EMMA ALBANI, soprano
(born Marie-Louise-Emma-Cécile Lajeunesse
November 1, 1847- April 3, 1930)

Emma Albani - who was born in Chambly, Quebec - was the first Canadian-born artist to achieve international fame. Following studies in Quebec and in Albany, New York, Emma left for Europe where she changed her last name from Lajeunesse to Albani. She made her operatic debut in Messina on December 22, 1869 as Oscar in Verdi’s Un ballo in Maschera.

Although her repertoire focused on Mozart operas and the bel canto operas of Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini, Emma began to familiarize herself with Wagner’s music, first learning the role of Elsa in Lohengrin in two weeks and performing the role in New York in 1874. In the 1870s at Covent Garden, she also appeared as Elsa in Lohengrin, Elisabeth in Tannhäuser and as Senta in Der fliegende Holländer.

On November 23, 1891, Emma Albani made her official debut with the Metropolitan Opera on tour in Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots. During the 1891-92 season, she appeared in a variety of roles at the Met, including Elsa in Lohengrin, Eva in Die Meistersinger, and Senta in Der fliegende Holländer – all in Italian.

At Covent Garden in June 1896, Emma scored her greatest triumph in four performances of Tristan und Isolde with Jean de Reszke singing Tristan. The critic Herman Klein wrote in the Sunday Times that: “never before at Covent Garden has the wondrous beauty of this scène d’amour been so totally realized. To hear the difficult music sung perfectly in tune was alone a treat that was well-nigh a revelation!”

EDWARD JOHNSON, tenor
(August 22, 1878 – April 20, 1959) (photo: University of Toronto Music Library Collection)

The Canadian tenor and impresario Edward Johnson was born in Guelph, Ontario. His father hoped that he would become a lawyer, but in 1899 he went to New York to study music. In 1909, on Enrico Caruso's advice, he went to Florence to work with Vincenzo Lombardi. As ‘Edoardo di Giovanni’ he made his operatic debut in 1912 in Padua in Giordano’s Andrea Chenier. He sang in premieres of works by Pizzetti and Alfano and in the Italian premieres of Puccini's Il tabarro and Gianni Schicchi (1919, Rome).

In 1914 Johnson made his La Scala debut in the Italian premiere of Wagner’s Parsifal. In addition to Parsifal, his Wagner repertoire included Das Rheingold (Loge), Lohengrin, Siegfried and Tannhäuser.

Johnson left Italy to become the leading tenor of the Chicago Opera from 1919 to 1922. Following that engagement he was the leading tenor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York from 1922 to 1935. In 1935 he followed Herbert Witherspoon, Gatti-Casazza's successor, as general manager of the Metropolitan, successfully guiding the company through the war period until 1950.

The reviews for the Italian premiere of Parsifal were ecstatic. “Parsifal made a sudden entrance on the scene, after the death of the swan, and truly he was a Parsifal one had read about in the poem – tall, young, handsome, innocent, covered only with a brief tunic. (In Act II) the public interrupted in a furious applause four different times. It was an exceptional Parsifal…”

JON VICKERS, tenor
(October 29, 1926 – ) (photo: Metropolitan Opera Archives)

Jon Vickers was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, and studied singing at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Although enjoying an active career in Canada, Vickers auditioned for Sir David Webster of the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. This led to his Royal Opera debut on March 4, 1957 in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera.

After this, Vickers triumphed in a series of major roles at Covent Garden, including Énée in Berlioz’ Les Troyens, Radames in Verdi’s Aïda, and the title role in Verdi’s Don Carlos. Several other important international debuts followed, including the Bayreuth Festival, the Vienna State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera. Vickers’ repertoire continued to grow and encompassed such operas as Beethoven’s Fidelio, Britten’s Peter Grimes, Verdi’s Otello, and Saint-Saëns’ Samson e Dalila .

Vickers sang his first two Wagner performances in Canada - both for CBC Radio. These included broadcasts of Act III of Wagner’s Parsifal (April 1955) and Act I of Die Walküre (February 1956). His first staged Wagnerian role was Siegmund in Die Walküre at the Bayreuth Festival. This was followed in 1959 by his first complete Parsifal (Covent Garden) and in 1971 his first Tristan und Isolde (Teatro Colón).

Following Vickers’ Vienna State Opera debut in Die Walküre, one critic wrote, that this “was one of those moments that come every 20 years or so in the theatre… When he sang, ‘Siehe der Lenz…’ a shiver ran down the collective spine of the breathless audience. The love duet was sheer magic. Afterwards the audience got up and applauded throughout the entire intermission.”

JAMES MILLIGAN, bass
(April 5, 1928 – November 21, 1961)

Canadian bass, James Milligan was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia and studied music at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto from 1948 to 1955. In 1955 James Milligan became the first Canadian to win the Geneva Competition, and the same year he made his operatic debut in Toronto.

1956 brought debuts at Glyndebourne as Arbace in Mozart’s Idomeneo at Glyndebourne and in July 1959 he made his Covent Garden début as Escamillo. During the 1959-60 season he sang Carlo in Verdi’s La Forza del Destino at Toronto and de Brétigny in Massenet’s Manon Covent Garden.

Milligan was much admired as the Wanderer in Siegfried at his Bayreuth debut in 1961, and also enjoyed great success as a concert singer. At the time of his early death from a heart ailment he was a member of the Basle Opera. He had joined the company for the 1961-62 season and died suddenly while rehearsing there on the stage.

A few recorded documents survive, including Mozart’ Idomeno conducted by John Pritchard, Handel’s Messiah, Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast and various works by Gilbert & Sullivan – all conducted by Malcolm Sargent.

In reviewing the 1961 Bayreuth performance of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, the prestigious magazine, Opera, wrote, “James Milligan was a splendid Wanderer: here is a singer indeed, with just the right voice and interpretative powers.”

MAUREEN FORRESTER, contralto
(July 25, 1930 - )

Maureen Forrester – one of Canada’s most beloved artists - was born in Montreal, Quebec. Encouraged by her mother, she studied piano and sang in various church choirs at an early age, but by 13 she dropped out of high school to help support the family (as a secretary, receptionist and Bell Telephone operator). At 16 she began formal vocal studies – first with Sally Martin and then eventually with the distinguished voice teacher and baritone Bernard Diamant.

Following her stellar recital debuts in Montreal (1953) and her New York City (1956), Forrester’s career as a recitalist and concert singer was officially launched. And although she sang comparatively little opera, she enjoyed considerable success in Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice, Handel's Julius Caesar, Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Massenet's Cendrillon, Menotti’s The Medium, Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame, Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera and Falstaff, and Strauss’ Salome and Elektra.

Maureen Forrester’s Wagnerian roles have included Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde for Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires (1963), L'Opéra du Québec (1975), and the Canadian Opera Company (1979). She added the role of Fricka to her repertoire in 1971 for the Canadian Opera Company's Die Walküre; and in 1975 she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Erda in Das Rheingold. In 1968 Forrester also recorded Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder for London Records with pianist John Newmark.

It was Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau who described her as “a national treasure”.

PAUL FREY, tenor
(April 20, 1941 – )

Paul Frey was born on a farm near Heidelberg, Ontario, of Mennonite heritage. Although he sang in a church choir in St. Jacobs, in the Glad Tidings Quartet, and with the Schneider Male Chorus in Kitchener, Frey did not seriously pursue a career in music until he was thirty-one years old.

In 1972 Frey left his father’s trucking business to study music at the University of Toronto as the first recipient of the Edward Johnson Scholarship. Frey made his operatic debut in Toronto in 1976 in Massenet’s Werther; and in 1978 he made his European debut at the Stadttheater Basel – also in Massenet’s Werther.

In 1986 Frey was engaged to substitute for an ailing Peter Hofmann in Lohengrin in Mannheim. Wolfgang Wagner heard the performance and signed Frey to sing at the Bayreuth Festival, where he debuted in 1987 as Lohengrin. This production, directed by Werner Herzog, was performed seven seasons, and Paul Frey holds the record for singing the most number of performances of the title role at Bayreuth – a total of 39 times. In addition to Lohengrin, Frey’s Wagnerian roles have included Parsifal, Erik (Der fliegende Holländer), Walther (Die Meistersinger), Loge (Das Rheingold), Siegmund (Die Walküre) and Siegfried (Götterdämmerung).

“The Canadian tenor Paul Frey (a fantastic Loge and Siegmund in past years) was an entirely believable Siegfried, impeccable in the final scene, and a far cry from the caricature of the oversized and unbelievable Heldentenor.” (Critic Armando M. Rapallo reviewing a 1998 performance of Götterdämmerung at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires)

ALAN WOODROW, tenor
(September 22, 1952 - )

Alan Woodrow was born in Toronto where he studied voice at the Royal Conservatory of Music, first with George Lambert (Jon Vickers’ teacher) and then William Perry. In 1974 he auditioned for the English National Opera and was invited to London where he soon joined the company as a contract house singer, singing a variety of roles.

Woodrow subsequently appeared as Sergei in Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, with the Paris Opéra, Frankfurt Opera and Teatro alla Scala in Milan. He sang the role of the Emperor in Strauss's Die Frau ohne Schatten with the Basel Opera and at the Bavarian State Opera. He has also appeared as Herod in Richard Strauss's Salome with San Diego Opera and in the title roles of Wagner's Tannhäuser at Teatro San Carlo in Naples and Richard Strauss's Guntram at the Strauss Festival in Garmisch-Partenkirchen; and as Walter von Stolzing in Wagner's Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the ENO.

Woodrow made his Seattle Opera debut singing Siegfried in the first cycle of the 2001 presentation of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. He also sang a highly publicized Ring Cycle, in the spring of 2005, in Manaus, Brazil - in the Amazon forest.

Critic John Allen, in Opera Ireland Magazinein August 31st 2002, wrote, “Canadian tenor Alan Woodrow was a tower of strength as Siegfried in the last two operas. He paced himself shrewdly throughout the grueling trial of Siegfried (the opera) and was fresher in the final duet than any tenor this writer has ever heard. And in the Götterdämmerung 'calls' he delivered a ‘high C’ to die for.”

FRANCES GINZER, soprano
(September 19, 1955 - ) (photo: Christian Steiner)

Frances Ginzer was born in Calgary, Alberta where she made her first public appearances at the age of seven singing 'Santa Lucia' on two Calgary children's TV programs. A student of Irene Jessner at the University of Toronto, Ginzer made her Canadian Opera Company debut in 1981 as Clothilde in Bellini’s Norma, but achieved her earliest major success with the company in the role of Antonia in Offenbach’s Les Contes d'Hoffmann.

Since moving to Germany in 1983, Ginzer has been a guest artist in such major European opera centers as Hamburg, Zurich, Cologne, Munich, Stuttgart, Bonn, Frankfurt, Karlsruhe, Düsseldorf and London. In North America she has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, Dallas Opera, San Francisco Opera, and with most Canadian companies.

In recent years, the Canadian soprano has become one of the most sought-after sopranos in the dramatic repertoire, including such Wagnerian roles as Senta (Der fliegende Holländer), Brünnhilde (Die Walküre, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung), Isolde (Tristan und Isolde), Elsa (Lohengrin), Elisabeth (Tannhäuser), and Lora (Die Feen). In the summer of 1998 she returned for her fourth season as a solo artist at the Bayreuth Festival, singing Helmwige in Wagner's Die Walküre and the Third Norn in Götterdämmerung.

Her performances of Senta (Der fliegende Holländer) in Toronto led Opera magazine to label her, "a genuine hochdramatisch soprano."

BEN HEPPNER, tenor
(January 14, 1956 - )

Born in Murrayville, BC, Ben Heppner began his musical studies at the University of British Columbia School of Music. He first gained national attention in 1979 as the winner of the Canadian Broadcasting Company Talent Festival. Since then Heppner has become recognized as the finest dramatic tenor before the public today.

Ben Heppner performs frequently with the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Vienna State Opera, Opéra National de Paris, and Royal Opera, Covent Garden. He has been recorded by every internationally renowned record label, and recently became an exclusive artist for Deutsche Grammophon. DG also inaugurated its new series of live-recorded Metropolitan Opera performances on DVD with Mr. Heppner as Florestan in Fidelio and as Tristan in Tristan und Isolde.

In the current season Mr. Heppner joined the Dresden Staatskapelle to record the arias of Siegfried and Siegmund from Wagner's Ring Cycle. The CD was released by DG in April of this year. He returned to the Berlin State Opera to sing Die Meistersinger with Daniel Barenboim, to the Metropolitan Opera to sing Lohengrin, Fidelio and his first performances of Parsifal, and to Vienna to sing Tristan und Isolde.

Following one of Heppner’s performances of Lohengrin at the Metropolitan Opera this spring, Anthony Tommasini wrote in the New York Times, “Many heldentenors are actually pushed-up baritones. Mr. Heppner is the real thing, a tenor with a clarion top range and a bright ping in his sound….This was a heroic and thrilling performance.”

Ben Heppner's website

ADRIANNE PIECZONKA, soprano
(Born: March 2, 1963 - ) (photo: Johannes Ifkovits)

Adrianne Pieczonka, a graduate of the University of Toronto’s Opera School, began her professional career with the Canadian Opera Company in Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk in 1988. In 1989 she joined the Vienna Volksoper and established her home and career in Europe. In 1991 she became a member of the Vienna Staatsoper where she continues to enjoy great success. In 1995, Ms. Pieczonka's U.K. debut at the Glyndebourne Festival as Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni brought an immediate invitation to return to sing the title role of Strauss’ Arabella in 1996. Many other important debuts followed, including the Metropolitan Opera in 2004.

Adrianne Pieczonka’s first Wagnerian role was Freia in Das Rheingold at the Vienna State Opera in 1993. This was followed by Eva in Die Meistersinger in 1994 – also at the Vienna State Opera; Elsa in Lohengrin at the Bavarian State Opera in 1999; Elisabeth in Tannhäuser at La Scala in 2005; and Sieglinde in Die Walküre with the COC in 2004 - a role which she repeats this summer at Bayreuth.

Following her Metropolitan Opera debut as Sieglinde, Opera Canada wrote, “Pieczonka is arguably the Sieglinde of our day. And on this occasion-with her expressive lyricism, unforced beauty of tone, exemplary diction and compelling acting - she clearly left most of her Met colleagues in the dust."

Adrianne Pieczonka returned to Canada in 2005 and now makes Toronto her home.

Adrianne Pieczonka's website