At 24, Vancouver-born opera singer Simone Osborne is set to take her biggest role to date — as Pamina in the Canadian Opera Company's new staging of The Magic Flute.She'll sing in four performances of the Toronto production, playing the heroine who is held captive by the wizard Sarastro and must find her way out of the underworld at the side of her true love, Tamino. She alternates the role with internationally renowned Canadian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian.
Osborne is a member of the COC's Ensemble Studio, a corps of promising young singers working towards star roles in the opera firmament. In an interview with CBC's Eli Glasner, Osborne described herself as a person with a "big personality" who never felt out of step singing opera while her peers were into pop music."There's nothing that can't be expressed through the human voice," she said, explaining how she fell in love with opera at the age of 16.
Her first Vancouver singing instructor introduced her to opera. She also attended the summer opera program at the University of British Columbia. In 2008, then 21-year-old Osborne became one of the youngest singers ever to win the Metropolitan Opera's national council auditions.Along with gaining the experience of singing on the Met's famed stage, she won $15,000 US and the attention of a New York Times critic, who described her voice as "sweet and clear, with sensitive phrasing and gleaming sustained notes."
That prompted COC director Alexander Neef to take a close look at Osborne.
"When you hear someone interesting like Simone, you're like, 'This is really good material. It's not something you can learn. It's only something you have, and then you develop technique, style and all that.'
"But first of all, a really exciting singer needs great material and she so evidently had it," he told CBC News.As part of the COC Ensemble Studio, Osborne has performed in Carmen, Maria Stuarda, The Nightingale and Other Short Fables and Idomeneo.
In addition to her debut in The Magic Flute, set for Feb. 10, she is set for roles in Rigoletto and Gianni Schicchi in the upcoming season.Later this year, Osborne also will travel to New York with the COC to perform Robert LePage's The Nightingale and Other Short Fables at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/theatre/story/2011/01/28/simone-osborne.html#ixzz1CRyuH2O7
Osborne is a member of the COC's Ensemble Studio, a corps of promising young singers working towards star roles in the opera firmament. In an interview with CBC's Eli Glasner, Osborne described herself as a person with a "big personality" who never felt out of step singing opera while her peers were into pop music."There's nothing that can't be expressed through the human voice," she said, explaining how she fell in love with opera at the age of 16.
Her first Vancouver singing instructor introduced her to opera. She also attended the summer opera program at the University of British Columbia. In 2008, then 21-year-old Osborne became one of the youngest singers ever to win the Metropolitan Opera's national council auditions.Along with gaining the experience of singing on the Met's famed stage, she won $15,000 US and the attention of a New York Times critic, who described her voice as "sweet and clear, with sensitive phrasing and gleaming sustained notes."
That prompted COC director Alexander Neef to take a close look at Osborne.
"When you hear someone interesting like Simone, you're like, 'This is really good material. It's not something you can learn. It's only something you have, and then you develop technique, style and all that.'
"But first of all, a really exciting singer needs great material and she so evidently had it," he told CBC News.As part of the COC Ensemble Studio, Osborne has performed in Carmen, Maria Stuarda, The Nightingale and Other Short Fables and Idomeneo.
In addition to her debut in The Magic Flute, set for Feb. 10, she is set for roles in Rigoletto and Gianni Schicchi in the upcoming season.Later this year, Osborne also will travel to New York with the COC to perform Robert LePage's The Nightingale and Other Short Fables at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/theatre/story/2011/01/28/simone-osborne.html#ixzz1CRyuH2O7
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