B.Mus (University of Toronto), Dip. (University of Toronto)
Style and musical elegance combined with an intuitive theatrical sense are the hallmarks of soprano Monica Whicher’s performances on the concert and opera stage. In recent seasons, the varied aspects of her artistry have been reflected in performances with the Toronto Symphony (Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder), Houston’s Mercury Baroque (Vivaldi’s Motezuma), the Colorado Symphony (Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven Mass in C), the Calgary Philharmonic and the Edmonton Symphony (Mendelssohn’s Elijah), the Elmer Iseler Singers (Bach’s Mass in B Minor, for CBC radio), Symphony Nova Scotia (Fauré Requiem, Brahms Requiem) and in recitals across Canada.
Operatic roles include Thaïs (Massenet’s Thaïs), the Countess (Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro), Pamina and Erste Dame (Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte), Zerlina (Mozart’s Don Giovanni), (Anna Maurant (Kurt Weill’s StreetScene), Dido (Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas), The Governess (Britten’s Turn of the Screw), Female Chorus (Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia), and Mérope (Lully’s Persée) with companies such as The Canadian Opera Company, Opera Atelier, Pacific Opera Victoria, Vancouver Opera, The Cleveland Opera, Opera in Concert and the Nürnberg International Chamber Music Festival.
Further credits include performances with orchestras, opera companies and at chamber festivals across Canada and in the United States, Mexico, Europe and Asia with conductors including Helmuth Rilling, Peter Oundjian, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Franz Paul Decker, Steuart Bedford, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Duane Wolff, Trevor Pinnick, Hervé Niquet, Andrew Parrott, Harry Bicket and Timothy Vernon.
Nominated for a Juno Award for “Singing Somers Theatre” (Centrediscs) as well as two Dora Mavor Moore Awards, Ms. Whicher was praised for her Naxos recording of Castor et Pollux. Her critically acclaimed portrayal of Mérope in Lully’s PERSEE can be seen on the EuroArts/Naxos DVD and she is featured on the Juno-Award winning CDs Mozart’s Magic Fantasy, Beethoven Lives Upstairs and Daydreams and Lullabies. Recent recordings include Lullabies and Carols for Christmas, with harpist Judy Loman, and The Art Songs of Mykola Lysenko, The Art Songs of Yakov Stepovyi, and The Galicians, all for the Ukrainian Art Song Project.
A former member of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, Ms. Whicher studied at the Banff School of Fine Arts, the Britten-Pears School of Music (Aldeburgh, England), the Steans Institute (Ravinia Festival, USA), and was a recipient of the George London Award, Sullivan Foundation Grants, and a Canada Council Career Development Grant. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto, where she was a student of the renowned Canadian soprano, Lois Marshall. Monica Whicher is on the Voice Faculty of the University of Toronto and the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music.
You can email Professor Whicher at: [email protected]