Interviews - my/maSCENA

Photo: Yves Renaud

Patrick Corrigan and the OdM: making Montreal sing again

By Arthur Kaptainis on 22 June 2020 Interviews

It was one of the unkinder cuts of the season. The Magic Flute, a fixture on the international top-five opera hit list, in an eye-catching staging from Berlin with elements of silent film and vaudeville, was booked for the latter half of May. But down it went, along with just about every other arts presentation in Montreal. “It was a costly production, and because it got shut down so late, that was costly too,” said Opéra de Montréal general director Patrick Corrigan. The five performances of Mozart’s Singspiel in Salle Wilfrid Pelletier were expected to account for almost 40% of 2019-20 box…

Corona Serenades: Q&A with Naomi Rogers, mezzo-soprano (UK)

By La Scena Musicale Team on 21 June 2020 Interviews

Meet Naomi Rogers, mezzo-soprano (UK), singer for Corona Serenades Naomi Rogers holds bachelor and master degrees from the Royal Northern College of Music. A student of Louise Winter, she is a participant in the Opera North Mentorship Scheme, an associate artist for SoundUp Opera and a bursary recipient of the Opera Awards Foundation. Recent performances at the RNCM include Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites (Soeur Martha), Vaughan Williams’s The Pilgrim’s Progress (Madam Bubble), Puccini’s Suor Angelica (Maestra della Novizie), Offenbach’s La Vie Parisienne (Clara), Kurt Weill’s Street Scene (cameo role) and Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Peaseblossom). Naomi has worked for the Buxton…

Corona Serenades: Q&A with Marie Annick Béliveau, mezzo-soprano (Canada)

By La Scena Musicale Team on 9 May 2020 Interviews

Meet Marie Annick Béliveau, mezzo-soprano (Canada), singer for Corona Serenades A native of Quebec City, mezzo-soprano Marie-Annick Béliveau studied violin and oboe before pursuing voice at McGill University with Jan Simons. Having also studied contemporary music with Bruce Mather, she quickly established herself as a leading performer of this repertoire. Her interpretation in 2015 Chants du Capricorne by Giacinto Scelsi, directed by Pauline Vaillancourt, was unanimously praised by critics and won the Opus Prize for Musical Event of the Year, awarded by the Conseil québécois de la musique. Also a teacher for more than 15 years and a host for…

Corona Serenades: Q&A with Anne Marie Sheridan, soprano (Ireland)

By Newswire on 6 May 2020 Interviews

Meet Anne Marie Sheridan, soprano (Ireland), singer for Corona Serenades A graduate of the Dublin Conservatory of Music and the Wales International Academy of Voice, Anne Marie has sung First Mother in Dead Man Walking and the Handmaiden in Turandot (Opera Ireland), Fiordiligi in Cosi fan tutte (Longborough Opera Festival on tour), Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito (Giornata Opera), Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Co-Opera Co.), Angelica in Suor Angelica (Hawaii Performing Arts Festival and Zezere Arts Festival), Madame Silberklang in Der Schauspieldirektor and La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi (St. Paul’s Summertime Opera), Mimi in La Bohème (Verdandi Camerata), Frau Fluth in Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor (Lyric Opera Studio Weimar) and Violetta in La Traviata (Mediterranean Opera Festival). As a…

Corona Serenades: Q&A with Chantal Dionne, soprano (Canada)

By La Scena Musicale Team on 5 May 2020 Interviews

Meet Chantal Dionne, soprano (Canada), singer for Corona Serenades The Acadian soprano Chantal Dionne has a wide repertoire ranging from opera to mélodie to oratorio. On the opera stage she has been heard as the Fourth Maidservant in Strauss’s Elektra with the Opéra de Montréal as well as a Flower Maiden in Wagner’s Parsifal under the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin at the Festival de Lanaudière. Roles she has sung abroad include Micaëla in Carmen (France), Pamina in Die Zauberflöte (Vienna), of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (Italy) and Marguerite in Faust (United States). A laureate of the Concours Musical International de Montréal, Chantal also won a triple triumph in Italy at the 56th Gian Battista Viotti International…

Corona Serenades: Christopher Dunham, baritone (Canada)

By La Scena Musicale Team on 26 April 2020 Interviews, Opera

Meet Christopher Dunham, baritone (Canada), singer for Corona Serenades A native of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Christopher Dunham has captivated audiences with his lyric baritone voice across Canada and as far away as the Adriatic coast of Italy. His roles include Figaro in The Barber of Seville, Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette, Escamillo in Carmen, Don Giovanni, Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, Dandini in La Cenerentola and Schaunard and Marcello in La Bohème. This graduate from the Atelier lyrique of the Opéra de Montréal has won the Desmarais Development Bursary two years in a row and the Jeunesses Musicales Canada Touring Mentorship. Christopher has sung with Pacific…

Corona Serenades: Q&A with Rebecca Louise Dale, soprano (UK)

By La Scena Musicale Team on 26 April 2020 Interviews, Opera

Meet Rebecca Louise Dale soprano (UK), singer for Corona Serenades. Rebecca Louise Dale is a British vocal artist and opera director. She graduated as a soprano from Trinity College of Music. In 2011 she completed the opera course at the Advanced Performers Studio and has worked with leading directors, conductors and performers. Her operatic roles included Zerlina in Don Giovanni (Opera Vera), Adina in L’elisir d’amore and Papagena in Die Zauberflöte (Opéra de Baugé), Ninetta in La Finta Semplice (Opera at Home), Lucy in The Telephone and Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel (Open Door Opera) and Frasquita in Carmen (Impact Opera,…

Corona Serenades : Q&A with Nadine Benjamin, soprano (Great Britain)

By La Scena Musicale Team on 23 April 2020 Interviews, Opera

Meet Nadine Benjamin, soprano (Great Britain), singer for Corona Serenades Hailed by Opera Now as one of “a new generation of sopranos who are destined to have impressive careers,” Nadine Benjamin won the inaugural Fulham Opera Robert Presley Memorial Verdi Prize in 2015. An English National Opera Harewood Artist, Nadine made her debut with the company in 2018 as Clara (Porgy and Bess) followed by Musetta (La bohème). Nadine’s roles include Aida, Cio-Cio-San, La Contessa, Nadia (Tippett’s The Ice Break), Desdemona, Violetta, Tosca, Ermyntrude (Mascagni’s Isabeau) and Amelia (Un ballo in maschera) and Rosalinde. In concert, Nadine has performed Berg’s…

Corona Serenades: Q&A with Erica Lee Martin, signer songwriter (Canada)

By La Scena Musicale Team on 22 April 2020 Interviews, Opera

Meet Erica Lee Martin, singer and songwriter (Canada), singer for Corona Serenades Erica Lee Martin is a singer, songwriter, actor and producer from Montreal. She attended the Université de Montréal where she received a master’s degree in music. She then moved to London, where she earned a master’s in classical acting from London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art (LAMDA). Currently living in London, Erica writes and produces music, videos, plays and online content. Among her albums and singles are “Joe,” “Out of the Playground,” “Queen of the World” and “I Push On.” How has the crisis affected you? I…

Corona Sérénades: Q&A with Kathryn Frady, soprano (É.-U.)

By La Scena Musicale Team on 18 April 2020 Interviews

Meet Kathryn Frady, soprano (USA), singer for Corona Serenades The British-American soprano Kathryn Frady has worked as both a performer and director in the United States, Europe and South Africa. As executive artistic director of Marble City Opera in Knoxville, Tennessee, Kathryn has produced and directed more than 35 new productions and world premieres. Recent productions include Cold Sassy Tree at Amarillo Opera, Tosca at North Carolina Opera, The Barber of Seville and L’elisir d’amore for Wichita Grand Opera, Barber for Knoxville Opera and H.M.S. Pinafore for The Living Opera. International credits include work on Carmen for Opera Africa in Pretoria and Johannesburg, Amelia Lost with the Opera in the City Festival in London…

Browsing: Interviews