New appointments in voice

The Desautels Faculty of Music is pleased to announce the appointments of soprano Monica Huisman as an Instructor in voice, and soprano Tracy Dahl as the Desautels Faculty of Music Artist-in-Residence.

Dutch-Canadian soprano Monica Huisman has been hailed as possessing a voice that “embodies both flawless technique and dramatic impact” (Opera Canada). Ms. Huisman has delighted audiences from Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw to Guatemala City with the reputation of her “silken voice consistently crafting each note into a work of art” (Winnipeg Free Press). She has performed to critical acclaim on the stages of Vancouver Opera, Calgary Opera, Edmonton Opera, Pacific Opera, Opera Victoria, The Netherlands Opera, Manitoba Opera, Opera Ontario and Saskatoon Opera in productions of Carmen, Marriage of Figaro, Cosi Fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, Cunning Little Vixen, La Boheme, Magic Flute, Hansel and Gretel and Lakme. Many of these performances have been broadcasted by CBC Radio on Saturday Afternoon at the Opera.

Soprano Monica Huisman.

Equally at home in concert repertoire Ms. Huisman has thrilled audiences in performances with leading orchestras including the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, and Amsterdam’s world-renowned Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

With her 2006 debut at La Scala as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, Canada’s premier coloratura soprano Tracy Dahl reached another milestone in a career that has brought her together with such opera houses as the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Canadian Opera Company, and the Chatelet in Paris, to name a few. Her “superlative coloratura” (Globe and Mail), “deliciously accurate, stratospheric” (Opera Magazine), is regularly singled out by critics. “Her extreme high notes, and she threw in a lot of them, are easy and spectacular.” (Boston Globe). In 2009 Tracy Dahl was awarded the prestigious Opera Canada Ruby Award.

Tracy Dahl.

Ms. Dahl has performed with every major Canadian orchestra. Other orchestral engagements have included a New Year’s Eve Gala concert with the Philadelphia Orchestra under David Zinman and appearances with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra during the Atlanta ’96 Olympics Arts Festival. Dahl performed with the American Symphony Orchestra in the world premiere of David Del Tredici’s Child Alice at Carnegie Hall. She appeared with the San Francisco Symphony in Handel’s Messiah, and with the Saint Louis Symphony under Leonard Slatkin. She also performed with maestro Slatkin at the Hollywood Bowl, joined the Tonhalle Orchestra/Zurich under Zinman for a gala New Year’s Eve concert, and made her United Kingdom debut with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

Her discography includes A Disney Spectacular with the Cincinnati Pops (Telarc), Glitter and Be Gay with the Calgary Philharmonic (CBC), A Gilbert and Sullivan Gala with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (CBC), and Love Walked In, a Gershwin collection with the Bramwell Tovey Trio (Red Phone Box Company).

Ms. Dahl and Ms. Huisman are highly regarded pedagogues and are in great demand as adjudicators and clinicians.