2011 Brian Law Opera Competition
Gerald Finley, Honorary Patron
The Competition
The 2011 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 previous competition, Philippe Sly, bass-baritone, 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
Here is the program handed out to the audience on the evening of the competition, and an addendum to the program produced after the competition.
The Finalists
In October 2011, the preliminary jury chose the following candidates for the competition recital:
Frédérique Drolet, soprano
Soprano Frédérique Drolet, 26, is a native of Buckingham, QC. She earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Vocal Performance at Laval University (2009, 2011) and is currently a member of Opéra de Montréal’s Atelier Lyrique. Since her First Place finish at the Canadian Music Competition in 2008 she has received many other awards. At Laval University, Frédérique took on Despina in Così fan tutte and several roles in Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi. This year, she appeared as Barbarina in Opéra de Montréal’s Le Nozze de Figaro and played Lucy in The Telephone with Atelier Lyrique.
Bethany Hörst, soprano
Soprano Bethany Hörst, 28, was a member of Opera Lyra Ottawa’s Opera Studio last season. She performed as Mother/Witch in Hansel and Gretel and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte and placed First at the 2011 Studio Competition. In 2008 Bethany received her Master’s of Music degree in Literature and Performance from the University of Western Ontario where she sang in Albert Herring, Cosi fan tutte, The Merry Widow and Gianni Schicchi. For Opera Kitchener she played Fiordiligi in 2009. She was the First Place winner at the Conservatory Canada Vocal Competition in 2009 and International Aria Competition, Tennessee, in 2010.
Arminè Kassabian, mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano Arminè Kassabian, 27, was born and grew up in Ottawa. She studied at the Schulich School of Music, McGill University, where she earned her Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance in 2007, Master’s degree in 2009 and Artist Diploma in 2011. With Opera McGill she performed leading roles in several operas including Carmen in La Tragédie de Carmen. Last summer Arminè appeared as Dorabella (Così fan tutte) and Mercedes (Carmen) at the Green Mountain Opera in Vermont. She is currently a member of Opera Lyra Ottawa’s Opera Studio, playing Rosina in The Barber of Bytown, an adaptation for children.
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Erinne-Colleen Laurin, soprano
Soprano Erinne-Colleen Laurin, 29, is a native of Gatineau, QC. She received a Bachelor of Music with Honours in Vocal Performance in 2011 from Carleton University, having completed three years of the music program at the University of Ottawa in 2005. Also in 2011, Erinne-Colleen placed First in Operatic Solo at the Ottawa Kiwanis Music Festival and again First at the OMFA Provincial Competition, Voice Open Level, which gave her the honour of representing Ontario at the National Music Festival in Nova Scotia. There, she received the Spirit Award. She has sung operatic arias with ensembles at Carleton University and at the Ottawa Kiwanis Gala Concert.
Emanuel Lebel, baritone
Baritone Emanuel Lebel, 26, is currently a member of Opera Lyra Ottawa’s Opera Studio, where he is playing Figaro in The Barber of Bytown in performances adapted for children. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Conservatoire de musique de Québec (2009) and a Master’s degree in Vocal Performance from Laval University (2011). While at Laval, he performed in Gianni Schicchi and as solo bass in Mozart’s Requiem. In May of this year Emanuel was a Laureate of Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques and in August he played two parts in John Estacio’s Lillian Alling at the Opera as Theatre program at the Banff Centre.
Jana Miller, soprano
Soprano Jana Miller, 25, was born in Ottawa. In 2011 she received her Master of Music degree in Solo Performance, Voice, from the Schulich School of Music, McGill University, where she had taken on roles in several Opera McGill productions. In 2008 and 2009 Jana received further training at the Banff Centre’s Opera as Theatre program, and in 2010 she performed Nanetta in Falstaff with Opera Nuova. With Theatre of Early Music, Jana has sung Belinda in Dido and Aeneas. Last summer she was a participant at the Franz-Schubert-Institut and next year she will be playing Micaela in Carmen with Jeunesses Musicales of Canada.
The Recitalist
Philippe Sly, bass-baritone
While the jury deliberates, our 2009 winner, Philippe Sly, will present a short recital. Here is the biography he submitted:
Bass-baritone Philippe Sly is a new member of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio. A winner in the 2011 Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions, he has recently performed as Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia with the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program; Marcello in La Bohème and Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress at McGill University; Escamillo in Carmen at the Banff Centre; and Masetto in Don Giovanni at the University of Ottawa.
Upcoming engagements include the role of Pilatus in Bach’s St. John Passion with Kent Nagano and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and a concert of opera arias with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in Kuala Lumpur. Mr. Sly will appear with the COC this season, singing roles in The Tales of Hoffmann, A Florentine Tragedy/Gianni Schicchi and Semele, and understudying roles in Rigoletto and Tosca.
Recently he won the “Jeune soliste 2012 des Radios francophones publiques (RFP)” prize as the representative of Radio-Canada, which will give him valuable international exposure in France, Belgium and Switzerland.
Philippe holds a Bachelor of Voice Performance degree from McGill University.
The Jury
Donna Brown, Soprano
Ms. Brown was scheduled to be one of the three jury members. Regrettably, she took sick on the day of the competition and was forced to withdraw. The National Capital Opera Society is very grateful to Cavaliere Maria Pellegrini, who on extremely short notice agreed to replace her. Ms. Pellegrini’s biography appears below.
Sandra Graham, Mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano Sandra Graham has established a worldwide reputation with her sumptuous vocalism which led to top prizes in the International Vocal Competitions of s’Hertogenbosch in Holland, the Montreal International Competition, the International Vocal Competition in Toulouse, France, and the Canadian Opera Company Mozart competition.
Miss Graham has performed in concert and on the operatic stages of Germany, Canada, the United States, Holland and China. She has performed and recorded with Helmuth Rilling, Christoff Penderecki, Charles Dutoit and Vladimir Ashkenazy, appearing with the Cleveland Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, the Montreal Symphony, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Oregon Bach Festival, the Canadian Opera Company, the Welsh National Opera, the Arizona Opera, and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein.
At the Staatstheater Stuttgart, Sandra Graham has been a guest artist since 1992, where she has performed in Hansel und Gretel, Cenerentola, Tristan und Isolde, Ariadne auf Naxos and Cavalleria Rusticana.
The distinguished mezzo’s recordings include Raminsh’s Songs of the Lights with the CBC Vancouver Symphony, Mozart’s Requiem and Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the Slovak Philharmonic, Harry Somer’s The Fool, and Prevost’s Ahimsa. She is featured in a DVD of Jon Vickers, and the PBS biography special about Vivaldi in which she performs the lead role in the opera Orlando Furioso, and appears in a recent BRAVO! documentary of the In Contro Chamber Music festival in Italy where she performs regularly.
Miss Graham teaches voice in the University of Ottawa’s School of Music and directs the school’s Opera Productions course. Sandra Graham and her husband Ingemar Korjus have toured China, giving concerts and masterclasses.
Cavaliere Maria Pellegrini, Soprano
As a Metropolitan Opera Auditions winner, soprano Maria Pellegrini embarked on a brilliant career, which took her to the leading opera houses and concert halls of Europe, Canada, United States, Asia and the Caribbean.
Her debut as Gilda (Rigoletto) with the Canadian Opera Company was followed by eleven seasons at The Royal Opera House Covent Garden, under the baton of Sir Georg Solti, where she sang Mimi (La Bohème) opposite Luciano Pavarotti. She also performed at Royal Albert Hall, Welsh National Opera, English National Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Vancouver Opera Company, L'Opéra de Montréal, Opera Lyra Ottawa, Teatro del'Opera di Santo Domingo, the Taipei Opera Festival as well as many opera houses in Italy and the United States.
Audiences and critics have praised Ms. Pellegrini above all in her signature role of Madama Butterfly. Other roles included Violetta (Traviata), Fiordiligi (Così Fan Tutte), Amelia (Simon Boccanegra) Alice Ford (Falstaff), Elvira (I Puritani), Liu (Turandot), Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor), Manon Lescaut (Manon Lescaut), Desdemona (Otello), Nedda (I Pagliacci), Tosca (Tosca), Micaela (Carmen), and Aida (Aida). She worked with conductors Sir Georg Solti, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Edward Downes, and Giuseppe Sinopoli.
Maria Pellegrini was awarded “Best Italian Soprano” in 1991. In 2007, she was honoured with the award of Cavaliere dell' Ordine al Merito Della Repubblica Italiana. In Ottawa in 2004, she founded Pellegrini Opera and continues as its Artistic Director. Besides private voice coaching she gives master classes at McGill University and the University of Ottawa.
Richard Turp, Teacher, writer and broadcaster
Richard Turp was born in Montreal but from the age of 6 was raised in London, UK. Having graduated from University of London (Russian Regional Studies and Music), he began vocal studies with his father, the renowned tenor, André Turp. For a decade he worked principally in Europe as an operatic tenor but did appear with his father in L’Opéra de Montréal’s production of Verdi’s Macbeth in 1983.
From 1988 to 1991 he was the Artistic Director of the Montreal International Music Festival, then joined L’Opéra de Montréal as Director of Special Projects for two seasons. He became Artistic Director of the Lachine Music Festival in 1997, a post he still holds today. In 1997 he co-founded and assumed the artistic direction for fourteen years of the André-Turp Musical Society that presented a prestigious vocal series in Montreal. He is a co-founder of the Canadian Vocal Arts Institute and since 2009 directs the vocal program at the Orford Academy.
Richard Turp is regularly invited to adjudicate vocal competitions and is a board member of both the Jeunesses musicales du Canada and Opera Canada magazine. He has worked extensively for both the French and English networks of the CBC and assumed the artistic and musical conception and writing of several series (Opera Easy, Opera Stories, Portraits of Mozart, Shakespeare in Music, Klassical Kabaret, Musical Voices) for BRAVO television.
He has lectured widely, including for L’Opéra de Montréal, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and The Wagner Society and has hosted two editions of the Opera Canada Awards Gala (the Rubies). In addition, he has written many program notes for musical organisations and record companies and has been a frequent collaborator with Opera Canada and Opera Now. Richard Turp has taught vocal literature at UQAM and L’Université de Montréal and French vocal diction at McGill University.