How well do you know this year’s Ensemble Studio? We asked them to spill their deepest darkest secrets, wildest hopes and dreams, and all the important dirt we know you want to know – like their latest Netflix binge.  So before they hit the stage for their first concert of the season on September 25, take a moment to get to know Canada’s future opera stars![READ MORE]

For the 2018/2019 season, the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio welcomes bass-baritone Joel Allison, mezzo-soprano Simona Genga, and sopranos Lauren Margison and Anna-Sophie Neher. The four singers join the Ensemble Studio in August 2018, and will hit the ground running in one of the most highly regarded training programs of its kind in North America.

The four emerging artists will be joining returning baritone Samuel Chan, soprano Lauren Eberwein, mezzo-soprano Simone McIntosh, and pianists/intern coaches Rachael Kerr and Stéphane Mayer. 

Built around an individually-tailored, multi-year program, the newcomers will learn what it takes to pursue a professional operatic career through collaborative coaching, language and acting studies, career skills development, understudying and performing mainstage roles, and participating in masterclasses with internationally renowned opera professionals. 

[READ MORE]

Some of us can't wait to leave our high school memories behind us, but that certainly wasn't the case for Ensemble Studio tenor Charles Sy when he reunited with his alma mater, Cawthra Park Secondary School, this March Break in a special performance in the COC's Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre.

Before Charles embarked on his career as a professional opera singer, he was a member of Cawthra Park Chamber Choir. "Cawthra Park was when the classical music seed was inserted into my brain and my love for the genre grew exponentially while I was there," says Charles. The acclaimed choir (just one of 12 music ensembles at Cawthra Park, which is home to one of the Peel District School Board’s Regional Arts Programs), led by conductor Bob Anderson, performed in the Free Concert Series on March 17.

[READ MORE]