TOSCA ARTISTS
Tosca will be conducted by Artistic Director Jennifer Tung with piano accompaniement by Music Director Ivan Jovanovic.
Jennifer Tung
Artistic Director
Ivan Jovanovic
Music Director
Suzanne Yeo
Assistant Conductor
December 9 - Peoples Theatre, Markham
Zachary Rioux
Cavaradossi
Naomi Eberhard
Tosca
Andrey Andreychik
Scarpia
December 11 - Church of the Redeemer, Toronto
Romulo Delgado
Cavaradossi
Jessica Lane
Tosca
Dylan Wright
Scarpia
Both Performances
John Darrigo
Spoletta
Austin Larusson
A Sacristan
Gabriel Sanchez-Ortega
Angelotti
Artist Biographies
Naomi Eberhard
Tosca
Dramatic soprano Naomi Eberhard, known for her vibrant, round, and metallic voice with a thrilling upper register, has firmly established herself in the music of Verdi, Puccini, Wagner, and Strauss.
Ms. Eberhard will start the 2022/23 season sharing the stage with pianist Jean Desmarais in a recital featuring Liszt and Richard Strauss followed by the title role of Tosca with Toronto City Opera. In Spring 2020 Naomi was thrilled to take on the momentous role of Turandot with Opera by Request. The previous season of 2018/2019 saw Ms. Eberhard sing Donna Anna and Norma as well as Noèmie in Cendrillion and Senta in Der fliegende Holländer with Abridged Opera in collaboration with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra. 2017/2018 was a highlight for Ms. Eberhard with the demanding title role of Richard Strauss’ Salome with Opera by Request in Toronto and she was also named a finalist in the Lauritz Melchior International Voice Competition. Ms. Eberhard
continued her season with Abridged Opera as Erste Dame in their Die Zauberflöte.
The 2016/2017 season, Ms. Eberhard took on the title role of Puccini’s Suor Angelica with South Ottawa Performing Arts Collaborative and Second Woman in Dido and Aeneas with OperOttawa. In 2015/2016 Ms. Eberhard sang the glorious role of Bellini’s Norma in addition to concert series' highlighting Verdi and Shakespeare as well as
Ottawa’s summer festival: Music and Beyond. In Summer 2016, Ms. Eberhard was named a semi-finalist in the Elizabeth Connell Prize, the International Competition for Dramatic Sopranos. Ms. Eberhard has also been seen in the roles of Giorgetta from Il tabarro, Luisa Miller, Helmwige and Gerhilde from Die Walküre and La Contessa from Le
nozze di Figaro.
Jessica Lane
Tosca
“...spirited, sensitive and vocally versatile” (Opera Canada), Jessica Lane, an internationally award winning soprano is as inspiring to watch as she is to listen. A two time consecutive prize winner from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the first place winner of the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg International Competition, Ms. Lane is making her mark on the opera scene.
Jessica made her European debut singing the title role in "Tosca" with Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg. She has since had the opportunity to reprise this role twice; once with Opera York in Toronto and again with Southern Ontario Lyric Opera’s inaugural production. Jessica is thrilled to breathe new life into one of her favourite roles for you today with Toronto City Opera.
In addition to her widely acclaimed portrayals of Tosca, additional credits include: Soprano Soloist in Verdi’s “Requiem”, Adalgisa in "Norma", Mutter and Hexe in “Hänsel und Gretel”, Foreign Princess in "Rusalka", and back in the times of Ms. Lane the mezzo, the title role in “Carmen”, Der Komponist in Strauss' “Ariadne auf Naxos”, Nicklausse in “Les Contes d'Hoffmann”, and Marcellina in “Le Nozze di Figaro”. Ms. Lane is a fixture in the Southern Ontario concert scene, frequently engaged by the Etobicoke Philharmonic, Cambridge Symphony, Milton Philharmonic, and Burlington Symphony Orchestra.
A highly sought after adjudicator, masterclass clinician and private instructor, Jessica currently has students completing voice programs at the Juilliard School, the University of Toronto and the Fountain School for Performing Arts.
Zachary Rioux
Cavaradossi
A 4th-year Resident Artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, Zachary Rioux has been praised as a “show-stopping tenor” (Ludwig van Toronto). Born in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, last season saw him perform as Lensky in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème with AVA. He also performed as the Prince in a virtual performance of Dvorak’s Rusalka with LAH-SOW during the COVID-19 pandemic. His pre-pandemic operatic experience includes his 2018-19 season, where he performed as Tamino in Mozart’s The Magic Flute three times, with Toronto City Opera, Brott Opera, and the Glenn Gould School Opera, respectively, and was a Young Artist at the Glimmerglass Festival in the summer of 2019. That season, and continuing into the Fall of 2019, he was a prize winner in multiple competitions, including 2nd Prize at the Mario Lanza competition, a Gold Medal (High Distinction) at the Rising Stars Grand Prix International Music Competition Berlin, and a Gold Medal at the Vienna International Music Competition.
Zachary spent last summer in Germany, competing in the final round of Neue Stimmen, where he earned a Talent Development Award, and participating at the International Meistersinger Academy (IMA). This season, he performed as Spoletta and covered Cavaradossi in Edmonton Opera’s production of Puccini’s Tosca, studied at the Mascarade Opera Studio in Florence, and will perform as the tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah with L’orchestre classique de Montréal and with Symphony New Brunswick.
Romulo Delgado
Cavaradossi
Romulo Delgado is a classically trained tenor, world music multi-instrumentalist, vocal coach consultant and adjudicator. He was a region finalist at the Hans Gabor Belvedere International Opera competition in Vienna, Austria and trained in Toronto at the Royal Conservatory Music. His versatility as a performer has enchanted audiences all over North
America and Europe.
His operatic roles currently include Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata, Don Jose in Bizet’s Carmen, The Duke of Mantua in Verdi’s Rigoletto, Edgardo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Idomeneo in Mozart’s Idomeneo, Mario Cavaradossi in Puccini’s Tosca, Macduff in Verdi’s Macbeth, Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Boheme and Riccardo in the Canadian premiere of Verdi’s Oberto.
As a world music performer, he has also toured and recorded with many international and local recording artists and has been engaged by several of the fortune 500 corporations. Whether on the opera stage, or enchanting audiences with his world music passion, “Romulo Delgado’s free, vigorous and lustrous tenor voice makes him one of Canada’s most unique performing artists.” (The Globe and Mail)
Andrey Andreychik
Scarpia
Baritone Andrey Andreychik is an avid performer that brings passion to operatic repertoire spanning from standard pieces to the creation of contemporary roles. Praised as having a “stoic, manly sound” (Schmopera), Andrey’s most recent engagements include the Orcale Voice of Neptune in Idomeneo with Teatro Bellini in Catania, Italy & Alfio in Cavalleria rusticana with Toronto City Opera.
Andrey received his diploma in opera performance from the University of British Columbia in 2011, shortly thereafter making his professional debut as Figaro in Il Barbiere Di Siviglia with Theater Hof in Germany. He has since performed across Europe, China, Canada, Russia, and the United States. Andrey is a laureate of several Russian National vocal competitions, a finalist in the XVII Concorso Internazionale per Cantanti Lirici “Spazio Musica” in Italy, and a winner of Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques in Montreal, Canada. He has an extensive performance repertoire including the title roles in Eugene Onegin, Gianni Schicchi & Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Marcello (La Bohème), Enrico (Lucia di Lammemoor), and Escamillo (Carmen) to name a few. Previous engagements include a solo recital of “Russian Romances” for the Vancouver Women's Musical Society, the roles of Boyar Shaklovity & Vladimir Galitsky in the Canadian premieres of Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina & Borodin's Prince Igor respectively with Voicebox: Toronto Opera in Concert, the Bass soloist in Handel's Messiah with the Vancouver Bach Choir, and annual appearances in Toronto's Casa Loma Summer Concert series, where he has sung Haly in L'italiana in Algeri and been featured as a soloist on numerous occasions.
Dylan Wright
Scarpia
Bass-baritone Dylan Wright is an operatic, oratorio, and drag performer who has been praised for “seducing the audience with his rich, sonorous voice” (Beat Magazine). He recently sang Ferrando in Opera Sustenida’s Il Trovatore, Simone in ICAV’s Gianni Schicchi, Zaccaria in Toronto City Opera’s Nabucco, the Bass Soloist in the Toronto Choral Society’s Mozart Requiem, and Leporello in Highlands Opera Studio’s Don Giovanni, as well as understudying Dracula in Andrew Ager’s new opera of the same name with New Opera Lyra. Upcoming performances include Simone in Gianni Schicchi and the Old Romani in Aleko, both with New Opera Lyra.
Gabriel Sanchez-Ortega
Angelotti
Gabriel Sanchez-Ortega is a bass praised for his “booming bass sound,” and his “surprising low and rich voice” (Schmopera). He recently sang the role of Dottore Grenvil in Mississauga Symphony Orchestra’s production of La Traviata, under the baton of Maestro Mastromonaco, and made his Toronto City Opera debut singing the role of Bartolo in their production of The Marriage of Figaro.
Past performances include: Colline in Puccini’s La Bohème, with Opera York and Mississauga Symphony Orchestra, Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro in Concert with the Mississauga chamber music society, Zuniga in Bizet’s Carmen, with the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra and Opera York, The Ogre in El Gato con Botas, by Montsalvatge, and Man with a cornet case/Puppet Maker in Postcard from Morocco, by Argento, with The Glenn Gould School. Gabriel has also had the pleasure of performing with the Aspen Opera Center in their 2016 productions of La Bohème (chorus), and Béatrice et Bénédict (extra, cover: Don Pedro).
Born in Montreal in 1993, Gabriel holds a Performance Diploma in voice from The Glenn Gould School, in Toronto, studying primarily under Joel Katz. While at the Aspen Opera Center, he had the privilege of studying under W. Stephen Smith.
John Darrigo
Spoletta
Canadian-Italian tenor John Darrigo was born and raised in Toronto. He attended the prestigious Royal St. George’s College where he was twice awarded the top award for outstanding vocal excellence. While at the RSGC he toured the British Isles 3 times, where he was the featured soloist, and had the opportunity to personally perform for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Following a hiatus of 30 years, and with the very enthusiastic encouragement of international peers, including Richard Margison, he restarted his singing career by doing solos in the chorus of Opera Hamilton. In Sept of 2016 he made his debut with the new Southern Ontario Lyric Opera as Giuseppe in La Traviata (as reviewed in Opera Canada). In March of 2017 he sang Spoletta, in Tosca, and as Beppe and the Harlequin in I Pagliacci. Since that time he has been studying with Romulo Delgado.
Austin Larusson
A Sacristan
Praised for his "fine baritone voice" (The Brooklyn Eagle), "Austin Larusson sang beautifully" (barczablog.com), “Austin Larusson’s Crespel was a very effective and even touching foil” (John Gilks operarambling.blog). Austin was pleased to return to the stage this past season as Shem and Patho in Conan and the Stone of Kelior with Mightier Productions, John Sorel in the The Consul with Summer Opera Lyric Theatre, covering Conte Di Luna in Il Trovatore with Opera Sustenida, Montschi in A Waltz Dream and most recently Mars in Orpheus in the Underworld both with Toronto Operetta Theatre.
Previous Toronto/GTA appearances include Marchese, La Traviata with Mississauga Symphony, Hermann/Crespel, Les Contes D'Hoffman with Toronto City Opera, The Messiah at College Street United Church, Conte Carnero, Der Zigeunerbaron; Vicomte Cascada, The Merry Widow; Ajax A, The Beautiful Helen; Police Sergeant, The Pirates of Penzance; Massakroff, The Chocolate Soldier with Toronto Operetta Theatre; Benoit/Alcindoro, La Boheme; Count Ceprano, Rigoletto; Bartolo/Antonio, Le Nozze Di Figaro with SOUTHERN ONTARIO LYRIC OPERA; Johann, Werther; Lorenzo, I Capuleti E I Montecchi with Opera in Concert; Leporello in Don Giovanni and Malatesta in Don Pasquale with Vera Causa Opera; Vicomte Cascada, The Merry Widow; Marchese, La Traviata; Fiorello, Il Barbiere Di Siviglia with Opera York.
New York appearances include Yamadori, Madama Butterfly; Sciarrone/Jailer, Tosca; Hermann, Les Contes D'Hoffmann; Priest, The Magic Flute with Regina Opera, and the baritone soloist in Brahms Ein Deutches Requiem at Riverside Church.
Art Grierson
Jailer
Art Grierson's connection to opera began very early. Every Saturday afternoon while his mother was baking and cooking a roast, the Firestone radio broadcast, "Live from the Met", would be playing on the radio. He began playing the piano at the age of 5; by 15, he received his first ARCT from the Royal Conservatory of Music.
Art has been a supernumerary with the Canadian Opera Company from 1997 to the present. His opera chorus "career" began about 15 years ago with Opera Hamilton. Since then, he has sung in the chorus of SOLO (Southern Ontario Lyric Opera), Opera York, Opera by Request, Opera Mississauga and now also, Toronto City Opera.
Mark Wilson
Sciarrone
Mark Wilson started singing in high school musicals and returned to singing after a 42-year career in the Information Technology Industry.
He began the journey back to singing in an Adult Learning Class at the Royal Conservatory of Music led by Linda Eyman. He has been singing with Toronto City Opera since 2015 in the bass section of the chorus and previously appeared as the Commissionario in La Traviata with Toronto City Opera, Opera York and the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Wilson is the President of the Board of Toronto City Opera and is also the Chair of the Board of Arraymusic, a contemporary Canadian music company.
He studies voice with Jayne Smiley to whom he is eternally grateful.
Margaret Cormier
Narrator
Dr. Margaret Cormier is a musicologist and opera dramaturg based in Toronto. Her forthcoming monograph interrogates representations of sexual violence on the twenty-first-century operatic stage through a feminist ethical framework. She holds a Bachelor of Music with Honours in Voice Performance and a Master of Arts in Musicology from Western University and recently completed her PhD at McGill. Margaret has presented research on operatic production and staging practices at conferences around the world and, in recent years, has been active as a public musicologist and dramaturg on Toronto’s opera scene.
Suzanne Yeo
Assistant Conductor
Conductor, pianist and vocal coach Suzanne Yeo has performed in North America, Europe and Asia, to much praise for the intensity and sensitivity of her interpretations. After a stint as a doctoral candidate in the German department at Princeton University, she returned to music and obtained her M.Mus. in piano performance from the University of Toronto. Her long-standing affinity for opera and Lieder led her to the sphere of collaborative piano, where, in addition to working with singers, she participated in various collaborative piano workshops with Emily Hamper and Steven Philcox, and acted as répétiteur at the Miami Music Festival (2019).
In 2020 she co-founded Opera Sustenida, an opera collective noted for its wittily modern takes on the standard repertoire. At the same time, she has continued to study conducting with David Bowser, and in workshops, such as Jan Harrington’s choral/orchestral conducting masterclass at the Princeton Festival, where she made her conducting début.
Last season, she was assistant conductor in the 2021 TCO productions of Nabucco and Cavalleria Rusticana, and one of Orchestra Toronto's Apprentice Conductors for 2022, leading a performance of de Falla's Ritual Fire Dance in their "Carmen!" concert; most recently, as Music Director of Opera Sustenida, she conducted their production of Il Trovatore.