Ella Jeon is a Korean Canadian Soprano entering her fourth year of undergraduate Opera Performance studies at the University of British Columbia. This past summer, Ella participated in both the Highlands Opera Studio and the Mediterranean Opera Studio and Festival (MOSF). As an Independent Study Participant at Highlands, Ellarefined her techniques with the renowned faculty, including Nathalie Doucet, John Fisher, and Craig Rutenberg. She also jumped into the role of Olga in The Merry Widow under the baton of Kamna Gupta and the direction of Richard Margison. During her time at MOSF, she performed the role of Musetta in La bohème in public performances under the baton of Leonardo Catalanotto and the direction of Lyne Fortin.
Ella began performing with UBC Opera in 2024 under the direction of Nancy Hermiston. She recently performed Pamina as an understudy in Die Zauberflöte and understudied Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare. She also participated in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene and Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore. Ella will be continuing her studies with Krisztina Szabó in her upcoming year at UBC.

Gabriel Klassen is a versatile vocal artist currently studying at the Glenn Gould School in Toronto. He enjoys broadening his artistry through exploration of various genres, and finds great joy in sharing music with others. Outside of the theatre, he can often be found connecting with nature in his home town of Vancouver, BC. Most recently, he has performed as a feature soloist with Pax Christi Chorale in Ariel Ramirez’ Misa Criolla, and in the Canadian premiere of Robert Cohen's Alzheimer's Stories. He has also performed as a soloist with the Dundas Valley Orchestra as the winner of the Dundas Valley Orchestra-HAALSA Young Artist Competition. On the operatic stage, he has sung roles such as Tobia Mill in Rossini’s La Cambiale di Matrimonio and George in Dean Burry’s Baby Kintyre at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto; Minskman in Jonathan Dove's Flight with Opera Nuova; and Lorry in Arthur Benjamin's Tale of Two Cities with U of T Opera.
 

Camille Labonté is an active young performer based in Toronto, Canada. A versatile artist, Camille enjoys performing a variety of repertoire, including opera, oratorio, art song, and musical theatre. Her operatic credits include Lucia (The Rape of Lucretia), Prima Donna (Viva la Mamma!), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Cathleen (Riders to the Sea), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), and Frasquita (Carmen). Concert appearances include soprano solos in Carmina Burana with the Bergmann Duo and TorQ Percussion (Stratford Summer Music), Messiah (York Chamber Ensemble) and Considering Matthew Shepard (Concreamus). 
An enthusiastic interpreter of contemporary works, Camille is a national finalist for the 2026 Eckhardt-Gramatté competition in voice. World premiere performances include Antigone in With the Telling Comes the Magic and Anna Massey in Avenue of Avarice. She has also workshopped new operatic compositions by Canadian composers Cecilia Livingston and Danika Lorèn. 
This summer, she will perform as the soprano soloist in Carmina Burana with the Elmer Iseler Singers, and enjoy residencies at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and the Académie Francis Poulenc. A graduate of the University of Toronto, Camille holds a B.Mus with Honours in Vocal Performance and will graduate in June 2026 with an M.Mus in Opera Performance.

Evan J Lawson (he/they) is one of Australia’s leading queer artists, working at the forefront of contemporary culture as a composer, writer, singer and conductor. Evan is a founding member and artistic director of interdisciplinary dance company-chamber orchestra Forest Collective.
Hailed by Clive O’Connell that ...the sonorities that emerged often proved extraordinary... Evan has been composing music since the age of 10, is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, and developing artist programs with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and Grafenegg Festival.
Evan was a member of the Academy of Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and served as the principal conductor for the Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music. Evan’s work ranges from art music and opera to immersive electro-acousmatic works. His work has brought on collaborations with a wide range of professional, educational and community organisations, such as the Volksoper Wien, Australian Saxophone Quartet, Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), Stonnington Symphony, Moravian Filharmonic Orchestra, Tonkünstler Orchestra, and many more.
He has studied with Benjamin Northey, Richard Gill, and Matthias Pintscher, who has said that his music is serene, deep, it's even breathing the heritage of Mahler.

Canadian tenor Graeme Linton centres his work on storytelling through music. His diverse interests, from early music, art song repertoire, and Romantic opera to contemporary works, have been shaped by his Graduate Diploma and Bachelor of Music in Voice and Opera from McGill University and his Master’s degree in Vocal Performance with a concentration in Staged Voice from the University of Victoria. His academic development has been grounded in performance across choruses, operatic productions, and solo recital.
Recent performances include appearances at the Banff Centre as Nick in Poul Ruders’ The Handmaid’s Tale, and with Opera Kelowna as Giuseppe in Verdi’s La Traviata. Symphonic works include Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 Resurrection and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and Puccini’s Messa di Gloria as soloist with the University of Victoria Symphony. Other appearances include the Evangelist in Bach’s Weihnachts-Oratorium with the Victoria Philharmonic Choir, the Usher in Verdi’s Rigoletto with Pacific Opera Victoria, and as Bill in Jonathan Dove’s Flight at Opera Nuova. This season includes Aeneas in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with the Victoria Philharmonic Choir, and appearances with Pacific Opera Victoria in Puccini’s Tosca and Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice.
Outside of music, Graeme works as a rock climbing instructor and ACMG-certified coach, and remains active in the Vancouver Island climbing community

Wallis Lucas is a dynamic soprano and passionate advocate for new works. Recent and upcoming credits (asterisk denotes world premiere) include workshops at the Banff Centre for Performing Arts, Time to Act* (Pittsburgh Opera), The Magic Flute (Stafford Opera Troupe), Sirens vs. Amazons* (Thousand Bridges Opera), The Marriage of Figaro (Opera de Metro), Naughty Marietta (Opera Project Columbus), The Last Five Years (Steel City Cabaret), Agnus Teaches Acting* (New Hazlett Theatre), La donna del lago (Resonance Works), Alcina (Carnegie Mellon University). This season, she also received an Encouragement Award at the Minnesota District Laffont Competition.
Wallis holds a Bachelor of Music from Furman University and a Master's from Carnegie Mellon university. She also completed a performance certificate at CMU, where she developed and premiered new chamber and orchestral pieces alongside student composers. A Georgia native, Wallis was a state champion 2-baton twirler three years in a row. 
@wallissoprano | www.wallislucas.com

Christian Matta is an Italian-Canadian tenor finishing his Masters of Music in Operatic Performance at the University of Toronto, studying under soprano Wendy Nielsen. Praised for his warm lyric tone and “comfortable stage presence” (Opera Canada), he is developing a versatile repertoire across opera, concert, and contemporary music. His recent roles include Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, and Gastone in La Traviata. He has appeared as a soloist in major oratorios such as Handel’s Esther and Messiah at Koerner Hall, Mozart’s Requiem, and Vivaldi’s Gloria, and has trained in masterclasses with artists including Jason Ferrante, Alain Coulombe, and Ambur Braid.
This is Christian's second year in Banff, where last year he appeared as the Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and in the premiere of Karim Al-Zand’s A Stranger’s Case. This summer, he will be performing as Pluto in Orfeus in the Underworld with Toronto City Opera, and looks forward to workshopping new works at Banff. 

Cameron Mazzei is an Italian-Canadian tenor from Toronto, Ontario. He a recent graduate of the University of Toronto’s esteemed Opera School, receiving his Diploma in Operatic Performance, studying under the tutelage of tenor Dr. Darryl Edwards. 
Cameron holds both a Masters in Music Literature & Performance and Bachelors of Music Performance degree from Western University, studying with Dr. Sophie Roland and Theodore Baerg respectively. In addition, Cameron has worked with several notable artists across Canada and the United States, including Allan Glassman, Russell Braun, Tracy Dhal, Colin Ainsworth, and Judith Forst. 
An active performer in the GTA opera scene, some of Cameron’s recent performance highlights include Beppe in I Pagliacci (Toronto City Opera), Ferrando in Così fan tutte (Opera York, UofT Opera), Nemorino in L’elisir d’Amore (North York Concert Orchestra), Le Remendado in Carmen (Chicago Summer Opera), the Narrator in Bach’s Coffee Cantata (Opera by Request), The Magician in The Consul and Lucano/Primi Soldati in L’incoronazione di Poppea, (NUOVA Vocal Arts). Most recently, Cameron premiered the role of Victor in Benjamin Gabby’s The Scholar as part of Arcady Ensemble’s 2026 Opera Showcase. With UofT Opera, Cameron’s role highlights include Fadinard in Il cappello di paglia di Firenze, Demodocus in Castaway, and premiering the role of Alexander in Lysistrata: Reimagined as part of their Student Composers Collective.

Serbian-Croatian-Canadian mezzo-soprano Maria Milenic “displays a rich, full sound” (LudwigVan Toronto). Originally from Newmarket Ontario, Maria is a sought-out artist who has performed in Canada, Italy, Germany, and beyond. She is a current member of Calgary Opera’s McPhee Young Artist Development Program. Her season included singing the role of Cio Cio San’s Mother in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Mother/Grandmother in Barab’s Little Red Riding Hood, as well as Sandman in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. A University of Toronto alum, Maria holds a double major in both voice performance and French language studies. She is also a graduate from the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory, having completed an Advanced Artist Diploma. Maria is a multidisciplinary artist who is regularly involved in contemporary opera. One of her highlight roles includes Minskwoman in Dove’s Flight, performed on the Koerner Hall stage. She has also been a featured artist in the 21C Festival, where she had the honour of premiering Chaya Czernowin’s piece The Habekhi (The Crying), written for mezzo-soprano, ensemble, and electronics, during which she gave a “remarkable performance with weird outwardly sounds somewhere between singing and crying” (Operaramblings). Last year, Maria was a finalist in the Homage to Maria Callas international competition and was a special prize award winner. 

Tarané is a soprano who recently completed her Bachelor of Music in Voice at the University of Victoria, where she studied with Benjamin Butterfield. Originally from Iran, she moved to Canada in 2017 to pursue advanced musical training and has since developed a strong focus on opera and art song.
In early March 2026, she presented her graduation recital, marking an important milestone in her artistic development. She has also gained professional stage experience as a chorus member with Pacific Opera Victoria, most recently in Puccini’s Tosca, where she worked alongside leading artists in a fully staged production.
Alongside performance, Tarané is interested in the expressive relationship between text, colour, and sound in music. She also enjoys visual design and often creates her own concert gowns, bringing together her interests in artistry and presentation.
She looks forward to continuing her studies in a Master’s program beginning in September and is excited to further develop her artistry and collaborative skills at the Banff Summer Opera Program.