Espace ouvert : l’opéra du XXIe siècle

Joel is known for pushing the boundaries of opera, and has been called “Canadian opera’s enfant not-so-terrible.” In 2010, he founded Against the Grain Theatre in Toronto and served as its Artistic Director until 2023. Joel has adapted and translated over ten operas presented in unexpected venues, and was named an Arts Hero by The Globe and Mail in 2020 for his work directing the critically-acclaimed digital Messiah/Complex. He has also directed over 50 productions for opera companies across North America and Europe including The Canadian Opera Company, Vancouver Opera, and Minnesota Opera.  He is currently Artistic Director for Edmonton Opera.

Alexander Neef, appointed General Director of the Canadian Opera Company in June 2008, has worked with some of the most prestigious arts organizations in the world. His career as an artistic administrator has taken him from the Salzburg Festival to the RuhrTriennale in Germany, Opéra national de Paris and New York City Opera, to leading the Canadian Opera Company, Canada’s largest opera company and one of the most important in North America. The Director of Casting for Opéra national de Paris from August 2004 to September 2008, Mr. Neef was one of Gerard Mortier’s closest collaborators and was instrumental in the production of over 80 operas. In addition to his role at Opéra national de Paris, in March 2007, Mr. Neef joined Gerard Mortier as Mortier prepared for his tenure at New York City Opera. Previously, Mr. Neef was a member of the artistic administration at the RuhrTriennale, a three-year, multi-disciplinary festival in the Ruhr region of Germany where he was responsible for opera, theatre, and dance productions as well as concerts and events. Prior to his tenure at the RuhrTriennale, he spent two seasons at the Salzburg Festival as a production manager with the artistic administration. Mr. Neef has a master of arts from Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen where he studied Latin Philology and Modern History.

Conductor, pianist and vocal coach, Topher Mokrzewski is a steadily rising figure in the world of Canadian opera. He is currently Music Director of the acclaimed Toronto indie opera company Against the Grain Theatre, is Music Director of the Opera in the 21st Century program at Banff Centre and recently completed four seasons as Resident Conductor of Calgary Opera. A graduate of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio and the Eastman School of Music, he is frequently sought as a soloist, collaborator and music director. He has served on the music staff of the Canadian Opera Company, Opera Atelier, the Chautauqua Institute, Highlands Opera Studio, among others.

Recent conducting engagements of note include: Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia, South Pacific and The Mikado at Calgary Opera, Vivier's Kopernikus and Britten's The Rape of Lucretia at Banff Centre and the Toronto Summer Music Festival, Handel's Messiah, Bound (a reimagined updated Handel project) and the critically acclaimed production of A Little Too Cozy with AtG, Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man at the Glenn Gould School and a concert of Armenian music with soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian and the McGill Chamber Orchestra.

As pianist, Topher recently performed Messiaen's titanic Turangalîla Symphonie with the Calgary Philharmonic and served as Master Clinician for Tapestry Opera’s Songbook training program.

The remainder of 2018 sees Mokrzewski returning to Against the Grain Theatre, as well as the Banff Centre, where he will conduct Gluck's Orphèe et Eurydice and Bernstein’s Candide.

A Toronto native, Mokrzewski has been described by music critic John Terauds as "one of those bright, eager, whip-smart young artists who could give even the most hardened cynic a jolt of optimism about the future of classical music and opera..." and was named one of CBC Music's "Hot 30 Classical Musicians under 30" in 2013.

Canadian mezzo-soprano Judith Forst has sung with most major opera companies throughout North America and Europe, including over 250 performances with the New York Metropolitan Opera. She has performed frequently with the San Francisco Opera Company, the Chicago Lyric Opera, the Canadian Opera Company, Dallas Opera, Houston Lyric Opera, New York City Opera and the Vancouver Opera Association. Recent European engagements have included performances in Italy, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. She made her debut at Italy’s legendary La Scala in 2006 singing Kabachinka in Janacek’s Kata Kabanova. Ms. Forst’s most recent North American successes have included highly-acclaimed performances as Kabachinka at the Met, Kostelnika in Janacek’s Jenufa with the Dallas Opera, and Dead Man Walking with the Pittsburgh Opera. She has sung for over 10 seasons with the Santa Fe Opera. Her 2013 performances of the Old Prioress in Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites with the Canadian Opera Company were hailed as “emotionally shattering” and “magnificent.”

Ms. Forst scored a personal and critical triumph in 2010 with her world premiere performance as Lillian Alling with the Vancouver Opera Association. She performed another world premiere with the Calgary Opera in January 2011, singing in Bramwell Tovey’s The Inventor.

Mezzo-soprano Laura Tucker was born and raised in Modesto California.

As an undergraduate, Laura studied at Seattle Pacific University earning a Bachelor of Arts, later receiving a Masters in Music Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. She continued her operatic training for three years as a young artist at The Julliard Opera Center, (now known as the Lindemann program) at Lincoln Center, New York City.

Having performed many roles in opera houses across North America, Ms. Tucker's engagements featured numerous appearances at the New York City Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Seattle Opera, the Philadelphia and Canadian Opera Companies, to name a few. Highlights of her European performances include performances at The Barbicon Center of London, the Wexford Festival, Ireland, and the New Music Festival in Huddersfield, England.

Beloved roles of Ms. Tucker include Charlotte from Werther, Sesto from La Clemenza di Tito, Dorabella from Cosi fan Tutte, countless Cherubinos, Octavian from Rosenkavalier, Erika from Barber's Vanessa, and most recently she added Count Orlofsky in the Canadian Opera Company's latest production of Die Fledermaus. She will return to the Canadian Opera in Die Walkyre this coming February, 2015.

Equally at home on the concert stage, Ms. Tucker has appeared as a soloist in a variety of repertoire at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Chicago Ravinia Festival and Mostly Mozart Festivals, New York City. She was privileged to sing the title role of Marco Polo in the North American premier of the opera Marco Polo by Tan Dun at Lincoln Center.

Ms. Tucker is a member of the Voice Faculty of the University of Toronto. 

Sandra Horst is a conductor and educator based in Toronto. In addition to making her conducting debut with the Canadian Opera Company in Il viaggio a Reims, she is also the Price Family Chorus Master, with repertoire spanning more than 70 operas.

As Director of Musical Studies for Opera at the University of Toronto she has conducted repertoire on the main stage ranging from Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, to Gershwin’s Of Thee I Sing. Last fall, with the first live audience in three years, she conducted a triple bill of Hin und Zurück (Hindemith), Monsieur Choufleuri (Offenbach) and Gallantry (Moore) and in spring, Arthur Benjamin’s A Tale of Two Cities. 

Sandra was a guest faculty member of Open Space: Opera in the 21st Century at the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity and she is also a frequent Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition judge. Ms Horst served as Chorus Master and audition consultant for Opera Theatre of St Louis, Chorus Master for Edmonton Opera, and has been on the music staff of the Canadian Opera Company, Juilliard Opera Centre, Chautauqua Institute School of Singing, Boston Lyric Opera and Opera Ontario. She currently serves as an industry mentor for Tapestry Opera’s Women in Musical Leadership program. 
Recognized as one of the 100 Alumni of Achievement, in 2019 she received an Honorary Doctorate in Music from Wilfrid Laurier University and holds a Masters degree in Accompaniment from New England Conservatory, Boston. An active collaborator, she has been heard in recital with Brandon Cedel, Michael Schade and Marie Berard, Erin Wall, Myles Mykkanen and Elena Tsaligova. Recent conducting performances include Orphée+ with Edmonton Opera and Florence, the Lady with the Lamp with Voicebox: Opera in Concert. 

After completing undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at the Royal Academy of Music and the Moscow Conservatoire, James Cheung has established a career in chamber music and song accompaniment. 

James' first experience of the song repertoire was a Schubert masterclass in Aldeburgh with Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber in 2008. He has returned regularly to Aldeburgh both as class pianist in public masterclasses with Matthias Goerne and to teach on an English song course.

As an accompanist he has been a Kirckman artist and performed numerous times at Wigmore Hall with Benjamin Appl, Jonathan McGovern and Anna Huntley. Under the Countess of Munster Recital Scheme, Cheung has appeared throughout the UK with sopranos Raphaela Papadakis and Alison Rose, and performs regularly in recitals with singers including Ian Bostridge, Joan Rodgers, Elizabeth Watts, Ruby Hughes, Marcus Farnsworth and Katherine Broderick.

This season James Cheung appears at Oxford Lieder Festival and at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden with Alison Rose. He will also perform chamber music at a music festival near Munich with Ingolf Turban, Maximilian Hornung and Gerold Huber, as well as partnering Christian Gerhaher in recitals at venues including the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and the Wigmore Hall.

James Cheung has recorded for BBC radio 3 in live broadcasts with Joan Rodgers, appeared on live BBC television with Ruby Hughes and was featured as a 'new face' by the Daily Telegraph.

Matjash Mrozewski is a Toronto-based choreographer and director who graduated from Canada’s National Ballet School in 1993. He danced with the National Ballet of Canada, Le Ballet du Grand Theatre de Genève and Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. Matjash’s breakout choreographic debut was A Delicate Battle, created for the National Ballet of Canada in 2001. Since then, he has created works internationally for companies such as The Australian Ballet, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, San Francisco Ballet, The Royal Danish Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Oregon Ballet Theatre and Tanz Luzerner Theater, where he created Romeo und Julia in 2012.  Matjash recently completed the Canadian Stage/York University MFA in large-scale stage direction, which culminated with his production of The Comedy of Errors in High Park. In 2016 Matjash choreographed Now, What, Like, When for Ballet Kelowna, directed Botticelli in the Fire for Canadian Stage, and choreographed Dangerous Liaisons in St-Gallen, Switzerland. 

www.matjash.com 

Jenna is a pianist and voice coach based in London, UK, and she is the editor-in-chief of the online opera publication Schmopera.com. As a writer, she has contributed to Opera Canada, Musical Toronto, and the Canadian Opera Company’s Parlando blog.

She is a graduate of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio Program (Iphigénie en Tauride, Tosca, Semele, Die Fledermaus, Il trovatore, La clemenza di Tito, Lucia di Lammermoor), and returned to the COC as a member of music staff for Pyramus and Thisbe (2015), Madama Butterfly (2014), and Peter Grimes (2013). Jenna was a répétiteur and harpsichordist for AtG's Messiah with Against the Grain Theatre (2013, 2015), and she joined AtG at The Banff Centre as a pianist and coach for #UncleJohn (2014), and Music Director of James Rolfe’s Crush (2015). Jenna has coached at Opera on the Avalon (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Die Zauberflöte), Highlands Opera Studio, and Toronto Operetta Theatre (The Merry Widow). She held a staff coaching position at Oberlin College Conservatory, and apprenticed at San Francisco’s Merola Opera Program (L’elisir d’amore) and the Crested Butte Music Festival (Carmen, I Capuleti ed i Montecchi).

As a freelance voice coach, Jenna works with singers of all ages, including several of the COC’s Ensemble Studio School Tours (The Bremen Town Musicians, Hänsel and Gretel, La serva padrona), and the COC’s Summer Youth Intensive Program.

Amanda Smith is a Toronto-based opera stage director and Founding Artistic Director of FAWN Chamber Creative. With FAWN, she commissions and produces new operas, and presents interdisciplinary concerts that correlate new classical music with other contemporary art forms. Recently with FAWN, Amanda directed two new operas by Canadian composers: a fully produced world-premiere of l'homme et le ciel by Adam Scime and a semi-staged presentation of The Harvester by Aaron Gervais. In February 2017, Amanda led FAWN’s devised opera workshop with three Canadian composers, librettist David Brock, dancer Jennifer Nichols and singer Jonathan MacArthur.

Described as a “visionary” by Musical Toronto, Amanda finds excitement in exploring the potential of audience experience through alternative and immersive musical events, be it staged concerts or opera. Amanda’s repertoire interests span from Early Music to the very new, and everything in between. Regardless of the era, her work is created to impact a young, eclectic audience. Amanda has shown this in her work with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra’s new concert series, Haus Musik, Opera Lyra Ottawa’s Nuit Blanche performance of Miss Donnithorne’s Maggot by Peter-Maxwell Davies, Opera Laurier’s 2015 and 2016 scene productions, as well as the UofT New Music Festival performances of Ghost of Gunby Hall by Gabreil Prokofiev and The Killing Flower by Salvatore Sciarrino.

Amanda has an Opera Diploma in directing from the University of Toronto and previously graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University, where she studied voice and directing. 

If you’re from the North, Leela Gilday’s music is home. If you’ve never been, it will take you there. Born and raised in the Northwest Territories, she writes about the people and the land that created her. The power in her voice conveys the depth of her feelings of love and life in a rugged environment and vibrant culture, as if it comes straight from that earth. Leela’s family is from Délįne on the shore of Great Bear Lake and her rich vocals dance across the rhythmic beats of traditional Dene drumming as smoothly as a bass line onstage the largest venues in the country. And she has played them all. 

Leela has toured festivals and concert halls with her four-piece band through every province and territory in Canada. She has played in the United States, Greenland, Denmark, and New Zealand, and recently embarked on an ambitious European tour. Her live shows are where she connects with fans who have followed her on a 20-year career and where new fans are born. She reaches into their hearts and feels the energy of every person in front of her as she guides them on a journey through song and experience. She believes music has an inexplicable effect on people. It is a place where she can share light and dark and the most vulnerable moments, with a clarity and genuine purpose that reassures her listeners through every word. She is a storyteller, and through this, reflects the world onto itself. 

Five years after her last album was released—five years of growth, healing, and head-down work—Leela’s fifth album “North Star Calling” was released in fall 2019. It is more raw, more intimate and more Leela than anything you’ve heard from her before. 

Gordon Gerrard is a respected figure in the new generation of Canadian musicians. Trained first as a pianist and subsequently as a specialist in operatic repertoire, Gordon brings a fresh perspective to the podium. He is active in symphonic, operatic and ballet repertoire throughout Canada and internationally. His passion and his dedication to producing thrilling musical experiences have endeared him to his fellow musicians and the public alike.

After an international search, Gordon was appointed the Music Director of the Regina Symphony Orchestra beginning in the 2016-2017 season. He was the Associate Conductor of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, a position which was created for him after two highly successful seasons there as Assistant Conductor. During his tenure there, Gordon led the orchestra in over a hundred performances. For four seasons Gordon held the positions of Resident Conductor and Repetiteur for Calgary Opera. He led many productions while in residence in Calgary, including LA BOHÈME, LAKMÈ, DIE FLEDERMAUS, and the Canadian premiere of Mark Adamo’s LITTLE WOMEN recorded for national broadcast on CBC’s Saturday Afternoon at the Opera. He was invited back to help launch Calgary Opera’s summer opera festival Opera in the Village with productions of CANDIDE and THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE. During his tenure at Calgary Opera, Gordon was honoured with the Mayor’s Award for Emerging Artists for his contribution to the musical life of the city of Calgary. In December 2015, Gordon made his debut with The National Ballet of Canada; and in August 2016, Gordon made his European debut conducting TOSCA for Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg in Rheinsberg, Germany. Gordon has also conducted productions for Opera Hamilton to critical acclaim and was Assistant Conductor for several productions at Opera Lyra Ottawa. Gordon is also a regular guest conductor for Opera McGill, where he has led productions of DON GIOVANNI and LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.

Operas for the Canadian Opera Company (Carmen), Minnesota Opera (Macbeth), Tapestry Opera (M’Dea Undone, Oksana G.), Edmonton Opera (The Tales of Hoffmann), as well as productions for the Rockport Music Festival, Vancouver Opera, the Shaw Festival, Theatre Calgary, Banff Centre, Young People’s Theatre, Grand Theatre, Royal Conservatory of Music, Ottawa Chamberfest, Drayton Entertainment, Canadian Stage, Tarragon Theatre, Soulpepper, Charlottetown Festival, and eight productions as Resident Lighting Designer for Against the Grain (most recently Ayre, Kopernikus, A Little Too Cozy).  Five Dora Awards nominations (Toronto) and a META (Montréal) for Outstanding Lighting Design, as well as a Siminovitch Prize protégé recipient.

A native of Vancouver, BC, Theresa Tsang returns to the Banff Centre for her seventh year as faculty stage manager for the Opera program. Through her over 20 year career as an opera stage manager, Theresa has worked closely with The University of British Columbia’s Theatre Department as a guest lecturer, and is a stage management mentor for Wexford Festival Opera’s Internship program. She has also trained numerous apprentices with Vancouver Opera. 

Theresa has contributed to many critically acclaimed shows including the double Irish Times Theatre Award winning production of Kevin Puts’s Silent Night, and the International Opera Award winning production of Guglielmo Ratcliff, both for Wexford Festival Opera in Ireland. She has also received recognition from the Stage Management Association in London, England for her work with WFO. 

Among Theresa’s Banff Centre highlights are John Estacio and John Murrell’s Lillian Alling, Benjamin Britten’s Owen Wingrave, and last season’s A Little Too Cozy. Other stage management credits include Yaqzan – The Awakened (National Tour) for Ismaili Arts Canada, Louis Riel with The University of British Columbia’s Opera Department, and over 70 productions with Vancouver Opera including Nixon in China, Madama Butterfly, Sweeney Todd, and Evita. 

Acote is the new alias belonging to Toronto artist Jeff-Antoine Cote (fka BSMNT), blending minimal techno, drone  and bass music in a live hardware setting. Released on Modern Math, Aufect Recordings, Sounds of Sumo and Meat & Produce, as well as playing high profile events such as It’s Not U It’s Me at The Power Plant series, Shambhala, HausMusik, TedTalks, and at the FAWN Chamber Creative he has developed the reputation for never performing the same set twice. Mr. Cote’s early production has been recognized on media platforms such as XLR8R, BigUp Magazine, and BBC radio one which contributed to an invitation from Red Bull to participate in the Montreal Bass Camp. Constantly exploring unique concepts, Acote has been involved in operas, baroque music concerts, and various audio/visual performances. Acote manipulates a vast pool of echoes and soundscapes according to the energy in a room, where he develops a personal bond between the viewer/listener/dancer and the artist.

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Chloé Ekker is a bilingual graduate from the 2014 production program at the National Theatre School of Canada. Based in Montreal she has worked as a stage manager and production manager on a variety of theatre productions. Her stage management credits include Le Joker and Variations sur un temps, both directed by Eric Jean, former artistic director at the Theatre de Quat’sous, one of Montréal’s oldest theatre companies. She made her opera stage management début thanks to the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal on a staged concert of Zémire et Azor, directed by Oscar award winning film director Denys Arcand. Since her first year as a practicum participant in the Banff Centre opera program in 2015 she has developed a growing interest in opera productions. In this past season of the Opéra de Montréal she was an assistant stage manager on both Le Dialogue des Carmélites and La Bohème. She is very happy to return to the Banff Centre this summer as faculty.