{"id":118839,"date":"2025-10-24T16:17:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T20:17:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=118839"},"modified":"2025-10-27T13:08:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T17:08:54","slug":"preview-soprano-nikan-ingabire-kanate-wins-first-prize-and-the-audience-choice-prize-at-centre-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/10\/24\/preview-soprano-nikan-ingabire-kanate-wins-first-prize-and-the-audience-choice-prize-at-centre-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"THE SCOOP | Soprano Nikan Ingabire Kanate Wins First Prize and the Audience Choice Prize At Centre Stage"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"cThe
The 12th annual Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition (Photo courtesy of the Canadian Opera Company)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ottawa soprano Nikan Ingabire Kanate has won First Prize and the Audience Choice Prize at the 12th annual Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition. Mezzo-soprano Camila Montefusco of Montreal won the Second Prize, with baritone S\u00f8ren Pedersen of San Diego, California taking home the Erin Wall Prize.<\/p>\n

The gala event took place October 23, 2025 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Marci Ien, former Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth of Canada, hosted the annual event that is the grand finale of a search for Canada\u2019s top young opera singers.<\/p>\n

A win comes with a cash prize, and the chance at being invited to join the COC\u2019s Ensemble Studio program.<\/p>\n

Winners & Prizes<\/h2>\n

The seven finalists were chosen from a total of 117 online applications, followed by almost 60 in-person auditions which were held in Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto. Each of the seven performed two arias, accompanied by the COC Orchestra led by COC Music Director Johannes Debus, with one taking place in a closed round before the judges, and the other in front of a live audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something magical about seeing the future of opera take shape before your eyes,\u201d says COC General Director David Ferguson<\/strong> in a statement. \u201cThe Ensemble Studio Competition brings together some of Canada\u2019s most gifted young voices \u2014 artists whose talent and passion remind us why this art form endures. To all of this year\u2019s finalists: congratulations. The path ahead is bright, and we can\u2019t wait to see where your voices will carry you.\u201d<\/p>\n

First Prize: Soprano Nikan Ingabire Kanate<\/h3>\n

The First Prize win comes with a $12,500 cash award, and the Audience Choice Prize with an addition $3,000. For the public performance, she sang \u201cDepuis le jour\u201d from Louise by Charpentier.<\/p>\n

A native of Ottawa, Nikan Ingabire Kanate comes from an Ivorian-Rwandese background. She\u2019s currently working towards a Master of Music in Opera degree at the Curtis Institute of Music. She earned her BMus at the University of Toronto. She has performed as a soloist at Koerner Hall with The Nathaniel Dett Chorale, and sang the role of Fortuna and Ottavia in George Lewis\u2019 The Comet\/Poppea with Curtis Opera. In February 2026, she will debut the title role in Kaija Saariaho\u2019s La Passion de Simone.<\/p>\n

Second Prize: Mezzo-soprano Camila Montefusco<\/h3>\n

Second Prize comes with a cash prize of $8,000. Camila performed the aria \u201cParto, parto\u201d from La clemenza di Tito by Mozart during the public round.<\/p>\n

The Brazilian-born mezzo-soprano is currently resident artist with l\u2019Atelier lyrique de l\u2019Op\u00e9ra de Montr\u00e9al. Her recent role debuts include Offred (The Handmaid\u2019s Tale), Madame Flora (The Medium), Annio (La clemenza di Tito), and Maman (L\u2019enfant et les sortil\u00e8ges). She is a strong believer in the connecting and healing properties of art that are much needed in the world today.<\/p>\n

Erin Wall Prize: Baritone S\u00f8ren Pedersen<\/h3>\n

The Erin Wall<\/a> Prize, named after the late vocalist, comes with a cash prize of $5,000. For his aria round, S\u00f8ren performed: \u201cLargo al factotum\u201d from The Barber of Seville by Rossini.<\/p>\n

The Canadian-American baritone graduated with a Master of Music in Voice Performance degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), and he\u2019s working towards an\u00a0 is Artist Diploma at that institution. Last fall, Pedersen debuted as Schaunard with San Diego Opera, and and won the District Level of the Laffont Competition.<\/p>\n

Ensemble Studio<\/h2>\n

The Ensemble Studio program has helped to launch the careers of nearly 240 Canadian singers, including such artists as Ben Heppner, Gordon Bintner, Ambur Braid, Emily D\u2019Angelo, Simone McIntosh, Matthew Cairns, Claire de S\u00e9vign\u00e9, Wallis Giunta, and Krisztina Szab\u00f3 since it was launched in 1980. Find more details about the finalists here.<\/p>\n

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Ottawa soprano Nikan Ingabire Kanate has won First Prize and the Audience Choice Prize at the 12th annual Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":118841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[41660,5,17,39,43,62],"tags":[40305,42314],"yst_prominent_words":[7306,13174,22088],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/Copy-of-NEWS-2025-10-24T161005.626.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-uUL","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118839"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118839"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118889,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118839\/revisions\/118889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118839"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=118839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}