Our Artist of the Week is Canadian soprano Ambur Braid, celebrated for her electrifying portrayals of powerful women and sensational debuts. We connected with her to chat all things opera, from lessons learned to favourite coffeeshops. Watch her sing the title role in Canadian Opera Company’s production of Salome running until Feb 24.
Our Artist of the Week is acclaimed Italian bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni. Renowned for his captivating presence on stage, Pisaroni has continued to build upon his impressive career singing on the world’s leading stages and earning achievements including the Opera News Award and being recognized as one of Opera for Peace’s Peace Ambassadors. He returns to the COC this month to sing the title role in the company’s production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, running until February 18.
British-Canadian soprano Jessica Muirhead, described by the New York Times as a “multi-hued soprano with floating top notes”, is a very active presence in the European opera scene.
Our Artist of the Week is Canadian bass baritone Gordon Bintner, who makes his return this week to the Canadian Opera Company’s stage singing the Count in the company’s production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. Bintner has announced a number of exciting projects for this upcoming season, including a return to the Royal Opera House singing Albert in Massenet’s Werther, and a yet-to-be-announced debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Canadian Opera Company’s The Marriage of Figaro runs January 27 until February 18.
Canadian conductor Jordan de Souza kicks off our Artist of the Week series in 2023, answering 27 questions about life, music, and lessons learned. Watch him in Theater an der Wien’s new production of Offenbach’s La Périchole running until January 31.
Our final Artist of the Week for 2022 is Canadian pianist and vocal coach, Bryan Wagorn. Wagorn regularly performs throughout North America, Europe, and Asia as soloist, chamber musician, and recital accompanist to the world’s leading singers and instrumentalists.
Juno Award-winning and Grammy-nominated Canadian baritone Joshua Hopkins is recognized as one of the finest singer-actors of his generation, and he is using his voice to raise awareness for the global epidemic of gender-based violence. A number of notable appearances have been announced for his 2022-23 season, including the orchestral world premiere and Ontario tour of Songs for Murdered Sisters – conceived by Hopkins, and by composer Jake Heggie and author Margaret Atwood.
Grammy-award winning Canadian bass-baritone Gerald Finley has announced a number of exciting projects to come in 2022/23, most recently, singing Il Conte di Almaviva in Opéra National de Paris’ new production of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro running until Dec 28. We had the chance to sit down with Finley and chat all things opera, from life lessons to craziest stage mishaps.
Hamilton-born countertenor and activist Cameron Shahbazi is quickly gaining acclaim. If you’re in Frankfurt this week, don’t miss him in Oper Frankfurt’s charity concert for Iran, “Woman. Life. Freedom.”, singing alongside Ambur Braid, Lilian Farahani, Kristine Opolais, Giulia Semenzato and Anna Bonitatibus.
For Canadian soprano Layla Claire, the 2022/23 season is one of role creations. Having just closed the world premiere run of Bilodeau/Bouchard’s La Beauté du Monde yesterday as Jeanne Boitel at Opéra de Montréal, Layla will get to create another major role in Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino’s Venere e Adone singing the title role of Venere at Hamburg Staatsoper in the spring.
