Digital Program: Creators in Concert: Canadian New Work
Julia Dawson, soprano
Canadian soprano Julia Dawson has been hailed as "radiant and riveting" (Opera News) and "spitfire" (NY Times). She is a winner of the George London Award as well as the Anny-Schlemm-Preis from Oper Frankfurt, where she was a member of the ensemble and Opernstudio from 2015-2019. She has performed under the baton of Barbara Hannigan with the Munich Philharmonic and L’Orchestre Philharmonique, Tiroler Festspiele Erl, and Opera Lafayette among others. Julia has been presented in recitals by Vocal Arts DC, the New York Festival of Song at Caramoor, Musica Plus, and the Hessischer Rundfunk in Frankfurt.
Combining her love of contemporary and classical music, Dawson recently conceived and performed in "Obscura Nox," a musical film featuring Mozart's "Exsultate, jubilate" and new commissions from Iranian-Canadian composer Iman Habibi. The film was selected for Opera Philadelphia's O22 Festival and the Canada Shorts Festival.
Dawson has trained at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, Rice University, and Oberlin Conservatory. She was nominated for Singer of the Year by Opus Klassik for the album 'Girl in the Snow;' songs by American composer Scott Ordway.
Amir Farid, pianist
US-born Iranian-Australian pianist Amir Farid has been described as “a highly creative musician – a pianist of great intelligence and integrity.” A graduate of the Royal College of Music London, he is a sought-after artist in venues and festivals internationally, such as Carnegie Hall, Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, Musica Viva Festival, Huntington Festival, Mona Foma, and Kuwait Chamber Philharmonia. He has performed concerti with the major Australian orchestras, and collaborated with artists such as tenor Ian Bostridge, saxophonist Claude Delangle, and violinist Arabella Steinbacher. His numerous recordings are heard frequently on radio stations throughout Australia and internationally, including as pianist of the Benaud Trio, and several have been nominated for an Australian Independent Music Award. Amir is also a recorded artist on the Steinway & Sons Spirio catalogue, as part of the piano manufacturer’s revolutionary player-piano system. As of 2017, Amir also lives and works in New York City, where he works as staff pianist for the Juilliard School, and is pianist with the Exponential Ensemble.
Iman Habibi, composer and pianist
Iman Habibi, D.M.A. (Michigan), is an Iranian-Canadian composer and pianist, and a founding member of the piano duo ensemble, Piano Pinnacle.
Hailed as “a giant in talent” (the Penticton Herald), "whose technical mastery is matched by his musical and cultural literacy" (Hudson-Housatonic Arts), Dr. Habibi has been commissioned by The Boston Symphony, The Philadelphia, and Toronto Symphony Orchestras, The Orchestra of St. Luke's and The Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, and has been programmed by The Carnegie Hall, The Tanglewood Music Festival, and The Canadian Opera Company, among others.
He is a 2022 laureate of the Azrieli Music Prizes, and has received multiple SOCAN Foundation Awards, The International Composers’ Award at the Esoterics’ POLYPHONOS (2012), The Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Awards for Emerging Artist in Music (2011), Brehm Prize in Choral Music (2016), as well as numerous grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, BC and Ontario Arts Councils.
Mathilde Côté, composer, pianist and educator
Mathilde Côté is a composer, pianist, and educator. She received academic training as a classical pianist and composer, mentorship from Canadian and American composers in various festivals, and exhaustive field training as an educator and musician in the songwriting community of Quebec. This background has brought mixed influences to her creative practice while catalyzing her deep love of sounds and words, from classical orchestras to bluegrass bands and pebbles on the beach; from French authors to songwriters and beat poets.
These past years, Mathilde Côté’s growing interest in theatrical forms of music has led her into two major projects: La nuit est ma femme, a chamber opera about Jack Kerouac’s relationship to his French-Canadian roots and language, released as an album in April 2022, and Suzanne Guité, a music theater play for percussion and choir to be released and staged in 2026 for late sculptor Suzanne Guité’s 100th anniversary.
Leo D.E. Johnson, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and activist
Leo D.E. Johnson is a Vancouver rock and soul vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and activist. Dubbed ‘TheVoice’ by the late, great Zaccheus Jackson, Leo brings healing lyrical Content and raw vocal power to every performance whether it be on a stage before thousands or busking on the streets where they call home; "...truly one of the most talented singers Vancouver has ever been blessed with". (vanmusic.ca)
Kimmortal, artist
Kimmortal is a queer non-binary filipinx multi-hyphenate artist born in Vancouver, BC. Combining their passion for hip hop, visual art, theatre, spoken word, ancestral wisdom, and liberation, Kimmortal strives to build worlds that make queer and diasporic weird kids feel like they belong.
Debi Wong, founder and artistic director, re:Naissance Opera
A visionary XR producer and a versatile artist, Debi Wong has transformed the landscape of opera and creative technology with her bold and innovative projects. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of re:Naissance Opera, a Canadian company that creates immersive and interactive operatic works that challenge the conventions of the genre. She also co-leads Signals Creative Technology Expo, a showcase of innovative XR works at The Vancouver International Film Festival and she was recently included on the 2023 XP Land X List for influential experiential designers around the world.
Tim Albery, devisor and director
Tim Albery has directed theatre in the UK and Europe at Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal National Theatre, Liverpool Playhouse, Liverpool Everyman, Theater Der Stadt Essen, Deutsches Theater Göttingen, Mickery Theater Amsterdam, Ro Theater Rotterdam and many others.
Opera Productions include Tannhäuser, Der fliegende Holländer, Chérubin (Royal Opera House), Der Ring des Nibelungen, The Midsummer Marriage (Scottish Opera), Peter Grimes, Billy Budd, War and Peace (English National Opera) The Midsummer Marriage, L’incoronazione di Poppea, Macbeth, Otello, Giulio Cesare, Fidelio, Macbeth, Don Carlos, Idomeneo, Così fan tutte, Kát’a Kabanová, Madama Butterfly, Pleasure, One Touch of Venus (Opera North), Les Troyens (Welsh National Opera, Opera North, Scottish Opera), Grimes on the Beach (Aldeburgh), La finta giardiniera, Die Zauberflöte, Ariadne Auf Naxos, Arabella (Santa Fe), Béatrice et Bénédict, Benvenuto Cellini (Dutch National Opera), Cosi Fan Tutte (Danish National Opera), Idomeneo, Capriccio, Mitridate (Garsington Ope ra), Don Carlos (Philadelphia and Washington National Opera), Kát’a Kabanová (Boston Lyric Opera), Arabella, Don Carlos, Passion (Minnesota Opera), The Aspern Papers (Dallas Opera), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merry Widow (Metropolitan Opera, New York), Alcina (Seattle Opera) Cosi Fan Tutte (New York City Opera and Glimmerglass) Les Troyens (Chicago Lyric), Simon Boccanegra (Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich) Aida, War and Peace, Rodelinda, Peter Grimes, Götterdämmerung (Canadian Opera Company).
Daniel Cabena, counter tenor
Daniel Cabena sings, plays, writes, and teaches. He is also a curator of texts and music, and with Luke Hathaway, he shares the artistic direction of ANIMA Early Music. Together they program concerts,commission new works of text and music, and create new works for the ear and for the stage. To his work of curation and creation, Daniel brings a background in early music and liturgical music scholarship; an interest in how music functions in different performance contexts and traditions; and a curiosity about the ‘why’ of music, as well as its ‘how’. Daniel teaches singing and historically-inspired performance at the Laurier Academy of Music & Arts (LAMA), where he also leads the Community Consort, a multi-instrumental, multidisciplinary community of practice and inquiry. Daniel’s music-making and teaching are informed by the Alexander Technique, in which field he is a teacher. He also makes music with his hands, playing modern and Baroque violin, as well as vièle, viola da gamba, and recorders.
Lawrence Cherney, artistic director, Soundstreams
Lawrence Cherney’s first professional engagement was as oboist under the baton of Igor Stravinsky in the CBC Symphony. At the forefront of Canadian music for over 40 years, he is often referred to as Canada’s “Ambassador of New Music.” His paramount role in the commissioning, developing, producing, performing, touring and recording of new music by Canadian and international composers has earned him many prestigious awards. Lawrence founded Soundstreams in 1982, which has become one of the most dynamic organizations of its kind in the world and a leader in the dissemination of Canadian music on the world stage. His artistic leadership has inspired productions featuring an eclectic mix of new music and music theatre/opera that have toured in Canada, Europe, the USA and Latin America. In recent seasons, Soundstreams’ touring productions have received high praise from the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, the Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times.
Cameron Davis, projection designer
Cameron Davis began his career as a projection and video designer while studying drama and history at the University of Toronto. It was here that he began working with renowned filmmaker Atom Egoyan. Beginning as a teaching and technical assistant to Egoyan's class, Cameron soon proved his worth and their relationship blossomed as Cameron began working with Egoyan on various projects including Egoyan's installation AURORAS for the inaugural Luminato Festival and his feature film Adoration.
Selected credits include: projection designer: Clapping Hands, Garden of Vanished Pleasures, Hell’s Fury, The Hollywood Songbook (Soundstreams); Bluebeard’s Castle (COC Online); Indecent, Sweat, Oslo (Studio 180); Gem of the Ocean, Sherlock Holmes and the Raven’s Curse, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician’s Nephew, Dracula (Shaw Festival); You Are Mine Own, Feng Yi Ting (Spoleto Festival USA); Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Pacific Opera Victoria); Life, Death, and the Blues, CRASH (Theatre Passe Muraille); Dance Marathon (bluemouth inc). Cameron teaches projection design at the National Theatre School of Canada.
Derek Jarman, filmmaker
Derek Jarman was a British filmmaker that crafted highly personal avant-garde motion pictures through which he sought to "demystify homosexuality" and explore human experience from a uniquely gay perspective. While Jarman often used classical plays or historical personages as the basis for his work, it was said that all of his films were in some way "about" homosexuality.
Jarman studied at King’s College, London, and the Slade School of Fine Art. He had some success as a painter and as a set designer for the Royal Ballet, the English National Opera, and other arts companies. After designing sets for two films by the controversial director Ken Russell, Jarman tried his hand at moviemaking. The result a repertoire of iconic films, including: Sebastiane (1975), Jubilee (1977), The Tempest (1979), Caravaggio (1986), War Requiem (1989), Edward II (1991), Wittgenstein (1993), and Blue (1993). Jarman also wrote several books, including two volumes of memoirs, Modern Nature (1992) and At Your Own Risk (1992).
From 1986 up until his death in 1994, Jarman made his home on the shingle beaches of Dungeness, Kent at his iconic house Prospect Cottage. It is here where he created a beautiful garden out of the shingle, gradually losing his sight before dying of Aids in 1994. He has an enduring reputation as one of the most important independent filmmakers of the late 20th century.
Rachael Kerr, music director and pianist
Rachael Kerr is an extremely versatile coach and pianist. She is the head coach for the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Cunning Little Vixen and rehearsal pianist on Fidelio and Don Pasquale this season, after serving as head coach for Bluebeard’s Castle and repetiteur for Salome and Gianni Schicchi in recent seasons. She has also been part of developing world premieres by Rufus Wainwright, Ana Sokolovic and Ian Cusson. She was recently the Dora Award-nominated music director for Against the Grain Theatre’s Figaro’s Wedding. Other credits include two recent song recital tours with Jeunesses Musicales du Canada, as well as fellowships at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and the Tanglewood Music Center. Rachael has also been a rehearsal pianist for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in numerous projects, including world premieres by Brett Dean, Vincent Ho, and Gary Kulesha. Other past rehearsal piano engagements at the TSO include Britten’s War Requiem, Massenet’s Thaïs, Wagner’s Die Walküre, Mozart’s Requiem, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13, and Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins. Rachael also holds a doctorate from Northwestern University, where she was concurrently a faculty instructor in music theory.
Past season highlights include performing in concert with the TSO Chamber Soloists, premiering Of the Sea at Tapestry Opera, appearing at Concerts Lachine, playing continuo and working as a repetiteur for Brott Opera, in addition to appearing in numerous concerts under the auspices of Toronto Summer Music
Cecilia Livingston, composer
Cecilia Livingston specializes in music for voice. She is composer-in-residence at the Canadian Opera Company (2022-) and was composer-in-residence at Glyndebourne Opera (2019-22). Her music is driven by melody, mixing styles from minimalism to The American Songbook to create work that is lyrical and unsettling. Cecilia’s residencies at the COC and Glyndebourne build on her two-year fellowship at The American Opera Project in New York. Cecilia’s music has been heard at Glyndebourne, Bang on a Can’s summer festival, Toronto’s Nuit Blanche festival, in recital at Koerner Hall and Carnegie Hall, and across Europe and the US, and with Soundstreams, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. Upcoming projects include an opera adaptation of Fugitive Pieces with poet and novelist Anne Michaels, and chamber music on a forthcoming release with Deutsche Grammophon. Cecilia is represented by Stratagem Artists in New York.
Danika Lorèn, soprano
Danika Lorèn, a versatile artist and accomplished vocalist, captivates global audiences with their innovative and heartfelt musicality. After earning a master's degree in opera performance from the University of Toronto, Danika further refined their vocal skills as part of the Canadian Opera Company's Ensemble Program. Recently joining Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium Young Artists, they are forging a distinctive career as a composer and vocalist. Danika's extraordinary talent has garnered performances with renowned orchestras and ensembles worldwide, solidifying their position as a leading voice in contemporary classical music. Danika's compositions have been showcased across Canada by esteemed organizations such as the CBC, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Canadian Art Song Project, Canadian Opera Company, Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Opera Victoria, and Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra. Their work has also been featured internationally at notable venues including the National Sawdust Theatre, Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Leeds Lieder Festival, and Wigmore Hall.
Duncan McFarlane, librettist
Duncan McFarlane holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Toronto, where he studied with Guggenheim Fellow and Griffin Award-winning poet A. F. Moritz, and Governor- General’s Award and Giller Award winner and librettist André Alexis. In 2015-2017 he was a librettist Fellow at The American Opera Project’s two-year opera creation program in New York City, where he studied with Tony-, Grammy-, and Oscar-winner Stephen Schwartz and Pulitzer- winning librettist Mark Campbell. Working with Cecilia Livingston (now composer-in-residence at the Canadian Opera Company) since their fellowships at The American Opera Project, he has created text for art song, chamber music, choral music, and opera for performers and producers in Canada and the US.
Donna McKevitt, composer
Donna McKevitt writes music for film, contemporary dance and concert. She likes to mess around with sounds, deconstructing them and combining them with acoustic instruments. She also writes for choral groups and chamber ensembles. In her final year at university, she signed to Mute Records with the band Miranda Sex Garden. They released several albums and toured extensively across Europe, the USA and Japan. During her time with the band she worked, played and supported artists Einstü rzende Neubauten, Depeche Mode, Nick Cave, Tricky, Simon Fisher Turner and Michael Nyman
Her first classical work was Translucence, a song cycle of Derek Jarman’s poetry which she began writing when scoring music for his final film Blue in 1992. At 27, Warner Classics released her Opus 1 to critical acclaim, the recording receiving five-star reviews across classical publications and national newspapers. Donna lived in Sarajevo in the early 2000s where she played viola in the Sarajevo Philharmonic. Nowadays, she sings a bit and plays the viola with lots of pedals. She enjoys improvising with ot her musicians who like to make strange, wonderful sounds and recently recorded a One Day Band album with Belle Chen, Anders Holst and Thomas Stone for Trestle Records.
Her work for film includes feature films by acclaimed directors John Jencks, Derek Jarman and Mark Cousins. A Song Still Inside, a film which deals with issues surrounding male suicide by Ed Lovelace and James Hall was released in 2021.
Acknowledgments
The 2023–2024 season of OPERA America Onstage is supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Programming at the National Opera Center is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.