{"id":83578,"date":"2022-10-21T13:29:39","date_gmt":"2022-10-21T17:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=83578"},"modified":"2022-10-24T10:07:13","modified_gmt":"2022-10-24T14:07:13","slug":"scoop-meet-2022-centre-stage-ensemble-studio-competition-finalists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2022\/10\/21\/scoop-meet-2022-centre-stage-ensemble-studio-competition-finalists\/","title":{"rendered":"THE SCOOP | Meet The 2022 Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition Finalists"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_83579\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-83579\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-83579\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/COC-Ensemble-Competition.jpg\" alt=\"Finalists in the 2022 Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition. L-R (top to bottom): River Guard, Wesley Harrison, and Korin Thomas-Smith; Laura Nielsen, Matthew Li, Karoline Podolak, and Hannah Crawford (Photos submitted by artists)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-83579\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Finalists in the 2022 Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition. L-R (top to bottom): River Guard, Wesley Harrison, and Korin Thomas-Smith; Laura Nielsen, Matthew Li, Karoline Podolak, and Hannah Crawford (Photos submitted by artists)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After a series of live auditions held across the country, seven finalists have been announced who will compete in the Canadian Opera Company\u2019s Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition. The competition for the most promising new opera singers will take place November 3, 2022 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.<\/p>\n<p>From a field of nearly 100 applicants, judges travelled from Calgary to Toronto and Montreal to hear 64 candidates in person. The finalists are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hannah Crawford, soprano<\/li>\n<li>River Guard, tenor<\/li>\n<li>Wesley Harrison, tenor<\/li>\n<li>Matthew Li, bass<\/li>\n<li>Laura Nielsen, soprano<\/li>\n<li>Karoline Podolak, soprano<\/li>\n<li>Korin Thomas-Smith, baritone<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cAll the young artists we heard have shown a dedication to their craft and an inspiring resilience to create, despite the obvious challenges of the past few years,\u201d says Dorian Cox, Director of the COC Ensemble Studio in a statement. \u201cEach of our seven finalists has a unique voice, and demonstrates an extraordinarily high level of artistry. I can\u2019t wait to celebrate their well-deserved evening in the spotlight!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>judges&#8217; panel<\/strong> consists of:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Perryn Leech<\/strong>, COC General Director<\/li>\n<li><strong>Roberto Mauro<\/strong>, COC Director of Artistic Planning<\/li>\n<li><strong>Adrianne Pieczonka<\/strong>, internationally-celebrated Canadian soprano<\/li>\n<li><strong>J\u2019Nai Bridges<\/strong>, two-time Grammy Award-winning American mezzo-soprano<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Audience members will also be able to throw in their vote for the Audience Choice Award winner.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s theme is \u201cA Night in the Spotlight,\u201d and audiences are invited to the live final round of the competition. Audiences will get the chance to hear some of opera\u2019s gorgeous repertoire while they get a look at the opera stars of the future. Each finalist will be singing one last aria accompanied by the COC Orchestra.<\/p>\n<p>At stake are cash prizes, performance opportunities, and the chance to be invited to join the COC Ensemble Studio.<\/p>\n<p>Tickets for the Competition Experience include a complimentary cocktail reception, with an after-competition toast, canap\u00e9s and refreshments curated by The Chase. The Premium Spotlight Experience offers a three-course dinner, a chance to mingle with contestants, and more.<\/p>\n<p>More information and tickets <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coc.ca\/special-events\/centrestage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>All proceeds from the event will go towards supporting the Ensemble Studio artist development program.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><em><b>#LUDWIGVAN<\/b><\/em><\/h3>\n<p class=\"western\"><em>Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><em>Sign up for the Ludwig van Daily \u2014 classical music and opera in five minutes or less <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/ludwig-van.us9.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=4f785cb3f9058f2393ccad035&amp;id=57cdb68eac\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>HERE<\/em><\/a>.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seven finalists have been announced who will compete in the Canadian Opera Company\u2019s Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":83579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[39907,19,39,43],"tags":[5998,40305],"yst_prominent_words":[13156,10807,10782,7312,7306,13174,36328,24837,23842],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/10\/COC-Ensemble-Competition.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-lK2","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83578"}],"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=83578"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83867,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83578\/revisions\/83867"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83578"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=83578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}