Don Giovanni: Opera in the 21st Century

A Dora nominated conductor (Gould's Wall), Chinese-Canadian Jennifer Tung is the artistic director of Toronto City Opera and assistant conductor of the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra.  She 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 York in La Traviata and assisted Tapestry Opera and Opera on the Avalon’s joint production of the Dora Award winning opera Shanawdithit by Dean Burry and Yvette Nolan.  Recently, she conducted the world premiere of "Gould’s Wall" by Brian Current and Liza Balken, a joint production with the Royal Conservatory of Music and Tapestry Opera.  
 
For the 2022/23 season, she has debuted as guest conductor with Opera McGill's production of "Plaything" (Anna Pigorna/Maria Reva - Canadian premiere), Okanagan Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic and Kamloops Symphony.  In March of 2023, Jennifer conducted the world premieres of Continuum's production of the opera "Show Room" (Rodney Sharman/Etom Egoyan) as well as Tapestry Opera/Obsidian Theatre's co-production of "Of the Sea" (Ian Cusson/Kanika Ambrose).   
 
Jennifer is on faculty at Toronto’s Glenn Gould School, and is a sought-after faculty member for summer programs internationally. She holds degrees in vocal performance and collaborative piano from the Eastman School of Music and have studied conducting with Maestro Denis Mastromonaco.
 

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.

Originally from Ottawa, Mabel Wonnacott is a Toronto based director, performer and educator. She is currently the operatic stage directing apprentice with the University of Toronto’s Opera School and completed her Master’s in vocal performance with Western University in April, 2021. Mabel is the Creative Director of Can of Soup Collective where she directed operas such as Bon Appétit! and Aunt Helen. Other directing credits include Setting the Stage and scenes from the Richard Bradshawe Amphitheatre Concert Series with U of T Opera. Mabel was the assistant director for U of T Opera’s 2022/23 season where she worked with Kelly Robinson (A Tale of Two Cities) and Michael Albano (Disobedience & A Comedic Trilogy). She was also the assistant director for Western’s 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons and worked with Anna Theodosakis (L’elisir d’amore), Allison Grant (Alcina) and Michael Cavanagh (Suor Angelica & Gianni Schicchi). Mabel is the Ontario provincial coordinator for Opera InReach, an artist collective which creates educational opportunities and new pathways into opera for future generations of artists and opera goers. Mabel’s artistic practice is informed by a desire to contribute to creative spaces which are equitable, accessible and which prioritise the continued evolution of opera.

This artist is generously supported by the Sheila K. Piercey Opera Endowment. 

Lesley (she/her) is excited to be spending time in the mountains again this summer! Working primarily in opera, she has been on the stage management team at the Canadian Opera Company for over 25 years, and has been the stage manager for opera productions at the Glenn Gould School for the past 10 years.  Favourite credits include: Don Pasquale, Fidelio, Tosca, Pomegranate, Die Walkure, Salome, Traviata (COC); Flight, Rinaldo, The Magic Flute, Die Fledermaus, Svadba, Cendrillon (CGS).

Some of her other favourite credits include: Figaro’s Wedding, Kopernikus, A Little Too Cozy (Against the Grain Theatre); Orphée (AGT/Opera Columbus/Banff Centre); Gould’s Wall, Shanawdithit (Tapestry Opera); The Queen In Me (Amplified Opera/Nightwood Theatre).

She has also enjoyed stage managing for the Canadian Children’s Opera Company, Soundstreams, Tafelmusik, the University of Toronto Opera School, and the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Anna is thrilled to be working on this project. She lives in amiskwacîwâskahikan, known as Edmonton, AB. Her recent Edmonton Opera credits include: Stage Manager for Stabat Mater, Tosca and Cosi Fan Tutte. Her recent ASM credits include: Orphée+, La Boheme, Candide (cancelled), Rigoletto, The Misadventures of Count Ory, Hansel & Gretel, Electra, La Cenerentola, and Turandot at Edmonton Opera and The Fiancée at the Citadel Theatre.  She has worked as a stage manager and ASM in Edmonton since graduating from the Theatre Production Program at MacEwan in 2007. Anna also works as an IATSE Local 210 theatre technician

Danielle lived in Berlin, Germany for three years working on immersive, experimental, and site-specific theatre at the Schaubühne, Deutsches Theatre, and Ballhaus Ost. Upon returning to Montreal, she worked at Le Grand Costumier, deepening her knowledge of period costumes and focused on assisting costume designers long-distance in Toronto and Vancouver. Danielle has been working within the film industry for the last three years as a Costumer, Background Costume Coordinator, and Assistant Designer for films such as “U.S. vs Billie Holiday,” “Pet Sematary 1969,” and “Gwen Shamblin: Starving for Salvation.” Danielle also works as Fibre Artist and seamstress and mounted a costume and photography exhibition in both Montreal and Toronto titled “Unravelling,” depicting mental health struggles represented in various wearable art pieces.

Danielle recently finished her contract as assistant costume designer at the Stratford Festival for “Richard II.” Danielle has a BFA in Art History and Film Studies from Concordia University. Danielle has been looking forward to working in Opera and Dance and is thrilled to be part of this production.

Imogen is a Toronto-based Lighting Designer who has designed with The Stratford Festival, Canadian Stage, Crows Theatre, Against the Grain, Summerworks, and Toronto Dance Theatre. Imogen has also worked as an assistant lighting designer for Mirvish, Canadian Opera Company, Stratford Festival, Musical, and Canadian Stage. She is also a scenic painter, proud member of ADC 659, and loves to go for a canoe at sunset. 

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). 

Sara  Hahn - Flute
Aidan Dugan - Oboe
Jocelyn Colquhoun - Clarinet
Stan Climie -  Clarinet 
Michael Hope - Bassoon
Heather Wooton - Horn
Boris Bontchev - Horn
Miranda Canonico - Trumpet
Dave Reid - Bass Trombone
Malcolm Lim - Timpani
Donovan Seidle - Violin - Concertmaster
Edmund Chung - Violin
Adriana Lebedovich - Violin - Mandolin
Lidia Lee - Violin
Janna Sailor - Violin
Keith Hamm - Viola
Arthur Bachmann - Viola 
Julie Heirish - Cello
Danny Poceta - Cello
Patrick Staples - Bass

Jamal Al Titi is a Belarusian-born baritone whose passion for music expands from early works to opera. He now makes his home in Canada, and he is a recent bachelor’s voice performance graduate from the University of Toronto, having studied with Wendy Nielsen. During his final year as an undergraduate, Jamal won the Jim and Charlotte Norcop Prize in Song, the Faculty of Music’s most prestigious vocal prize, and was honoured to receive the 2023 faculty’s top honour award. 

Additionally, Jamal achieved to be a winner of the Toronto Mozart Vocal Competition in 2023 and among the 2022 National Audition finalist of L’Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal. Passionate about opera, Jamal has been featured numerous times with Brott Opera Festival. His roles have included Masetto in Don Giovanni, Schaunard in La Bohème, and Casacada in The Merry Widow. 

Jamal began his studies at the Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts with Roland Fix. Jamal plans to continue performing as much as possible and wishes to sing to his heart’s content to captivate his audience while appreciating the magic of the music.
 

This artist is generously supported by The Eileen Higgin Calgary Theatre Singers Endowment and The Harold Douglas Brown Endowment.

Julia Dawson is a Canadian soprano whose dynamic performances have earned her praise from Opera News as "radiant and riveting" and from the New York Times as "spitfire." She has been recognised with the George London Award for a Canadian singer and the Anny-Schlemm-Preis from Oper Frankfurt.
From 2015 to 2019, Dawson honed her craft as a member of Oper Frankfurt's opera studio and solo ensemble, appearing in leading roles. She has also performed with notable orchestras and companies such as the Munich Philharmonic, and the French Radio Symphony, Opera San Jose, Tiroler Festspiele Erl, and Opera Lafayette.
Combining her love of contemporary and classical music, Dawson recently conceived and performed in the musical film "Obscura Nox," which features Mozart's "Exsultate, jubilate" and new commissions from Iranian-Canadian composer Iman Habibi. The film was selected for Opera Philadelphia's O22 Festival and the Canada Shorts Festival.

Dawson has received training at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, Rice University, Oberlin Conservatory, the Music Academy of the West, Santa Fe Opera, Aspen Opera Theater Center, and The Glimmerglass Festival. She was nominated for Singer of the Year from the Opus Klassik awards for the album 'Girl in the Snow;' songs by American composer Scott Ordway. She is grateful to have been mentored by artists such as Barbara Hannigan and Marilyn Horne. 

This artist is generously supported by the Ruby Mercer Endowment. 

Praised by the New York Times for her “pristine high notes” and by the San Francisco Chronicle for her “thrilling display of tonal lushness and agility”, Soprano Natalie Image is delighted to be performing Zerlina (Don Giovanni) with the Banff Centre’s Opera in the 21st Century this summer!

Earlier this year Image was in Honolulu, Hawaii making her debut as Adina in The Elixir of Love with Hawaii Opera Theatre. In 2022 she sang in Vancouver Opera’s first Opera in the Park, made her Montréal debut in Salle Bourgie with Concours Musical International de Montréal, and her Dublin, Ireland debut with the Veronica Dunne International Competition. As an Adler Fellow with San Francisco Opera (SFO), Image performed the roles of Frasquita (Carmen), First Wood Nymph (Rusalka), Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro) and the Dew Fairy (Hansel and Gretel). She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2019 singing excerpts from Alma Deutscher’s Cinderella, and has performed with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra singing Galatea (Acis and Galatea) and Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 by Villa-Lobos, with the Victoria Symphony in concert, and, in SFO’s Opera in the Park and The Future is Now concerts featuring the Adler Fellows.

This artist is generously supported by the David Spencer Emerging Vocalists Endowment Fund.

Leanne Kaufman is a Toronto-based soprano. Praised for her “vocal fireworks” (Opera Canada), Leanne has recently made concert debuts of Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem and sung performances of La Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), and Musetta (La bohème). Leanne performs regularly with the Canadian Opera Company, covering roles such as Fourth Maid (Elektra) in 2019, and creating roles in the workshops of COC commissions by Canadian composers, most recently works by Ian Cusson and Ana Sokolovic. She has been a member of the COC Chorus since 2018. Originally from Calgary, Leanne holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of British Columbia and a Master of Music in Opera from the University of Toronto.

This artist is generously supported by the Ontario Artists Fund. 

Evan Korbut is from Sault Ste. Marie Ontario, and Garden River (Robinson Treaty/Crown Treaty 60), traditional home of the Anishinaabe. My father is Anishinaabe and my mother is Ukranian/Finnish/British.

I began studying at Western University in 2007, completed my Bachelor’s degree in music (voice performance) in 2011, and completed my Master’s degree in music (voice) in 2014.
Recent credits include: the world premiere of The Ecstasy of Rita Joe as Jaimie Paul, Fierabras as Roland, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny as Moses, the world premiere of Shanawdithit as Simms/Spirit Chorus, and the world premiere of Two Odysseys: Pimooteewin/Gállábártnit as Hunter/Chorus, The Flight of the Hummingbird as Owl, and Adriana Lecouvreur as Michonnet.

This artist is generously supported by the Ontario Artists Fund.

Hailing from Ottawa, bass Matthew Li is currently a resident artist with the Atelier Lyrique at Opéra de Montréal. Favourite operatic highlights include Polyphemus in Acis and Galatea, Il Commissario Imperiale in Madama Butterfly, Le Fauteuil and Un Arbre in L’enfant et les sortilèges, Colline in La Bohème, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, Masetto and Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni. During the 2022-2023 season, Li was proud to create the leading bass role of Xon Pon in Alice Ping Yee Ho’s new opera Chinatown with City Opera Vancouver, which was received with critical acclaim. Concert highlights include the bass solos in Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, Schütz’s Weihnachtshistorie, Mozart’s Requiem, and Steffani’s Stabat Mater. He recently represented Canada at the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Singing Competition (2023) and was a finalist at the Center Stage Competition with the Canadian Opera Company.

Li is looking forward to returning to the Atelier Lyrique at Opéra de Montréal for the 2023-2024 season, where he will appear as Antonio in Le Nozze di Figaro and Seneca in L’incoronazione di Poppea.
 

This artist is generously supported by the T.C. Hargrave Scholarship in Voice Endowment.
 

Hailing from Chatham, Ontario, tenor Ryan Nauta has been praised as “one to watch” (Le Devoir). 

Ryan is a recent alumnus of the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, where he performed selected scenes from Leonard Bernstein’s Candide and Samuel Barber’s Vanessa. Previous roles include Remus in a workshop of Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha (Volcano Theatre), First Armoured Man in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (Opera McGill), Albert Herring in Britten’s Albert Herring (Opera McGill), and Lysander in Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream (Halifax Summer Opera). 

Equally comfortable on the concert stage, Ryan has performed as soloist for Handel’s Messiah (Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal), Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings (L’Oasis Musicale), and various Bach Cantatas (Serenata at St. John’s). Ryan was also heard at the Singing Stars Concert on Toronto’s Classical 96.3 FM. Ryan has been honoured to have received scholarships from the Art Song Foundation of Canada and the Kiwanis Foundation of Canada. 

Ryan holds a Master of Music from McGill University, having been awarded a Graduate Excellence Fellowship, as well as a Bachelor of Music from the University of Western Ontario. He is an alumnus of the prestigious Franz-Schubert-Institut, in Baden, Austria. He currently studies privately with Laura Brooks Rice.

This artist is generously supported by the Barbara and John Poole Memorial Endowment and the Virgina Middleberg Fund.

 Canadian Bass-Baritone Luke Noftall is a recent graduate of the University of Toronto with a Master’s of Music in Opera Performance, as well as a Bachelor of Voice Performance with Honors from the same institution. He currently studies with Wendy Nielsen.

While at the University of Toronto’s Opera school, Luke has been seen as: Mr. Choufleuri in Monsieur Choufleuri, Dr. Bartolo in Il barbiere di Sviliglia , Top in Aaron Copland’s The Tender Land, Jacques I in A Tale of Two Cities, and the Chorus of Antiquity in a Canadian premiered student composition of Disobedience. Additional credits include Lancelot in Camelot (Red Panda Productions), and Papageno in Die Zauberflöte (Halifax Summer Opera Festival). As Papageno, Luke was described as a “Star of the Festival. Playful and mercurial, his warm baritone and dynamic interpretation complimented and contrasted effortlessly with his more earnest Tamino” (Opera Canada).

A long admirer of the Banff Centres many exciting works, Luke is extremely excited to be joining The Banff Opera in the 21st Century Program this summer, where he will be playing Masetto in Don Giovanni, as well as Morris in Adoration. Luke is honored to be able to work alongside some of the finest artists and mentors in the Canadian opera.

This artist is generously supported by the Ruby Mercer Endowment. 
 

Pianist Connor O’Kane has established himself as one of Ontario’s most versatile and sought-after emerging artists. A prizewinner at the CMC Stepping Stone, Connor has appeared as a soloist with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony under the baton of Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, and performed in several notable concert series, including Ottawa’s Chamberfest, Lyon’s Tempo Vivace Festival, Western University’s Faculty Concert Series, and the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society.

Connor’s passion for opera led him to the role of assistant conductor of Western University’s opera program, a position he has held since 2019. During this period, he engaged in the preparation of ten opera productions, including the March 2023 run of Verdi’s Falstaff. As a répétiteur, he has worked with many acclaimed opera conductors including Alain Trudel, Simone Luti, and Tyrone Paterson. Connor holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from Western University. His research, which focuses on the piano transcriptions of Sergei Prokofiev, has earned him several grants and scholarships including the SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship and Canada Graduate Scholarship. Connor’s principal studies were with Stéphan Sylvestre, David Jalbert, Heather Taves, Manuel Schweizer, and Joan Walker.

This artist is generously supported by the George Brough Memorial Endowment.