Montreal, Tuesday, March 28, 2023 – Jeunesses Musicales Canada (JM Canada), in collaboration with the Festival d’opéra de Québec, is pleased to announce the cast of the opera La fille sans régiment, a more intimate adaptation of Gaetano Donizetti’s work La fille du régiment. The premiere will take place on July 26, 2023, as part of the Festival d’opéra de Québec, at Théâtre La Bordée.
Stage direction for this opera will be by Nathalie Deschamps, who has staged over sixty productions since the beginning of her career. Vocal coach and pianist Louise Pelletier, very much in demand in Canada and the United States, will be the musical director.
For the 2023-2024 season, JM Canada is presenting a new take on this popular comic opera, featuring five singers and a pianist. Tours through eastern and western Quebec and the Maritime provinces are scheduled in the fall.
La fille sans régiment
In the Tyrols, occupied by Napoleon 1er’s troops, Marie the vivandière is the object of true love for Tonio, a young Tyrolean ready to do anything to marry her. Adopted as a child by the Twenty-First, a renowned French regiment, Marie miraculously reconnects with her true family in the form of her aunt, the Marquise of Berkenfield, who wishes to marry her to the Duke of Crakentorp. In this French opéra comique by Donizetti, discover lyrical arias that will delight both your ears and your heart, including the famous aria for tenor “Ah! mes amis, quel jour de fête!”, with its nine repeated high Cs, and Marie’s joyful arias that celebrate France, love and the best regiment in the world!
Cast
Marie – Thera Barclay, soprano
Having recently obtained her artist’s diploma in vocal performance from the Glenn Gould School in Toronto, Thera Barclay is the recipient of several bursaries and awards, and has sung in Canada and abroad, notably in Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. Engagements include Arsinoë in Cleopatra Built by Dr. J. Marchand Knight (Queens Opera), Mabel in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance (Centre for Opera Studies and Appreciation), Barbarina in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (Nóżki Opera), Poppea in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (Halifax Summer Opera Festival), Lauretta and Nella in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, as well as La Zelatrice and Suor Genovieffa in Puccini’s Suor Angelica.
Tonio – Jeremy Scinocca, tenor
Jeremy Scinocca is an award-winning tenor from Toronto and a recent graduate of the Masters of Voice and Opera program at McGill University. Jeremy has had the privilege of being a part of many concerts, ensembles and productions. In 2022, Jeremy performed the roles of Edoardo, in Un girono di regno, Mr. Buchanan in Street Scene, Mr. Pinkleton in Cinderella and Hector in Rosa by James Rolf. Jeremy has worked with teachers Laura Brookes Rice, and Stefano Algieri. He has participated in masterclasses with world renowned conductor, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Canadian tenors, Michael Schade and Richard Margison.
Marquise de Berkenfield – Queen Hezumuryango, mezzo-soprano
Originally from Burundi, Queen Hezumuryango holds both her master’s degree and bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from the University of Montreal, where she earned prizes such as the Ferguson Scholarship, the Gadbois Bursary, and the support of the Jeunesses Musicales Canada Foundation. Recent credits include Mercédès in Carmen (COC), Larina in Eugene Onegin (Highlands Opera Studio), Tisbe in La cenerentola (Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance), Zita in Gianni Schicchi (Canadian Vocal Arts Institute) and Carmen in La tragédie de Carmen (Atelier d’opéra à l’Université de Montréal). She was a semifinalist in the OSM Competition in 2021 and is currently a Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio member.
Sulpice – Emanuel Lebel, baritone
Originally from Peru, baritone Emanuel Lebel has worked with several ensembles and companies in recent years, including les Violons du Roy, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Opéra de Montréal, Vox Luminosa, and Les Rugissants. As an opera soloist, he has been heard in several roles, notably portraying Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Geusselin in Kevin Puts’s Silent Night (Opéra de Montréal), the Father in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, and Simone in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. He has also participated in the Festival d’opéra de Québec with Ensemble Anonymus and in the Opera Studio at Opera Lyra Ottawa. Emanuel also performed the roles of Karl and Sam in John Estacio’s opera Lillian Alling at the Banff Centre.
Hortensius, Corporal, and Duke – Maxence Lasserre-Engberts, bass-baritone
Maxence Lasserre-Engberts is currently studying for his master’s in classical singing in Réal Toupin’s class at the Conservatoire de musique de Québec. He is the choirmaster and main presenter at Église Sainte-Monique, as well as a cantor at several other churches, including Saint-Charles-Garnier, Saint-Pascal, and the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame. Fascinated by repertoire in unusual or unfamiliar languages, like Japanese, Swedish, or Ukrainian, he is studying phonetics at Université Laval and has been an opera diction coach since 2020.
Rosane Lajoie, piano
Rosane Lajoie is a graduate of the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, where she studied in Suzanne Goyette’s class. She is furthering her studies in accompaniment at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Several bursaries have also allowed her to further her training as a soloist and accompanist during internships at the Académie Francis Poulenc (France), the Euro Music Festival (Germany), and the International Lied Festival (The Netherlands). She has appeared in recital with the Société d’art vocal de Montréal, at Concerts Lachine, and with Jeunesses Musicales Canada. In 2022, she took part in the Canadian tour of the operetta Une veuve joyeuse with Jeunesses Musicales Canada.
About the Festival d’opéra de Québec
The Festival d’opéra de Québec is Canada’s premier opera festival. Its mission is to produce, co-produce and present international shows, events and activities that highlight opera during the summer season in Quebec City. It contributes to the international reputation of la Capitale-Nationale, while positioning itself among the world’s leading opera events. The diversified program, which includes key works from the repertoire with international artists, open-air shows, apéro-concerts and recitals, will appeal to both opera lovers and those who are new to the art form.
About Jeunesses Musicales Canada
Jeunesses Musicales Canada (JM Canada) is an incubator of talent that propels the careers of emerging musicians and contributes to the dissemination of classical music to audiences of all ages. Today, a JM Canada season represents more than 1,600 musical activities across Canada, from chamber music concerts to stimulating musical activities for young people. Since its founding in 1949, a host of renowned artists have had the opportunity to make their debut at JM Canada: singers Joseph Rouleau, Maureen Forrester, Marc Hervieux, Marie-Nicole Lemieux and Étienne Dupuis; violinists Angèle Dubeau and James Ehnes; and more recently, pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin, OSM concertmaster Andrew Wan and cellist Stéphane Tétreault, among others.
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For more information:
Noémie Vallet
Head of Communications
Jeunesses Musicales Canada
(514) 845-4108 ext. 222 | nvallet@jmcanada.ca
