Canadian soprano Jacqueline Woodley has been praised for her fearless versatility, changing styles fluidly from early music to contemporary, from opera to art song. Upcoming, she both premieres Come Closer with Toronto’s Opera5 and joins Orchestre symphonique de l’Estuaire for Brahms’ Requiem

During the 2022/2023 season, Ms. Woodley appeared as the soprano soloist with the Grand Philharmonic Choir for Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Arion Baroque for a series of Bach cantatas, the Brahms’ Requiem with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Early Music Vancouver for Handel’s Apollo et Daphne, and Handel’s Brockes Passion with Metropolitan United (Toronto). Other highlights include engagements with Orchestra classique de Montréal, The Florida Orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and Orchestre symphonique de Montréal.

Ms. Woodley has recorded works by Canadian composer Norbert Palej for the Canadian Art Song Project, and recently released albums of the music of Québecois composer Lionel Daunais (Mélodies, 2022), and Iranian-Canadian composer Parisa Sabet (A Cup of Sins, 2022).

Isaiah Bell is a Canadian-American tenor, writer, and composer. He has established himself in Handel, Benjamin Britten, and Bach’s Evangelists (Lincoln Center, Edinburgh Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Toronto Symphony), and, more recently, in new creations. He premiered the roles of Antinous in the Canadian Opera Company’s Hadrian and Johan in La Reine-garçon (Opéra de Montréal, COC). On his translation/adaptation of Poulenc’s La voix humaine, Opera Canada wrote, “Bell’s finely tuned performance is perfectly married to his own sensitive and intelligent adaptation.”

Isaiah has toured Canada with his solo chamber opera The Book of My Shames, and with the adults-only Baroque pub show Banned From the Concert Hall, which he created for Victoria Baroque and Early Music Vancouver.

Recent and upcoming appearances include Messiahs with Trevor Pinnock and Nicholas McGegan, returns to Pacific Opera and Opéra de Montréal, and the world premiere recording of Mendelssohn’s Matthew Passion transcription (Bach Choir of Bethlehem).

Possessing a “vibrant stage presence and a rich, commanding voice” (La Scena Musicale), bass Matthew Li recently completed his residency at the Atelier lyrique de Opéra de Montréal and the Glenn Gould School of Music as a Rebanks Fellow. His operatic roles include Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Dulcamara in Elisir d’amore, Seneca in L’incoronazione di Poppea, Polyphemus in Acis and Galatea, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, Masetto and Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni, and Colline in La Bohème. Concert highlights include the bass solos in Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, Handel’s Messiah, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, and Mozart’s Requiem.

An ardent collaborator with contemporaries, Li created the leading bass-baritone role of Xon Pon in Alice Ping Yee Ho and Madeleine Thien’s opera Chinatown (2022) with City Opera Vancouver in its world premiere, to critical acclaim. Recent engagements include Polonius in Hamlet and Masetto in Don Giovanni, both at Opéra de Montréal.