A Toronto-born mezzosoprano propelled herself swiftly across the stage in R. Fraser Elliott Hall inside the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts with crutches as 1,000 or so people watched. Her leg injury was veiled by her dress, and a chair was brought from stage right for support. Emily D’Angelo’s voice, though, was in top form as she performed her aria of choice, Contro un cor from Rossini’s The Barber of Seville. Later, D’Angelo took home the first prize and the audience choice award at the Canadian Opera Company’s annual Ensemble Studio Competition held Nov. 3 in Toronto.
It was the final stage in a selection process that took a panel of judges across the country in search of the next big thing in opera, including COC general director Alexander Neef; director of music and artistic administration Roberto Mauro; director of the COC Ensemble Studio and Orchestra Academy Nina Draganić; head of the COC Ensemble Studio Liz Upchurch; and Canadian soprano and Ensemble Studio head vocal consultant Wendy Nielsen. One hundred and twenty hopeful vocalists applied for the competition, but only eight were in Toronto for the final round, D’Angelo among the select few invited to take a coveted seat with the Canadian Opera Company (the COC’s 2016/17 Ensemble Studio members will be announced in early January).
Launched in 2011 by Neef, the competition is an annual search for, and a celebration of, the next generation of opera stars. The winner has a chance to join the COC Ensemble Studio, Canada’s premier training program for young opera professionals. Since its inception in 1980, the studio has educated some 215 performers, and among them are notable names in the world of opera including Ben Heppner, John Fanning and Lauren Segal. In A 2013, Centre Stage was created and the hopefuls headed to the main stage where a full orchestra could accompany them, while eager opera enthusiasts filed in to watch the vocal showdown. The event has become the COC’s largest fundraiser of the season.
Post performance, 300 supporters stuck around for a truly special supper; it was a rare opportunity to have dinner on stage surrounded by the fixtures of a fitting opera, the COC’s production of La Traviata, where the parties were grand, the Champagne flowed and well dressed characters were aplenty. Nota Bene chef David Lee was on kitchen duty and surprise performances occurred between courses by current members of the COC Ensemble Studio. Popping up from their tables and corners of the stage were tenors Jean-Philippe Fortier-Lazure, Andrew Haji, Aaron Sheppard and Charles Sy, who did a rendition of Nessun dorma from Puccini’s Turandot to great applause.
Filling tables of varying shapes and sizes across the stage was a mix of culture patrons and players and competition winners past and present including The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell; The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson and author John Ralston Saul; event co-chairs Helen Burstyn and RBC Capital Markets’ managing director of mining Timothy Loftsgard; Centre Stage hosts soprano Karine Boucher and the aforementioned tenor Sy; secondprize winner Lauren Eberwein of Qualicum Beach, B.C., and thirdprize winner Bruno Roy of Montreal; Universal Music Canada CEO Jeffrey Remedios and his wife, Lucia Graca, owner of Analogue Gallery; lawyer and committee member Justin Linden; Hampton Securities chairman and CEO and platinum donor Peter M. Deeb; Extuple Inc. CEO Philip Deck and Kimberley Bozak, co-chair of the Canadian Art Foundation; Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Toronto Walter Stechel and his wife Jutta; COC music director Johannes Debus; philanthropist Leslie Dan and his wife Anna; Mercedes-Benz Canada president and CEO Tim Reuss and his wife Marianne; and Canadian Opera Company board of directors chair Colleen Sexsmith.
