Teiya kasahara biography (web version)

Canadian soprano Teiya Kasahara is becoming known to audiences for her “flair for drama and blazing high notes” (La Scena Musicale). Of Japanese and German heritage she is quickly rising as a versatile artist in both the dramatic and lyric coloratura soprano repertoire with her “brilliant coloratura voice” (Opera Canada). As of late she has been making her mark as the next Queen of the Night of our generation with Vancouver Opera, Highlands Opera Studio, Opera
Kitchener, University of British Columbia in the Czech Republic. Alongside the traditional operatic repertoire Teiya is discovering a niche in 20th/21st century music and theatre, collaborating with Tapestry New Opera Works, CanStage and the Queer Arts Festival (QAF) where she premiered this past summer the role of Solana in Leslie Uyeda’s new
opera When the Sun Comes Out and was noted as “a strikingly handsome performer with a sizeable, velvety soprano, easy and even from top to bottom.” (Parterre.com). Later this season she will join Tapestry New Opera for their main stage production in the Toronto premiere of Juliet Palmer’s Shelter in the role of Hope.
Most recently she has sung with Edmonton Opera as Olympia The Tales of Hoffmann, Vancouver Opera as Queen of
the Night The Magic Flute, and with Against the Grain Theatre in her highly acclaimed portrayal of Cherubino from
Figaro’s Wedding praised for “singing clear, pure and straight from the heart.” (Opera Going Toronto).
Her voice has taken her from the palm trees of the French Mediterranean (guest artist with Opéra Toulon Provence Méditerranée Autumn Concerts) marking her European concert debut, to the glorious mountains of Aspen, Colorado where she performed Tytania from A Midsummer Night’s Dream under the baton of Jane Glover. In New York Teiya
has performed in concert with Maureen Zoltek and Aaron Patterson I Never Saw Another Butterfly (versions by Ellwood Derr and Lori Laitman). In Toronto she also performed on numerous occasions with the Off Centre Music Salon, the National Ballet of Canada, Opera Five and the Concert Opera Group. Teiya has also performed extensively with the Canadian Opera Company (COC) as both Ensemble Studio Artist from 2007-2010 and most recently as a guest artist. Her list of appearances at the COC include Echo Ariadne auf Naxos,
Lucy The Telephone, Serpina La serva padrona, Frasquita Carmen, First Wood Sprite Rusalka, the Balmont Fables
in Robert Lepage’s The Nightingale & Other Short Fables (Stravinksy) which also went on tour to New York at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Despina Così fan tutte, and Maturina Don Giovanni (Gazzaniga). At the COC she has also
had the privilege to understudy the title roles of Lucia di Lammermoor and Maria Stuarda, Zerbinetta Ariadne auf
Naxos, Madame Mao Nixon in China, Rosina Il barbiere di Siviglia, Susanna and Barbarina Le nozze di Figaro,
Thibault Don Carlos, Marzelline Fidelio, Tytania A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Zerlina Don Giovanni, Musetta La
bohème, Ilia Idomeneo and the Nightingale in the world premiere of Robert Lepage’s The Nightingale & Other
As a COC Ensemble Studio Artist Teiya performed many diverse concerts from Messiæn to Schubert. In May of 2008 she co-wrote and performed a ground-breaking work commissioned by the COC and Royal Conservatory of Music for hiphop DJs and operatic voices entitled Deconstruction Reconstruction with DJ lil’ jaz and T.R.A.C.K.S. She also worked with a number of other great artists, directors, conductors, teachers and coaches including Tim Albery, Jane Copyright 2007-2013 Teiya Kasahara. All Rights Reserved. 1 Archibald, Neil Armfield, Andreas Baesler, Dmitri Bertman, Laura Claycomb, Jonathan Darlington, Johannes Debus, Tom Diamond, Matthew Epstein, Paulo Gavanelli, Martin Isepp, Robert Lepage, Stephen Lord, Adrianne Pieczonka, Rory Macdonald, Marlena Malas, Catherine Malfitano, Lotfi Mansouri, Richard Margison, Gerald Martin Moore, Mary Morrison, Wendy Nielsen, Tim Noble, Liz Rowe, Gidon Saks, Margaret Singer and Ensemble Studio Director Liz She has won awards from the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, including two finalist finishes in the Northwest Region (2007 - 4th place and 2011). She also has won 4th Place at the XI Czech and Slovak International Singing Competition in Montréal, and won first place in her class at the Canadian Music Competition in 2012. Other honours she has received include the First Runner-Up and the Encouragement Award from the Northwest Regional Finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (2007), the Johann Strauss Foundation Scholarship of UBC (2006), a partial career grant from the Vancouver Opera Guild (2009), and both scholarship and bursary from the Vancouver Women’s Musical Society (2007).
As a Wesbrook Scholar of UBC, Teiya graduated in 2007 with a Bachelor of Music and the Catherine Cooke Topping Memorial Medal, distinguishing her as the top graduate of her class. From 2003-2007 she was a member of the where she studied with Canadian lyric coloratura soprano Nancy Hermiston, Head of Voice and Opera and University Marshal at the University of British Columbia. While developing her skills as a coquettish soubrette (Adele Die Fledermaus, Susanna/Barbarina Le nozze di Figaro, Gianetta The Gondoliers, Musetta La bohème) and
interpreter of light lyric heroines (Romilda Xerxes, Rosina Il barbiere di Siviglia), Teiya also had the pleasure of
performing the title role of Naomi in the s new production of Naomi’s Road by Ramona Luengen,
based on the children’s book by Joy Kogawa. During these formative years she had the pleasure of working with James Craig, Bruce Pullan, Rena Sharon, Neil Varon, and participate in masterclasses and workshops with world- renowned artists such as Elly Ameling, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Bernarda Fink, Judith Forst, Margo Garrett, Karina Gauvin, Ben Heppner, Rudolf Jansen, Siegfried Jerusalem and Edith Mathis both at UBC and abroad.
Though born in Ottawa, Teiya was raised on the west coast of BC. Along with her many musical endeavours she is an avid soccer player, cyclist and photographer. Teiya currently resides in Toronto, Canada. For more information please refer to her website www.teiyakasahara.com.
Copyright 2007-2013 Teiya Kasahara. All Rights Reserved. 2

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