VIVA CARNIVAL at Living Arts Centre, Mississauga
January 27, 2018, Soloists:

Cassandra Wyss, mezzo-soprano from the Principality of Liechtenstein
The youngest singer of this evening dares to bridge the gap between an operatic career and one as a piano soloist. She has performed on renowned stages such as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Mozartsaal of Konzerthaus Vienna, the Grand Hall of Tschaikowski Conservatory Moscow, the Hercules Hall of Munich Residenz, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Emperor Hall at Residenz Würzburg, the Concert Church Neubrandenburg, and the opera houses of Riga, Brandenburg, Palma de Mallorca and Augsburg. During the summer of 2016 and 2017, Cassandra was an ensemble member in the “Romantik Theater” near Vienna, where she performed the leading roles in two Operettas over 80 times! She had the pleasure to work alongside musicians like Martins Ozolins, Lior Shambadal, Karsten Januschke, José Maria Moreno, Alexander Prior, Ks Francisco Araiza, Michael Halasz, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Moscow Symphony Orchestra, among others.

Eglė Šidlauskaitė, mezzo-soprano from Lithuania.
Eglė Šidlauskaitė, holder of the Lithuanian golden cross 2017 and the Lithuanian Singer of the Year award 2016, competed successfully in several international singing competitions, for example as finalist at the Cardiff Singer of the World competition, and won first prize at the International Singing Competition Antonina Campi Lublin. Eglė has also won scholarships to join 2013 Verbier Festival Academy. Her operatic repertoire includes Azucena, Olga, Fenena, Gertrude, Dorabella, Carmen and Eboli.
In 2017 she had her debut as Romeo in I Capuleti ed i Montecchi by Bellini at the Lithuanian National Opera House. As a guest, she has sung at the Lithuanian National Opera House, Freiburg Opera House, and the Salzburg Festspielhaus. She has also participated in the Kirsten Flagstad, Tromsø, and Oslo Opera Festivals in Norway.
Eglė has worked with artists like Patrik Ringborg, Richard Bonynge, Giacomo Aragall, Dame Kiri te Kanawa and Thomas Quasthoff.

David Jagodic, tenor from Slovenia.
After studying composition at the Conservatory of Music and Ballet in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Janez at Osredkar, the tenor has been studying at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna since 2010: classical singing with Prof. Claudia Visca and Lied/Oratorio under Robert Holl. He has worked with numerous musicians during his career. Since 2012, he has portrayed “Alonso” in Schubert The Friends of Salamanca Summer Festival Opera, “Alfred” in Die Fledermaus by J. Strauß, Lensky in “Eugene Onegin”, “Ferrando” in Cosi fan Tutte, and “Don Ottavio” in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and many others. David won first place in the competition Bruna Špiler 2011 in Montenegro. He has also attended master classes with Piotr Beczala and Snezana Nena Brzakovic.

Sascha Emanuel Kramer, tenor from Switzerland.
Swiss tenor Sascha Emanuel Kramer, born in Zurich, made his debut at the Salzburger Festspiele in 2013, when he was part of the Young Singers Project (“Akademie Meistersinger”). As a member of the prestigious “Accademia Teatro alla Scala,” the young tenor made his debut in various productions at the renowned Teatro alla Scala (2015/2016). Since 2016, Sascha Emanuel Kramer has been a part of the International Opera Studio of the illustrious State Opera of Hamburg, performing roles such as Tamino, Malcolm, Borsa and Flute. In the 2017/2018 season, the young Swiss will tread the boards of the Hamburg State Opera singing Andres (Wozzeck), Jaquino (Fidelio) and Kilian (Freischütz). Despite his young career, Sascha Emanuel Kramer has already sung under the baton of distinguished conductors such as Adam Fischer, Daniele Gatti, Zubin Mehta, Ingo Metzmacher and Kent Nagano, and has worked with stage directors such as Achim Freyer, Stefan Herheim, Harry Kupfer, Vera Nemirova and Peter Stein.

Till von Orlowsky, baritone from Austria.
The Austrian-Swedish baritone studied classical singing under Claudia Visca and Lied/Oratorio under Robert Holl, and later under Florian Boesch at the „Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst“ in Vienna. Since his first years of study, Till von Orlowsky gained a lot of experience both in Austria and abroad, performing in concerts and operas and working with directors like Bob Wilson and Alvis Hermanis, and conductors like Michele Mariotti and Dennis Russel Davis. He participated in many Operettas in different festivals all over Austria and Switzerland. In September 2013, he sang the part of Choregos in Punch and Judy, produced by Neue Oper Wien. This production was awarded the Best Production and Audience Award twice by the International Armel Opera Festival. In 2015/16, he was a member of the Accademia Teatro alla Scala, and in September 2016, he sang the part of Papageno in die Zauberflöte at la Scala, under direction of Peter Stein and Adam Fischer as conductor.

Brigitta Simon, soprano from Hungary.
Brigitta has been awarded numerous prizes at both national and international singing competitions such as Operalia. The soprano has sung with a variety of orchestras worldwide, including the Symphony Orchestra Baden, Montenegro Symphony Orchestra, Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Mozart Orchestra. She has performed the roles of Zerlina and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni by Mozart, Lucy in The Telephone by Menotti, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas by Purcell, Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro by Mozart, Adele in Die Fledermaus by Strauss, Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte by Mozart, and Olympia in Les contes d’Hoffmann by Offenbach. She has had the pleasure of working with artists such as Placido Domingo, Zubin Mehta and Ruggero Raimondi.

Inma Hidalgo, soprano from Spain.
Inma is currently enrolled at “Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia in Roma” in the class of Amelia Felle. She has portrayed various roles such as Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro by Mozart, the witch in Hänsel und Gretel by Humperdinck, Paggio in Verdi’s Rigoletto, Rosita in Luisa Fernanda by F. M. Torroba, Encarna in La Revoltosa by R. Chapí, Irene in Doña Francisquita by A. Vives, First Lady in Die Zauberflöte by Mozart; Anna in Nabucco by Verdi, and Rowan in The little sweep by Britten.
Inma has also performed at the Teatre Principal de Palma de Mallorca, Brandenburg, Augsburg, Berliner Philharmonie, Riga and at the “Gran Hall” of the Conservatory of Moscow.

Juan Carlos Heredia, baritone from Mexico.
The baritone native from Chihuahua, Mexico began his career as a guitarist. Juan Carlos started his vocal studies in 2011. His operatic repertoire includes Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia; Marcello and Schaunard in Puccini’s La Bohème, Belcore in L’elisir d’amore, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, Mercutio in Romo et Juliette, Masetto in Don Giovanni, Junius in The Rape of Lucretia, Carmina Burana, and Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. In the Operalia International Singing Competition 2016, Juan Carlos was awarded the Male Zarzuela 1st prize Don Placido Domingo Ferrer. Other competition prizes include both the first and second prizes in the Maritza Alemán Vocal Competition in the years 2013 and 2014; the Gilda Morelli prize at the Carlo Morelli National Vocal Competition in 2013; the second overall prize and the Ópera de Bellas Artes special prize at the 2014 Carlo Morelli competition. He is a member of the Los Angeles Opera Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist Program.

And Special Guests: Karolina Podolak
Karolina Podolak is a Polish-Canadian soprano from Toronto. Though she has sung as an amateur from a young age, she recently began studying classical singing under the tutelage of soprano Kinga Mitrowska. She has since found success in competitions and performances in Canada, the United States, and Poland. When she is not singing, Karolina works as a radio producer in Toronto, having completed a degree in Radio and Television Arts at Ryerson University.

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