Jasmine Chen

Jasmine is a second-generation Taiwanese-Singaporean immigrant artist based in the unceded lands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, and Səl̓ílwətaɬ Nations and T’karonto. 

Jasmine's work as a director, performer, educator and creator has engaged with communities from coast to coast in repertory festivals, indie theatres, regional and outdoor theatres. She creates and supports interdisciplinary work that pushes for linguistic and formal diversity. 

Jasmine is a recipient of the Gina Wilkinson Award, the Jon Kaplan Canadian Stage Performer Award, and the Stratford Festival Jean Gascon Award. She has been featured in CBC Arts, The Georgia Straight, NOW Magazine, and the Vancouver Sun. msjasminechen.com. 

Aria Umezawa

With her quirky, irreverent style, Aria Umezawa (she/her)’s work evokes wonder and challenges the long-established traditions of opera and classical music. She is a half-Japanese, half Irish -Italian settler currently based in Tkaròn:to.

The stage director, producer, and writer is a co-founder of Amplified Opera, the independent, equity-seeking opera company and current Disruptor-in-Residence at the Canadian Opera Company. Aria was the Artistic Director of Opera 5 from 2012-17. Recent and upcoming engagements include Toshio Hosokawa’s The Raven with Opera Philadelphia, A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Vancouver Opera, Madama Butterfly with New Orleans Opera, and the world premiere of The Queen In Me (nominated for five DORA Awards), co-directed with Andrea Donaldson, and produced by the Canadian Opera Company, Amplified Opera, Nightwood Theatre, and Theatre Gargantua.

An advocate for safe, equitable practices in the opera and performing arts industries, Aria is in demand as a presenter and educator. In 2018 she developed Safe to Run: Bystander Intervention Training for the Rehearsal Room with Opera McGill and the San Francisco Opera Center, and has run the workshop at opera companies across North America. That same year she was a speaker on the Gender Equity in Opera panel at the inaugural Opera.ca Opera Changing Worlds Education Summit. With OPERA America, Aria has presented on Anti-Harassment Policies and Stage Intimacy Techniques (2019) and Building a Healthier Company Culture for Artists (2020), and has contributed as a panellist on Managing the Challenges of the Inherited Repertoire (2020), and Breaking Down Gatekeeping (2021). She was an artistic consultant on a new co-production of Madama Butterfly with Opera in the Heights and Pacific Opera Projects. Website: ariaumezawa.com.

Elena Anciro

Elena Anciro (she / her) is a Filipina-Canadian artist based in Treaty 1 Territory. Her artistic practice includes working in different facets of the arts as a performer in theatre, film and television, and as an administrator and facilitator, focusing primarily on access, community engagement and theatre education. Elena is an audio describer with Vocal Image Ensemble Winnipeg (VIEW) and part of the British Council of Canada / Tangled Art + Disability’s national cohort of Relaxed Performance trainers. She also belongs to the core collaborator team that founded Manitoba Outreach Theatre Hub (MOTH), a digital resource hub that aims to create a more diverse theatre sector in Manitoba through the sharing of stories and knowledge. Elena earned her honours degree in theatre at the University of Winnipeg and is currently completing a professional development project on disability arts and access through the support of Manitoba Arts Council's Arts Leaders Program.

Mike Fan | 范祖铭

“The most vulnerable” Mike Fan | 范祖铭 (they), whose "dramatic side is remarkable” (Barcza Blog) is renowned for memorable performances in 11 languages “sung extremely well and acted even better” (Opera Ramblings) across North America, Europe, and Australia. Mike’s warm and flexible tenor is renowned for roles including Bizet’s Don José, Mozart’s Tito, and Verdi’s Conte Ivrea. Recent engagements include Pacific Opera Victoria’s Civic Engagement Quartet, Infusion Baroque’s murder-mystery “Qui as tué Leclair?” at Repentigny’s Théâtre Alphonse-Desjardins, and a landmark queer-trans “Eugene Onegin” at Canada’s National Ballet School. Mike has received the Prix Poulenc (Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques), Gold Medal (Royal Conservatory of Music), and was a Premiere Opera Foundation Competition Semi-Finalist. Passionately committed to social justice, Mike is founding Artistic Director of Opéra Queens. Mike holds degrees in Opera & Voice, Piano, Speech Arts & Drama, and Biomedical Science with training at the Rossini Opera Festival (Italy) and Tampere Conservatoire (Finland).

Homelands: Toronto Harbourfront / Takaronto; Montréal / Tio’tia:ke; Guelph / Land of the Attawandaron & Mississaugas; Houston / Land of the Atakapa-Ishak, Tāp Pīlam Coahuiltecan, the Sana band of the Tonkawa tribe, and Karankawa nations

Ryan McDonald

Hailed by Opera Canada for his performance in Dido and Aeneas: “Ryan McDonald, a young Newfoundland and Labrador countertenor, made a particularly favorable impression as Spirit. McDonald has a voice of luminous, fresh colour, combined with natural musicality and an exciting sense of narrative drama”. A recent Encouragement Award winner from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition, Ryan McDonald has been seen on stage as Athamas in Handel's Semele, First Witch and Spirit in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, L'enfant in Ravels L'enfant et les sortilèges, Cupid in John Blows Venus and Adonis and Jack in Sondheim’s Into the Woods.

In concert, Ryan has appeared as a soloist with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, London Handel Orchestra, Theatre of Early Music, Hamilton Symphony Orchestra, Amadeus Choir, Symphony in the Barn, Nota Bene Players and Toronto Mendelssohn Choir.

During the 21/22 season, Ryan became Young Artist with Pacific Opera Victoria’s Civic Engagement Quartet. Additionally, they joined Confluence Concerts as their inaugural Young Artistic Associate. 

Ryan is the co- founder of OperaQ, a company focused specifically on presenting queer theatre, by queer artists for queer audiences. Ryan led the reimagined production of Purcell’s Dido and Belinda as the titular character, Dido. In addition to their musical activities, Ryan is currently pursuing a DMA in Historical Performance at the University of Toronto where they are researching the life of Klaus Nomi and investigating the ever expanding queer performance practice guide.

Connections:  When I think of home I always think of Newfoundland, the traditional land of the Beothuk. I cherish every opportunity I have to visit and connect with the place I am from. Toronto or Tkaranto has been my home for the last ten years. I have been able to study and build my career in Toronto and it equally shares a piece of my heart