91邐傰

Lembit Beecher 每 Composer

Estonian-American composer and animator Lembit Beecher writes ※hauntingly lovely and deeply personal§ music (San Francisco Chronicle) that stems from a fascination with the ways memories, histories, and stories permeate our contemporary lives. Threading together fragments of family lore, distantly experienced legends, imagery, and songs from Estonian folk culture, and explorations of place, migration, natural processes, and ecology, he has created an idiosyncratic and thoughtful musical language full of fragile lyricism, propulsive energy, and visceral emotions, which draws raves for its ※astonishing musical invention§ (Philadelphia Inquirer) and ※exquisite touches§ (San Francisco Chronicle).

Adanya Dunn 每 Mezzo-soprano

Canadian-Bulgarian mezzo-soprano Adanya Dunn (she/her) made her American debut as Hermia in Britten＊s A Midsummer Night＊s Dream conducted by Harry Bicket and directed by Netia Jones at Santa Fe Opera in 2021. Adanya＊s 2022/23 engagements included debuts with Manitoba Opera as Tisbe in La cenerentola and the Canadian Opera Company premiere of Pomegranate. Adanya was a member of Edmonton Opera＊s inaugural Emerging Artists Residency Program, where she was featured on stage as Mercedes in Bizet＊s Carmen. During preceding season, Adanya performed in various concerts with the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France conducted by Barbara Hannigan. She was a competitor in the 2022 Concours musical international de Montr谷al where she won the Bita Cattelan Philanthropic Engagement Award for her work with Red Lights Arts & Culture in Amsterdam.

Adanya is a recipient of the 2022 Vancouver Opera Guild Career Development Grant, a 2021 Sylva Gelber Music Foundation Award and a 2020 Hnatyshyn Foundation Developing Artist Grant. She was a Michigan District Winner of the 2020 Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions, and a three-time Canada Council for the Arts grant recipient. Adanya is an alumna of the University of Toronto, Bard College Conservatory, and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.

Photo credit: Natasha-Ervilha

Gordon Gerrard 每 Piano / Conductor

For Canadian conductor Gordon Gerrard, music serves as a kind of animating life force. He relishes the making of it. Takes pleasure in how it brings joy and comfort to audiences. Appreciates its potential to change how people perceive the non-musical aspects of their lives. 

The recently appointed Artistic Director of City Opera Vancouver, he＊s guest-conducted major Canadian orchestras (Vancouver, Quebec, Toronto, Victoria, London, Kitchener-Waterloo) and opera companies (Calgary, Hamilton, Edmonton). He loves working with emerging artists 每 at Calgary Opera, the Atelier Lyrique de l＊Op谷ra de Montr谷al, the Banff Centre, Opera Nuova (Edmonton), UBC Opera (Vancouver), Opera McGill (Montr谷al) and the Glenn Gould School (Toronto). And since 2016, he＊s delved into orchestral classics, contemporary works and programming that explores social change and community engagement as the dynamic leader of the Regina Symphony Orchestra.

All rather unlikely for a kid who grew up on a farm just outside Brandon, MB. There was music in the house 每 Mom played the piano, Dad listened to old-time country music, Grandma led the choir at the little church in the nearest town. Gordon started piano lessons at seven and developed quickly. Before long he was setting his alarm for 6 am so he could practice before catching the school bus. There wasn＊t much chance of hearing live classical music in rural Manitoba, but there were cassette tapes of popular works by the ※great composers§ and he burned through a Reader＊s Digest Compilation of the greatest hits for piano. By high school he was obsessed with music and decided to pursue it professionally. At 17 Gordon left the farm for his undergrad at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. There he discovered the joy of collaborating with singers, which led to a fascination with opera and the world of conducting. ※There＊s this sort of dance that you do with the singers,§ he says. ※Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow, and almost never do you articulate who＊s doing which at any given time. I love it.§

As an orchestral conductor, he＊s indebted to his mentor, the late Bramwell Tovey. When Gordon began as assistant conductor with the Vancouver Symphony in 2012, he＊d never conducted a single movement of a Beethoven symphony. Bramwell helped him hone his skills and showed him how to be a leader, on and off the podium. He＊s thrilled to be taking the lead with City Opera Vancouver, a company with a reputation for developing brand new work. Gordon plans to expand that vision to include chamber operas from the baroque era to contemporary pieces and everything in between. ※I＊m excited to discover all the places we can go,§ he says. ※There＊s an audience here with a thirst for exploring music and theatre that ventures outside the standard repertoire. ※Music brings people together. I really do believe that as time goes on, what we need is more togetherness, more community. I consider it a privilege to be part of that magic.§ 

Elena Howard-Scott 每 Soprano

Elena Howard-Scott is a versatile soprano and actress, noted as ※someone to watch§ (LudwigVan Toronto). The Winnipeg native is quickly becoming known as a committed performer on both opera and music theatre stages across Canada. The 2024/2025 season saw Elena as Sibella in Drayton Entertainment＊s production of A Gentleman＊s Guide to Love and Murder, performing with the Victoria Playhouse Petrolia, and returning to Koerner Hall as Rapunzel in Into the Woods as part of Koerner Hall＊s Special Events series. Elena makes her Maison Symphonique debut with Orchestre FILMharmonique at the start of 2025.

This past season, Elena had the generous support of the Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Performance Residency Program at The Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto) and performed nearly a dozen solo recitals as a part of their programming. Enjoying a busy performance schedule, Howard-Scott recently made her role debut as Blanche de la Force in Poulenc＊s Dialogues des Carmelites (The Glenn Gould School) under the baton of Nicolas Ellis and made appearances in recital with Soundstreams and the Hamilton Conservatory of the Arts. Elena spent the 2024 summer season studying at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, singing the role of Janine in Ruders＊ The Handmaid＊s Tale.

Luka Kawabata 每 Baritone

Nikkei-Canadian artist, Luka Kawabata 捶傷伙市 strives to push the boundaries of representation in opera through new works.  As a baritone and producer, he has quickly established himself as a rising artist in Canadian opera. He is passionate about diversifying the definition of performance and highlighting languages that are seldom heard in classical music. His ongoing series ＆The HAFU 甩奈白Project＊ premiered its first live presentation as part of City Opera Vancouver＊s season last year.

Luka is a recent graduate of the Yulanda M Faris Young Artist Program with Vancouver Opera, the Digital Emerging Artist Residency (Manitoba Opera), Pacific Opera Victoria＊s Civic Engagement Residency and the Association for Opera in Canada＊s RBC Fellowship. Collaborations include Edmonton Opera (La Boh豕me), Saskatoon Opera (Carmen), and Opera on the Avalon (February). In Vancouver, Luka has been fortunate to be featured in Vancouver Opera＊s productions, including as Peter Quince (A Midsummer Night＊s Dream), Le Danca?re (Carmen) and most recently as Prince Yamadori/The Imperial Commissioner (Madama Butterfly).

Julie McIsaac 每 Director

Julie McIsaac lives and on the unceded territories of the l?k?????n Peoples, the Songhees and Xwsepsum (Esquimalt) Nations. A versatile director, dramaturg, performer and creator, she earned her Master＊s in Theatre from the University of York (UK) and is also a graduate of Carleton University, the Canadian College of Performing Arts, and the artist residency program at Pacific Opera Victoria. She is a Leo, Jessie, Ovation and BroadwayWorld award winner, a founding member of the Honest Fishmongers (Critics＊ Choice Innovation award nomination) and in 2019 was named Director/Dramaturg-in-Residence at the Canadian Opera Company, where she led the critically-acclaimed premiere of Ian Cusson and Colleen Murphy＊s Fantasma. Directing highlights include The Last Five Years (Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre) the premiere of The Nightingale of a Thousand Songs (Canadian Children＊s Opera Company), Beauty＊s Beast (East Van Opera), The Exquisite Hour (Playhouse Fringe award), Pride and Prejudice (Chemainus) and the multiple award-winning Poly Queer Love Ballad by Sara Vickruck and Anais West. Julie served as associate director of Corey Payette＊s Children of God from 2015-2019 and is an executive producer, actor, co-screenwriter and co-lyricist of the award-winning musical film Les Filles du Roi which is currently touring to film festivals worldwide.

Hannah Moscovitch 每 Librettist

Hannah Moscovitch is an acclaimed Canadian playwright, TV writer, and librettist whose work has been widely produced in Canada and around the world. Recent stage work includes Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes and Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story (co-created with Christian Barry and Ben Caplan). Hannah has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Governor General＊s Literary Award for Drama, Trillium Book Award, the Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award, the Scotsman Fringe First and the Herald Angel Awards at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize administered by Yale University. She has been nominated for the international Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the Drama Desk Award, and Canada＊s Siminovitch Prize in Theatre. She is a playwright-in-residence at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto. She spends her time between Halifax and Los Angeles.

Photo credit: Alejandro Santiago

Wladimiro Woyno 每 Projection and Scenic Designer

Wladimiro A. Woyno R. is a designer and technologist passionate about live performance. He is an Assistant Professor in Production & Design at 91邐傰＊s School for the Contemporary Arts. Originally from Bogota, Colombia, he holds a M.F.A. in Design from Yale School of Drama and a B.F.A. in Theatre Design and production from The University of British Columbia. A devoted collaborator with the creative teams of several companies, he is often prototyping tools, processes, images, and environments that engage the sensory imagination. With a technical background in lighting, video, and staging, his work explores the adaptation of new technologies into the theatrical tradition. He is Interested in the development of rapid prototyping tools, scenography, theatrical spaces, media servers, documentation systems, and show control systems. He is an avid learner, constantly creating, inventing, and exploring.

His credits include: Since I Can Remember (The Wooster Group, USA); Kiss (Yale Repertory Theatre, USA); Parade (Nederlands Dans Theater, Netherlands); The Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst (Ghost River Theatre, Canada);  This American Wife (Next Door @ NYTW, USA); Salome (M3 Productions, USA); If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka, Bulgaria! Revolt!, The Merchant of Venice (Yale School of Drama, USA); RE:UNION (Yale Cabaret, USA); Gallery+Lumia (Yale Art Gallery, USA);  Ziriguidum (Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, Canada); and Sometime Between Now and When the Sun Goes Supernova (Theatre Junction, Canada).