After a highly successful international singing career, Conductor Robert Dean joined the staff of the Scottish Opera where he was appointed Head of Music in 1990. During this period he conducted numerous operas, as well as concerts with the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Dennis O’Neill and Jane Eaglan. Opera conducting has taken him to many European companies in France, Ireland and Italy, as well as North American locales including Edmonton, San Francisco and Kentucky. For Calgary Opera Maestro Dean has conducted many times, most recently conducting Cinderella in 2006.

Michael Cavanagh is one of Canada's most versatile and popular opera interpreters. He served as Resident Assistant Director with Vancouver Opera for two seasons and as the Artistic Director of Edmonton Opera from 1998 to 2001. Since 1996, he has directed productions for every professional opera company in Canada, including Vancouver Opera, Edmonton Opera, Opera Lyra Ottawa, l'Opéra de Montréal, and Manitoba Opera.  In September of 1998, he made his American debut with Lucia di Lammermoor for Arizona Opera, hailed by critics as "a smashing success with great dramatic cohesion.” Mr. Cavanagh last directed Calgary Opera’s La Traviata (2003).

Excelling as an interpreter of Verdian and Verismo roles, world-class Soprano Michele Capalbo wields a beautiful timbre and Italianate style with thrilling vocal dexterity and finesse. Debuting in the role of Tosca with New York City Opera, Capalbo's diva was described as "young, beautiful, and lithe, possessing every attribute that would make her the obsession of Rome." Recognized as a world-class Aida, Ms. Capalbo burst onto the European stage as a last minute replacement for Le Festival de Musique de Strasbourg. Subsequent successes in the title role of Aida followed at Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico, and le Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, France. This is Ms. Capalbo’s debut with Calgary Opera.

Since being personally chosen by Valery Gergiev for a production of La Traviata in St. Petersburg, Tenor Marc Hervieux’s career has reached a new level. He repeated Alfredo for the Cap d’Antibes Festival, and recently sang the same role with Zubin Mehta and the New Israeli Philharmonic. Heard in Quebec City as des Grieux in Massenet’s Manon, Mr. Hervieux has also performed with l’Opéra de Montréal, Minnesota Opera, Pacific Opera Victoria, and Edmonton Opera, among others. Mr. Hervieux performed in Recital with Calgary Opera along with Soprano Laura Whalen in 2004, and created the role of Michael in the world premiere of Frobisher (2007).

Established as one of Canada’s greatest classical artists and a regular favorite at the Canadian Opera Company, the breadth of Gaétan Laperrière’s lyric baritone repertoire reaches into the heroic Italian roles so suited to his instrument.  He recently added the title role of Rigoletto and Scarpia in Tosca with acclaimed performances around the world. Additionally, in the United States he performs leading roles with the San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Washington Opera, Minnesota Opera, Dallas Opera, Baltimore Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera. Mr. Laperrière last performed with Calgary Opera as Picariello in the world premiere of Filumena (2003).

Canadian Baritone Phillip Addis has performed with several opera companies including l’Opéra de Montréal, Pacific Opera Victoria, Edmonton Opera, and Cincinnati Opera, among others. He performs a wide variety of repertoire including the title role of Don Giovanni, Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia, and Taddeo in L’Italiana in Algeri, as well as featured roles in such operas as Madame Butterfly, Rigoletto, Die Zauberflote, La Bohéme, Carmen, and Hansel and Gretel. Also a prodigious concert performer, he has appeared with the Edmonton Symphony, the New Brunswick Symphony, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, I Musici, and the Quebec Symphony, among others.

Toronto-born Baritone Steven Pitkanen has appeared with several opera companies across Canada and has received substantial praise for his dramatic intensity and vocal agility. Equally at ease in opera, oratorio or concert, Pitkanen has also earned a strong reputation for his artistic contributions to the creation and performance of new Canadian works including Filumena and Shelter. Mr. Pitkanen has performed with I'Opéra de Montréal, Opera Lyra Ottawa, Victoria Symphony, Edmonton Opera, and Vancouver Opera, among others. Mr. Pitkanen last performed in Calgary in The Tales of Hoffmann (2004).