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Each season, Calgary Opera’s Emerging Artist Development Program provides up to eight young singers with the opportunity to study and perform under a highly prestigious professional staff of teachers and performers. The program is intended to benefit Canadian singers who have completed pre-professional training at an opera program. It will serve as a bridge between academic programs and the professional world of opera, offering the experience and practical skills necessary to succeed as a self-employed professional in a highly competitive international environment.
Calgary Opera is excited to welcome Jessica Strong, Natalie Fagnan, Rose-Ellen Nichols, Frédéric Beaudoin, Michael Marino, Clarence Frazer and Mark Ellis Gough to the Emerging Artist Program, and welcomes back 2010-2011 emerging artist Jennifer Sproule for a second intensive and exciting year.
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Hailed as “a confident and accomplished soprano [with a] powerful top, seductive vibrato and assured coloratura” (Opera Canada), Jessica Strong has performed as Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), Frasquita (Carmen), Cunegonde (Candide), Clarice (Il Mondo della Luna), and Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus). She recently completed a Master of Music from the University of Toronto Opera Division and holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Manitoba. Jessica has appeared in concert with the Aldeburgh Connection and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, is a grant recipient of the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation, and was the winner of the 2008 National Music Festival.
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Calgary Soprano Natalie Fagnan made her hometown debut in 2008 as a guest soloist with the CPO. Natalie is a 2006 graduate from the Oberlin Conservatory where she appeared as Maria in West Side Story. Continuing her post graduate studies at UNCG, she appeared as Jenny Lind in Barnum's Bird and Yum-Yum in The Mikado. Other performances include Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi (Opera NUOVA), Poppea in L'incoronazione di Poppea (Vancouver Academy of Music) and Webber's Requiem with the Winston Salem and Portland Maine Symphony Orchestras. Natalie currently resides in Vancouver where she is completing her Artist Diploma studying with David Meek.
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A graduate of the UBC Masters program, Rose-Ellen has appeared in many productions, including: Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, Dido in Dido and Aneas, Olga in Eugene Onegin, and Marcellina in the Marriage of Figaro. Visiting the Czech Republic she performed roles such as Filipievna in Eugene Onegin, and Dorabella in Cosi Fan Tutte; while in Ireland, she performed as Miss Todd in the Old Maid and the Thief and as La Badessa in Suor Angelica. In addition to her operatic, roles Rose-Ellen has been in a number of concerts, performing such works as Berlioz’s - Cantata: La mort de Cléopâtre and Wagner’s - Wesendonk Lieder.
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Originally from Winnipeg, Mezzo-Soprano Jennifer Sproule studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music, at the University of Manitoba and privately with Tracy Dahl. Operatic roles include Christian Keith in The Inventor, Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor, Kate in Madama Butterfly, Meg in Little Women, Lady Angela in Patience, Woodsman’s Wife in The Cunning Little Vixen, and Mrs. Nolan in The Medium. Other concert performances include guest artist with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, and Mozart's Mass in C minor with the Bow Valley Chorus.
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Tenor Frédéric Beaudoin graduated with a Bachelor’s degree of music from the Faculty of Music at Université Laval in Québec City. His previous roles include Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff (Opera NUOVA), Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Ferrando in Mozart’s Cosí fan tutte and Pane in Cavalli’s La Calisto (FaMUL). He also performed as a soloist in Mozart’s Requiem and in Händel’s Coronation Anthems (FaMUL). In June 2011, he performed the role of the Prince in Opera NUOVA’s production of Dvorak’s Rusalka, and in September, he performed in Highlands Opera Studio’s production of Verdi’s Falstaff, this time as Doctor Caius. He is a member of the 2011/12 Emerging Artist ensemble.
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Tenor Michael Marino is a London native who recently finished a Masters in Performance and Literature at the University of Western Ontario under the mentorship of Baritone Theodore Baerg. Recent performances include Rodolfo in La Bohème with Kitchener Opera, Rodolfo with Highlands Opera Studio and Romeo in Romeo et Juliette with Opera NUOVA. Other roles include Davey Palmer (Siren Song) and the Mosquito/Schoolmaster (The Cunning Little Vixen) with the Banff Opera as Theatre Program and Rinuccio (Gianni Schicci) with Opera NUOVA. Mr. Marino also performed the roles of Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) and Sam Kaplan (Street Scene) while studying at UWO.
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Hailing from Mississauga, Ontario, Canadian Baritone Clarence Frazer has wowed audiences from Edmonton to London to Florida and the Adriatic coast of Italy. This past year Mr. Frazer finished his musical studies at the University of Western Ontario under the mentorship of Canadian Baritone Theodore Baerg. Recent operatic credits include: Dandini in La Cenerentola (Opera NUOVA), Masetto in Don Giovanni (Concert Opera Group), Don Giovanni in Don Giovanni (COSI), and Falstaff in Verdi’s Falstaff (Opera NUOVA). Recent concert credits include: Bass Soloist in Bach’s Cantata 205 Der zufriedengestellte Aolus with Maestro Timothy Vernon and Orchestra London.
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Mark Ellis Gough is a Lyric Baritone from the small town of Mount Brydges, Ontario. His teachers have included Torin Chiles, Theodore Baerg, and Todd Wieczorek and received his Bachelor of Musical Arts and an Artist Diploma from the Don Wright Faculty of Music. Mr. Gough made his European debut in the summer of 2009 as Calchas in La Belle Héllène. Most recently he completed a touring production of Anne Hodges’ adaptation of Hansel and Gretel in the Ottawa area and performed Conte Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro in the inaugural season of the Academia Europea Dell’Opera.
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Natalie Fagnan , Soprano
