Professional Training
Richard Margison
Co-Artistic Director, Head of Vocal Studies, Stage Coordinator, ‘Don Pasquale'
Valerie Kuinka
General & Co-Artistic Director, SD (CAEA) Suor Angelica + scenes, Let's Make Opera ENCORE, drama & musicianship coach
Valerie Kuinka
Having worked for over 30 years within the realm of alternative multi-disciplinary theatre to grand opera, Canadian stage director/violist, Valerie Kuinka, brings a wealth of experience and unique creativity to her work. As a member of the stage directing staff at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, ('04–'08), Kuinka was on the stage directing team of the first Met HD Broadcast, Romeo et Juliette ('05–'06) and its revival ('07–'08) as well as the revivals of Samson et Dalilah ('04–'05, '05–'06), Idomeneo ('06–'07) and Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci ('06–'07).
Over the past three decades, Kuinka has directed productions for Edmonton Opera, Manitoba Opera, Opera de Quebec, Pacific Opera Victoria, l'Atelier lyrique de l'Opera de Montreal, Opera Hamilton, Opera Lyra Ottawa, Quartetto Gelato, International Vocal Arts Insitute (Tel-Aviv), The Banff Centre, Universite de Montreal, The Glenn Gould School (Toronto), Opera Mississauga, The Canadian Childrens’ Opera Company (Toronto), and since 2007, twenty productions at Highlands Opera Studio. She started her directing career as an assistant at the New York City Opera, the Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp, and the Canadian Opera Company.
In 1996, Valerie established her own Toronto-based multi-disciplinary theatre company, COLLABORATIONS, and during its nine-year existence wrote, produced, directed, and often performed in 14 productions. “Kuinka has established no small reputation for creating exciting seamless theatrical collage” – Geoff Chapman (Toronto Star, 2003); “It was Kuinka’s instinct for elision that held everything together.” – William Littler (Toronto Star, 2004)
July/August 2026 marks the 20th season of Highlands Opera Studio where Kuinka holds the position of General and Co-Artistic Director. In 2017 she initiated a collaborative relationship with l'Atelier lyrique de l'Opera de Montreal through the first opera commissioned by Highlands Opera Theatre (producers of Highlands Opera Studio), presented in partnership with L'Atelier Lyrique de l'Opera de Montreal. The work, entitled 'Mishaabooz's Realm/Le Royaume de Michabous', was created, written and composed by Cree First Nation composer, Andrew Balfour, and stage directed by Kuinka. This ground breaking, innovative work, combining Indigenous artists and traditional western opera, was funded by Canadian Heritage: Canada 150 Fund, and Canada Council for the Arts New Chapter. The world premiere performances took place in December, 2017, in Montreal and Haliburton, and was revived in the 2024 summer season of Highlands Opera Studio.
Beginning her professional career as a classical violist, Kuinka has been active as a chamber, orchestral, studio, and performance artist for over forty years. She was a member of the orchestras of the Canadian Opera Company (joined 1986) and the National Ballet of Canada (joined 1984), playing every position from section to principal before her retirement from the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra in 2005. She is currently a member of the National Ballet of Canada Orchestra.
In recent years, in addition to stage directing and performing, Kuinka has been devoting her time to working with emerging professional operatic artists as a career consultant and dramatic/musicianship coach and to building and running Highlands Opera Studio.
Lauren Margison
Junior Voice Teacher, SD for ‘Desmond & Lois’ and guest artist for the ‘Suor Angelica'
Lauren Margison
The winner of the 2025 Elizabeth Connell Prize International Singing Competition and a 2024 Sullivan Award Winner, soprano Lauren Margison is marking her mark as an exciting emerging artist to watch. Recent and upcoming highlights include her return to Opéra de Montréal’s mainstage to much acclaim as Mimi in Puccini’s La bohème, and her American debut with the Memphis Symphony and Opera for Verdi’s Requiem under the baton of Robert Moody. She subsequently reprised with the Billings Symphony to great acclaim. Upcoming in the 2026/2027 season, Lauren debuts with Orchestre symphonique de Montréal for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, under the baton of Rafael Payare, and returns to Orchestre symphonique de Québec for Brahms’ Requiem.
Recent engagements on the concert stage include Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 for Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Strauss’s Four Last Songs with the PRISMA Festival, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Chœur de Laval, and the world premiere of Adler’s Four Attributes of the Soul with Orchestra Toronto. In recital, she was highlighted as the headline performance of the International Congress of Voice Teachers at Toronto’s Koerner Hall.
In the 2023/2024 season, Lauren revisited the roles of Nedda in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci and Anna in Puccini’s Le villi, and debuted the role of Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello, all with Staatstheater Mainz. Lauren’s additional operatic engagements have included Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen (Pacific Opera Victoria, Brott Music Festival), Tatyana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin (Highlands Opera Studio), Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte (Highlands Opera Studio),The Csardas Princess with Toronto Operetta Theatre, and the titular roles of both Gluck’s Alceste and Barber’s Vanessa with VoiceBox: Opera in Concert.
An alumna of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, she appeared as Mimi in their special presentation of Puccini’s La bohème on the mainstage of The Four Seasons Centre and was featured in Strauss’ Elektra. Prior to her time with the COC, Lauren was a member of Opéra de Montréal’s Atelier lyrique, where she appeared as Clorinda in La Cenerentola, and Missia in their production of La Veuve joyeuse.
Lauren was a laureate of Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques, and was the youngest finalist to appear in the prestigious and highly competitive Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Vocal Competition. A finalist and prizewinner in the 2017 George London Foundation Awards, Lauren went on to take first prize in the 2018 competition. She has garnered additional recognition in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, was a semi-finalist in both the Concours International Musical de Montréal (2022) and Paris Opera Competition (2023), and won Edmonton Opera’s inaugural Rumbold Vocal Prize (2022). Additionally, Lauren was honoured to be named a Sylva Gelber Foundation winner in both 2022 and 2024.
A versatile soprano, she has performed extensively both in Canada and internationally, specializing in classical, jazz and pop repertoire. Some highlights include performances for Opera Ontario, the TD Toronto Jazz Festival, The Beaches Jazz Festival, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, the Cincinnati Pops, Hannaford Street Silver Band, the noon hour concerts at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts – Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Ottawa Choral Festival Gala, and the Venetian Ball under the baton of Marco Armiliato, (fundraiser for Villa Charities, Toronto) held on the main stage of the Four Seasons’ Centre for the Performing Arts.
Nathalie Doucet
Master Vocal Coach
Nathalie Doucet
Nathalie Doucet is an internationally active répétiteur, vocal coach, collaborative pianist, educator, and arts leader whose career has spanned nearly three decades. She has worked with leading organizations including Dutch National Opera, Nederlandse Reisopera, Canadian Opera Company, Des Moines Metro Opera, Orlando Opera, Knoxville Opera and Opéra de Montréal, and has appeared at distinguished venues such as Het Concertgebouw, the Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ and the esteemed Zaterdag Matinee Concert Series at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw.
Since October 2021, Ms. Doucet has served as Head of Music and Director of the Resident Artist Program at Detroit Opera. In this dual role, she contributes to the musical planning and preparation of the company’s productions while overseeing the artistic and professional development of emerging opera singers. She launched Detroit Opera’s renewed Resident Artist Program in September 2022, creating an individualized curriculum centered on vocal and musical development, language and diction, dramatic training, mentorship, performance, and community engagement. Her work at Detroit Opera has included acclaimed productions such as Anthony Davis’ X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X.
A dedicated educator, Ms. Doucet taught for a decade at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and has held teaching and coaching positions with, among others, the Dutch National Opera Academy, AIMS in Graz, COSI in Italy, and Highlands Opera Studio. Proficient in five languages, she is especially recognized for her expertise in French lyric diction, operatic repertoire, and collaborative artistry.
Ms. Doucet is on the roster of adjudicators for the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and has been on the panel for the Meistersinger Competition in Graz, the John Alexander Vocal Competition, and COSA Canada National Auditions. She has also served as an official pianist for the Neue Stimmen Competition, the Belvedere Competition, and the International Vocal Competition ’s-Hertogenbosch.
A native of Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada, Ms. Doucet brings a strong foundation in piano performance and pedagogy to her work as a collaborative artist and educator, combining technical mastery with a dynamic artistic vision that continues to inspire performers and audiences on the international stage.
Craig Rutenberg
Master Vocal Coach (ONLINE)
Craig Rutenberg
He graduated from Georgetown University in 1974, having studied German and Italian Literature, before attending the University of Illinois for studies with John Wustman.
Further studies continued in France with Pierre Bernac and Miriam Solovieff as well as with Martin Isepp and Geoffrey Parsons in London.
He has twice been Head of Music at The Metropolitan Opera (1988-92 and 2006-2015). He was also on the staff of The Glyndebourne Festival 1979-1989, four of those years as a senior coach. Other engagements have taken him to the Chicago Lyric Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, the Palm Beach Opera, the London Opera Centre, l’Opéra-Studio de Paris, L’École d’Art Lyrique de Paris, and the Royal Operas in Stockholm and Gothenburg.
Mr. Rutenberg has performed in recital with Diana Damrau, Christine Brewer, Maria Guleghina, Harolyn Blackwell, Susanne Mentzer, Frederica von Stade, Jerry Hadley, Ben Heppner, Thomas Hampson, René Pape and Willard White amongst many others.
He has recorded for RCA/Warner, DG and EMI.
Currently Mr. Rutenberg is guest coach and vocal advisor for The Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Nadège Foofat
‘Don Pasquale’ Music Director
Nadège Foofat
Nadège Foofat is a conductor, arts leader, and educator whose career is grounded in rigorous
conducting training and extensive professional orchestral experience. She holds a Doctor of Music in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Montreal and completed advanced conducting studies at the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana under Arturo Tamayo. A participant in the League of American Orchestras; Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview and a two-time GRAMMY® Award–nominated conductor, she has built a career defined by artistic leadership and musical excellence.
Foofat is the Founder and former Music Director of the Esopus Chamber Orchestra, where she established the organization’s artistic vision and led its development as an independent nonprofit serving New York Hudson Valley. She is also the Founder of Classical at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, a chamber music series presenting internationally acclaimed artists in curated performances.
As a guest conductor, Foofat has collaborated with professional orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Canada and has been selected repeatedly as a finalist in Music Director searches across North America. Her upcoming season includes return guest appearances with the Vancouver Island Symphony and Long Bay Symphony. She previously served as Assistant Conductor to Kent Nagano at the Hamburg State Opera and Philharmonic State Orchestra.
Her recordings include Jonathan Newman’s Bespoke Songs (New Focus Recordings), which she conducted and which was nominated for the 2025 GRAMMY® Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album, and Darius Milhaud’s L’Orestie d’Eschyle for Naxos, for which she served as Associate Conductor on the 2015 GRAMMY® Award–nominated recording.
Jennifer Szeto
Master Vocal Coach
Jennifer Szeto
Jennifer Szeto carves a dynamic path as a pianist, administrator, and pedagogue. Praised for “an immense sweetness and precision which seemed to be flawless” (L’Opéra) and “amazing versatility” (Opera Ramblings), she is a distinguished graduate of L’Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, San Francisco Opera’s Adler Fellowship, Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, and the Merola Opera Program.
A sought-after collaborator for contemporary creation, Jennifer served five seasons as Founding Artistic Director of Musique 3 Femmes, a creation company which commissions and develops operas by female creators, with an emphasis on fostering emerging composers and librettists in the field. Highlights from her tenure include 11 new commissions and leading the world premieres of Keiko Devaux’s L’Écoute du perdu with Paramirabo and Le Vivier at Fonderie Darling with stage direction by Marie Brassard, Inconnu at Berlin’s UfaFabrik as part of the Frankfurt Fair, Triptyque with La Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (with works by Sonia Paço-Rocchia, MEB, Maria Reva, Anna Pidgorna, Parisa Sabet and Nika Khanjani), along with workshops for emerging artists focused on new creation at 11 universities across Canada, including in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and New Brunswick.
For Opéra de Montréal, Jennifer was most recently pianist for George Benjamin’s Written On Skin and Golijov’s Ainadamar. She was music director in the world premiere of Laurence Jobidon and Pascale St-Onge’s L’hiver attend beaucoup de moi, acclaimed by the Montreal Theatre Hub as “exactly what opera needs... bold, contemporary, poetic, political, feminist, theatrical, well-executed, and not afraid of traditionalists....”
Jennifer sits on the Board of Directors of the Association for Opera in Canada, where she was a mentor in their RBC Future Launch Fellowship. Previously, she was Program Manager for Women in Musical Leadership conducting fellowship, a national program for emerging female and non-binary conductors by Tapestry Opera in partnership with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Pacific Opera Victoria. In 2023, she joins Opera America’s Leadership Intensive, a program for rising leaders in opera administration. A passionate advocate for young artists and the field at large, Jennifer begins her tenure in 2023/24 as the Director of the Atelier lyrique at Opéra de Montréal.
Ian Cusson
Composition Mentor
Ian Cusson
Ian Cusson is a composer of art song, opera and orchestral work of Métis (Georgian Bay Métis Community) and French Canadian descent. He studied composition with Jake Heggie (San Francisco) and Samuel Dolin, and piano with James Anagnoson at the Glenn Gould School. He is the recipient of the Chalmers Professional Development Grant, and grants through the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, the Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council.
Ian was an inaugural Carrefour Composer-in-Residence with the National Arts Centre Orchestra for 2017-2019 and was Composer-in-Residence for the Canadian Opera Company for 2019-2021. He was a Co-artistic Director of Opera in the 21st Century at the Banff Centre and the recipient of the 2021 Jan V. Matejcek Classical Music Award from SOCAN and the 2021 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize. Ian is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers.
He lives in Collingwood, Canada with his wife and four children. His compositions are published exclusively by G. Schirmer, Inc.
Nils Wanderer
Baroque Style & German Diction Coach
Nils Wanderer
Winner of the 2022 Bundeswettbewerb Gesang and Second Prize Winner of the world’s most
prestigious opera competition “Operalia” in 2022 of which he was the only Countertenor, Nils Wanderer is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He was a member of its opera course and received a full scholarship under the tutelage of Andrew Watts, Siegfried Gohritz, Sonia Prina and Tobias Truninger.
Recently, he has gained wide attention headlining the creation of “Don’t you Nomi” dedicated to the visionary German countertenor Klaus Nomi and directed by Julia Lwowski at the Staatsoper Berlin and as Oberon in the new Laurent Pelly/Guillaume Tourniaire production of Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream at Opéra de Lille.
“Nils Wanderer, contre-ténor avec des registres parfaitement unis et une souplesse surnaturelle dans les phrasés.”
Translation: “Nils Wanderer, countertenor with perfectly unified registers and a supernatural ease of phrasing.”
Emmanuel Dupuy / Diapason
Nils has collaborated as a soloist with orchestras such as Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Le Concert des Nations, Staatskapelle Halle and Staatskapelle Weimar, La Folia Barockorchester, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Thüringer Bach Collegium, Karlsruher Barockorchester, La Sfera Armoniosa... and has appeared at theatres and festivals including Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Massimo Palermo, De Nederlandse Reisopera, Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Theater Bonn, Handel Festival Halle, Festival de Música Antigua de Sevilla.
As a Lieder singer, he has given recitals with accomplished pianists such as Daniel Heide and
Marcelo Amaral. He further appeared in concert at London Barbican Centre and, under Kent Nagano, at Berlin Philharmonie. With the complicity of Jordi Savall, Nils performed Handel’s Messiah for the Salzburger Festspiele and Bach’s St Matthew Passion at Paris Philharmonie, Chapelle Royale de Versailles and Barcelona Auditori.
His concert and oratorio repertoire spans from Purcell, Vivaldi, the Bach family, Handel and
Pergolesi through Berlioz, Wagner and Elgar to Bernstein and Cage. Several of his concerts have been recorded by the BBC, Bavarian Radio Station, SWR Radio, Arte, Mezzo and Medici.tv.
Nils is the recipient of First Prizes at the Handel Competition in Karlsruhe, the International Anton Rubinstein Vocal Competition and the Mimas Music Festival Competition. He is the first countertenor to reach the finals of the Queen Sonja Competition 2023 which awarded the third prize and the Concours Musical International de Montréal which awarded him the Audience Prize.
He received the Golden Culture Award of Stuttgart for his work as artistic director and conductor of the ensemble Meridies and as singer of his own festival “Music in Paradise” which he co-founded with the UNESCO World Heritage Foundation in order to celebrate music in difficult times and support artists and their work during the 2019 coronavirus pandemic.
Recent and future engagements include Mary Sunshine in Cander’s Chicago at the Komische Oper Berlin (Barry Kosky/ Adam Benzwi), Edgar in Reimann’s Lear (Stephan Zilias/Joe Hill-Gibbins production) at Staatsoper Hannover, Apollo in Mozart’s Apollo et Hyacinthus (Giulio Prandi/Fabio Ceresa) in Malta, Tolomeo in Handel’s Giulio Cesare at both the Oper Frankfurt (Simone Di Felice/Nadja Loschky production) and Blackwater Valley Opera Festival and concerts in Montreal, Toronto, Istanbul, Madrid and Dublin.
He was invited to sing at the AIDS Gala 2023 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Rolando Villazón.
Suzy Smith
Collaborative Piano, ‘Suor Angelica’ + Scenes Music Director/pianist
Suzy Smith
Highlights for Suzy Smith include Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges and L'heure espagnole (VOICEBOX), Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Massenet's Manon, as well as the Canadian double-bill pairing John Beckwith's Night Blooming Cereus with the world premiere of Michael Rose's A Northern Lights Dream (SOLT). Other experience includes Cosí fan Tutte and L'Amico Fritz for the San Francisco Opera's Merola Opera program as apprentice coach under Mark Morash, Warren Jones, and Ari Pelto; Bolcom's A Wedding as a fellow in Marilyn Horne's Music Academy of the West; as well as, music direction and vocal coaching for the Centre for Opera Studies in Sulmona Italy (COSI), the Southern Alberta Vocal Experience (SAVE), and the Canadian Operatic Arts Academy (COAA).
Suzy earned her Master of Music Degree at Western University training with John Hess and her Bachelor of Music at the University of British Columbia training under Jane Coop. She has also trained at The Banff Centre, Opera NUOVA, and Morningside Music Bridge programs.
Christine Bae
Collaborative Piano, ‘Don Pasquale’ pianist (August 29th & 31st)
Christine Bae
Christine Bae is a versatile collaborative pianist and vocal coach based in Toronto, celebrated for her expertise in both opera and concert performance. She graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Chugye University for the Arts and continued her studies at Ewha Womans University in Korea. She furthered her education at the University of Toronto, where she earned an Advanced Certificate in Performance, a Master of Music in Collaborative Piano, and a Diploma in Operatic Performance as a Répétiteur.
Christine has an impressive record as a répétiteur, contributing to a variety of opera productions. Her repertoire includes Madama Butterfly with the Seoul Opera Ensemble, Pagliacci at the National Theater of Korea, and numerous productions with UofT Opera, such as Gallantry, Monsieur Choufleuri, Hin und Zurück, Disobedience, A Tale of Two Cities, Il Capello di Paglia di Firenze, Lysistrata Reimagined, and Cendrillon.
In addition to her répétiteur work, Christine has refined her skills through well-regarded training programs at the Orford Academy, Tapestry Opera, Lachine International Vocal Academy, and St. Andrews Opera Répétiteur Workshop. She has also contributed to the development of new operatic works, participating in workshops for Melancholia and Indians on Vacation.
An accomplished collaborative pianist, Christine has performed with many of Canada’s leading vocal artists. She is now advancing her career as a Staff Pianist at the University of Toronto Opera School, continuing to inspire and mentor the next generation of musicians with her extensive experience and passion for the art.
Matthew Horner
IMG Artists Mgt. - Audition Panelist
Matthew Horner
Matthew Horner is Executive Vice President and Global Director of Vocal at IMG Artists where he has worked for 25 years. In this time, he has worked with many of the leading artists of the era and with near every major opera house and orchestra worldwide. Among his clients are Lawrence Brownlee, Ying Fang, Susan Graham, Eric Owens, Kyle Ketelsen, Angela Meade, J’Nai Bridges, Frederica von Stade, Raehann Bryce-Davis, Brandon Jovanovich, Brian Mulligan, James Robinson and Denyce Graves. For many years, he has taken a particular interest in the development of younger singers.
He is a founding faculty member of the International Meistersinger Akademie (Neumarkt, GY) as well as serving on faculty at the Highlands Opera Festival (Haliburton, ON). He also offers regular classes and career discussions at the Music Academy of the West, the Juilliard School of Music, Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and many others. He has judged regularly for the Laffont Competition at both the District and Regional levels.
He is a native of Johnstown, PA and attend Oberlin College and the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU with degrees in art history from both. He is also a member of the choir at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York where he has sung for 35 seasons.
Dorian Cox
Director of COC Ensemble - Audition Panelist
Dorian Cox
Dorian Cox is a cultural leader specializing in artist mentorship, relationship-building, and equity-driven practices. As Director of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, he oversees the career development, artistic training, and recruitment of Canada’s most promising emerging opera artists. In demand for his expertise within the opera sector, he has served as guest faculty for at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, a preliminary juror for the Concours musical international de Montréal, a professional consultant for the Highlands Opera Studio, a guest juror at the Royal Conservatory of Music, and a guest speaker at the University of Toronto.
Dorian has participated in the Business/Arts Emerging Leadership Program and Toronto Arts Council Leaders Lab and was recently selected for the 2026 Opera America Leadership Intensive. He holds degrees from the University of Toronto (BMus) and Boston Conservatory (MMus).
Morgan Reid
Dean Artists Mgt. - Audition Panelist
Morgan Reid
Morgan Reid has quickly established herself as a dynamic, emerging leader in Canada's classical music landscape.
Morgan is the managing director of Dean Artists Management - Canada’s leading artist management company for classical singers, conductors, & directors. In 2021, she initially joined DAM as an administrative associate, and then artist manager and Director of Opera.
Named as one of the Association for Opera in Canada’s 2022 Women of Impact in Opera, Morgan regularly appears as an invited panelist and guest adjudicator across North America. For the 2025/2026 season, she looks forward to working with the young artists of Opera on the Avalon, joining NATS Ontario on classical adjudication best practices, and sitting on the panel for the Canadian Opera Company’s Centre Stage competition.
In recent seasons, she has served as a guest judge for the Canadian Opera Company and Ontario Arts Council’s Christina and Louis Quilico Awards; as a panelist for the emerging artist programs of Opéra de Montréal, Vancouver Opera, Opera Kelowna, Calgary Opera, Opera on the Avalon, Utah Opera, and Highlands Opera Studio; adjudicated the 2025 Hamilton Music Festival Classical Voice Division; and worked with students of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music Voice Area and Opera Division, and the University of Manitoba’s Desautels Faculty of Music. Additionally, with Women in Music Canada, she mentored emerging artistic administrators and producers through the 24/25 season.
Morgan participated in the 2024 cohort of Opera America’s Leadership Launch program, receiving mentorship from industry leaders from across North America. She served on the 2023 planning committee for the Association for Opera in Canada’s inaugural Ontario Roundtable and, in 2020-2021, was an RBC Future Launch/LINK Emerging Artist Fellow with the AOC.
A varied background, she has held administrative positions with the University of Toronto Voice Studies Area, COSA Canada, and the Highland Arts Theatre (Nova Scotia), as well as stage and production management roles in both opera and music theatre over the past decade. A lover of a good spreadsheet, she has used these experiences to absorb as much knowledge as she can from the inside, building skills in grant writing, marketing & communications, scheduling, and general administrative acumen.
Morgan continues to work as a freelance social media manager and consultant for arts organizations and creatives across Canada. Morgan has cultivated this toolkit since 2020 when she expanded this portfolio of work. She adores working with clients to find their ideal branding language, while facilitating curation of content and visibility on social media channels including Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and more. Learn more here.
Morgan is a graduate of Mount Allison University (B.Mus. Voice) and the University of Toronto (M.Mus. Voice Performance). She has served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Voice and Composition faculties at the University of Toronto, and in Music History at Mount Allison University. Morgan is grateful for the wide range of educational opportunities that have been available to her, including studying musicology, composition, and art history in her undergrad; to intensive vocal pedagogy and anatomy, performance psychology, and interpretative performance analysis in her graduate studies. She feels fortunate to draw from these studies in her day-to-day work.
She has been honoured with the Richard March Graduate Fellowship and Arthur Plettner Graduate Fellowships (U of T, 2020-2023), the J.E.A. Crake Graduating Student Award in Performance (MtA, 2018), Ruth Goldbloom Award in Performing Arts (2017), the Mary McKean Scholarship for Outstanding Student Leadership as chosen by Faculty (MtA, 2017), Robert and Margaret Fleming Award for Promise in Music Composition Studies (MtA, 2017), the May T. Walshman Award for Promise in a Career in Voice Performance (MtA, 2017), and many scholarships for both academic and musical excellence at both institutions. She thanks the Nova Scotia Talent Trust and the Art Song Foundation of Canada for their support during her early development.
Rebecca Townsend
Strategem Artists - Audition Panelist
Rebecca Townsend
Rebecca Townsend is an arts administrator with extensive experience in the realm of classical music and opera. She has performed and collaborated with arts organizations and leaders across Canada and the United States.
An avid supporter of artistic development, Ms. Townsend is passionate about her collaborations with artists in providing them both performance and professional development opportunities. Recently, she acted as a judge for the finals of the NATS Boston Competition.
In addition to her position as Artist Manager with Stratagem Artists, Ms. Townsend has joined the team at Lenny’s Studio where she is involved with content development for artists and companies’ creative ventures while helping to enhance their connections with audiences worldwide. Ms. Townsend also continues to enjoy providing voice lessons to the next generation of musicians.
As a soprano, Ms. Townsend performance highlights include the roles of Fiordiligi in Mozart's Così fan tutte, Rose Maurrant in Kurt Weill's Street Scene, Diana in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld and both the Sandmännchen and Taumännchen in Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel. Ms. Townsend performed at numerous esteemed institutions including the Canadian Music Centre, Toronto Arts and Letters Club and the Alliance Française de Toronto during her studies.
Ms. Townsend earned her BM and MM in Vocal Performance from the University of Toronto and a Graduate Certificate in Arts Management from Toronto’s Centennial College.
Robert Gilder
Robert Gilder Artists Mgt. - Audition Panelist
Robert Gilder
Robert Gilder (Managing Director) has been at the forefront of international artist management for over 20 years. After studies at Durham University in the UK, Robert Gilder worked for English National Opera and the Festival of Music in Great Irish Houses before entering the world of artist management in 1982.
Robert Gilder & Co now has offices in London, New York and Skopje (Macedonia) and manages a roster of singers, conductors, directors and instrumentalists who are in worldwide demand. The list of distinguished artists with whom he has collaborated includes Yehudi Menuhin, Arnaldo Cohen, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Ruth Falcon, Joyce Castle, Galina Gorchakova, and Deborah Voigt to name a select few.
Aside from this, he has also been responsible for the training and mentoring of a new generation of artist managers. In recent years Robert Gilder has been selected as a jurist of several of the world’s leading vocal competitions including Verviers, the ‘Maria Callas Vocal Competition’ in São Paulo, Brazil and the “Competizione dell’Opera” in Dresden.
He is frequently asked to give guest masterclasses and workshops to Young Artist Programs on artist development and career management. Robert Gilder is the recipient of the 2009 Patrick Hayes Award at the New York ISPA Congress.
Simone Luti
Italian Diction (ONLINE)
Simone Luti
A native of Lucca, Tuscany, orchestral conductor and pianist Simone Luti has gained recognition and acclaim for his musical instincts and sensitivity both on the podium and at the keyboard.
As part of his musical training, M° Luti studied piano with Gloria Belli, Konstantin Bogino and Fabrizio Papi while his formal studies in composition were overseen by Pietro Rigacci. During his compositional studies, his passion for opera blossomed and he went on to earn academic scholarships to study opera, firstly at the Teatro Verdi in Pisa, and afterwards in Milan at the Academy for performing Arts associated with the Teatro della Scala. He studied conducting with Vittorio Parisi at the Academy of Giuseppe Verdi in Milan, and at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena with Gianluigi Gelmetti.
In 2002, M° Luti began working as coach at the Teatro della Scala and main Italian Theatres, collaborating with the most significant directors, singers, and film directors in the operatic world. In parallel, he also collaborated with Mirella Freni, Luis Alva, and Luciana Serra in opera training academies, Luis Alva, and Luciana Serra, devoting himself to the musical training of young opera singers.
M° Luti has conducted on the podiums for such organizations as The Musical Festival in Ticino Locarno, Switzerland, the Gratchen Festival in Amsterdam, the Opera Studio Nederland, Opera National de Montpellier, in Albania at the Opera Theatre in Tirana, the Symphony Orchestra of Bacau, Romania, and the International Opera Theatre of Philadelphia (in Teatro degli Avvaloranti, Città della Pieve; Teatro Mancinelli, Orvieto; and The University of Performing Arts, Philadelphia), Orchestra London & London Symphonia, and many more. Other international engagements took him to Cremona as coach for As.li.co’s productions of Pagliacci, La Voix Humaine, The turn of the screw, Medea e Zauberflote, as chef de chant for Théâtre du Chatelet’s production of Norma, as a coach at the Opera de Montréal, as coach of Accademia Filarmonica Romana’s production of the opera For You, as musical director for American Opera Theater’s production of La Tragédie de Carmen, Dido and Eneas, Butterfly, Riders to the sea, Rigoletto, both in Italy and Baltimore, as well as numerous collaborations for recitals and concerts in Italy and abroad.
At the keyboard, M° Luti has performed as a solo and collaborative pianist in recitals, opera galas, and chamber groups for theatres and musical institutes throughout Italy, Canada, United States of America, France, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium. These collaborations led to recitals with international opera stars such as Irina Lungu with whom he collaborated at the Lucerne Festival.
ßM° Luti also now shares his work with the next generation and as such become musical director of the Canadian Operatic Arts Academy, hosted at the University of Western Ontario and its Faculty of Music, and its sister program Accademia Europea Dell’Opera, in Milan, Amsterdam and Lucca where he conducted Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi, Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni, The turn of the screw, Le nozze di Figaro, Butterfly, La Cenerentola and Die Zauberflote, and La Finta Giardiniera amongst many others. He has been also musical director of the Summer Opera Workshop of Indiana University. He also currently serves as Music Director and Conductor of both Western University’s Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra as well as holding the positions of Musical Director & Head Coach of the Opera Program, and Lecturer for the Art of Vocal Coaching.
Most recently, M° Luti had the immense pleasure to join the Canadian Opera Company as Assistant Conductor for their production of La Bohème (2019), Head Coach and Assistant Conductor of Il Barbiere di Siviglia (2020), Aida (2020 and cancelled due to COVID), Gianni Schicchi (2021), Traviata (2022), and will be returning as Head Coach and Assistant Conductor for the upcoming COC production of Le Nozze di Figaro (2023) as well as Macbeth (2023) and Tosca (2023). Also at the COC, he has worked with the ensemble for the past 4 years, honoured to be part of such a prestigious operatic training program.
PAST PROFESSIONAL CONSULTANTS
- Rachel Andrist
- Ashley Au
- Andrew Balfour
- Zoe Band
- David Briskin
- Nicole Brooks
- Christene Browne
- John Cabanela
- Maureen Callaghan
- Samuel Chan
- Giselle Clarke-Trenaman
- Jennifer Derventzis
- Leanne Dixon
- Joan Dornemann
- Nathalie Doucet-Lalkens
- Greg Dougherty
- Jenna Douglas
- John Fanning
- John Fisher
- Laurence Follows
- Denise Fujiwara
- Janelle Fung
- Juliane Gallant
- Robert Gilder
- Brahm Goldhamer
- Christine Goerke
- Aaron Grant
- Andrea Grant
- Julie Jordan Gunn
- Nathan Gunn
- Joel Harder
- Rebecca Hass
- Nancy Hermiston
- Matthew Horner
- Selena James
- AJ Laflamme
- Chantal Lambert
- Rosemarie Landry
- Perryn Leech
- Grégoire Legendre
- Daniel Lipton
- Dietlinde Turban Maazel
- Anthony V. Manoli
- Natalya Matyusheva
- Roberto Mauro
- Emily Maxwell
- Stéphane Mayer
- Christopher Mokrzewski
- Patricia Morehead
- Philip Morehead
- Alexander Neef
- Timothy Noble
- Mark Pedrotti
- Jérémie Pelletier
- Fred Perruzza
- Steven Philcox
- Stephen Pickover
- Alison Pybus
- François Racine
- Sondra Radvanovsky
- Miloš Repický
- Christiane Riel
- Steve Ross
- Mark Rucker
- Craig Rutenberg
- Ian Rye
- Michael Shannon
- Olivia Shortt
- Joshua Anand Slater
- William Smith
- David Speers
- Wayne Strongman
- David Sweeney
- Jennifer Szeto
- Bradley Trenaman
- Rosemary Thomson
- Rebecca Townsend
- Timothy Vernon
- Alaina Viau
- Robin Wheeler
- Bruce Zemsky