyed an active international career as artistic director, opera consultant, freelance stage director and operalogue.She helped found the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble and in 1980 became its first resident director . In 1986, at the invitation of Peter Hemmings and Placido ...

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 & ...

Kyle Briscoe

Kyle Briscoe is blazing his trail as a queer interdisciplinary artist focusing on opera performance and his love of pop music. From Winnipeg, Manitoba, Kyle is a prairie boy at heart and achieved a B.Mus. in vocal performance at the Desautles Faculty of Music while studying under Mel Braun. In the Fall of 2023, Kyle began his studies towards an M.Mus in Opera and Voice from McGill University in Montréal. In his short time at the Schulich School of Music, Kyle has performed a recital of Brahms songs as part of Michael McMahon’s song interpretation class, appeared in Opera McGill’s production ...

Luka Kawabata

Praised for his “well-projected, heroic baritone” (Opera Canada), Nikkei-Canadian baritone, Luka Kawabata, is a current member of the Yulanda M Faris Young Artists Program at Vancouver Opera. He previously appeared in last year’s digital season as Dmitri in The Music Shop and as Escamillo in Carmen: Up Close and Personal. Luka is an alumnus of Manitoba Opera's Digital Emerging Artist Program and the Banff Centre's 'Opera in the 21st Century' Program.Set to premiere Fall 2021, Luka is set to premiere two self-produced projects centred around his intersectional lived experience: “Paueru-gai” ...

Luna Pearl Woolf

JUNO, GRAMMY and DORA Award-nominated composer Luna Pearl Woolfhas long used her creative voice to advocate for social and political change. In addition to her work as a story-telling composer across genres, she is anaccomplished audio producer, as well as dramaturg and lecturer on topics in contemporary opera. In early 2020, Tapestry Opera premiered Jacqueline, Woolf's opera with librettist Royce Vavrek, garnering 5 Dora Award nominations. Other projects include work with McGill Opera, Musique 3 Femmes, the Washington National Opera and an innaugural Opera America Discovery Grant. ...

Luna Pearl Woolf

The music of award-winning composer Luna Pearl Woolf has been called “brilliant ... profoundly moving” (Opera Going Toronto), praised for its “psychological nuances and emotional depth” (NY Times) and described as “gorgeous, sometimes startling in its layering and detail” (The Whole Note). With commissions for large-scale dramatic works from New York’s Perelman Performing Arts Center, Tapestry Opera and Washington National Opera, among others, Woolf is known for her contributions to new opera, garnering a 2021 GRAMMY Award for the composer-portrait album, LUNA PEARL WOOLF: Fire and Flood. ...

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 ...

Mike Fan

Queer, gender non-binary, and Chinese-Canadian tenor Mike Fan | ??? (they) astonishes audiences with their versatility, passion, and commitment to social justice. Fluent in 7 languages Mike performs in 10 languages across Canada, Finland, Italy, USA, and Australia. As a host, pianist, educator, and actor, Mike brings their quicksilver wit to numerous engagements crossing disciplines, most recently as McGill University’s PGSS/AÉCSUM Equity & Diversity Commissioner and BIPOC Graduate Network founder. Mike is also Founder and Artistic Director of a ground-breaking company Opéra Queens which ...

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 ...

Paul Winkelmans

Paul Winkelmans is a baritone and arts administrator based in Toronto, On. Originally from Victoria BC, he pursued studies in music across the country, including Winnipeg and Montreal, before moving to Toronto in 2017. He has since worked as a freelance singer, performing with organizations such as The Elmer Iseler Singers, Manitoba Underground Opera, Fraser Lyric Opera and Shoestring Opera. As an arts administrator he worked with Pacific Opera as manager of their Pop Up Opera program in the summer of 2020, and is currently assistant manager of the annual Pacific Baroque Festival in Victoria, ...

Spencer McKnight

TenorSpencer McKnighthas been described as “one of the finest tenor voices” in Canada.His voice is described as fresh and brassy with stratospheric high notes. McKnight began singing at the age of 17. He was encouraged to pursue music by an adjudicator who heard him sing at his local music festival. His passion for music finds him frequently immersed in the music of Handel, Rossini, and Britten. Spencer’s garnered much attention both in concert and in competition over the course of the last six years, including multiple awards at a national level, and the 2018 winner of the Gordon C. Wallis ...

Stephanie Ko

Stephanie Ko (she/her/hers) is a disabled arts administrator, designer, consultant and national award-winning writer based in Vancouver, BC. She is the general manager of Opera Mariposa, Canada's first fully disability-led and run opera company, and she has been involved in disability and chronic illness advocacy for fifteen years in partnership with charities, funding bodies and arts service organizations worldwide. In addition to her work with Opera Mariposa, Stephanie currently sits on Actsafe's Performing Arts Standing Committee; serves on the Community Council for the Greater Vancouver ...

Stuart Graham

https://stuartgraham.ca/

Taryn Plater

Mezzo-soprano Taryn Plater is a versatile performer and creator with a strong investment in the future of opera and civic artistry. With affinities for performance and production, she is active both on and off stage. An advocate for Ukrainian opera and song, Taryn created the digital artist statementFirst Stepsthrough Against the Grain's 2021 National Opera Intensive, exploring her cultural heritage through Ukrainian art song and dance. Taryn is a mentor with Opera InReach, the Founding Aristic Director ofOpera Unbound, and a 2021-2022 Artist Fellow with the Association for Opera in Canada. ...

Yanik Gosselin

Yanik Gosselin, hailed for“his masterful diction and his well-supported upper register [which] made for an evening of tenorial delights” (Opera Canada), is a tenor from the Lake Temiskaming area in northeastern Ontario and is currently based in Toronto.More than just a singer, he is a passionate storyteller, a sensitive musician, and a committed collaborator. His repertoire, which includes a wide range of music, from early baroque opera to world premiere performances, and even a background in rock music, is a testament to his versatility. An experienced recitalist, Yanik moves audiences with ...