Renaud
Colin Ainsworth
Tenor
Commended by the Globe and Mail for his “rock-solid technique, excellent diction and a virile tone” and by the Toronto Star for a “magnetic stage presence that was the ideal embodiment of a romantic lead”, Canadian tenor Colin Ainsworth has distinguished himself by his exceptional singing, impeccable diction and a diverse range of repertoire. Having performed with opera companies and symphonies across the world, this youthful tenor has also been praised for his dramatic intensity and the palette of vocal colours at his disposal.
Born in Toronto, to deaf parents, Colin was introduced to classical music in late high school but quickly fell in love with the art form and began studies at the University of Western Ontario and University of Toronto in the Opera School under Dr. Darryl Edwards. Since then, he has been engaged around the world with such opera companies as the Royal Opera House, Greek National Opera, Vancouver Opera, Edmonton Opera, Opera Atelier, the Edinburgh Festival, Opera Hamilton, Opera Français de New York, Pacific Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Calgary Opera, and such orchestras as the Vancouver Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony, and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. He has also been featured on seven CD recordings, one live opera DVD and been twice nominated for a Dora Award and a Juno.
This season, Mr. Ainsworth returns to the Vancouver Opera for the world premiere of John Estacio’s Lillian Alling, Calgary Opera as Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Edmonton Opera as Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and the Chicago Opera Theater as Jason in Charpentier’s Medée. His many roles include the title roles in Orphée et Euridice, Pygmalion, Castor et Pollux, Roberto Devereux and Albert Herring; Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Rinnucio in Gianni Schicchi, Fenton in Falstaff, Tonio in La Fille du Régiment, Nadir in Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Pylades in Iphigénie en Tauride, Renaud in Lully’s Armide, Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress, and Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He also appeared in the world premieres of the Stuart MacRae’s The Assassin Tree at the Edinburgh International Festival, Victor Davies’ The Transit of Venus with the Manitoba Opera, and Rufus Wainwright’s Prima Donna at Sadler’s Wells in London and at the Luminato Festival. Other past opera engagements have included appearances at the Glimmerglass Opera, Lake George Opera, L’Opéra de Français, Opera Atelier, Pacific Opera Victoria, and the Greek National Opera.
Armide
Peggy Kriha Dye
Soprano
Critically acclaimed international soprano Peggy Kriha Dye recently made her debut with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in Charles Martin Loeffler’s Quatre Poems and Nicholas Maw’s Roman Canticle. Praised for her performances of Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire with Washington Opera under Andre Previn, she repeated the role with the Pittsburgh Symphony, again with Maestro Previn. A former Adler Fellow, Ms. Kriha Dye has performed many roles with San Francisco Opera including, Musetta, Poussette, Drusilla, and Gretel. A favorite at Toronto’s Opera Atelier, she appeared last season as the Countess in Mozart’sThe Marrriage of Figaro.
Hidraot
João Fernandes
Bass
João Fernandes’s operatic engagements include Giove La Calisto (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden), Claudio Agrippina (New York City Opera), Bellone Les Indes Galantes (Paris Opera), Tiferne Eliogabalo (Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie and Innsbruck Festival), Orcan Les Paladins(Théâtre du Châtelet), Huascar Les Indes Galantes (Zurich Opera), Don Afonso Cosi fan tutte and Seneca L’incoronazione di Poppea (Lyon Opera), Corésus and Le Ministre de Pan Callirhoé by Destouches and King Arthur (Montpellier Opera).
He recently sang Seneca L’incoronazione di Poppea for Opera Atelier, Toronto, Don Pietro Lo frate 'nnamorato (Pergolesi) and Togno La Spinalba - at the Cultural Centre of Belem in Lisbon, Don Lazaro La Clementina (Boccherini) in Madrid and Bilbao, and Nerbulone Eliogabalo (Cavalli) at Grange Park Opera (UK).
In 2010 João Fernandes returned to Opera Atelier to sing Polyphemus Acis and Galatea. Other opera plans the Montpellier production of King Arthur with Le Concert Spirituel and Hervé Niquet on tour in Japan, and the roles of Hérault - Bass Choryphée - Apollon in Christof Loy’s forthcoming new production of Hippolyte et Aricie at the Aix-en-Provence Festival.
Sidonie/Nymphe des Eaux
Hailed by critics as a singer with “lovely stage presence” a “silvery tone” and “exquisite mezza voce” Canadian soprano Meghan Lindsay begins the 2010/11 season as a member of Opera Studio Nederland. Meghan made her international debut as Euredice in Pierre Audi’s production of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and made her Concertgebouw debut in November performing excerpts as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and Contessa from Le Nozze di Figaro. In 2011, she will make her Canadian debut as Donna Anna in Opera Atelier’s Don Giovanni, will sing Contessa in Opera on the Avalon’s Le Nozze di Figaro, and will perform the role of Fiordiligi in Opera Studio Nederland’s spring production of Cosi fan Tutte. Ms Lindsay spent the summer of 2010 at Joan Dornemann’s inaugural music festival, Viva Virginia, where she performed Richard Danielpour’s Sonnets to Orpheus under the baton of Paul Nadler.
During the 2009/10 season, Ms Lindsay performed the title role in Massenet's Cendrillion, the premiere opera at Toronto's Koerner Hall with the Royal Conservatory Orchestra. She was one of twenty singers across Canada to be named a Laureate of the Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques, Ambassadeurs; was a finalist in the 2010 Czech Slovak International Music Competition; and was the recipient of the Dean's Scholarship from The Royal Conservatory of Music. Other recent credits include Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro, La Principessa in the Canadian premier of La Bella Dormente nel Bosco, Pamina in Fatal Song, and Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi.
As an accomplished concert artist, Meghan has been featured on CTV television and CBC radio broadcast. She toured China representing the Royal Conservatory of Music in a program that was broadcast nationwide on Chinese television and radio. She has presented
concerts in venues across Canada, including Barrie's Colours of Music and the Creemore Music Festival and was a performer in Holland's Uitmarkt. In 2008, Meghan organized and presented Opera for Oprea, a charity gala that raised nearly $14,000 for cancer drug research for the Robert and Maggie Bras Drug Cancer Development Program. Meghan is an alumni of the Daniel Ferro Vocal Program; of Joan Dornemann's International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv, Israel; and The Royal Conservatory of Music's Glenn Gould School, where she completed her Bachelor of Music and participated in the Artist Diploma Program.
Phénice/Lucinde
Carla Huhtanen
Soprano
Soprano Carla Huhtanen is in demand internationally for her “soaring, translucent” voice, “winning stage presence,” and her diverse repertoire. She debuted in the UK as Lisetta in Garsington Opera’s La Gazzetta (Rossini) and returned as Serpetta in their production of Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera, a performance repeated at the Barbican Centre’s Mostly Mozart series. She debuted in Italy at Gran Teatro la Fenice in Venice as Daisy Park in Gershwin’s Lady, Be Good! and returned to La Fenice as Athenaïs in Cherubini’s Anacréon. In France, she sang the title role of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen for Festival Mars en Baroque (Marseille, Tarascon, and Aix-en-Provence) and Angelica in Händel’s Orlando for Théatre Gyptis (Marseille), Festival Musique au Coeur (Antibes) and Festival de hartres. A reprise performance of Lady, Be Good! took her to Lisbon’s Teatro Sao Carlos and that same year she was featured soloist in a Leonard Bernstein Tribute with the Israel Philharmonic. She has been praised for her “vivid, fine-toned, accurately placed coloratura” (Independent) and her “clarity of tone and smoothness of line…matched only by her exquisite acting” (Opera Now).
Other past highlights include Cunegonde in Candide with the BBC Concert Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall in London and also in Malta for the Valletta Festival. She was soloist with the Royal Philharmonic and the Welsh National Opera Orchestra under Carl Davis for a concert tour of festivals in the UK and Germany. With Opera Atelier she sang Monteverdi’s Minerva/Amor, Drusilla/Fortuna, Mozart’s Blonde and Papagena, and a South Korean tour of Charpentier’s Actéon and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.
A leading interpreter of modern and contemporary music, Carla performs with Continuum New Music, Queen of Puddings Music Theatre, and as a s Studio Ensemble member of Tapestry New Opera, where she develops and premieres many roles for their Opera to Go and Opera Briefs performances. Carla appeared in The Shadow with Tapestry, in Soundstreams Canada/CBC’s performance of Brian Current’s Airline Icarus, and covered Marie in Luminato’s production of Rufus Wainwright’s Prima Donna.
Carla was one of Now Magazine’s Top Ten Theatre Artists in 2008, and her “amazing versatility and unwavering voice” won her a place on Eye Weekly’s Top Ten Great Individual Achievements List of 2007. Nominated for a Dora Award for her performance as Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro with Opera Atelier in 2010, she will return in their 2011 production of Don Giovanni. She recently performed Orlando/Lunaire with Opera Erratica in Toronto (combining Händel opera and Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire) and in Array New Music’sMichael J. Baker Tribute.
Upcoming projects include Saariaho’s From the Grammar of Dreams, Ana Sokolovic’s opera Svadba with Queen of Puddings, Blonde with Edmonton Opera and recitals with Off Centre Music and L’Alliance Française in Toronto.
Aronte
Macedonian baritone, Vasil Garvanliev, began performing professionally at the age of seven as a child singer in his native country, achieving celebrated status. He moved to Toronto in 2004 and completed his music studies at the Glenn Gould School, and the University of Toronto under the tutelage of Mary Morrison. Vasil is thrilled to be a member of Calgary Opera’s Emerging Young Artist Program in the 2010/11 Season.
Vasil kicks off the 2011 Season with a debut and world premiere of The Inventor (Calgary opera) followed by a guest appearance as the title role in Don Giovanni (U of T Opera School). As an Emerging Artist at Calgary Opera he takes the stage as Don Alfonso in Cosi fan Tutte, then repeats the title role in Nozze di Figaro (Opera on the Avalon), and is proud to be finishing the season off with a leading role debut as Leporello in Don Giovanni (Opera Atelier). On the concert stage Mr. Garvanliev makes his debut with the Calgary Civic Symphony, and returns to OffCentre Music salon and The Helliconian Birthdays Series for a recital. Vasil, along with Opera Atelier, was recently awarded a CTV BRAVO!Fact grant to make his operatic music video debut as Don Giovanni under the direction of Andrew Gregg.
Winning the University's Concerto Compeitition brought Vasil the opportunity to sing Mahler's Rückert Lieder in the 09/10 Orchestra Season. Other recent performances include Pangloss in Candide, Bonafede in Il Mondo della Luna, Ramiro in L’Heure Espagnole, and Geronimo in Il Matrimonio Segreto (University of Toronto’s Opera School); Papageno in Die Zauberflote (MacMillan Singers Opera Concert); Harasta in The Cunning Little Vixen (Banff Opera Centre); Bob in The Old Maid and the Thief, Falke in Die Fledermaus, Tobia Mill in Cambiale di Matrimonio, and title role in Signor Deluso (Highlands Opera Studio); Antonio in Marriage of Figaro and Grand Priest in Idomeneo (Opera Atelier); and the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro (Glenn Gould School) . Vasil also had the opportunity to perform across the pond, playing Mesetto in Don Giovanni as a Member of the Britten-Pears Young Artists Programme in Aldeburgh, England.
Artémidore/Chevalier Ubalde
Olivier LaQuerre
Bass-Baritone
Canadian bass-baritone Olivier LaQuerre is a laureate of the Paris and the Verviers (Belgium) international voice competitions, and has been in great demand as a soloist since winning the Joseph-Rouleau Award (First Prize) at the Jeunesses musicales voice competition.
In concert, he regularly sings Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Magnificat and St. Matthew Passion, as well as Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Mr Laquerre has sung with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, the Quebec, Montreal, Trois-Rivières, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Milwaukee symphony orchestras, and many vocal ensembles from North America. He is a regular guest soloist at the Boston Early Music Festival, with whom he has recorded 2 CD’s under the CPO label (Germany).
On stage, his roles include Escamillo in Carmen, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Arbace in Mozart’s Idomeneo, Achillas in Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Pluto in Monteverdi’s Orfeo, Ottone in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Oronte in Charpentier’s Médée, both Céphée and Méduse in Lully’s Persée, Andrei Shchelkalov in Boris Godunov, Haly in L’Italiana in Algeri, Angelotti in Tosca and the Messenger in Stravinsky’s Œdipus Rex. was an acclaimed Ulysses in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ulisse Opera Atelier in Toronto, under David Fallis. Olivier Laquerre also created the role of Tsar Theodorus at the Boston Early Music Festival premiere of Mattheson’s Boris Goudenow. Sacred Music Festival in October 2008.
His many recent and upcoming projects include Puccini’s Missa di Gloria the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Verdi’s Requiem with the Quebec Symphony, the title role of Figaro in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figarowith Opera Atelier, as well as a return with the Symphony Nova Scotia, in Mozart’s Requiem, and with the Trois-Rivières Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Jacques Lacombe in Handel’s Messiah.
La Haine
Curtis Sullivan
Bass
On the opera stage, Curtis Sullivan starred as Count Almaviva in Opera Atelier's Le Nozze di Figaro in Toronto and Tokyo and he has also been heard for Opera Atelier in Charpentier’s Medée, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte and most recently as Neptune in Idomeneo. For the Stratford Festival, he was cast as Giuseppe in The Gondeliers directed by Brian Macdonald. Sondheim's innovative music theatre work, Passion, was his assignment at the Canadian Stage in Toronto where he starred as the brooding romantic hero, Giorgio. In another change of pace, the Banff Centre alumnus appeared in the Classical Kids production of Tchaikovsky Discovers America with the Houston Symphony, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, and the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center.
Mr. Sullivan was at Huron Country Playhouse for Billy Bigelow in Carousel and followed his performances there with Opera Atelier’s Iphigénie en Tauride and Die Entführung aus dem Serail in Toronto. He has appeared in Korea in Don Giovanni, Cleveland in L’Incoronazione di Poppea and in Toronto for Opera Atelier’s Persée. An Opera Atelier favourite, he has been seen with the company as Masetto and the Commendatorein Don Giovanni, Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas, Eumete in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria as well as featured roles Armide and Orfeo. Balancing Baroque with contemporary, he returned to Grand Bend starring in The Secret Garden and Man of la Mancha, Calgary for Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins, Popolescu in Kalman’s Countess Maritza and Weill’s Lady in the Dark for Toronto Operetta Theatre and the National Arts Centre for ‘Vienna to Broadway’.
Chevalier Danois
Aaron Ferguson
Tenor
Renowned for his acting abilities, Aaron Ferguson is quickly establishing himself as one of the top international comic tenors. He is an alumnus of the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, Glimmerglass Opera’s Young American Artist Programme and Pacific Opera Victoria’s Kurth Young Artist Program. He is revered for his interpretations of Britten, Handel, Bach, Purcell and specializes in the French Baroque repertoire.
Recent appearances with l`Opéra de Montréal include Basilio/Curzio (Il nozze di Figaro), Nika Magadoff (The Consul), Borsa (Rigoletto), Monostatos (Die Zauberflöte), Spoletta (Tosca), Le Doyen (Cendrillon) and as Charles Gill in Andre Gagnon’s Nelligan. He has embodied the roles of Lysander (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) at the Banff Centre, Apollo (Semele) with Pacific Opera Victoria, Albert Herring, Sam Polk (Susannah) with Opera Nuova, Riot in Carl Davis’ Peace, Aenaes/Sailor (Dido & Aeneas) and Kaspar (Amahl and the Night Visitors).
Having worked closely under the celebrated soprano Nancy Argenta, he is a highly sought after concert artist. Recent engagements include: Howard Blake’s The Bear under Alain Trudel and the Toronto Symphony orchestra, Handel's Judas Maccabeus with Laurence Cummings and the Victoria Symphony, Bach`s Magnificat with l’Orchestre Métropolitain under the baton of Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Handel’s Ode to St. Cecilia’s Day with Jeanne Lamon, Carmina Burana with Jon Washburn and the Vancouver Chamber Singers and Mozart‘s Mass in c minor with the Victoria Choral Society and Mozart’s Requiem.
Upcoming appearances include: Le Chevalier Danois (Armide) with Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Atelier and at the Chateau Versailles, Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin at the Chapelle Historique du Bon Pasteur, Bardolfo (Falstaff) and Blind (Die Fledermaus).
Conductor David Fallis is one of Canada’s leading interpreters of operatic and choral/orchestral repertoire, especially from the Baroque and Classical periods. As Music Director for Opera Atelier, he has helped bring that company onto stages and around the world, and for them Mr. Fallis has conducted Mozart’s The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and The Abduction from the Seraglio, Monteverdi’s Orfeo, Il ritorno d’Ulisse and L’incoronazione di Poppea, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas among many others. Twice, he has led the Opera Atelier forces on tour to Seoul, South Korea conducting the Korean Symphony Orchestra and Camerata Antiqua Seoul, and in Japan conducting Don Giovanni and Le Nozze di Figaro. He has also led crtically acclaimed productions for Houston Grand Opera, Cleveland Opera, Wolftrap Theater and Utah Opera.
Mr. Fallis is the Artistic Director of the Toronto Consort, Canada’s leading chamber ensemble specializing in the music of the Middle Ages, Renaissance and early Baroque. With them, he has toured extensively across Canada and in Europe, and has led the ensemble in numerous recordings for Marquis Classics, Dorian Records and SRI. Mr. Fallis teaches in the Graduate Department of the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto.
Gerard Gauci
Set Designer
Resident set designer Gerard Gauci is an associate of the Ontario College of Art and Design. His relationship with the company dates from its first fully staged production of Monteverdi’s Orfeo at the Art Gallery of Ontario in 1986. Since then he has designed many shows for Opera Atelier including Pygmalion, Persée, The Coronation of Poppea, The Magic Flute, Medée, Iphigénie en Tauride, Actéon, Dido and Aeneas, Armide, Orpheus and Eurydice, The Return of Ulysses and Idomeneo.
When not designing for Opera Atelier he pursues a career as a painter, exhibiting regularly in Toronto at the Leo Kamen Gallery and in Montréal at the Galerie de Bellefeuille.
Bonnie Beecher
Lighting Designer
Bonnie has designed lights for over 160 productions in theatre, opera and dance with companies that include The National Ballet of Canada, the Canadian Opera Company, Shaw Festival, Stratford Shakespeare Festival, New Zealand Opera, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Canadian Stage, Soulpepper Theatre Company, Opera Atelier, Opera Lyra, The National Arts Centre, The Royal Shakespeare Company and Ballet Mannheim. Recent projects include St. Carmen of The Main with the NAC/Canadian Stage, a world premiere with Ballet Mannheim and Hosanna at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.
Bonnie lives in Toronto with her husband Glenn Davidson and sons Oliver and Jacob.
Jennifer Parr
Fight Director
Jennifer has been Opera Atelier's Fight Director since 1989, for productions including The Loves of Mars and Venus, Venus and Adonis, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, Medée, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Iphigénie en Tauride, and Persée (also on film). With OA's artistic directors she has also taught at Le Centre de la Musique Baroque de Versailles in Paris. Film and television fight credits include Le Mozart Noir, and appearing on the Discovery channel as the famous female pirate captain Anne Bonny. Jennifer holds an M.A. in Reniassance Drama (University of Warwick), and recently directed acclaimed productions of the world premiere of Dean Burry's opera Pandora's Locker and Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutti at the Royal Conservatory of Music.
