10 DAYS IN A MADHOUSE

Hannah Moscovitch is one of Canada’s most acclaimed playwrights. She has been honoured with numerous awards for her work, both at home and internationally, including Canada’s highest literary honour The Governor General’s Award, the Trillium Book Award, the Nova Scotia MasterWorks Arts Award, and the prestigious Windham-Campbell Prize. Hannah’s music-theatre hybrid Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story, co-created with Christian Barry and Ben Caplan, became a TimeOut and New York Times Critic’s Pick, receiving six Drama Desk Award nominations, and winning the Herald Angel and a Scotsman Fringe First at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story has been touring since 2017 and has been performed more than 400 times. Hannah’s play, Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes, was recently onstage in New York City starring Hugh Jackman and Ella Beatty, directed by Ian Rickson, and produced by Sonia Friedman Productions. In television, Hannah was the Co-Creator, Executive Producer and Head Writer of Little Bird alongside showrunner Jennifer Podemski. Little Bird garnered a landslide of critical praise including thirteen Canadian Screen Awards including Best Drama Series. Hannah has been a writer and producer on all three seasons of AMC’s hit TV series Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, which has been included on many Best TV of the Year Lists, such as Vanity Fair, Variety, TV Guide, Buzzfeed, HuffPost, Slate, Collider, Vulture and IndieWire.

Rene Orth – “a master composer” with a “sophisticated sound world” (Classical Voice North America) – writes music described as “always dramatic, reflective, rarely predictable, and often electronic” (Musical America). She recently completed a three-year tenure as Composer-In-Residence at Opera Philadelphia.

Upcoming premieres for the 2025-26 season consist of a solo cello piece for Sarah Rommel at Yellow Barn; a violin and bass clarinet piece for Yvonne Lam and Mingzhe Wang; two songs for soprano, viola, and piano that will tour with Curtis on Tour; and an 8-minute scene as part of a larger commissioned work for Opera Philadelphia’s 50th anniversary celebration.

Recently, Opera Philadelphia presented the “triumphant world premiere” (Wall Street Journal) of 10 Days in a Madhouse, co-commissioned by Opera Philadelphia and Tapestry Opera, which subsequently won the 2024 Best New Opera Award from the Music Critics Association of North America, was a finalist in the 2024 International Opera Awards for “Best World Premiere,” and listed as #1 in The Washington Post’s “Best of Classical Music in 2023.”

Deemed “a treasure” by the Toronto Star, Canadian soprano Mireille Asselin enjoys a diverse career spanning opera, concert, and recital repertoire. She has performed five seasons at the Metropolitan Opera, including a standout appearance stepping in as Adele on opening night of Die Fledermaus, praised as one of New York’s “most enchanting” performances of the season.

Ms. Asselin’s operatic career has seen her perform on international and Canadian stages, with recent highlights including La Folie in Platée at Garsington Opera (UK), Jonathas in David et Jonathas with Opera Atelier (Toronto), Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro at the Canadian Opera Company, and Zerlina in Don Giovanni with the National Arts Centre and Théatre des Champs-Elysées (Paris). Upcoming engagements include her first appearances at London’s Royal Ballet and Opera starring as Arianna in Handel’s Giustino, and her role debut as Nellie in the Canadian premiere of 10 Days in a Madhouse (Orth/Moscovitch) with Tapestry Opera. She is also set to join Montreal Bach Festival, Orchestre symphonique de Gatineau, Chorus Niagara, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Victoria Baroque, Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra, and the Brooklyn Art Song Society this season.

Joanna Settle is an award-winning director and arts educator based in Abu Dhabi. Settle is known for creating and curating contemporary performance across multiple disciplines: opera, theatre, performance art, cabaret and installation. Her work and her teaching pedagogy approach performance making as a method of inquiry.

Recent productions include the world premiere of Sky on Swings, a new opera presented by Opera Philadelphia; Noura by Heather Raffo presented by Washington, DC’s Shakespeare Theatre Company, The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi and NYC’s Playwright’s Horizons; and most recently, Al Raheel | Departure, a new performance piece commissioned by The Arts Center and Cultural Foundation Abu Dhabi, co-created with Emirati writer Reem Almenhali. Upcoming projects include the world premiere of 10 Days in a Madhouse by Rene Orth and Hannah Moscovitch for Opera Philadelphia, and a work of performative installation titled Salt Lake Excerpt, co-commissioned with Blane De St Croix for NYUAD Art Gallery.

Baritone Jorell Williams, acclaimed for his “solid vocal core and easy, natural production” (Opera News) and “deliciously resonant baritone voice” (Broadway World), has been praised by The Washington Post as “a rock-solid singer with a keen understanding of his own expressive depths.” 

He continues to grace major concert halls and opera stages worldwide with his commanding presence and vocal artistry.

Toronto-based conductor and educator Sandra Horst is celebrated for her “superb direction” (La Scena), professionalism, and musical integrity throughout her thirty-year career. Recent conducting engagements include Orphée+ with Edmonton Opera, Florence, the Lady with the Lamp with Voicebox: Opera in Concert, and the premiere of Cusson and Vavrek’s Indians on Vacation at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Since 1998, she has served as the Price Family Chorus Master at the Canadian Opera Company, amassing a repertoire of over seventy operas to date. In past seasons, she has worked with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Boston Lyric Opera, Juilliard Opera Centre, the Chautauqua Institution, and made her mainstage conducting debut at the Canadian Opera Company with Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims in 2002. Next season, she looks forward to conducting the COC Ensemble Studio's performance of Rossini's Barber of Seville. In 2022, Horst joined Tapestry Opera’s groundbreaking Women in Musical Leadership program as an industry mentor and was appointed to the board of the Association for Opera in Canada in 2024.

Hailed by the Washington Post as a singer with a beautifully rich and spirited voice, mezzo-soprano Taylor-Alexis DuPont is a Grand Prize Winner of the 2023 Lotte Lenya Competition, the recipient of the inaugural Rebecca Luker Award from the Kurt Weill Foundation in 2021, and was involved in the Grammy Award winning production of Porgy & Bess with the Metropolitan Opera in 2020-2021. Closing out the 2024- 2025 season, Taylor-Alexis joins the Denyce Graves Foundation as a soloist in their April showcase Everything Old Is New Again, Opera Orlando as the title role in Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha, the Glimmerglass Festival for their 50th Anniversary Gala and later in their Summer 2025 season as Nurse/Mrs./Harriet P. in Sunday in the Park with George, and Sally in the world premiere of Cisneros/Bermel’s The House on Mango Street.

Originally from Gatineau, Quebec, conductor Eve Legault is known for her expressive and dynamic presence on the podium. Recent performances in 2025 include "Anything Goes" at the

Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Eve also participated in the RBC Canadian Conductor Showcase with Daniel Raiskin and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.

Through Tapestry Opera’s Women in Musical Leadership (WML) program, she worked twice as an Assistant Conductor at the Manitoba Opera. She assisted at the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Opera Kelowna and Shaw Festival. She was a Guest Conductor and the first Assistant Conductor with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. Eve received the mentorship of Gustavo Gimeno, Sarah Ioannides, Tyrone Paterson, Daniel Raiskin, Paul Sportelli,Rosemary Thomson and Naomi Woo.

Previously, Eve became the first woman to conduct her hometown orchestra, the Orchestre symphonique de Gatineau. Other engagements included a concert as a Guest Conductor with the Ottawa Chamber Orchestra. Eve was a Guest Conductor and subsequently the Principal Conductor of the Pembroke Symphony Orchestra from 2023-2025.

Between 2020 and 2022, she received 16 individual contracts at the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, as a Guest Assistant Conductor to Alexander Shelley, John Storgårds, Dalia Stasevska and Xian Zhang. During the summer 2021, Eve was Assistant Conductor with the Montreal-based Orchestre de la francophonie, under the artistic direction of Jean-Philippe Tremblay.

Formerly, Eve fulfilled several roles within the international opera community. She completed graduate studies in 3 disciplines: Conducting, Piano and Accompanying. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music in New York, where she was bestowed the Helen Cohn Award.

Eve was awarded a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Fellowship. She also received four grants from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to participate in conducting masterclasses in Europe (Kenneth Kiesler and the Berlin Sinfonietta, Tomáš Netopil and the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra). During a masterclass in Finland with Sasha Mäkilä and the Helsinki Metropolitan Orchestra, she was selected by the musicians as the “Orchestra’s Favorite Conductor.

Praised for her “wonderfully rich, warm sound” (Opera Canada), mezzo-soprano Alex Hetherington was recently named one of CBC Radio’s “30 Hot Classical Musicians Under 30.” In the 2025/26 season, Ms. Hetherington, a Canadian Opera Company (COC) Ensemble Studio graduate, returns to the COC as Stéphano in Amy Lane’s Roméo et Juliette and makes a role debut as Dorabella in Vancouver Opera’s Così fan tutte. In concert, she joins the National Ballet of Canada in their newly commissioned ballet, Procession, reunites with the National Arts Centre Orchestra for a recording project with Maestro Alexander Shelley, and makes much-anticipated debuts with Boston Baroque in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and with Les Violons du Roy in Mozart’s Requiem.

A highly skilled concert musician, Ms. Hetherington made her National Arts Centre Orchestra debut in 2022 as the alto soloist in Mozart's Requiem under the baton of Bernard Labadie. This marked the beginning of a series of collaborations with the orchestra, including notable performances of Ana Sokolović’s Golden Slumbers Kiss Your Eyes and the premiere of Cecilia Livingston’s orchestral arrangements of lieder selections by Clara Schumann, led by Alexander Shelley. Other highlights include Ian Cusson’s Songs from the House of Death with the Victoria Symphony under Christian Kluxen, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Ottawa Chamberfest and the Mandle Philharmonic, Duruflé’s Requiem with the Amadeus Choir, and her first Messiah with Chorus Niagara. An accomplished recitalist, she has also curated programs for the Toronto Summer Music Festival and the Norcop Art Song Recital at the University of Toronto.

Alex’s recent operatic engagements include Siebel in a new production of Gounod's Faust at the Canadian Opera Company directed by Amy Lane, and her Vancouver Opera debut as the Stewardess in Jonathan Dove’s Flight. During her time as an ensemble member with the Canadian Opera Company, she performed Mercédès in Carmen, Lapák in The Cunning Little Vixen, Second Handmaiden in Cherubini’s Medea, and the Slave in Salome, while also covering Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, and Suli in the world premiere of Kye Marshall and Amanda Hale’s Pomegranate. Skilled in the realm of new music, Alex premiered the role of [Riley] in Nicole Lizée’ and Nicholas Billon’s R.U.R. A Torrent of Light at Tapestry Opera, for which she won a 2022 Dora Mavor Moore Award. Further operatic credits include Offred in Paul Rouder's The Handmaid's Tale (Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity), Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Carmen in La tragédie de Carmen (UofT Opera), and Nicklausse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Toronto City Opera).

Alex holds a Bachelor’s in Voice Performance and a Master's in Opera Performance from the University of Toronto, where she was recognized with the Jim and Charlotte Norcop Award in Art Song and named the winner of the UTSO Concerto Competition.

Canadian soprano Ariane Cossette is a captivating presence on the operatic stage, celebrated for her lush voice and compelling artistry. A graduate of the Canadian Opera Company's prestigious Ensemble Studio, her recent COC roles include Marguerite (Faust), Norina (Don Pasquale), and Frasquita (Carmen). An alumna of the Merola Opera Program and Internationale Meistersinger Akademie, Ariane has performed across Canada, the United States, Germany, and France. A recipient of numerous grants and awards, she is a recent prize winner of the the Concours musical international de Montréal 2025 and recently competed in the Elizabeth Connell International Singing Competition in London, UK.

Alberta born soprano Caitlin Wood was “absolutely vibrant” in her 2017 debut as Susanna in Marriage of Figaro with Vancouver Opera and showed “exquisite vulnerability” as Ava in the world premiere of Missing (Current/Clements) with City Opera Vancouver). Caitlin won praise as the godlike Controller in Vancouver Opera’s recent Flight, “effectively navigates the dizzyingly stratospheric vocal writing”. Caitlin begins her 2025 season in British Columbia, touring with “The Music of the Night” showcasing musical favourites from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic musicals. In Montreal, Caitlin performs excerpts from Miss Chief Cycle, a new opera by Dustin Peters, based on paintings by Kent Monkman. Caitlin sang the role of Ava in Missing: in Concert (Current/Clements) at the Toronto Summer Music Festival and is featured on the CD of this powerful chamber opera that gives voice to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Upcoming and recent performances include Messiah with Chorus Niagara and Bach’s St. John Passion with Regina Symphony Orchestra, Carmina Burana with Ottawa Choral Society, The River of Light (Current) with Vancouver Bach Choir, and Mozart’s Requiem with Windsor Symphony Orchestra. Caitlin was “bright, edgy, alluring” in the title role in The Coronation of Poppea with Washington D.C.’s INSeries Opera.

Operatic roles include Despina (Cosi fan tutte) Comtesse Adèle (Le Comte Ory) Josephine (HMS Pinafore), Johanna (Sweeney Todd), The Housewife (Gould’s Wall), and Clorinde in La Cenerentola. In 2026, Caitlin stars as Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro with Manitoba Opera.

Described as "a real personality with a dark edge to her mezzo as well as clear top notes" (WhatsOnStage, UK) as well as "exhilarating" by Opera Canada, Mezzo soprano Catharin Carew is equally at home on both the operatic and concert stage, having performed a wide range of repertoire, from Medieval to Contemporary.

A graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, career highlights include premiering the role of Maeve in Ana Sokolovic's The Midnight Court at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden with Queen of Puddings Music Theatre, performing Mrs. Grose in the Aldeburgh production of The Turn of the Screw, singing in Tapestry New Opera Works' Queers Crash the Opera and working with Powerhouse Opera in 2022, singing the role of Klytaminestra in their production of Elektra. In addition, Catharin has performed 26 of Bach's cantatas as a soloist through the Bach Vespers series at the Church of the Redeemer.

Recent performances by Catharin include premiering the role of Demeter in Elizabeth Raum's new opera Romance of the Gods with Orchestra Toronto, participating in ongoing workshops of Afarin Mansouri's new opera The Refugees and making her debut as Brangäne in Powerhouse Opera's production of Tristan und Isolde. Catharin was fortunate to be the mezzo soloist in the Canadian premiere of Robert Cohen's oratorio Alzheimer Stories with Pax Christi Chorale in Toronto and again with Chor Amica in London, as well as performing the title role in Mascagni's opera Zanetto with Grand River Opera in Kitchener-Waterloo.

Upcoming engagements include a recital at the Canadian Music Centre, performing contemporary Canadian pieces from the CMC collection based on the theme of Astronomy, singing the role of Říhová in Dvořák's opera Tvrdé Palice with the Canadian Institute for Czech Music, as well as performing the solos in Mozart's Vespers and Dvorak's Mass in D with Toronto Classical Singers. As a sound installation artist, Catharin is represented by Meurehg Studios and is currently working on her Hildegard Conversations series, which involves a new commission by Canadian composer Stephanie Martin.

Canadian soprano Elizabeth Polese has recently been a young artist at Detroit Opera, l’Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, and Tanglewood Music Center. She is the winner of the prestigious Sullivan Foundation Gail Robinson Award for Soprano, and Hnatyshyn Foundation Developing Artist Award for Classical Voice. She is also the founder of new Montréal-based chamber group, Ember Ensemble.

Elizabeth’s upcoming and recent highlights include: soprano soloist in Carmina Burana with Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, Woodbird in Siegfried at Edmonton Opera, Lady-in-waiting in Macbeth with Orchestre Métropolitain and Yannick Nezet-Séguin, Norina in Don Pasquale with Vancouver Opera, the Governess in The Turn of the Screw with Opera 5, winner of the Edmonton Opera Rumbold Competition, Vier Letzte Lieder with Festival de Lanaudière, soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Pierre Mercure’s Cantate pour une joie with Orchestre Classique de Montréal, artist-in-residence with Yukon Arts Centre, soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah with Brott Music Festival, and recital appearances with Salle Bourgie, Ottawa ChamberFest, Société d’Art Vocal de Montreal, Tanglewood Music Center, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, and Toronto Summer Music.

Praised for her stage presence of warmth and character, DORA Award and Eckhardt-

Gramatté winner mezzo-soprano ERICA IRIS captivates audiences with her sensitivity and vocal timbres, critically acclaimed for her performances of opera, concert oratorio, and

contemporary repertoire. No stranger to Tapestry Opera (Naomi’s Road 2013, Rocking

Horse Winner 2016, Oksana G. 2017, and The Overcoat 2018), Erica made her stage

debuts with the Canadian Opera Company as the Second Maid in Elektra (2019), Mrs.

Petrovich in The Overcoat with Vancouver Opera (2018), and Bloody Mary in Calgary

Opera’s South Pacific (2017). Erica is approaching her sixteenth consecutive season with the Canadian Opera Company Chorus, and proudly runs her unique dog walking business in Leslieville, where she sings for dogs, and joyfully grooms them in her Toronto loft with her poodle assistants, Biko & Kiba.

Soprano Jonelle Sills was named one of York University’s 2022 Top 30 Alumni Under 30 and one of CBC Music’s 30 hot classical musicians under 30. Her mainstage debut at the Canadian Opera Company, for Mimi in La bohème (2023), was lauded for being a “beautifully sensitive... with careful control and colour” (The Globe and Mail). She looks forward to reprising the role with Vancouver Opera in the 2025/2026 season.

Recent engagements include Jonelle’s company and role debut as Miss Jessel in Pacific Opera Victoria’s production of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with the Edmonton Opera, Hannah Glawari in Lehar’s Merry Widow with Toronto Operetta Theatre, Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen with Vancouver Opera, and an appearance with the National Ballet of Canada as the soprano soloist for their acclaimed production of Anna Karenina. She also joined the musical cast of Rhapsody in Blue: A Gershwin Celebration for the composer’s centenary in venues across Ontario, and toured Joplin’s Treemonisha with Volcano Theatre and Chicago’s Harris Theatre. With the Canadian Art Song Project, she was nominated for a 2025 Juno Award for their album, Known to Dreamers: Black Voices in Canadian Art Song.

Canadian Soprano Megan Miceli is a singer and musical director, as well as a proud arts educator and creator who is passionate about accessibility and inclusivity within the

performing arts community. She has been praised for her “bright, pure, well focused high lyric soprano” (Musical Toronto). Recent performance highlights include soprano soloist in

Considering Matthew Shepard with Pax Christi Chorale, Athlete in the Canadian premiere of Before The Last Meter, composed by Saman Shahi and libretto by Isabella Dawis, soprano

soloist in Spotlight: Out on a Limb with Amplified Opera, as well as performances with Oakville Choral, the Guelph Chamber Players, and the Toronto Mozart Choir. Other operatic highlights include roles with Calgary Opera, The Old Trout Puppet Workshop, BrottOpera, and Opera 5. An alumnus of Calgary Opera's McPhee Artist Development Program, Megan holds degrees from The University of Guelph and McGill University.

Ukrainian Canadian soprano Natalya Gennadi is establishing her career in North America in a wide range of repertoire. Natalya caused a sensation when she stepped in at short notice in her debut in the leading role of Oksana G., Tapestry Opera’s harrowing tale about human trafficking. Her critically acclaimed performance of this world premiere was nominated for the prestigious Dora Mavor Moore Awards.

In 2024, Natalya curated and performed in “Grandma’s Shawl” with Soundstreams, a musical journey inspired by the tale of Kokum Shawls and tells the story of the lasting bond between Ukrainian and Indigenous women. Their story is woven together with historical quotes, folk songs, poetry and compositions by Ukrainian composers Stefania Turkevych, Lesia Dychko, and Canadians Andrew Balfour, Anna Pidgorno and Ian Cusson.

As Mimi in La bohème with Highlands Opera Studio, Dawn Martens of Opera Canada wrote: “Natalya was a gorgeous Mimi; not only did she look the part of the consumptive heroine, she allowed her powerful voice to ebb and flow, pro ducing gorgeously rich tones in Act I and sweeter, melodic phrases in Act 1V.”

Recent opera roles include Violetta (La Traviata) and Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) with Opera York, Countess Almaviva with Southern Ontario Lyric Opera’s Le Nozze di Figaro, and Mimi in La bohème with Brott Opera. Natalya joined Toronto Concert Orchestra for a concert of opera favourites and is a favourite with Tapestry Opera in their popular summertime outdoor Box Concerts.

Natalya debuted as Gerhilde in Die Walküre with Pacific Opera Victoria, and starred as Medée (Cherubini) with Voicebox:Opera in Concert. Natalya joined Slow Rise Music in their compelling concert of contemporary works “Here be Sirens”, and was a guest soloist with Etobicoke Philharmonic Orchestra’s Spring Concert.

Recent highlights for Natalya include her debut with Kindred Spirits Orchestra as the soprano soloist in Verdi’s monumental Requiem, and singing The First Wood Nymph in an orchestral study of Rusalka with Regents Opera in London, UK.