One of the treats of mid-summer is the annual announcement of new talents joining the Canadian Opera Company’s annual COC Ensemble Studio.
This year, the COC welcomes Toronto soprano Charlotte Siegel and pianist Vladimir Soloviev.
Opera training ground zero
The Ensemble Studio is the premiere training ground for Canadian singers and piano accompanists alike. Since launching, the program has launched the careers of nearly 230 Canadian opera hopefuls, including Ben Heppner, Krisztina Szabó, Emily D’Angelo, Claire de Sévigné, Gordon Bintner, Ambur Braid, Miriam Khalil, and Wallis Giunta, and David Pomeroy.
The studio is part of the COC Orchestra Academy — a comprehensive post-graduate training unit for opera professionals. The program is special in that it includes understudy and performing mainstage roles, intensive vocal coaching, as well as detailed language, movement, and acting studies.
Both Charlotte Siegel and pianist Vladimir Soloviev will replace soprano Anna-Sophie Neher and pianist Alex Soloway who graduated from the COC Ensemble Studio this past spring.
Meet the Artists
Charlotte Siegel – Soprano
- Holds a graduate diploma and a master’s in opera and voice from McGill University, and a bachelor of classical voice performance from the University of Toronto.
- Recently named to CBC Music’s classical “30 Under 30” list for 2021, was a Buffalo/Toronto District winner for the 2021 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, placed third in the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio Competition in 2019, and was also a finalist for the Atelier Lyrique 2019 National Auditions.
- Recent roles include Rose Maurrant in Street Scene, Nancy in Albert Herring, and Elle in Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with Opera McGill.
- Co-founder and Artistic Director of the Marigold Music Program and will be the librettist for Loose Tea Music Theatre’s next iteration of Carmen #YesAllWomen, scheduled for 2023.
Vladimir Soloviev – Pianist
- Toronto-based pianist and vocal coach with performances at Carnegie Hall and Bohemian National Hall in New York.
- Won the Pattison Piano Competition and the London Scholarship Foundation Competition, and the Concerto Competition at Western University.
- Completed his bachelor’s degree at the University of Western Ontario, his master’s at the Eastman School of Music, a professional studies diploma at Mannes School of Music, and a Master’s in Collaborative Piano at the University of Toronto (UofT).
- He’s also performed Don Giovanni with HOS, as well as Portrait de Manon and Der Schauspieldirektor with UofT Opera, and remains active as a music director at Trinity United Church in Newmarket, Ontario.
Returning artists for the upcoming COC Ensemble Studio are sopranos Jamie Groote and Midori Marsh, tenor Matthew Cairns, baritone Jonah Spungin, bass-baritone Alex Halliday, bass-baritone Vartan Gabrielian, and pianist Frances Thielmann.
#LUDWIGVAN
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