Toronto’s Opera 5 has announced the names of the six early-career artists who will be joining the Opera 5 & Opera McGill Intern Program. They’ll be taking part in the Opera 5 production of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw as part of this brand new pilot project.
The Opera 5 & Opera McGill Intern Program is designed to support young artists by providing learning and performance opportunities in several facets of opera production.
The six interns will be joining an all-Canadian cast as covers, while they benefit from individualized mentorship and participate in professional development workshops and seminars. They’ll shadow the production, design and administrator roles in order to build a solid foundation of skills through the opera world.
They’ll also take the stage to perform their roles in full for the June 13 show, and receive standard union fees for their work.
The first six early-career artists come from the Opera McGill program:
- Patricia Yates (Prologue/Peter Quint);
- Kate Fogg (Governess);
- MacKenzie Sechi (Mrs. Grose);
- Mala Weissberg (Miles);
- Paige Robinson (Flora);
- Bri Jones (Mrs Jessel).
“Singers are not given enough agency to be creative leaders.” says Rachel Krehm, General Director of Opera 5 in a statement. “The traditional operatic career path for a singer of the past has meant focusing only on singing. In the Canadian landscape these days, this is not a viable career path.
“Singers need to have many skills to build a career in the arts. Opera 5 and Opera McGill are addressing this need with practical hands-on experience with mentorship and having interns hold a variety of roles in a professional production. Not only will this opportunity be their professional stage debut in Canada, but they will get to work with the main stage cast as covers and build practical skills in production, design, and administration to allow them to build a career with creative options.”
“Stephen Hargreaves and I are thrilled to see this pilot project leap into existence through the vision of Opera 5’s Rachel Krehm and Jaclyn Grossman.” says Patrick Hansen, Director of Opera McGill. “The students from our program at the Schulich School of Music are now uniquely positioned to take part in this groundbreaking internship that will give them their professional Canadian opera debuts as well as nurture their portfolio career skill sets.”
The Turn of the Screw
Opera 5 will return to the stage for a live performance for the first time since 2018. This production of Britten’s operatic thriller was destined to be presented in 2020, and was shuttered due to the pandemic.
The main cast for The Turn of the Screw includes names that will be familiar to Toronto’s opera fans:
- Asitha Tennekoon (Prologue/Peter Quint);
- Elizabeth Polese (Governess);
- Krisztina Szabó (Mrs. Grose);
- Ryan McDonald (Miles);
- Thera Barclay (Flora);
- Rachel Krehm (Miss Jessel).
Evan Mitchell, Music Director of the Kingston Symphony, will conduct a full chamber ensemble of 13 players, with Amanda Smith, Artistic Director of FAWN Chamber Creative directing.
The production will take place from June 12 to 15, 2024 at Toronto’s Theatre Passe Muraille.
Tickets go on sale in January through Theatre Passe Muraille’s box office [HERE].
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