Soprano Natalie Donnelly is quickly becoming one of Canada’s bright young opera stars.  She is in high demand for both solo performances and opera productions throughout Southern Ontario.   After completing her Bachelor of Music Degree in Voice Performance at the University of Toronto, Natalie has appeared as a soloist and guest artist with various Opera companies throughout the greater Toronto area.  Within the past two years, Natalie has performed numerous operatic roles including the title role in Suor Angelica, Giulietta in The Tales of Hoffmann and First Lady in The Magic Flute.

In November 2006, Natalie had the honour of performing at the ‘Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts’ in a gala commemorating Giuseppe Macina.  That month, she performed as a featured soloist in “An Evening of Opera with Russell Braun,” in the new ‘Rose Theatre’ presented by Brampton Lyric Opera.  Recently, Natalie also appeared as a guest soloist alongside renowned tenor Mario Zhang at the Toronto Centre for the Arts.

In March 2007, Natalie performed the role of Violetta in La Traviata with both Opera York and Toronto Opera Repertoire.  This year, she returned to perform with Toronto Opera Repertoire as Mimì in Puccini’s La Bohème.

 

 

Romulo Delgado is a classically trained tenor and a world music multi-instrumentalist. He has recorded for E.M.I. and Sony Records and was recently featured as the tenor soloist with the Central Band of the Canadian Forcesand the Air Command Pipes and Drums Band for Toronto’s first Canadian Forces Musical Salute.  His voice has delighted several Prime Ministers and serenaded Hollywood stars like Sharon Stone and Salma Hayek.

Romulo trained at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto under Donna Sherman, a member of the voice faculty at The Glenn Gould School.

His operatic roles include Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Alfredo in Verdi’s LaTraviata, Manrico (in excerpts from Verdi’s Il Trovatore) and Don Jose in Bizet’s Carmen. He has also appeared as tenor soloist in Theodore Dubois’ TheSeven Last Words of Christ and Mendelssohn’sElijah.  Upcoming lead tenor performances include Madama Butterfly with Opera Kitchener and Rigoletto with Opera York.

Romulo was an Ontario Provincial winner at the Kiwanis Music Festival and is one Canada’s most promising up- and- coming performing artists.

 

 

Colin Fox, Actor

Aside from a busy acting career spanning 40 years, including Broadway, the Stratford
and Shaw Festivals, feature films and television, Colin Fox made his concert debut in 1974 in the tiltle role of Lelio by Berlioz with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston symphony. He has also appeared on the concert stage in a variety of musical settings, including perfomances with pianists Jasmes Anagnosonn and Leslie Kinton and Anton Kuerti, the Hannaford Street Silver Band, the Penderecki Quartet, and more.

He is the recipient of the Tyrone Guthrie Award (Stratford Festival, 1966), a Genie Award (1971) for Best Actor, a Juno Award (1994) for Best Children's Recording for his title role in "Tchaikovsky Discovers America", and Six Peabody Award as Actor in various CBC Radio Dramas (1972-1992). He has been a nominee for both Emmy and Gemini Awards.

On television: as Dr Hendricks in "psi Factor", and in A & E's "Nero Wolfe" with Time Hutton and Maury Chaykin as the redoubtable butler, Fritz.

 

Jin-Shan Dai joined the Toronto Symphony in September 2004. Prior to his arrival inToronto, Mr. Dai was a member of the New Haven Symphony and theHartford Symphony. He also played in orchestras and music festivalsaround the world. He held leading positions in festival orchestrasuch as the Schelswig Holstein Music Festival in Germany, thePacific Music Festival orchestra in Japan, the Jerusalem international music festival in Israel, the Music Academy Of The West Festival orchestra in Santa Barbara, California, and the Spoleto Festival U.S.A in Charleston, South Carolina. In 2006, Mr.Dai was also invited to play in the worldwide chinese new years concert in shanghai.

Aside from being an active orchestral musician, Mr. Dai also enjoys being an active chamber music player. He frequently plays with "Via Salzburg", a Toronto based string ensemble. He has also collaborated with the Emerson String Quartet, premiered the Lowell Liebermann piano trio in Sapporo Japan, and attended the Taos Chamber Music Festival in Taos, New Mexico. Mr. Dai has also wonthe Emerson Chamber Music Competition and was a second prize winner of the Van Rooy violin competition.

A native of China, Mr. Dai went to the United Stated in 1997. He is a recent Graduate of Yale University where he studied under Peter Oundjian, the current music director of the Toronto Symphony

 

Praised by many artists for his unique and poetic musicianship, Robyn Cho is a versatile clarinetist. He is currently working with Joaquin Valdepeñas at The Glenn Gould School. Most recently, he won first prize at the Mooredale Concerto Competition 2007 and plays regularly in orchestras such as the Canadian Opera Company and the Toronto Sinfonietta. In 2007, he was a finalist at The International Clarinet Association Young Artist Competition in Vancouver, BC and the Winnipeg Symphony principal clarinet audition. In the same year, he was also runner-up at The RCO Concerto Competition and Tom Thomas Award. He is a recipient of numerous scholarships including Dr. Michael Sanders Scholarship, Aspen Music Festival scholarship, The Royal Conservatory of Music Scholarship and the Avrahm Galper Scholarship. 

He has participated in the Aspen Music Festival where he was principal clarinet of the Aspen Sinfonia and co-principal of the Festival Orchestra. In Aspen, he studied with Theodore Oien(Principal clarinet, Detroit Symphony) and worked with renowned conductors including David Zinman, James Conlon, and George Manahan.

He has been coached by some of the finest artists such as David Shifrin, Marc Durand, Franklin Cohen, Eli Eban, Burt Hara, Theodore Oien, Dennis Smylie, and Yizhak Schotten. As soloist and chamber musician, he has recently performed with The Royal Conservatory Orchestra under the baton of Uri Mayer and the Tokai String Quartet. He will appear as a soloist with The Oakville Symphony.

 

Winona Zelenka is one of Canada’s finest cellists on the scene today.  As a soloist, she has performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Strauss’ Don Quixote Suite), and has performed with the Mississauga Symphony, the Scarborough Philharmonic, and the Huronia Sinfonietta.  Ms. Zelenka, a proponent of new music, performed the world premiere of “Invocation II’” for cello and orchestra (with Huronia Sinfonietta), a work written for her by Canadian composer Michael Pepa.

Ms. Zelenka is currently serving as Acting Principal of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and has held that position since the 2004/2005 season. She has also been Assistant Principal of the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra since 2005, and served as Principal during the summers of 2007 and 208. Winona is a dedicated recitalist and chamber musician, who regularly performs on several series in Toronto. 

“Their swords were their bows, and their victory was in forgetting about their individual status in their main jobs … and deliver a gorgeous, and intellectually stimulating program…Bérard, Li and Zelenka carved into [Beethoven’s Trio Op. 9, No. 2] with glee, coming up with a full-blooded reading that never rode roughshod over quiet passages.”

John Terauds, The Toronto Star, January 2009

 

“…listening to his music: one experiences intelligence, skillful execution, creativity and most importantly, an inventiveness that still acknowledges the jazz tradition.” - David Braid

 Chris Donnelly is a Toronto-based pianist, composer and improviser known for his musicality, versatility and ability to captivate an audience. He has had the distinct privilege of performing with Canadian greats Brad Turner, John Macleod, Adi Braun, William Carn, Quinsin Nachoff, Tara Davidson, Lina Allemano Heather Bambrick and Andrew Downing.  As well as working with numerous musicians in a variety of contexts, Chris enjoys playing solo piano repertoire consisting of originals, jazz standards and other compositions with cross-genre qualities from Egberto Gismonti to Nikolai Kapustin.  His talent, perseverance and good fortune have led him to perform in various concert halls throughout Toronto including Roy Thomson Hall, CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio, MacMillian Theatre, Walter Hall and the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre in the new Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. In April 2007, Chris also performed at the Florida Theatre in Jacksonville Florida where he received 2nd place as part of the Great American Jazz Piano Competition.   

 
Chris has worked as a faculty member of the Humber College Community Music School, Prairielands Jazz Camp and the National Music Camp of Canada.  Upcoming projects include the release of a solo-piano, debut album featuring a blend of original material and arrangements of jazz standards.  His future endeavors as a performing artist continue to look promising and is dedicated to bringing his music to a national and international audience.

 

Karen Wood has spent 8 seasons with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival (most notably in all of Brian Macdonald's famous Gilbert and Sullivan productions) and 10 seasons with the Shaw Festival in FOGGY DAY, LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN, CHOCOLATE SOLDIER, MR. CINDERS and CAVALCADE to name a few. Karen also assisted Shaw's resident director Neil Munro on Granville Barker's HIS MAJESTY and assisted international director Laszlo Marton on THE PLAY'S THE THING with the Soulpepper Theatre company. Other directing credits include I CONFESS I HAVE LIVED written by Ray Luedeke, AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS with The Evergreen Singers, co-director on Carousel Players JELLY BELLY MAKES GARBAGE DELIGHT OF ALLIGATOR PIE and assistant director on THE LOVE LIST, THUMBS and THE LONG WEEKEND at the Victoria Playhouse.

 

Tom Diamond’s award-winning productions have been seen on the stages of the finest theatre and opera companies in North America. He has staged eight operas for the Canadian Opera Company including internationally acclaimed productions of Giasone and La Calisto by Cavalli. In the 2001/2 Season he directed Guilio Cesare in Egitto by Sartorio for their Ensemble Studio (possibly the first staged performance of this masterpiece since the 17th century) and a sold-out production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare with an all-star cast including Polish super star Ewa Podles and Canadian stars Isabel Bayrakdarian, Daniel Taylor and Marie-Nicole Lemieux (in her operatic debut).

For Tapestry New Opera Works, Mr Diamond staged the world premiere of Chan Ka Nin’s Iron Road, a bilingual (Cantonese/English) opera about the building of the Canadian railroad. It won Toronto’s Dora Mavor Moore Award as 2001’s Outstanding New Musical. Last season he directed their Opera to Go and most recently has been appointed Resident Director/Dramaturg of their New Works Studio.

For the Elora Festival he developed and directed the premiere production of Timothy Sullivan’s Florence, The Lady with the Lamp which won the prestigious Chalmers Award.

In 1999 Mr. Diamond met a group of performance artists from Pittsburgh called Squonk. Their collaboration on a show called Bigsmorgasbordwunderwerk became the surprise off-Broadway hit of that season and transferred to the Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway where it won the American Theatre Wing’s Hewes Award. Ben Brantley raved in the New York Times: “I can’t believe I’m such a sucker for this!” putting it on an equal footing with Stomp, De La Guarda and The Blue Man Group. Squonk more than any of its generic cousins employs a cinematic visual vocabulary that makes you think of fever-dream movie directors like Peter Greenaway, Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo) and Geoffrey Reggio (Koyaanisquasi)."The most ingenious aspect of Squonk is in its weaving the manufacture of music into the show’s mise-en-scene, as though sound were the mother of all sensory stimuli.”

Mr. Diamond has also received great praise for his staging of classic operas. Canada’s renowned opera critic, the late Urjo Kareda wrote that Mr. Diamond was "...definitely one of Canada's shrewdest opera directors. " Globe and Mail, March 2000 (Opera Ontario's Faust)

For Pacific Opera Victoria, he has directed Le Nozze di Figaro, Norma, Rigoletto (in co-production with Orchestra London) and most recently Manon Lescaut.

Last season he made his debut with Opera New Brunswick directing Wendy Nielsen in TOSCA. He returns in 2007 to direct Sally Dibblee and Marc Hervieux in La Traviata.

In his ‘spare time’ Tom Diamond moonlights as a reality television star. Season Two of the BRAVO! hit series Bathroom Divas: So You want to be an Opera Star, airs January of 2007.
“This is the only singing reality series with serious musical chops and genuine drama. And I’ll take the shrewd (and coolly hunky) Tom Diamond over sullen Simon Cowell any day" Globe and Mail, February 2006