Lindsay Barrett

Praised for her “uncommonly beautiful voice” and “sparkling lyric coloratura,” Lindsay has begun an exciting music career. She has just returned from being a member of the Opera Theatre Centre of the Aspen Music Festival and School, where she covered the role of Donna Elvira. She was also heard as Violetta, performing excerpts from La Traviata with Asher Fisch and the American Academy of Conducting Orchestra. She appeared as a guest soloist with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble in a performance of Charles Fussell’s Goethe Lieder. Lindsay has been a member of the Highlands Opera Studio where she has performed the roles of Fanny in Rossini’s La Cambiale di Matrimonio, Clara in Pasatieri’s Signor Deluso (2008), and Galatea from Von Zuppe’s Die Schone Galatea (2007). Lindsay was recently awarded the David and Marcia Beach Summer Study Award, and has been given numerous awards from The Canadian Opera Volunteer Committee. This past spring, Lindsay sang the role of La Princesse in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. She returns to the University of Toronto Opera School this fall, where she will perform the roles of Flaminia from Haydn’s Il mondo della luna and Cunegonda from Bernstien’s Candide. A frequent performer of oratorio, Lindsay has sung the soprano solos from Faure’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, and Orff’s Carmina Burana. This fall, Lindsay looks forward to concert performances with Off Centre Music Salon, The Toronto Arts and Letters Club, and The Aldeburgh Connection’s Discovery Series.

Antoine Bélanger

Currently in his third season at the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal where he has been heard as Gonzalve (L’heure espagnole), he made his Opéra de Montréal debut as a Lover (Il tabarro) in 2006, later returning as Tybalt (Roméo et Juliette). Recently, he has appeared in concert in Lyon, with the Orchestre symphonique de Sherbrooke, and with Ensemble Amati. Appearances in 2008-2009 include Arturo (Lucia di Lammermoor) at Opéra de Montréal, Gilles Vigneault’s La grande Messe with the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Verdi’s Requiem with the Choeur de Québec, and Carmen with the Orchestre Symphonique du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. Last Opéra de Montréal appearance: La fanciulla del West (2008).

Bruce Kelly

Baritone Bruce Kelly’s career has taken him to many of the important opera houses and concert halls of Europe and his native Canada. He has appeared in Nice, Strasbourg, Lieges, Avignon and Moscow in a variety of leading roles including Silvio (Pagliacci), Guglielmo (Cosi Fan Tutte), Marcello (La Boheme) and Sharpless (Madama Butterfly). Performances as Mercutio (Roméo et Juliette), Lescaut (Manon Lescaut), Manuel (La Vida Breve), Paquino (Goyescas), Biterolf (TannhäUser), Abimelech (Samson et Dalila), and Ottokar (Der Freischütz), Ernesto (Il Pirata) are evidence of the wide range of roles at his command.

In Canada Mr. Kelly has appeared as guest soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Toronto Symphony, Kitchener Waterloo Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Thunder Bay Symphony, Kingston Symphony, Newfoundland Symphony and Niagara Symphony.

He starred as the Elder Brother in The Prodigal Son in Toronto, Guelph, London and Goderich for the Britten Festival and he was also called back to Pacific Opera Victoria for a rare production of Hoiby’s The Tempest. Mr. Kelly was featured in The Music Man for the Thousand Islands Playhouse in Gananoque, Ontario and enjoyed performances of Carmina Burana with the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony, Sacristan in Tosca for Pacific Opera Victoria and at London’s Grand Theatre, Bach’s Johannes Passion for Orchestra London and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 for the Regina Symphony during the 2004-2005 season. In 2005/06 he was heard as Count Capulet in Roméo et Juliette for Opera Ontario, in Verdi’s Requiem for the Kingston Symphony and in Messiah for the Mississauga Choral Society. During the 2006-2007 season, he was heard in Schafer’s Palace Of The Cinnabar Phoenix in Haliburton, as Geronte in Manon Lescaut for Pacific Opera Victoria, in Handel’s Samson with the Victoria Philharmonic Choir and in Roméo et Juliette for Opera de Quebec. In 2007-2008, he returned to the Victoria Philharmonic Choir for Dvorak’s Spectre’s Bride, Kingston for Messiah, Pacific Opera Victoria for Sharpless in Madama Butterfly and Hamilton for Die Schöpfung with the Bach Elgar Choir. Highlights of the 2008-2009 season included Haydn’s Seasons with the Victoria Philharmonic Choir, Der Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte for Pacific Opera Victoria, Brahms’ Deutsches Requiem for the London Symphony, Ontario and concerts with the Kingston Symphony and the Vancouver Island Symphony. In the fall of 2009-2010, Mr. Kelly made his role debut as Germont in La Traviata for Pacific Opera Victoria.

He has appeared in the roles of Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus), the Devil (Griselidis), Tonio (I Pagliacci), Henry (Henry VIII), Caoudal (Sapho), Prime Minister (Wiener Blut), Falke (Die Fledermaus) and Conachar (Deirdre) with various companies including Calgary Opera, Opera Ontario, Opera Lyra Ottawa, Opera in Concert and Toronto Operetta Theatre. Other credits include Tranio (Taming of the Shrew), and Bartolo in Le Nozze Di Figaro with Pacific Opera Victoria, Scarpia in Tosca with the Kingston Symphony and Dr. Engel (The Student Prince) with Toronto Operetta Theatre. He also appeared in Carmina Burana with the Toronto International Choral Festival, Kingston Symphony and the Victoria Symphony and in Mozart’s Requiem with the Grand Philharmonic Choir of Kitchener, Ontario.

Ileana Montalbetti

Currently a member of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, soprano Ileana Montalbetti, recently performed Fiordiligi in the Ensemble Studio Production of Così fan tutte and Mavra Kuzminichna in War and Peace. This past summer, Ms Montalbetti attended the Chautauqua Institute where she sang the role of Tatyana in Eugene Onegin. She has also held two consecutive soprano fellowships at the Tanglewood Music Centre where, most notably, she sang Celestial Voice in a concert version of Don Carlos under the baton of Maestro James Levine. Ms Montalbetti is a graduate of the opera diploma program at the University of Toronto, where she sang the roles of Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro and Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia. She has also appeared as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni for Saskatoon Opera and The Toronto Summer Music Academy and Festival. This season with the COC she sings the role of Anna Kennedy in Maria Stuarda and she will understudy the roles of Elisabetta in Maria Stuarda and Elettra in Idomene.

Adrian Kramer

Canadian baritone, Adrian Kramer, recently joined the Ensemble of the Canadian Opera Company. Last summer he returned to The Castleton Festival as Sid in Albert Herring under the baton of Maestro Lorin Maazel. While with The Castleton Festival Mr. Kramer performed in concert with Maestro Maazel and Marvin Hamlisch at The Kennedy Center. Adrian is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music where he sang many roles including Pelléas in Impressions of Pelléas, Robert in Iolanta, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, Amida in L’Ormindo and the Shoe Salesman in Postcard from Morocco, as well as Zwei Handwerksbursch in Wozzeck in conjunction with The Opera Company of Philadelphia. During the 2008 season he debuted at Carnegie Hall and The Kimmel Centre with The Curtis Orchestra and Alan Gilbert in Nielsen’s Sinfonia Espansiva. As a recitalist Mr. Kramer has been heard in leading venues throughout Europe and North America with such artists as Mikael Eliasen, Roberto Diaz, Steven Blier and Craig Rutenberg. He has appeared with the New York Festival of Song, Glimmerglass Opera, The Chautauqua Institute, The Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival, The Metropolitan Opera Guild, Philadelphia’s Mendelssohn Club and The Canadian Vocal Arts Institute. Mr. Kramer holds a BM from The Juilliard School where he sang numerous roles including Papageno in Die Zauberflöte and was presented in recital at Alice Tully Hall as winner of the Juilliard Honors Recital Competition. Other operatic credits include Ottone in L’incoronazione di Poppea, The Black Cat in L’enfant et les Sortilèges and the High Baritone in Trouble in Tahiti. Mr. Kramer’s upcoming operactic and concert engagements include Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia for the Canadian Opera Company on Tour, as well as Barber’s Dover Beach at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. In Oratorio he will be heard in Handel’s Messiah with both the Guelph and Sault Ste. Marie symphony orchestras. In the new year Mr. Kramer performs a concert of operatic selections for Saskatoon Opera. He is a four time grant recipient from The Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation for Young Canadian Opera Singers and in 2002, at the age of seventeen, finished as first runner-up in the Canadian National Kiwanis Vocal Competition.