Vania and I were connected through a mutual friend of my husbands and after to getting speak with her, I knew I had to have her on the podcast. It was a real treat to have Vania on Cue To Cue. I was not only impressed by her dedication and passion to her artistry but her willingness to discuss her challenges in regards to finding herself as an artist and learning to cut out the “noise” and let her inner voice guide her career.
A few things we touch on in this episode are what she learned from living and auditioning in New York, what inspired her to get a PH.D in vocal pedagogy and why she keeps her vocal rituals and routines as simple as possible when leading up to a performance and so much more!
Vania Chan : Owning Your Voice
A little about Vania:
Canadian lyric coloratura soprano Vania Chan received her Master of Music in Classical Voice from the Manhattan School of Music in New York, and graduated Summa Cum Laude from York University, Toronto, receiving a B.F.A. with Specialized Honours in Music.
Vania had her Carnegie Hall debut in Weill Recital Hall, performing as a first prize winner in the Barry Alexander International Vocal Competition in New York.
She premiered the role of “The Light Moon” in the Dora Award Winning opera “The Lesson of Da Ji” by composer Alice Ping Yee Ho and librettist Marjorie Chan, presented by Toronto Masque Theatre. Vania’s voice can be heard on the CD recording of the same opera (Centre Discs, Naxos), singing the roles of “The Light Moon” and “Ming” the maid. The recording received a critic’s choice review in Opera News, New York.
Performance highlights include the role of Madame Herz in Mozart’s “The Impresario”, the goddess Diane in Rameau’s “Hippolyte et Aricie” both with VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert, Princess Mi in Lehár “The Land of Smiles” with Toronto Operetta Theatre, the role of the Ad Exec in Soundstreams’ presentation of Brian Current’s “Airline Icarus: A New Opera”, the soprano role in Alice Ho’s “Venom of Love”, produced by Little Pear Garden Collective, and more recently, a leading role in Purcell’s “The Fairy Queen” with Toronto Masque Theatre, and Lieschen in Bach’s “Coffee Cantata” with Rezonance Baroque Ensemble.
Vania was the winner of the “City of Brandon Award” at the 2008 Eckhardt Gramatté Vocal Competition, for her interpretation of the commissioned cycle, Jocelyn Morlock’s Involuntary Love Songs, which was broadcast by the Canadian Broadcasting Company.
She made her European debut through the “Elysium Between Two Continents: International Summer Academy”, in Bernried, Germany.
She has sung with several performance companies in New York, including Gateway Classical Music Society, the New York Opera Forum, Opus Opera NY, and Opera Manhattan Repertory Theatre Inc. She also sang with the Berkshire Bach Society in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Her operatic roles include Zerbinetta (Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos), Cleopatra (Handel’s Giulio Cesare), Olympia (Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Susanna (Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro), Marie (Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment), Lucia (Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor), Gretel (Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel), Nanetta (Verdi’s Falstaff), Armida (Handel’s Rinaldo), Morgana (Handel’s Alcina) and Anne Trulove (Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress).
Go see Vania Perform!
Upcoming performances include opera singer/old widow in “Comfort” with Red Snow Collective, Mabel in “The Pirates of Penzance” with Toronto Operetta Theatre, and ongoing collaborations with Toronto Masque Theatre, Jumblies Theatre and Les Amis Concerts.
http://www.torontooperetta.com/shows.html
Follow Vania!
Did you enjoy the podcast?
What spoke to you the most today? Let me know by leaving a comment below!
