Toronto, February 7, 2023 – On Monday, February 6th, the rising stars of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, Canada’s premier training program for young opera professionals, competed in the sixth biennial Christina and Louis Quilico Awards, with Midori Marsh claiming the first prize of $6,000. Ariane Cossette won the second prize of $3,500 and Alex Hetherington won the third prize of $2,500. Career development awards of $1,000 each were also presented to Alex Halliday, Queen Hezumuryango and Charlotte Siegel in recognition of the awards’ 20th anniversary. The event took place at the Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre in the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.
The competition was adjudicated by a panel composed of Perryn Leech, General Director of the Canadian Opera Company, Steven Philcox, Canadian collaborative pianist, and Carolyn Sproule, Canadian mezzo-soprano. The young artists featured in the February 6th competition sang one aria of their choice and one aria selected by the panel.
About Midori Marsh
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Midori Marsh completed her Master of Music in opera at the University of Toronto. In the COC’s 2021-2022 season, she was seen as Nella in Gianni Schicchi, the soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem, Annina in La Traviata and Papagena in The Magic Flute, a performance for which she earned a 2022 Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination. Marsh will next appear on the COC’s mainstage as Third Apparition in the company’s 2023 production of Macbeth. Past engagements include Norina in Don Pasquale (Under the Spire Festival), Sarah Thorpe in No One’s Safe, and Johan’s Mother in Silent Light (Banff Centre); Frasquita in Carmen (Waterloo Symphony); Arminda in La finta giardiniera, Rose Maurrant in Street Scene, Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, and Mary Crawford in Mansfield Park (U of T Opera); Annina in La Traviata (Cambridge Symphony Orchestra). In 2019, she took home both the First Prize and the Audience Choice Award at the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio Competition.
Midori Marsh, Photo: Karen E. Reeves
About the COC Ensemble Studio
The COC Ensemble Studio is an innovative artist development program for emerging Canadian opera professionals. The company’s uniquely collaborative approach blends advanced study and practical experience through a multi-year program that’s individually tailored for each member. Artists receive intensive vocal coaching; language, movement and acting studies; as well as private masterclasses with renowned opera professionals.
Members of the Ensemble Studio are the COC’s resident artists and important community ambassadors for the company. Through performances and collaborations with local schools and organizations, Ensemble members are often the first point of contact with opera for many; their ongoing participation in this area is integral to creating inclusive and welcoming opportunities for more people to engage with the art form.
Since 1980, nearly 230 young professional Canadian singers and pianists have acquired foundational opera experience through the Ensemble Studio. Former members include Ben Heppner, Krisztina Szabó, Gordon Bintner, Ambur Braid, Miriam Khalil, and Wallis Giunta, and David Pomeroy.
About the Christina and Louis Quilico Awards
Christina Petrowska Quilico, C.M., OOnt, FRSC, established the Christina and Louis Quilico Fund in 2000 to honour her late husband, renowned baritone Louis Quilico, and to recognize outstanding young singers. During his 45 years on the stage, Louis Quilico shared performing credits with Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Joan Sutherland, and Renata Tebaldi. He was instrumental in furthering the careers of many young singers through his teaching and master classes. The Ontario Arts Foundation manages the endowment that funds the Christina and Louis Quilico Awards.
Acknowledgements
This year’s competition is generously supported by Turtle Creek Asset Management, Burgundy Asset Management and Connor Clark and Lunn Asset Management.
The Ensemble Studio is underwritten by The Catherine and Maxwell Meighen Foundation, with major support from Marjorie & Roy Linden, The Azrieli Foundation, RBC Foundation and The Slaight Family Foundation, and additional support from ARIAS: Canadian Opera Student Development Fund, Anne & Tony Arrell, Marcia Lewis Brown, Catherine Fauquier, George & Irene Hamilton, Patrick and Barbara Keenan Foundation, Joy Levine, The MacNeill Family Foundation, Patricia & Frank Mills, and Brian Wilks.
The Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre is presented by TD Bank Group.
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For more information, please contact:
| Bruce Bennett, Executive Director Ontario Arts Foundation Tel: (416) 969-7411 bbennett@oafdn.ca Davin Leivonen-Fok, Communications Coordinator Canadian Opera Company Tel: (416) 306-2330 davinlf@coc.ca |
Established in 1991, the Ontario Arts Foundation (OAF) is passionately committed to building long-term support for the arts in Ontario. In 2022-2023, the OAF paid over $4.4 million in endowment income and $300,000 in awards and scholarships.
Based in Toronto, the Canadian Opera Company is the largest producer of opera in Canada and one of the largest in North America. General Director Perryn Leech joined the company in 2021, forming a leadership team with Music Director Johannes Debus and Deputy General Director Christie Darville. The COC enjoys a loyal audience, including a dedicated base of subscribers, and has an international reputation for artistic excellence and creative innovation. Its diverse repertoire includes new commissions and productions, local and international collaborations with leading opera companies and festivals, and attracts the world’s foremost Canadian and international artists. The company is an incubator for the future of the art form, nurturing Canada’s new wave of opera performers and creators with customized training and support. The COC’s purpose-built opera house, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, is hailed internationally as one of the finest in the world. For more information, visit coc.ca.
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