Erica Warder

Soprano

With an engaging stage presence and a rich, exciting soprano voice, Erica Warder is a young artist with the knowledge, talent and passion to sing.

After four years at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Erica earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Music in 2008. She received a number of scholarships and awards, including first prize in the Concerto/Aria Competition held annually at Queen’s.

In 2008 Erica made her professional debut with the Kingston Symphony Orchestra at their Candle Light Christmas Service at St. George’s Cathedral in Kingston. Under the baton of Glen Fast, she sang Mozart’s “Exsultate, jubilate.” 2008 was also the beginning of Erica’s studies at the Glenn Gould School of Music in Toronto in the Artist Diploma program.

In June of 2009 Erica travelled to Fidenza, Italy to participate in Northern Arizona University’s summer opera program, “Flagstaff in Fidenza.” She
performed the role of Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with full professional orchestra.

In March of 2010, Erica performed the role of La Fée in Massenet’s Le Cendrillon with The Glenn Gould School of Music. In a review from Classical 96.3 FM, Paula Citron wrote “Erica Warder’s coloratura fairy was controlled and pretty”. Then in June, she participated in Tafelmusik’s Baroque Summer Institute.

In October of 2010 Erica joined baroque ensemble Arcady as their Young Artist for their 2010/2011 season, under the direction of Ron Beckett.

This past March, Erica performed with the International Symphony Orchestra in Sarnia and in Port Huron, whom she was also invited to back to sing with just recently in December. Then, in May, Erica travelled to Edmonton to participate in Opera Nuova’s One-Week Opera Intensive program and studied with some wonderful faculty, including Nico and Carol Castel, John Fanning and Elizabeth Turnbull.

Then, in June, Erica was lucky enough to travel to Ottawa to participate in the National Arts Centre’s Master Class with Benita Valente. In November, Erica was awarded First Prize in the NYCO Mozart Vocal Competition and will perform with the NYCO Symphony Orchestra in March and April. In May, Erica will perform the role of Oberto in Handel’s Alcina with Opera Nuova in Edmonton, Alberta.

Originally from Petrolia, Ontario, Erica works and resides in Toronto and studies privately with her teacher Stephanie Bogle and coach Brahm Goldhamer. She is the soprano soloist with the Humbercrest United Church Choir, and regularly holds recitals at retirement homes in Toronto. Currently, Erica is working towards a rewarding career performing the art she loves so much.

Ania Hejnar

Soprano

With critics already hailing her “pristine coloratura” and “outstanding interpretations,” soprano Ania Hejnar is currently enjoying what many consider the inevitable result of her extraordinary voice and talent. This year alone, she was selected from nearly six hundred applicants for the Canadian Music Competition, and asked to perform with the Orchestre Métropolitain under the baton of Alain Trudel. She also won the Barry Alexander International Vocal Competition, resulting in a performance debut at Carnegie Hall, which then led to her being given a study grant for The Alexander & Buono Festival of Music, and a performance with an international array of artists as part of the Festival’s final recital at New York’s Kosciuszko’s Foundation Auditorium.

Growing up surrounded by music, Ms. Hejnar began musical studies with the violin, performing her first recital at the age of three. Continuing her studies under Paule Préfontaine, she later joined the Ottawa Junior Youth Orchestra as a violinist, remaining a member for many years. She began her voice studies at age sixteen with Professor Ewelina Kwaśniewska, who for nearly a quarter century was considered the reigning diva and lead soprano of the Grand Theatre, Łódź, one of the most important opera houses in Poland. Recognizing the innate talent and potential of her young protégée, she worked to build a technique for the bel canto and coloratura works that have already become a part of Hejnar’s vocal signature.

Ms. Hejnar began her undergraduate work as a Bachelor of Music candidate at the University of Ottawa, studying under Professor Ingemar Korjus, whose international career as a specialist in both opera and lieder helped to spark an interest in Ms. Hejnar for song literature. This collaboration led to invitations to perform in a variety of works and venues, among them the University of Ottawa Opera Company and the Opera Musica Orchestra, in roles such as Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte, and Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen. Ms. Hejnar has also performed for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and former Governor General Michaëlle Jean, while also participating in Opera Lyra Ottawa’s production of Puccini’s Turandot.

Now a second year Master’s Degree candidate in the School of Music at the University of Ottawa, Ms. Hejnar is a student of Professor Sandra Graham, whose enjoys a reputation not only as a teacher, but the University’s Opera Production Director, and recitalist with an international career.

Currently coaching with Barry Alexander in New York, Ms. Hejnar is preparing roles and concert repertoire for upcoming performances that include engagements in Canada and North America. She very recently received First Prize in the Barry Alexander International Voice Competition 2012, which will lead to a performance in Weill’s Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall this January 29, 2012. This will be her second performance at the hall since last April, and she will be performing there once again on April 16, 2012 as Artist of the Month for the Alexander/Buono ABC Gala.

Jeremy Ludwig

Baritone

Baritone Jeremy Ludwig, a recent graduate of the University of Toronto’s (UofT) Opera School, can be seen regularly performing in the Toronto area as well as in other cities across Canada. Highlights this season include Handel’s Messiah with the Redeemer College Choir in Hamilton as well an exciting collaboration with the Toy Piano Composers, a collective of young and talented composers from across Canada in a performance of a series of brand new operatic vignettes.

Jeremy was recently seen in the role of Le Philosphe in the rarely performed Chérubin by Massenet with Essential Opera. Other recent appearances include Top in Copland’s The Tender Land with the Summer Opera Lyric Theatre (SOLT), Marcello in Puccini’s La Bohème (Opera Kitchener), Il Conte in Le nozze di Figaro (Centre for Opera Studies in Italy – COSI).

Jeremy holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Western Ontario, and a Master’s of Music from the University of Toronto’s Opera School.

Heidi Jost

Mezzo soprano

Mezzo-soprano Heidi Jost recently completed her Masters of Vocal Performance with Ingemar Korjus, and baroque coach Daniel Taylor, at the University of Ottawa. Heidi performed Solomon arias with orchestra in Handel’s Solomon at the Victoria Conservatory Summer Program 2011, Dorabella in a Concert Performance of Cosi fan Tutte with Jean Desmarais (May 2011), Second Lady in the University production of The Magic Flute (2011), and Marcellina in Figaro (2010).

She also performed alto arias in Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus and a J.S. Bach Recital in the Victoria Conservatory Summer Program 2010. This past April 2011, Heidi was a finalist in the NATS Senior Scholarship Award competition. In 2009, she was awarded first place in the Sacred Solo category in the Kiwanis Festival, and in the NATS Mature Beginner category. She enjoys collaborating with other musicians in sacred music concerts and regularly sings and plays flute at the Church of the Messiah in downtown Ottawa.

Julie Ludwig

Soprano

Soprano Julie Ludwig is a graduate of the Masters in Vocal Performance and Literature program at the University of Western Ontario (UWO) where she studied with Dr. Sophie Louise Roland.  In the fall of 2011, with the generous support of the Canadian Aldeburgh Foundation, Julie travelled to the UK where she was a young artist at the Aldeburgh Music Festival and performed Emmie in Albert Herring under the baton of Steuart Bedford.

Other operatic credits include performances as Laurie (The Tender Land) with Toronto’s Summer Opera Lyric Theatre, Ginevra (in scenes from Ariodante) with the Canadian Operatic Arts Academy, Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro) with the Centre for Operatic Studies in Italy, First Witch (Dido and Aeneas) and Moth (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), both with the Banff Centre’s Opera as Theatre Program, Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro) with Brampton Lyric Opera and Opera Kitchener, and Zerlina (Don Giovanni) with the Halifax Summer Opera Workshop and the UWO Opera.

Upcoming performances include Sophie in Werther with Opera by Request and Oberto in Alcina with Essential Opera.