2005 Brian Law Opera Competition
Maureen Forrester, CC OQ, Honorary Patron
The Competition
The 2005 Brian Law Opera Competition took place in .
The prizes were: 1st prize: ; 2nd prize: ; 3rd prize: .
For a history of the competition, a biography of Brian Law and a list of previous winners and their biographies, see the Competition page.
The Evening’s Program
The evening will unfold as follows:
- the competition
- intermission
- while the jury deliberates, the winner of the 2001 competition, soprano Shannon Mercer, will give a short recital
- announcement of the winners and presentation of prizes
- reception, allowing audience members a chance to meet and talk with the finalists
The Finalists
In end of November 2004, the preliminary jury chose the following candidates for the competition recital:
Joyce El-Khoury, soprano
Joyce was the winner of the 2005 Brian Law Opera Scholarship Competition. Her biography can be found here.
Bryan Estabrooks, baritone
Bryan Estabrooks was born and raised in Ottawa. He received the degree of Bachelor of Music from the University of Toronto in 2002, and the further degree of Master of Music from the University of Michigan (where he was on full scholarship) in 2004. He has received a trophy and scholarships from the Kiwanis Music Festival as well as the Greta Kraus Memorial Scholarship.
Bryan began singing on the stage in important roles in various musicals such as West Side Story, Forever Plaid, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and A Chorus Line at Centrepointe Theatre, the Ottawa Little Theatre, and the Seagle Memorial Theatre.
On the opera stage in Ottawa he was in the Opera Lyra chorus for virtually all productions between 1994 and 1998, singing the role of The Registrar in Madama Butterfly (Puccini) in 1996. Since then he has appeared as The Cat in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (Ravel) with the University of Toronto, Ariodate in Xerxes (Handel) and Marco in Gianni Schicchi (Puccini) with the University of Michigan. Most recently he sang Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore (Donizetti) with the Camp musical de St. Jean, Sciarrone in Tosca (Puccini) with the Jackson Symphony Orchestra and Germont in La Traviata (Verdi) with the Seagle Music Colony.
In 2004 he participated in performances of Mozart’s Requiem in Toronto and in March of that year Bach cantatas at Christ Church Cathedral, Ottawa. In December he appeared as Death in The Summoning of Everyman (Wilson) and in multiple roles in Dream Play (Sullivan) with Opera in Concert.
Liliana Piazza, mezzo-soprano
Liliana Piazza was born in the National Capital Region and studied here with Yoriko Tanno-Kimmons and Sandra Cooke before going to Toronto to attend the Vocal Performance Programme at the University of Toronto, where she is now in her third year. She has won a trophy and scholarship from the National Capital Region Kiwanis Music Festival and in 2003 the National Association of Teachers of Singing Senior Scholarship.
While in Ottawa she appeared in the sixth and seventh annual Shooting Stars: An Operatic Showcase, as well as singing with the Ottawa University Choir. In Toronto she has appeared as soloist with the MacMillan Singers and took part in a showcase called Great Young Canadian Singers. Besides an active participation in the chorus of Opera in Concert, Liliana has sung major roles with that company such as Ninetta in I Vespri Siciliani (Verdi) and Frasquita in El Gato Montes (Penella). This past year she also participated in productions of The Chocolate Soldier with Toronto Operetta Theatre and sang the role of Metella in La Vie Parisienne (Offenbach) with Summer Opera Lyric Theatre.
In addition to the major operatic roles for mezzo-soprano Liliana’s repertoire comprises an extensive collection of art songs and oratorio arias.
Maghan Stewart, soprano
Maghan Stewart began her training at the University of Toronto, completing the Bachelor of Voice Performance in 2001 and going on to complete the Master of Voice Performance degree at the University of Ottawa in 2004. Besides her participation in the years 2001-2004 in the Opera Lyra Ottawa Young Artists Program, she has attended Oberlin College’s summer program at Cassalmaggiore, Italy, Banff Arts Festival called Opera as Theatre, and L’Académie internationale d’été de Nice under the direction of Dalton Baldwin.
At the University of Toronto she won the Lois Marshall, Greta Kraus and Douglas Bodle Scholarships and in Ottawa the Vivian Asfar and the Galaxie Rising Stars of the CBC Awards. In the past year she was a semi-finalist (out of 200 singers participating) in the Dutch International Voice Competition ‘s-Hertogenbosch 2004.
In addition to several concert and oratorio appearances Maghan has already been seen on the operatic stage in a number of important roles: Cherubino in 1998 and The Countess in the following year in Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart) in Casalmaggiore, Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten), and Nanetta in Falstaff (Verdi) with the Banff Arts Festival. With Opera Lyra Ottawa she sang The Slave in Salome (Strauss), Nananina in Zeus and the Pamplemousse (McCune) and most recently she appeared as Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto (Verdi).
With her recent experience in Holland behind her, she intends to enter more vocal competitions such as the Eckhardt-Gramatte in Manitoba and Les Jeunesses Musicales in Montreal. She has been personally invited to audition for the Düsseldorf Opera Studio.
The Recitalist
Shannon Mercer, soprano
While the jury deliberates, our 2001 winner, Shannon Mercer, will present a short recital.
The Jury
Darryl Edwards, Tenor
Tenor Darryl Edwards enjoys a thriving career as an accomplished singer and voice teacher. He has appeared to critical acclaim in oratorio, recital, and opera in England, Germany, France, Corsica, the United States, and across Canada. His Canadian and American radio broadcasts include such works as Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, Kodály’s Psalmus Hungaricus, and Orff’s Carmina Burana. His performances include engagements with major orchestras in many parts of Canada as well as in the United States and Europe. Critical praise described him as a “rich-voiced, cultured tenor who mastered the high notes effortlessly” (Cobourger Tageblatt, Germany, 2001) and an “effective communicator who expressed the text with sensitivity and fervour” (Hamilton Spectator, 2001).
His recent and upcoming engagements include the Britten War Requiem with the Ottawa Symphony and Choral Society at the National Arts Centre, the Verdi Requiem with Bach Elgar Choir of Hamilton, Orff’s Carmina Burana with Orchestra London Canada, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Kingston Choral Society, and the Mozart Requiem with the Pesaro Sinfonica in Italy. Dr. Edwards has pursued a record of music and educational achievement at both the University of Western Ontario and the University of Michigan. He is Ontario District Governor of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and an Assistant Professor of Voice at the University of Toronto, where he teaches both Bachelor of Music and Master of Music performance programs in Voice Studies and Opera.
Henry Ingram, Tenor
Henry Ingram has been closely associated with the Toronto Operetta Theatre since its inception in 1985. He appeared in the company’s first production, Lehar’s The Count of Luxembourg, as Brissard with subsequent memorable performances as Count Boni in Kalman’s The Czardas Princess, Sigi in The White Horse Inn, Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus and Jack Point in The Yeomen Of The Guard. He has appeared in Canada, Germany and the United States in numerous roles including the Simpleton in Boris Godunov, Beppe in I Pagliacci and Pedrillo in Die Entführung aus dem Serail. On the concert stage he has been heard frequently as the Evangelist in the St. Matthew Passion and as the Roasted Swan in Carmina Burana for major U.S. and Canadian symphonies and at the Domfestspiele in Bad Gandersheim, Germany.
Career highlights include The Postcard From Morocco for the Guelph Spring Festival produced and conducted by Nicholas Goldschmidt and the Stratford Festival’s Mikado in which he played Nanki-Poo. Television audiences will recognize Mr. Ingram from his appearance as Nanki Poo in the original Stratford production of Mikado for CBC and A&E, as well as telecasts of Carmen, The Little Sweep, and Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Hamilton. He can he heard with Tafelmusik and Emma Kirkby in a Hyperion recording of works by Vivaldi. Currently, Mr. Ingram is Director of the Concerts Division of Dean Artists Management, the largest agency for classical singers, conductors and stage directors in Canada.
Christiane Riel, Soprano
Renowned for the intensity and poignancy of her interpretations, Christiane Riel’s remarkable career is built largely in North America around the most demanding roles in the soprano repertoire, with the heroines of Puccini and the French romantics at its very heart. Among her specialties are the roles of the heart-broken Cio Cio San in twelve different productions of Madama Butterfly including the New York City Opera, and the dedicated slave girl Liu in Turandot for L’Opéra de Montréal, the NYCO, and the Berkshire Music Festival. Whether in Mozart’s Don Giovanni as Donna Elvira or as Nedda in I Pagliacci with L’Opéra de Montréal, she has garnered critical acclaim and standing ovations.
Her roles with the Canadian Opera Company include a moment’s notice stand-in for the lead as Elisabeth in the original French version of Verdi’s Don Carlos, and other Gallic ladies such as Marguerite in Faust and the title role in Massanet’s Manon. Equally at home on the concert stage, she has performed with orchestras across Canada, and has also been featured at Festival d’Été de Lanaudière, Toronto’s Opera in Concert, and the Festival International de Musique de Montréal. A native of that city, she has received numerous awards and scholarships, and was a member of the Canadian Opera Ensemble and of l’Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal.