Silent Light | House Program

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.

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.

Paola Prestini is “the imaginative composer” (NY Times), “Visionary-In-Chief” (Time Out NY), and Co-founder and Artistic director behind the Brooklyn venue National Sawdust. She was recently named an “Innovator” on the list of Top 30 Professionals of the Year by Musical America, the country’s oldest classical music magazine; she is on Brooklyn Magazine’s latest list of “influencers of Brooklyn culture…in perpetuity” alongside such household names as Chuck Schumer and Spike Lee; she is one of the “Top 35 Female Composers in Classical Music” (The Washington Post); and on the “Top 100 Composers in the World” list by NPR. Prestini’s music and works have been commissioned by and performed at The Cannes Film Festival, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, BAM, the Barbican Centre, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Los Angeles Opera, The New York Philharmonic, and the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, among others. Since 1999 when she co-founded the multimedia production company VisionIntoArt while at the Juilliard School, (now relaunched as National Sawdust Projects), where she collaborated with poets, filmmakers, conservationists and astrophysicists in large-scale multimedia works (often in collaboration with Beth Morrison Projects). New works include The Amazon, her newest eco-cantata with filmmaker Murat Eyuboglu (collaborator on the acclaimed The Colorado); two new works with Royce Vavrek: Old Man and the Sea, a new opera-theater work with Robert Wilson and cellist Jeffrey Zeigler, and Film Stills, a monodrama for mezzo Eve Gigliotti, director R.B. Schlather and Cindy Sherman; Four Quartets, a T.S. Eliot inspired piece for pianist Awadagin Pratt, Roomful of Teeth and a Far Cry; Sensoirum Ex, a new opera with poet Brenda Shaughnessy and Tomer Zvulun for Atlanta Opera and Beth Morrison Projects; and Edward Tulane with librettist Mark Campbell, commissioned by Minnesota Opera. She was a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow, and studied with Peter Maxwell Davies, Samuel Adler and Robert Beaser at the Juilliard School.

Thaddeus Strassberger won the European Opera Prize in 2005 for his Opera Ireland production of LA CENERENTOLA. He earned a degree in Engineering from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City; he received a Fulbright Fellowship to complete the Corso di Specializzazione per Scenografi Realizzatori at Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 2001.

For Bard Summercape, he has previously created five new productions: LES HUGUENOTS, DER FERNE KLANG, THE ORESTEIA, LE ROI MALGRÉ LUI and THE WRECKERS.  Recent notable productions include: I DUE FOSCARI (Covent Garden) and NABUCCO (LA Opera), both starring Plácido Domingo, and JFK,  for his production of SATYAGRAHA, in Ekaterinburg, Russia where he also directed THE PASSENGER (Russian premiere in co-production with The Bolshoi in Moscow) and Martinů’s A GREEK PASSION, in a new Russian translation. He has created productions for Den Norske Opera, Theater an der Wien, Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Staatstheater Braunschweig, Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck, Washington National Opera, Philadelphia Opera, Minnesota Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Wexford Festival Opera, Palau de las Arts, L'opera de Montreal among others. Upcoming productions include CARMEN (The Danish National Opera) and LA CLEMENZA DI TITO (LA Opera).

Conductor, composer, and curator Christopher Rountree has distinguished himself as one of classical music’s most forward-thinking innovators in programming, conducting, and community building. Whether presenting his beloved chamber group wild Up in a museum bathroom or leading the country’s most renowned ensembles through new music’s most exciting works at the world’s greatest concert halls, Rountree is the linchpin between orchestral music and the future of performance.

Rountree founded the renegade ensemble wild Up in 2010. The group’s eccentric mix of new music, pop, and performance art quickly jumped from raucous DIY bar shows to being lauded as the vanguard for classical music by critics for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and public radio’s Performance Today. The success of wild Up has led Rountree to collaborations with Björk, John Adams, David Lang, Scott Walker, and many of the planet’s greatest orchestras and ensembles.
 

Julie grew up near Penetanguishene, Ontario, on the traditional territories of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Anishinabek, Odawa and Ouendat. A versatile director of opera and theatre, highlights include Le nozze di Figaro (Opera Studio), The Exquisite Hour (Relephant Theatre - Playhouse Fringe award) and the multiple award-winning Poly Queer Love Ballad. She is Associate Director of the ground-breaking musical Children of God and former Artist-in-Residence at Pacific Opera Victoria, where she worked alongside Atom Egoyan, Maria Lamont and Peter Hinton on new productions of Jenůfa, La Bohème, and the world premiere of Missing (Current/Clements). As a creator: playwright, composer & co-sound designer of The Out Vigil (Firepot Performance - Jessie award); co-bookwriter/co-lyricist of Les Filles du Roi (Fugue/Raven/Urban Ink - BroadwayWorld Vancouver award, Best New Work). Upcoming engagements include Hansel and Gretel (COC) and the new chamber opera Beauty’s Beast (East Van Opera). www.juliemcisaac.com
 

Pianist-conductor Brian Gilling has distinguished himself as an exceptionally versatile musician and collaborator - performing chamber music, art song, opera, and orchestral music. He has received praise for his "surehanded leadership" (New York Times) and his "thorough musicianship" (PGH in the Round). He has music directed and conducted LoftOpera and Undercroft Opera, and has also worked with Opera Saratoga, Opera Colorado, and Berkshire Opera Festival. A passionate advocate for new music, Brian serves as the music director, pianist, and conductor for NAT 28 — a new music group based in Pittsburgh.

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.

Marijka is a Vancouver-based Stage Manager who works primarily in opera and theatre. Select stage management credits include: Belfry Theatre (Mom’s the Word 3: Nest 1/2 Empty), Pi Theatre (Hir, Between the Sheets), Touchstone Theatre (C’Mon, Angie!, Late Company, The Romeo Initiative, True Love Lies), UBC Opera (Cendrillon, Falstaff, La boheme), Arts Umbrella Dance Company (Mixed Nuts, Season Finale). She has spent 7 seasons as an ASM at Vancouver Opera, where she worked on La boheme, The Overcoat (co-produced with Canadian Stage and Tapestry Opera), Turandot, Dead Man Walking, Hansel & Gretel, and Evita, among others. Marijka is a graduate of UBC Theatre’s Production & Design program, where she now teaches stage management. 

Canadian bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch is a leading interpreter of Mozart roles, most notably Don Giovanni, Almaviva, and Figaro, which he has performed at New York City Opera, Teatro Colón, Los Angeles Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Opera Warsaw, Vancouver Opera, and Dallas Opera. Okulitch also excels in creating leading roles in contemporary opera, including Ennis del Mar in Brokeback Mountain at Teatro Real; the lead role of Mark Rutland in Nico Muhly’s Marnie at English National Opera; Seth Brundle in The Fly at Théâtre du Châtelet and Los Angeles Opera; Willy Wonka in The Golden Ticket at Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Atlanta Opera; and LBJ in JFK at Fort Worth Opera.

Johnathon Kirby is a baritone from Newmarket, Ontario who is building a national reputation for his vocal skill, stage presence and energetic enthusiasm for every project he is a part of. He went to Dalhousie University, The Glenn Gould School, and completed two years in the Calgary Opera Emerging artist program. He made his professional debut with Opera Nova Scotia and has returned for five seasons as a featured lead. Kirby has performed in numerous concerts and recitals; his most recent oratorio was Haydn’s The Creation as Raphael and Adam with The Festival Chorus in Calgary. With Calgary Opera, Kirby performed such roles as Zaretsky in Eugene Onegin, Angelotti in Tosca and Don Alphonso in Cosi fan Tutte. Ending his 2017-2018 season Johnathon returned to Toronto to perform Figaro in The Barber of Seville with Opera Five, receiving critical acclaim for his performance. Kirby begins his 2018-2019 season debuting with Manitoba Opera in the role of Masetto. Visit www.johnathonkirby.com for more details.

Praised by international publications, soprano Lara Secord-Haid has been described as “possessing a rich and expressive overall quality” (Attencion San Miguel), “charismatic” (Opera Today) and was praised for her “flinty acuity” by the New York Times.

Ms. Secord-Haid is enjoying a dynamic international career. Recent performances: a concert at Linz Oper (Austria), Poulenc’s Gloria with Greenwich Chorale Society, Micaëla in La Tragedie de Carmen (City Lyric Opera), soloist in Salute to Bernstein (Little Opera Winnipeg).
Upcoming: The Governess in The Turn of the Screw (Nashville Opera) and Frasquita in Carmen (Manitoba Opera).

She holds degrees from New England Conservatory and the Juilliard school.

Originally from Jalisco, Mexico, Carlos Arambula attended the Bachelor of Singing at the Conservatory of music in Chihuahua.

He was a fellow of the Sinaloa Opera Workshop under the guidance of teachers Carlos Serrano and David Ramírez, during the third and fourth generation, and afterwards he continued his preparation in the workshop of the SIVAM.

He has participated in productions by Gianni Schicchi in Zacatecas, Zapopan and in the esplanade of the Palace of Fine Arts, as well as in La Fanciulla del West by Puccini in the Palace of Fine Arts. He sang the role of El Conde in Las bodas de Fígaro by Mozart in Talqná hall in Xalapa, Veracruz under the musical direction of Lanfranco Marcelletti and in the theater Nazas of Torreón, Coahuila directed by Ramón Shade.

Carlos recently participated in the Rossini Gala with the tenor Javier Camarena and in the tribute to the tenor Ramón Vargas in the Palace of Fine Arts.

He was the 2017-2018 beneficiary of the Study of the Opera of Fine Arts, INBA-Fonca.

Canadian mezzo soprano, Georgia Burashko, is thrilled to spend her 18/19 year as a Rebanks family fellow at the Glenn Gould School. She recently finished a Master’s degree in Opera Performance from the University of Toronto under the tutelage of Laura Tucker. Georgia received her BMus of vocal performance at McGill University's Schulich School of Music. She previously studied with celebrated Canadian soprano Mary Morrison and has participated in summer festivals such as The International Vocal Arts Institute (IVAI), The Canadian Vocal Arts Institute (ICAV), St. Andrews by the Sea Opera Workshop, Tafelmusik Baroque Institute, Opera in the 21st Century at the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity and the Neil Semer Voice Institute (NSVI). Recent operatic roles Georgia has performed include Juno in Orphee aux Enfers, Tirinto in Imeneo, Zosha in Farewell Auschwitz, and most recently, Zerlina  in Don Giovanni in which she was praised for her 'heartfelt delivery, her luminous voice matching her radiant beauty’ (Opera Canada). Up next for Georgia is Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen at the Sony Centre in early October 2018.

Nova Scotian tenor, Marcel d’Entremont recently completed a graduate diploma at McGill University, where he was also the recipient of the 2018 Wirth Vocal Prize, valued at $25,000. Recent performances include Tamino in Die Zauberflöte with Opera McGill, soloist in Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, with the PEI Symphony Orchestra, and Rodolfo in La bohème with Saskatoon Opera. Marcel made his international debut as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni in 2016, in Rouen, France, and at the famous Château de Versailles. In 2015 he won 1st prize and the Grand Award at the National Music Festival of Canada.

Born of Greek and Italian descent, tenor Elias Theocharidis has attended programs such as the Chautauqua Institution, SongFest & St. Andrew's by-the-Sea Workshops. Elias sings the role of Daniel Buchanan in the University of Toronto Opera’s production of Kurt Weill’s Street Scene. In the Summer of 2019, Elias will perform the role of Alex Bello in Lizée/Ivany’s No One’s Safe at The Banff Centre of the Arts: Opera in the 21st Century Program and will be an Art of Song Fellow at the Toronto Summer Music Academy Festival. In November 2018, Elias was a Finalist in the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal National Auditions’ Callback Competition and Gala. In his 4th and final year, he studies at the University of Toronto pursuing an undergraduate degree in Classical Voice in Performance. Elias is under the tutelage of renowned soprano Wendy Nielsen and Belgian pianist Helen Becqué.

Alex Halliday has entered the second year of his Masters of Opera at the UofT. He will be performing the roles of Carl Olsen in their production of Kurt Weil’s Street Scene and Nardo in Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera. In his first year at the University of Toronto he performed the role of Masetto in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Vice President, Alexander Throttlebottom in Gershwin’s Of Thee I Sing. He currently studies vocal technique with Wendy Nielsen and operatic studies/acting with Sandra Horst and Michael Albano. In 2017, Halliday acquired his Bachelor of Music (Vocal Performance) from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, where he performed the lead role of Sir John Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor by Otto Nicolai and Berto in Un avvertimento ai gelosi by Manuel Garcia. He also toured with the Opera Roadshow directed by Dr. Caroline Schiller three times. He performed the Sea King in the elementary version of Rusalka by Antonin Dvorak, the Prince’s advisor in Cinderella by Gioachino Rossini, and Victor in Le Nez de la Sorciere by Dean Burry.

Admired for her rapid coloratura and present sound, Canadian coloratura soprano Sarah Dufresne has recently completed her Masters of Music in Voice and Opera at McGill University. This past winter Sarah was awarded an Encouragement Award at the 2019 Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions and competed as a finalist in McGill University’s prestigious Wirth Vocal Prize Competition. Sarah recently sang the role of Queen of the Night in Opera McGill’s production of Die Zauberflöte. Other recent roles include Miss Wordsworth in Albert Herring (Opera McGill) and Tytania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Halifax Summer Opera Festival). Sarah has also participated in a masterclass with Soile Isokoski at the Concours Musical International de Montreal competition and has been a featured young performer on WNED Radio Buffalo/Toronto.

Soprano Alexandra Smither is making a name for herself in the worlds of both old and new music. With a vocal technique described as “beautiful, elegant, and masterfully manipulated” (Schmopera), she was named one of Canadian Broadcasting Co’s 2017 “30 Young Hot Classical Musicians Under 30”. Grand prize winner at the 2017 Eckhardt-Gramatée Competition, earning both first prize and the prize for best performance of the commissioned work, Nicole Lizee’s Malfunctionlieder, Ms. Smither has been making a name for herself in the worlds of old and new music. She made her triumphant debut with Houston Grand Opera in the Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied, later returning as Diana in Cruzar la cara de la luna. As a soprano fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival (2017/2018), she performed in concerts alongside Emmanuel Ax, Thomas Ades, Stefan Asbury, and the TMC Orchestra. She has performed with numerous organizations including the Wyoming Symphony, the Baryshnikov Arts Center, the Banff Centre, Ars Lyrica, BARE Opera, and many more. For more information please visit: www.alexandrasmither.com

Ms. Sills is a graduate of the prestigious Glenn Gould School at The Royal Conservatory Music in Toronto, Ontario. Past Highlights include participating in the Canadian Vocal Arts Institute (CVAI) in Montreal and the Summer Intensive with Against the Grain Theatre. In March of 2018 she debuted in the role of Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus by J. Strauss with The Glenn Gould School, directed by Joel Ivany and conducted by Nathan Brock. Ending the summer of 2018 she sang excerpts from Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro as Countess Almaviva with The Chamber Music Society of Mississauga. Jonelle has also performed in master classes and coachings with notable artists such as Gerald Finley, Liz Upchurch, Adrianne Pieczonka, Tim Noble, Martin Katz, Catherine Robbin, Dawn Upshaw, and Joan Dornemann.

Soprano Kallie Clayton holds a Master of Music in Opera from UBC and an undergraduate degree from the University of Alberta. Role highlights include Massenet’s Manon, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and Mimí in La Bohème. Kallie has been featured as a soloist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and heard in concert with the Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra, Burnaby Lyric Opera, and Opera Kelowna as well as Toronto’s MYOpera and Against the Grain Theatre. Most recently, Kallie made her role debut as Adina in Burnaby Lyric Opera’s L’elisir d’amore. In Fall of 2019, Kallie will be joining Calgary Opera’s Emerging Artist Development Program.

Andrew Adridge (he/him) is a multidisciplinary artist and opera producer based in Toronto with a passion for equity and industry reform. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto holding both a Bachelor of Music Performance in Voice and a Master of Music in Opera. He has performed as a soloist in Canada and the United States with companies such as Soundstreams and Against the Grain Theatre and on such stages as the Four Seasons Centre of the Performing Arts and the Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C. He recently made his debut as a stage director with Edmonton Opera directing the 2022 Valentine’s Day Gala and has since worked with Against the Grain Theatre and the Canadian Opera Company as an Assistant Director. He has worked as an arts administrator with such organizations as the Association for Opera in Canada and Tapestry Opera and currently works in Artistic Operations with Against the Grain Theatre under the Metcalf Foundation Internship program. Andrew’s recognizable commitment to EDIJA advancement in the arts sector has made him sought after as a panellist, consultant, and outlet contributor. He is the Co-Founder of the national arts collective Opera InReach.

Midori Marsh is a Canadian-American soprano from Cleveland, Ohio. She received her BMus in Honours Voice Performance from Wilfrid Laurier University in 2017, and her opera diploma in 2018, studying with mezzo soprano Kimberly Barber. Her opera roles performed include Antonia in Les contes D’Hoffmann and Laurie Moss in The Tender Land, both with Laurier Opera, Magda Sorel in The Consul with Long Reach Opera Workshop, and Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Portland Summer Opera Workshop. Recent roles include Rose Maurrant in Street Scene and Arminda in La Finta Giardiniera, both with U of T Opera, where she is currently attending graduate school to receive her MMus degree in opera, studying with Wendy Nielsen.

Francesca Corrado, Mezzo-Soprano, holds both a MMUS and BMUS in Opera Performance from UBC and was part of The Yulanda M. Faris Young Artists Program with VOA (2015/2016). Competition highlights: Hans Gabor Belvedere Competition, Les Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques, MONC Western Canada 2017 winner. Role credits, VOA: Giovanna (Rigoletto) and understudying the roles of Maddalena (Rigoletto), Suzuki (Madama Butterfly) and Eva Perón (Evita), Vancouver Symphony Orchestra: Paquette (Candide), Auntie (Peter Grimes), Burnaby Lyric Opera: Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), UBC: Carmen (Carmen), La Baronessa di Champigny (Il cappello di paglia di Firenze), Giulietta (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Mère Marie (Dialogues des Carmélites), Ježibaba (Rusalka), Rebecca Nurse (The Crucible).

British cellist Sophie Gledhill enjoys a varied career both on and under the stage, performing with orchestras (BBC Symphony Orchestra), as an actor-musician (Opera for the Unknown Woman), for opera (English National Opera), ballet (Royal Ballet Sinfonia) and on the West End (Les Misérables). She studied music at the University of Cambridge before receiving a master's degree in cello performance at the Eastman School of Music, USA. Sophie is delighted to return to Banff Centre this summer, having occupied the role of Artistic Associate for Banff Musicians in Residence Winter 2019.

In his final year of a Licentiate at McGill with Amy Horvey, Duncan Campbell has enriched his artistic practice through immersion in diverse styles. On baroque trumpet, he appears with Ensemble Caprice, SMAM and Clavecin en Concert. On modern trumpet, he appears with the Orchestre Symphonique de l’Agora and the Société de la Musique Contemporaine de Québec. Last year, he collaborated with students at the National Theatre School to create an improvisatory live soundtrack for Roberto Zucco by Bernard-Marie Koltès. He is also a countertenor, singing at the church of St. Andrew and St. Paul with Jean-Sebastien Vallee.

Violinist Michael Jinsoo Lim has been praised by Gramophone for playing with “delicious abandon,” and hailed by the Los Angeles Times as a “conspicuously accomplished champion of contemporary music.” Concertmaster and solo violinist for the internationally acclaimed Pacific Northwest Ballet, Lim is featured as soloist with the company in concertos by Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Bach and others, and has toured with PNB to Paris and New York City. Lim is the artistic director of the Seattle-based ensemble Frequency and was co-founder of the award-winning Corigliano Quartet, with whom he appeared on over a dozen albums. Lim attended Indiana University, where he studied with the legendary Josef Gingold, and the Juilliard School, where he taught as an assistant to the Juilliard String Quartet. In addition to his work as a performer, Lim serves on the faculty of Cornish College of the Arts.

Alexander Whyte is trombonist, improviser and composer based in Toronto.  Alex graduated from McGill University with a degree in music where he studied trombone with David Martin, and improvisation with Lori Freedman. Since that time Alex has played in many bands and ensembles while keeping a steady improvisational practice at the core. In 2016, Alex created and directed Calgary’s only drop-in pop choir, the Local Sing, an inclusive community choir for all to experience the joy of singing in harmony. More recently, Alex premiered his first choral work, I Know There is an Ocean, at the GALA Chorus Festival in Denver, Colorado, in 2016. Alex currently sings with the Element Choir in Toronto.

Jessica Tsang is a percussionist dedicated to the creation of new interdisciplinary works. Equally fascinated by the worlds of contemporary music, material culture, speech, and the culinary arts; Jessica views percussion as a flexible field with endless possibilities for intersection. A founding member of guitar and percussion duo party of one, Jessica has also collaborated with an eclectic variety of artists, dancers, and musicians including Rebecca Saunders, Martin Creed, Rebecca Lazier, David Szanto, and Deborah Carruthers. She has appeared in performances throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia and was a fellow at the 2018 Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab.

Andrea Van Pelt is a collaborative pianist and vocal coach from Toronto, Ontario. She holds a Master’s degree in Collaborative Piano and a Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance from the University of Toronto, and a Master’s degree in Piano Performance from McGill University. She is an alumna of the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, the Franz-Schubert-Institut, the Toronto Summer Music Festival, the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Opera NUOVA, and the Accademia Europea dell'Opera. Ms. Van Pelt has performed as a soloist and collaborator in Canada and internationally. She is currently the music director at Oak Hill Academy in Hamilton, Ontario, and works as a vocal coach and accompanist at the University of Toronto.

@vanpeltandrea

Holly is an operatic vocal coach, collaborative pianist and répétiteur based in Montreal, QC. A graduate of Opera de Montreal’s Atelier Lyrique Young Artist Training Program (2018-2021), she currently works as Artistic and Administrative associate for the program. Most recently, Holly worked as principal repetiteur on Don Giovanni (NAC, Ottawa/Banff Arts Centre), Cosi Fan Tutte (Opéra Kelowna) and Le Nozze di Figaro (Opéra de Montréal).

This year, Holly was also seen on projects such as Bluebeard’s Castle (Against the Grain Theatre), Madama Butterfly (Opera de Montreal), as well as a new music workshops of Cusson/Vavrek’s Indians on Vacation, as well Ricketts/Vavrek’s Cremation of Sam McGee. 

Other production credits include Riders to the Sea/Le Flambeau de la nuit by Vaughn Williams/Tanguay-Labrosse (Opera de Montreal), Bizet’s Les pecheurs de perles (Jeunesse Musicales du Canada) , Cosi Fan Tutte (Edmonton Opera) and Die Zauberflote (Opera de Montreal), and Prestini/Vavrek’s Silent Light (Banff Centre). 

A graduate from the Manhattan School of Music and the Université de Montréal, Marie-Ève Scarfone has a distinguished career as a pianist both in Canada and abroad. She has performed across North America as well as in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. As a recitalist and chamber musician, she has been the guest of many festivals including Centro Històrico (Mexico), Printemps musical de Silly (Belgium), Flâneries musicales de Reims (France), Louvre Thursday Concerts (Paris), The Song Continues (Carnegie Hall, New York), Debut Atlantic, the Domaine Forget International Festival, the Orford Festival, the MSO’s Virée Classique, the Lanaudière International Festival and the Montreal Vocal Art Society, to name a few.

Recently appointed Head Coach at the Opéra de Montréal’s Atelier Lyrique, Marie-Ève Scarfone has a great love for vocal art. She has been musical director of various opera productions, including at the Wexford Festival Opera (Ireland) and the Opéra de Québec. Ms. Scarfone also works as a vocal coach at McGill University, as a repetiteur at the Opéra de Montréal and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra as well as an official pianist at the Montreal International Musical Competition.

Winner of the Marilyn Horne Foundation Song Competition Piano Award and the Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation Award, she has received several awards from the Opéra de Montréal during her training at the Atelier Lyrique. Her recordings with various artists have been acclaimed by international critics and have been selected for many awards.
 

Rebecca Northan is a professional actor, director, playwright, and producer. Through her company, Spontaneous Theatre, she creates original theatrical pieces which invite one audience member on stage to play a lead role. Rebecca has been a Guest Instructor at the Canadian Film Centre, the University of Calgary, and Stratford Festival Academy, the Shaw Festival.

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. 

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.

An award nominated actor and director Amanda Liz has been active in both professional and semi-professional theatre, Film and Television for 22+ years. Amanda has worked as an actor advocate and Intimacy coordinator/director for the last 6 years and is currently certified with Intimacy Directors International. For theatre: Lo or ( Dear Mr Wells) Neptune Theatre, Sex with Strangers ( DIY theatre, Theatre Canmore), I Hate Hamlet, Then the lights went out (Pine tree Players) For film & TV: Upload (Reunion Upload productions), The Magicians S.5 ( NBC Universal), Motherland: Fort Salem (Fullform), Canmore Town. Amanda works internationally assisting in creating safe workplaces for artists on both stage and film sets. Currently, Amanda is in the process of creating a physical movement lexicon for Intimacy which hopefully will be published by 2021. amandacutting.com