Hailed by the Globe and Mail as “a brilliant performer,” “with the kind of magnetism that comes from combining realism with exhaustive extremes,” baritone Geoffrey Sirett won the 2018 Dora Award for Outstanding Opera Performance singing the leading role of Akaky in The Overcoat (Canadian Stage, Tapestry Opera, & Vancouver Opera). Geoffrey’s upcoming and recent engagements include Bach’s Ich habe genug with Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra, Brahms’ Requiem with the Victoria Symphony, Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Orchestre philharmonique et Choeur des Mélomanes at Maison Symphonique de Montréal, and Handel’s Brockes Passion with Jonathan Oldengarm at Metropolitan United (Toronto). Other recent highlights include Brahms’ Requiem for the Richard Eaton Singers, Messiah for the Ottawa Choral Society, Arabella with the Canadian Opera Company, H.M.S. Pinafore and The Merry Widow with Edmonton Opera, Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and St. John Passion with the Ottawa Choral Society and the Elora Singers.

Canadian-German soprano Anna-Sophie Neher, a former member of the Ensemble Studio of the Canadian Opera Company, is impressing audiences as a Mozart, Baroque and French repertoire specialist.

Current projects include Ms. Neher’s debut with the Opéra de Québec, reprising her radiant Euridice in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice.  In concert she will be heard with the Ottawa Choral Society in a Holiday Program before joining the National Arts Centre for Messiah with Simon Rivard.  In the spring she joins the Montréal Symphony Orchestra for a pair of concerts: first in Haydn’s Creation and then in a Mozart program with Rafael Payare comprising Exsultate, jubilate and the Great Mass in C minor.

Last season, Anna-Sophie Neher returned to the C.O.C. as Euridice in Orfeo ed Euridice and to the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.as the soprano solo in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.  She also performed Handel’s Messiah with the Calgary Philharmonic and Stephen Stubbs and Haydn’s Creation with the Newfoundland Symphony and Simon Rivard.  With the Festival Classica she ended the season with a program devoted to the music of Michel Legrand.

The previous season, Ms. Neher appeared as the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Orchestre Métropolitan and Yannick Nézet-Séguin as well as with the Orchestre Symphonique de Gâtineau.  She joined the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec for Mozart’s Requiem and I Musici for a Christmas program.

Recently Ms. Neher returned to the Canadian Opera Company as Marzelline in Fidelio.  She appeared in concert with the Choeur Classique de Montréal in Bach’s Magnificat and in Rutter’s Gloria and with the Ensemble Caprice in Handel’s Messiah.

Previously Ms. Neher appeared at the Canadian Opera Company as Micaela in Carmen and at the Opéra National de Paris as the First Niece in a new Deborah Warner production of Peter Grimes.

Prior to that, Anna-Sophie made her Opéra National de Paris debut as Antigone in Enesco’s Oedipe, returned to the Canadian Opera Company as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, made her debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as the Soprano Soloist in Messiah and appeared with the Calgary Philharmonic in a program of Mozart arias.

In the 2020-2021 season, Anna-Sophie appeared in concert with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in a virtual presentation of the Vivaldi Gloria and excerpts from Handel’s Messiah and performed the role of Servilia in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito and as the Soprano Soloist in Mozart’s C minor Mass (the latter conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin) as part of the Classica Festival in Montreal. Praised for her “gleaming tone and excellent agility” (Ludwig van Toronto), Anna-Sophie has sung an extensive amount of orchestral concert repertoire from Bach and Mozart to Pärt and Williams.

As a member of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, she appeared as Gretel, the Sandman, and the Dew Fairy in Hänsel und Gretel; the First Woodsprite in Rusalka; and she created the role of Lavia in the world premiere of Rufus Wainwright’s Hadrian. Ms. Neher is the first prize winner of the OSM Manulife Competition (2017), the Wirth Vocal Competition (2017), the Christina and Louis Quilico Competition (2019), and the Prix Étoile Stingray (2017).

Ms. Neher earned her master’s degree from McGill University and her bachelor’s degree from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. She also perfected her art for a year at Bard College. During her studies, she performed as Blanche in Dialogue des Carmélites, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and Belinda in Dido and Aeneas. Anna-Sophie has also received many scholarships including the Sylva Gelber Foundation (2018-2019) and the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation (2016-2017-2018).

Gabrielle Gaudreault is the Artistic Director of the Ottawa Choral Society and the Saint-Lambert Choral Society. A sought-after conductor, pedagogue and collaborative pianist, Dr. Gaudreault has previously served as Assistant Conductor to Maestro Kent Nagano at the Staatsoper Hamburg, Associate Conductor of the National Children’s Chorus in Washington, D.C., Artistic Director of the South Shore Children’s Chorus in Saint-Lambert, QC, Music Director of the St-Augustine’s Church Choir in St-Bruno, QC, and Apprentice Conductor of the National Youth Choir of Canada.

In 2020, she co-founded CG Music Academy in Arlington, VA with her husband Chris. Gabrielle completed her Doctorate in Choral Conducting at McGill University in spring 2020 and holds an MA in Music Theory and Choral Conducting from Indiana University. Her research focuses on pedagogical approaches to the choral rehearsal and late-20th-century choral works by Québécois composers.