Performer Bios As a thank-you to some of the many singers who have performed with us, we offer their on-line bios, or links to their on-line bios. If you are an OpAnon alumna/us and wish to be added to this list, or have your bio/photo updated here, please email us.   Heidi Breier, soprano Torin Chiles, tenor Ross Darlington, baritone - bio at Orion House Website Richard Davidson, tenor Melodia de Almeida, mezzo Robert de Vrij, baritone - Robert has his own website! Paul Grindlay, bass-baritone - bio at Orion House Website Adele Kozak, soprano - bio at Orion House Website Gisele Kulak, soprano Yan-Chuen Lee, tenor - bio on his own website Karen Olinyk, mezzo Steven Pitkanen, baritone Maria Soulis, mezzo Erika Lee Tanner, soprano Ellen Vesterdal, mezzo Lenard Whiting, tenor - bio at Orion House Website Alex Wiebe, baritone Alexa Wing, soprano Heidi Breier soprano Monica in The Medium and Ann Trulove in The Rake's Progress Heidi Rose Breier is an Edmonton-born soprano currently based in Vancouver. Ms. Breier holds music degrees from both the University of Alberta and McGill, and is also a graduate of Banff's Vocal Integration Programme, where she studied with Mary Morrison and John Hess. She has appeared frequently with the Vancouver and Edmonton Opera companies, as well as with the Vancouver Academy of Music, the North Shore Light Opera Society and the Vancouver Bach Choir. Roles performed include Mavis in City Workers in Love, The Bride in Stravinsky's The Wedding, Antonia in Tales of Hoffmann, Yum-Yum in The Mikado and Barena in Jenufa. Ms. Breier made her Toronto debut with Opera Anonymous in the role of Monica in Menotti's The Medium in May 1997, and returned to Toronto to sing with John Hess's Queen of Puddings company in June 1997, and to sing Ann Trulove in The Rake's Progress with OpAnon in May 1998. Torin Chiles tenor Tom Rakewell in The Rake's Progress Torin Chiles es one of Canada's busiest young tenors. He has performed with most of this country's major opera companies and many Canadian symphony orchestras. This season Mr. Chiles returned to the National Arts Centre and Opera Lyra as Almaviva in The Barber of Seville. Mr. Chiles also returned this year to perform the role of Adamo in Scarlatti's Il Primo Omicidio for the NAC Orchestra under renowned Maestro, Franz-Paul Decker. In 1997 Mr. Chiles returned to Toronto's Opera in Concert as Naisi in Healy Willan's opera Deirdre. He also returned as Pang to Calgary, Vancouver and Montréal for their productions of Turandot and to Winnipeg as the Magician in The Consul. Mr. Chiles appeared in Pacific Opera's Tosca, sang the Edmonton Symphony's Messiah and was Don Jose for the Kingston Symphony's concert version of Carmen. Mr. Chiles will appear next season in the Manitoba Opera Association's production of Le Nozze di Figaro, Calgary Opera's Carmen and will reprise his success of two seasons ago as the Magician for L'Opera de Montréal's production of The Consul, as well as appearing in their new production of Susanna. Other credits include Pinkerton for Opera Lyra's Madama Butterfly and Rodolfo in Mississauga Opera's La Bohème. Tom Rakewell marked Mr. Chiles' debut with Opera Anonymous. RichardDavidson tenor Sellem in The Rake's Progress, Joseph in Wuthering Heights Richard Davidson has performed with professional and community theatre companies including Opera Anonymous, Opera in Concert, Toronto Operetta Theatre, and Etobicoke Musical Productions. His first directing experience was with Virginia Reh as apprentice for EMP's Meet Me in St. Louis. This summer, he assisted Edward Franko in Pro Voce Studio's production of Puccini's Suor Angelica. Recent stage appearances include Sellem in The Rake's Progress for Opera Anonymous and Selim in The Abduction from the Seraglio for Opera Anonymous. Richard also acted as Assistant Director to Edward Franko in The Rake's Progress and The Abduction from the Seraglio. Melodia de Almeida mezzo Mother Goose in The Rake's Progress Gisele Kulak soprano Anna Gomez in The Consul, Mrs Gobineau in The Medium and Isabella in Wuthering Heights Gisele Kulak returns to Opera Anonymous after having appeared as Mrs. Gobineau in The Medium and Anna Gomez in The Consul. Ms. Kulak hails from out West with degrees in both Music and English from the University of Saskatchewan. Since arriving in Toronto, Ms. Kulak has sung Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann and Gilda in Rigoletto with Toronto Opera Repertoire, as well as Mrs. Hayes in Floyd's Susannah and Micaela in Carmen with Summer Opera Lyric Theatre, and Frasquita in Carmen Flamenco. Ms. Kulak recently appeared with Toronto Operetta Theatre in The Merry Widow, The New Moon and The Yeoman of the Guard. Recently, she made her debut with The York Symphony in a concert of operatic excerpts. Karen Olinyk mezzo The Mother in The Consul Karen Olinyk holds a Master of Music degree in Opera Performance from the University of British Columbia, and is also a graduate of the U of T's Opera Division, as well as the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies and the Opera East Summer Training Programme. Her performances have included Baba the Turk in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress with the Aldeburgh Festival, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with the Mississauga City Centre Opera, Countess Adelaide in The Bird Seller for Toronto Operetta Theatre, Rose in Lakme with Opera in Concert and Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflote with Opera East in Nova Scotia. Her oratorio work has included solos with the Aldeburgh Festival, the Vancouver Bach Choir, the Etobicoke Philharmonic and the Orpheus Choir of Toronto. Steven Pitkanen baritone Nick Shadow in The Rake's Progress, God in Leviathan Hook and Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights Steven Pitkanen (Heathcliff) has gone from Devil to God in one season -- he debuted recently with Opera Anonymous in the role of Nick Shadow in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress , and returned in August 1998 to sing God in Quenten Doolittle's new Canadian opera, The Leviathan Hook. Mr. Pitkanen has just completed three seasons with L'Opera de Montreal, during which time he performed the roles of Schaunard in La Boheme, Sciarrone in Tosca, Alfred in La Vie Pariesienne, Marullo in Rigoletto and Mandarin in Turandot. As a member of L'Atelier Lyrique, the young artists' apprentice programme at L'Opera de Montreal, Mr. Pitkanen performed the roles of Marcello in La Boheme, Marquis/Grenvil in La Traviata and Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia for L'Atelier's annual Canadian tours. He has appeared three times with the Kingston Symphony Orchestra, and has also been heard with Christ Church Cathedral (Montreal) and Toronto's Annex Singers. In Toronto he has been heard as the Zar in Opera in Concert's production of Zar und Zimmermann, and as Don Andres in La Perichole and Dr. Miracle in Hoffman with Summer Opera Lab. Last season Mr. Pitkanen made his debut with Opera York. Maria Soulis mezzo Nelly in Wuthering Heights Maria Soulis is laureate of the Montreal Jeunes Ambassadeurs Competition. Ms. Soulis has performed with orchestras and chamber groups in Canada and England and has just returned from a successful series of concerts in Germany and Italy. Her operatic repertoire includes Dido, Dorabella, Perichole and Orfeo. This past season, Maria made her debut with Opera York in the role of Musetta, in Leoncavallo's La Boheme. Wuthering Heights marks the debut of Ms. Soulis with Opera Anonymous. Erika Lee Tanner soprano Lucy in The Telephone, Dorothea Long in Charlie the Chicken and The Reporter in Leviathan Hook Soprano Erika Lee Tanner (Dorothea Long) flies into her second role with Opera Anonymous in Charlie the Chicken. She's developing a record of odd co-stars with this company, having performed with a telephone in Menotti's opera of the same name last spring. This summer Ms. Tanner performed in the world premiere of the Aperghis opera De la Nature de la Gravité at the Banff Festival of the Arts. She has studied contemporary music at Banff, the Britten-Pears School and the University of Toronto, where she performed as soloist in Orff's Carmina Burana. Ms Tanner has also performed the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor with Toronto Opera Repertoire, Mrs. Gleaton in Floyd's Susannah with Summer Opera Lyric Theatre and Olga in Toronto Operetta Theatre's Merry Widow. She also performed in the chorus for Opera Atelier's recent production of Don Giovanni, and begins a COC chorus contract in March of this year. In May Ms. Tanner will participate in Vancouver New Music's world premiere of Hanan's opera The Gang. Ellen Vesterdal mezzo Vera Boronel in The Consul Ellen Vesterdal (Vera Boronel in the Consul) a native of Alberta, received her Bachelor of Music from the University of British Columbia. An accomplished recitalist, Ms. Vesterdal has performed in Vancouver, Kleinberg and Toronto. In Vancouver Ellen performed such roles as Prince Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus and Some of the many roles she has performed since coming to Toronto are the title role in Carmen with Toronto Opera Repertoire, Miss Todd in The Old Maid and The Thief with Opera Buffa, and Giulietta in Tales of Hoffmann with Summer Opera Lab. Ms. Vesterdal sang the role of Cherubino in Opera Anonymous' recent concert presentation of The Marriage of Figaro, and she appeared as La Reine Gertrude in Thomas' Hamlet with Summer Opera Lyric Theatre this summer. Ms. Vesterdal will sing with the COC chorus next season. Alexander Wiebe baritone Dr. James Farrell in Leviathan Hook, Keeper of the Madhouse in The Rake's Progress, Aria Translater for Lucas et Cecile Alex Wiebe is glad to finally put his B.Sc. to use, playing Dr. James Farrell in The Leviathan Hook. He has previously appeared as the Keeper of the Madhouse in Opera Anonymous's production of The Rakes' Progress.. Other recent roles include The Baron and Marquis in Verdi's La Traviata (with Summer Opera Lyric Theatre), Liberto in Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea (with the Royal Conservatory of Music), and Papageno in Mozart's The Magic Flute (with Creative Artist Productions). This fall he returns to his studies at the Conservatory and in the spring will perform Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni. Alexa Barrett Wing soprano Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia and Amelia in Amelia Goes to the Ball An accomplished Oratorio and concert performer Ms. Wing made her British recital debut last fall and has also appearanced recently with the Toronto Symphony, The Windsor Symphony, the London Fanshawe Symphonic Chorus, and the Aradia Baroque Ensemble.In addition to this, Ms Wing has performed on the operatic stage in her debut with Opera Hamilton in 1994 as the Village Maiden in Le nozze di Figaro. She has also performed many times with the Toronto opera troupe Opera Anonymous as Lucia in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia, and Amelia in Menotti's Amelia goes to the ball. Ms. Wing has performed under the baton of conductors such as Mario Bernardi, Mariss Jansons, Elmer Iseler, and Daniel Lipton.A graduate from the University of Toronto with a degree in music, Ms Wing continues her study in Toronto with Carol Forte. Upcoming engagements include recitals with Concentus Arts Productions and Claviers Baroques. See Also: Alexa Barrett Wing's Website

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Date Last Modified: 16-Feb-01