The Artist of the Week is Canadian soprano and composer Danika Lorèn. They will be featured in Soundstreams‘ upcoming concert with you and without you, curated by winner of the 2024/25 Soundstreams New Voices Curator Mentorship Program Brad Cherwin, on March 22nd (tickets and info here).
Danika is a multi-faceted artist who is making a name for themselves as both a composer and singer. Their compositions have been presented across the country by the CBC, Canadian Art Song Project, University of Toronto, Canadian Opera Company, Pacific Opera Victoria and Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra. As a soprano, their signature roles include Gilda (Rigoletto), Musetta (La bohème), Adina (L’elisir d’amore), Ginevra/Dalinda (Ariodante), Despina (Così fan tutte) and Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro).
This week, Danika shares a bit about her musical upbringing is Saskatchewan, their top coffee picks in Toronto and what they want to be singing right now. Read on to find out more.
When was your first singing lesson (and with whom)?
I think I was about six or seven, and it was with Marilyn Whitehead in Saskatoon. She is the definition of BOSS, and I admire her very much. We worked together for around 14 years, and she encouraged me to head to the big city and sing, so I really owe a lot to her!
Heels or flats?
I think there is a time and place for both! This is my perspective on most binary comparisons.
Favourite place?
I am really happy to call Toronto my home; she is complicated in a way that I dig.
If you weren’t a singer/composer, you’d be..?
I would love to run a small music venue, maybe with an underground, vaudevillian feel to it – one of those local artist-driven, if-you-know-you-know kind of places.
Which role do you want to be singing right now?
I dream of singing my own works, and I love originating new works of other composers.
What’s your favourite orchestral instrument? Why?
The warm and brassy mix of the French horn will always get me.
What’s your favourite thing about singing with an orchestra?
My motivation to sing is largely to connect with other musicians, and there is a wild synergy of souls that happens with an orchestra that feels so spiritual. This can happen with any size ensemble, but with an orchestra it is SO intense! It’s every pitch, dynamic and timbre attuned to the same moment in time! It’s beautiful magic.
What is one surprising thing that you have learned in becoming an opera singer?
You can’t hide who you are from the music you make; there is really no faking it.
Are there more musicians in your family?
Yes! My Auntie Bernie taught me to play my first piano song (“In the Mood”), and many of my cousins took piano lessons from the same teacher, Penny Joynt. I remember we would all go to ear training class together on Monday nights, though I was youngest by about six years. There was also a barbershop-style girl group that my cousins formed, and I don’t remember their name, but their version of “Going to the Chapel” was a favourite at events in the town I grew up in (Colonsay, Saskatchewan).
What is your favourite mind-calming practice?
Hot yoga, breath work and free movement. Really, anything that reconnects me to my body.
Where’s your favourite coffee shop?
Three-way tie: Larry’s (west side), Rooms (any location) and Moonbean (Kensington).
Are you a cat person or dog person?
Yes.
Which album did you listen to last?
FKA twigs EUSEXUA (10/10).
When did you know you wanted to be an opera singer?
I have always wanted to sing, so it doesn’t really feel like a specific decision I had to make for a really long time. Enter 2020. I tossed around a lot of other options, and didn’t sing a single note for almost two years. Not even with myself. I lost my connection to my technique and lost my belief in my abilities. I was really (impatiently) waiting for a sign from somewhere that I could do it. Agonizing! I have now realized it is really just a choice I must make for myself – a commitment. I bought myself a little ring that most people probably assume is a wedding band, but it is there to remind me of a commitment to my craft.
Does your process change from role to role?
Extremely! There are certain ways of learning the bones of a score that don’t really change, but the process of embodying a piece or role depends on what the work is about, what we are trying to achieve with the piece, and how much rehearsal time we will have together.
Are you a perfectionist?
Not a drop. In rehearsal and preparation, I value accuracy to the score very highly, but in performance it is time to trust that work and just flow. I think “perfectionism” is short-sighted in art; I guess don’t really believe artistic perfection exists. “Perfection” insinuates some sort of end goal that makes the work worthwhile or valuable, but for me the process of doing the work is what I value most.
What does success look like to you?
I don’t know what it looks like, but I think it feels like a kind of self-belief in my own work that is reinforced by the appreciation of my community. Maybe it would look like the puzzle piece of me snugly fitting into place.
LEARN MORE ABOUT DANIKA LORÈN
VISIT HER WEBSITE
© Courtesy of Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, by Julie Isaac Photography
© Courtesy of Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, by Julie Isaac Photography
© Courtesy of Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, by Julie Isaac Photography
with you and without you
Soundstreams
FLUTE: Tristan Durie
COR ANGLAIS: Colin Maier
CLARINET: Anthony Thompson
BASS CLARINET/CLARINET: Brad Cherwin
HORN: Iris Krizmanic
MANDOLIN: Lenny Ranallo
VIOLIN: Erika Raum
VIOLA: Hezekiah Leung
CELLO: David Hetherington
DOUBLE BASS: Joseph Philips
PIANO: Kevin Ahfat
SOPRANO: Danika Lorèn
PERCUSSION: Aiyun Huang
CONDUCTOR: Gregory Oh
All songs are inherently derived from the love song. This program examines the tragic nature of song and understands all love songs as songs of loss. The virtuoso chamber orchestra Ensemble Soundstreams is joined by the brilliant soprano Danika Lorèn. It features powerful juxtapositions: purely instrumental pieces by Oliver Knussen and Matthew Ricketts; works for voice and ensemble by Tansy Davies and Shawn Jaeger; rich Romantic-era consonance and striking contemporary dissonance; and the intimacy of the love song in a work by Ana Sokolović. These seemingly opposing concepts are the musical personification of two lovers, challenging audience perceptions of contemporary repertoire by featuring works that are deeply romantic and powerfully expressive.
This concert is curated by Brad Cherwin, winner of the 2024/25 Soundstreams New Voices Curator Mentorship Program.
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Máiri Demings is Opera Canada’s digital content specialist. She’s also a mezzo-soprano who has sung with Tapestry Opera, performs regularly with VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert and Toronto Operetta Theatre, and is one half of duo mezzopiano with pianist Zain Solinski.
