Opera Pub

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). 

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. 

Perri Lo is a pianist and vocal coach, working in opera, chamber music, and dance.  She is passionate about intertwining these art forms, coming from a formal opera repetiteur training and working with professional dance companies and schools since 2010.  Perri is currently a staff pianist at Ballet BC and Arts Umbrella Dance Company.  Most recently, she produced her first dance and art song collaboration, Quartet, featuring baritone Luka Kawabata and dancers of Ballet BC, in support of Banff Centre’s Opera in the 21^st Century Program.

Since her role as apprentice coach with the Vancouver Opera’s Yulanda M. Faris Young Artist Program (‘18-19), Perri has music directed productions with Indie Opera West companies such as ReNaissance Opera, of both traditional and contemporary repertoire.  One of her most valuable experiences was touring across B.C. with  Vancouver Opera and Pacific Opera Victoria’s co-production of Flight of the Hummingbird (2020), a new children’s opera about climate change.

When she is not performing with singers and instrumentalists, Perri serves as B.C.’s Provincial Coordinator for Opera InReach, an artists’ collective providing accessible, innovative, and diverse opera education and mentorship for youths across Canada.

She is grateful to be creating and working on the unceded and ancestral homelands of xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

Amanda Testini (she/her) is a performer, choreographer and director based on the unceded and ancestral territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. She has worked at the Arts Club, Bard on the Beach, the Cultch, Theatre Replacement, the Firehall, the Belfry, Opera Kelowna, the Gateway, Savage Society, Theatre Under the Stars, VACT, Carousel Theatre, shameless hussy productions, Neworld Theatre, Speakeasy Theatre, the Electric Company, Vancouver Opera,  and Axis Theatre. Some of her career highlights include assistant choreographing Onegin (Arts Club/Belfry), touring Canda playing lead character ‘Justine Chambers’ in Love Bomb (Shameless Hussy Productions), choreographing 4 East Van Pantos with Theatre Replacement, playing ‘Lydia Wickham’ in Miss Benett: Christmas at Pemberly, and assistant directing La Cenerentola (Vancouver Opera). Most recently, she was the 21/22 Yulanda M Faris Young Artist Stage Director at Vancouver Opera where she directed Cavalleria Rusticana: in Concert, Blond Eckbert, and choreographed and assistant directed HMS Pinafore.  Currently, she is part of developing a contemporary dance show to Laura Reznek’s new record, Agrimony, led by Sophie Dow. Amanda is so grateful to be here at the Banff Centre to continue to develop her craft and dive into the rich world of opera. She also acknowledges the support of the Arts Club Theatre Company’s Bill Millerd Artist Fund. Amanda is a Jessie Award Nominee and a graduate of Studio 58.

Sought after as pianist and vocal coach, CASEY ROBARDS has presented recitals throughout the United States, Europe, Central and South America and Asia, playing art song, string, brass, wind and chamber music. Robards’ growing career as a conductor includes Die Zauberflöte, La Traviata, La Boheme (Bay View Music Festival) and Three Decembers (South Bend Lyric Opera). Other recent productions include BOUNCE: The Basketball Opera (Associate music director, Univ. of Kentucky ) and a workshop premiere of This Little Light of Mine (Pianist, Santa Fe/Kentucky Opera). Currently, Clinical Asst. Prof. in Vocal Accompanying and Coaching at the University of Illinois, Dr. Robards has been on the faculty of Indiana University, Oberlin Conservatory, and Central Michigan University. Casey has special interest in Black American art song and spirituals, giving concerts with sopranos Angelique Clay, Ollie Watts Davis, LaToya Lain, Karen Slack and tenors, Henry Pleas and John Wesley Wright as well as the American Spiritual Ensemble. She was asst. conductor/principal musician with the University of Illinois Black Chorus between 1998-2008. Robards is Chair of the Sacred in Opera Initiative for the National Opera Association. Casey is a Korean adoptee and an advocate for social justice.

Casey Robards is generously supported by the Marshall M. Williams Endowment.

Spencer Kryzanowski is a collaborative pianist, répétiteur, and teacher based in Toronto, where he is pursuing an Artistic Diploma (Operatic Répétiteur) at the University of Toronto. Originally from Edmonton, Spencer has collaborated with numerous choral groups in Alberta, including Edmonton’s Accord Ensemble and the University of Alberta Concert Choir. As a répétiteur and music director, Spencer has recently worked on productions of Copland’s The Tender Land (UofT Opera, 2022), Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia (UofT Opera, 2021), Puccini’s La bohème (Mercury Opera, 2019 & 2020), and Puccini’s Suor Angelica & Gianni Schicchi (Pop Goes the Opera, 2019). Spencer is also a mentor with Opera InReach, an opera outreach collective dedicated to inspiring the next generation to see themselves in opera. Next in Spencer’s calendar, he will join tenor Daevyd Pepper for a visual, queer retelling of Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -leben, assist as a coach/pianist at St. Andrews Opera Workshop in New Brunswick, and assist as répétiteur for Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel with Berlin Opera Academy.

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

Originally from Calgary, soprano, Brittany Rae, is currently based in Montréal. Brittany was recently named the First Prize Winner of the 43rd Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition which features Canadian and contemporary music. As a part of the prize, she embarked on a cross-Canada winner's tour with pianist, Jesse Plessis in fall 2020. Recent season highlights include, the premiere of L’épaisseur du silence (Jesse Plessis) with Code d’accès, the premiere of Malachi (Omer Barash) with the McGill Contemporary Ensemble, Pierrot Lunaire (Schönberg) with Ensemble Lagom, ‘Concert in the 21st Century’ Residency at the Banff Centre, and the SoundSCAPE Festival Vocal Institute with soprano, Tony Arnold. Brittany is a member of the 2021-22 Association for Opera in Canada RBC Artist Fellowship and Mentorship Program. Other performances include, Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro) with Toronto City Opera, Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor) with Opera McGill, Songbook IX with Tapestry Opera, Oper’Actuel 2019 with Chants Libres, and exhibitions by Jasmina Cibic and Lee Mingwei at Fondation Phi pour l’art contemporain in Montréal. Brittany holds a Graduate Artist Diploma (McGill University), Master of Arts in Performance (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance (University of Toronto).

Brittany Rae is generously supported by the Ruby Mercer Opera Award.

Mezzo-soprano Chelsea Pringle-Duchemin is honoured to be attending the Opera in the 21st Century residency this season at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Past operatic highlights have included Eustazia in Rinaldo (2022), Zora in Ana Sokolovics’ Svadba (2021), Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia (2021), and Anna I in Die Sieben Todsünden (2020) with the Glenn Gould School Opera Program; Le nozze di Figaro (2019), Orphée aux enfers (2016), and Paul Bunyan (2016) with the University of Toronto Opera Division; and Apollo in Apollo & Hyacinthus (2019) with COSI Connection.

In addition to opera, Chelsea is a passionate concert and new music singer. This season, she sang the world premiere of Paul Frehners’ Sometimes the Devil Plays Fate for mezzo-soprano and chamber ensemble with the Glenn Gould School New Music Ensemble. Chelsea is particularly interested in art song, and the ways in which feminist musicology can intersect with the performance of both standard repertoire and new music.

Chelsea is a recent graduate of the Glenn Gould Schools’ Artist Diploma program, where she studied with soprano Stephanie Bogle, and holds a Bachelors of Music from the University of Toronto. She is originally from Montreal, Quebec.

Chelsea Pringle-Duchemin is generously supported by the Ruby Mercer Opera Award.

Taiwanese-American mezzo-soprano, has performed nationally and abroad in both operatic and chamber literature. Praised for her warmth and vulnerability on stage, recent operatic performances include Orfeo in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (USC) as well as Ottone in Handel’s Agrippina (CU Boulder), Hansel in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel (CU Boulder), and Beatrice in Berlioz’s Beatrice et Benedict (CU Boulder). Other roles include Gertrude in Hansel and Gretel, Dorabella in Mozart’s Così fan tutte and Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus. Previous seasons have seen her as the soloist for Mozart's Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, and chorus for Britten’s War Requiem under the baton of James Conlon at the Segerstrom Center and Walt Disney Concert Hall. In the summer of 2019, Ms. Li workshopped the role of Alice Hobson in Tom Cipullo’s Hobson’s Choice as part of the CU New Opera Workshop (CU NOW), and in the summer of 2021, she also workshopped the role of Elizabeth Van Lew in Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s new opera, Intelligence (CU NOW). In the spring of 2022, Ms. Li will be performing the role of Allura in the Finnish and American premieres of All the truths we cannot see - a Chernobyl story by Uljas Pulkkis, a collaboration between USC and the Sibelius Academy.

Christine Li is generously supported by the Marshall M. Williams Endowment.

Jaclyn Grossman is defining what it means to be a portfolio artist. Hailed for her “unique voice type” (Opera Canada) and “command over a powerful range of expressive emotion” (The Whole Note), this year she joined the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Rebanks Family Fellowship and international Residency Program. A proud co-founder of Likht Ensemble, Jaclyn is passionate about sharing music by Jewish composers from the Holocaust. This season, Likht Ensemble looks forward to performances with Pacific Opera Victoria, the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company, and the Sewanee Summer Music Festival.

Jaclyn is the Programs Associate with the Association for Opera in Canada and the Founder of the Phoenix Leadership Project. She is the 2020 winner of the Ben Steinberg Musical Legacy Award with TempleSinai, and a graduate of McGill University’s Opera and Voice program. Upcoming engagements include residencies with the Britten PearsInstitute, the Banff Opera in the 21st Century Program, and the SewaneeSummer Music Festival.

Jaclyn graciously acknowledges her privilege to work and reside on the traditional territories of the Wendat, Haudenosaunee, and Anishinaabe Peoples, and the Treaty lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit.

Jaclyn Grossman is generously supported by the David Spencer Emerging Vocalists Endowment Fund.

A native of New Orleans, LA, soprano, Kourtney Holmes is an emerging artist of opera, concert, and recital repertoire. Recently performed roles include Gasparina (La Canterina) and Annie (Royal Flush) at UNLV Opera. Kourtney has also performed roles at the Turner-Fischer Center for Opera at Louisiana State University which included, Madame Larina (Eugene Onegin), Edka (Two Remain), Rosette (Manon), and Zita (Gianni Schicchi). She regularly performs at regional opera houses and for community outreach events and has garnered international experience where she sang Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro), and Flora (La Traviata). Kourtney holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Mississippi State University, a Masters of Music from Louisiana State University and is currently a Doctoral candidate at The University of Nevada, Las Vegas where she studies with Dr. Alfonse Anderson. She is also a passionate, licensed music educator who works as a certified EMT in her spare time.

Kourtney Holmes is generously supported by the David Spencer Emerging Vocalists Endowment Fund.

Madison Craig is a soprano and creative, forging their own path in the world of classical music. They are grateful to make their home on Treaty 7 lands - the traditional and ancestral territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut’ina, the Îyâxe Nakoda Nations, and the Métis Nation (Region 3). This season has been one of homecoming. Moving back to their Southern Alberta roots provided the opportunity to join Calgary Opera’s chorus in their production of La Traviata (Verdi) and perform as the Soprano Soloist in Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra’s Messiah (Handel). They are incredibly excited to be participating in the Banff Centre’s Opera in the 21st Century Program this summer.

Madison’s artistic practice is rooted in a deep love of art song which began in earnest when she attended the Vancouver International Song Institute and has carried forward into her work today. Throughout the pandemic, she worked with Vancouver Opera, Opera Opulenza, and City Opera Vancouver to present free, public space pop-up recitals. During this time she also created innovative digital works like PRIDE, an IGTV recital by and for LGBTQ+ artists based on the colours of Gilbert Baker’s 1978 flag; Entre Nous, a filmed recital utilizing horror tropes, film noir, and French mélodie; and Benediction, an artist statement on lesbian identity. 

Madison holds a Master of Music in Opera from the University of British Columbia and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Lethbridge. She also has been the recipient of multiple awards, including third place at the Federation of Canadian Music Festival's National Music Festival and an Encouragement Award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

Madison Craig is generously supported by the Sheila K. Piercey Opera Endowment.

Polish-Canadian baritone Marcel Sokalski is a graduate of the Masters and Professional Studies Certificate program at Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Joan Patenaude-Yarnell. Marcel has discovered the thrill of being onstage in operas with the strength of the orchestra behind him. He has performed in I due Figaro (Plagio), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Demetrius), Albert Herring (Sid), the title role of Gianni Schicchi, La Cenerentola (Dandini), The Snow Maiden (Mizgir), and Cendrillon (Alidor), the title role of Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflöte (Papageno), and Così fan tutte (Don Alfonso), scene work from Ariadne auf Naxos (Harlekin) and Le Nozze di Figaro (Count Almaviva). He has also had soloist appearances with the National Arts Centre Young Artist Program in Ottawa, Chautauqua Institute, American Opera Project, and Manhattan School of Music. Additionally, Marcel has been featured on the record album of Cendrillon as Alidor with Albany Records. This summer Marcel will be joining Opera Maine’s Studio Artist Program where he will sing the role of William in The Fall Of The House Of Usher by Philip Glass.

Marcel Sokalski is generously supported by the Marshall M. Williams Endowment.

Canadian baritone Noah Grove is delighted at the opportunity to join the Opera in the 21st Century Program this summer in Banff so close to his childhood home.  Praised for his "well trained, rich baritone" (Opera Canada), Noah is a recent graduate of the Glenn Gould School's Undergraduate and Artist Diploma programs under the tutelage of Monica Whicher. His operatic highlights include Schaunard in La Bohème (Against the Grain Theatre, 2019), Junius in The Rape of Lucretia (2021), Papageno in Die Zauberflöte (2019), and Johnathan in Johnathan Dove's Siren Song (2019) with the Glenn Gould School, as well as El Dancairo in Carmen (Opera York, 2017).  Noah’s experience outside of opera includes concert performances with Opera Canada, Atelier Lyrique, Huronia Symphony Orchestra, and recitals with The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto and the Glenn Gould School.  An actor with experience in film and theatre, he looks forward to discovering where these art forms can intersect with contemporary opera.

Sawyer Craig is a colorful, versatile artist hailing from Edmonton, Alberta.

Equally comfortable on the stage and at the director’s table, Sawyer has been praised as a “standout” performer (Edmonton Journal), “particularly radiant in coloratura passages” (Opera Canada). She is committed to telling stories in vibrant, collaborative, and inclusive ways.

Sawyer did her undergraduate studies at UBC in opera performance. The years she spent in Vancouver taught her a love of stagecraft and a deep appreciation for the many-faceted, collaborative nature of the operatic arts. She followed this with a Masters degree in Voice Performance at the University of Manitoba. Under the tutelage of Monica Huisman, she developed a wide repertoire of art song and a fascination with the medium of the recital. She is currently based in Montréal, studying stage direction at McGill’s Schulich School of Music.

Recent highlights include performing Szymanowski’s Songs of a Fairy Tale Princess with the U of M Symphony Orchestra as a winner of the Concerto Competition, and helming a new production of Poulenc’s Le Mamelles de Tirésias with Opera McGill. In 2021 she, along with long time best friend Gwendolyn Yearwood, co-founded Good Mess Opera Theatre, an indie company dedicated to empowering and creating opportunities for young artists.

When she is not making loud noises with her face, or coordinating other people making the aforementioned loud noises, Sawyer enjoys running half marathons, black coffee, and relaxing at home with her cats, Toby Flenderson and Stevie Nicks.

Sawyer Craig is generously supported by the David Spencer Emerging Vocalists Endowment Fund.

Sean Haid, countertenor, is based in Montréal, Québec. A recent graduate of McGill University with a BMus in Voice Performance and minor in Early Music, Sean has spent the last several months transitioning from tenor to countertenor repertoire. During this time he has performed with Tapestry Opera, Early Music Voices, Rosa Barocca Orchestra, Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance and worked in production with Musique 3 Femmes, Opera McGill, Good Mess Opera Theatre, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Recent opera performances include The Turn of the Screw, Cinderella, L’amant anonyme, Much Ado! (Opera McGill), The Fairy Queen, Kiss Me Kate (Opera NUOVA). Sean’s work extends beyond singing and also includes theatre, stage management, video musical direction, and educational outreach. Selected acting credits include Hedda Gabler, Twelfth Night, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Sean works as an arts educator across Canada with recent workshops presented with Theatre Alberta and Trickster Theatre Society.

Sean Haid is generously supported by the David Spencer Emerging Vocalists Endowment Fund.

Simran Claire is a Punjabi-Canadian mezzo-soprano from Vancouver, BC. She is currently a member of the McPhee Artist Development Program at Calgary Opera, performing on the mainstage as Olga in The Merry Widow and Flora in La traviata, as well as in the Young Artist productions of The Enchanted Child and The Brothers Grimm. Alongside performance, Simran is keenly interested in creating original work. In 2020, as a member of Pacific Opera Victoria’s inaugural Civic Engagement Quartet, she created Dadima, a short film exploring her identity, heritage and lineage using the framework of Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -leben. Her creative debut was praised as “utterly moving, disorientating in a beautiful way, like uncovering a cultural bias you didn’t know you had,” (Opera Canada). From there, she co-created Entre nous, a narrative horror short featuring French mélodie for Good Mess Opera Theatre, and associate directed Against the Grain Theatre’s Sāvitri.

As a performer, Simran was a Young Artist at The Glimmerglass Festival in 2019, and has sung with companies including Pacific Opera Victoria, Vancouver Opera and Opéra Royal de Versailles. She is a graduate of the University of British Columbia (BMus, MMus). Simran is the recipient of the Joe Boxer Award (Vancouver Opera), and the UBC Medal in Music, the faculty’s highest graduating award. She has been in productions featured on arte.tv and medici.tv, and profiled by CBC Music, Global TV and Opera Canada. Simran is also a trained bhangra and bollywood dancer, a mentor with the Marigold Music Program, and a self-taught quilter.

Simran Claire is generously supported by the David Spencer Emerging Vocalists Endowment Fund.

“A Show-Stopping Tenor" Zachary Rioux is entering his fourth year as a Resident Artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts in the 2022/23 season. His operatic experience includes productions such as Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin as Lensky and Puccini’s La Bohème as Rodolfo with the AVA, Dvořák’s Rusalka as Prince with LAH-SOW, and Mozart's Die Zauberflöte as Tamino with BrottOpera, Toronto City Opera, and the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music. This summer he will be in Banff for “Opera in the 21st Century” at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and traveling through Germany for the competition “Neue Stimmen” in Gütersloh, and the intensive “Internationale Meistersinger Akademie” in Neumarkt. Mr. Rioux has also received prizes from the Mario Lanza Competition, the Berlin International Music Competition, and the Vienna International Music Competition since 2019. Originally from Grand Falls, New Brunswick, Zachary holds a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from the Glenn Gould School.

Zachary Rioux is generously supported by the Ruby Mercer Opera Award.