Jonelle Sills

Soprano Jonelle Sills was recently named one of York University’s 2022 Top 30 Alumni Under 30 and one of CBC Music’s 30 hot classical musicians under 30. One of the most exciting emerging sopranos of her generation, Jonelle recently made her company debut at the Canadian Opera Company as Mimi in La bohème, where she was lauded for being a “beautifully sensitive Mimi with careful control and colour” (The Globe and Mail). Upcoming this season, Sills looks forward to returns to Edmonton Opera as Roselinde in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, and the Guelph Symphony Orchestra for a New Years Day celebration. Additionally, she joins the musical cast of Rhapsody in Blue: A Gershwin Celebration for the composer’s centenary in venues across Ontario, and tours Joplin’s Treemonisha with Volcano Theatre and Chicago’s Harris Theatre.

Her 2023/2024 season saw role debuts of Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with the Edmonton Opera, Hannah Glawari in Lehar’s Merry Widow with Toronto Operetta Theatre, and Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen with Vancouver Opera. She returned to the Canadian Opera Company later in the season for assignments in the world premiere of Aportia Chryptych: A Black Opera for Portia White.

On the concert stage, she has recently made returns to the National Arts Centre Orchestra under the batons of Alexander Shelley, Dinuk Wijeratne, and Cosette Justo Valdés; joined the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir for Brahms’ Requiem, and presented recital programs for both Prince Edward County Chamber Music Festival and Ottawa’s Chamberfest.

Other performance highlights include Sills’ main stage debut with Vancouver Opera as Helena in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, joining the star-studded all Canadian cast of Sondheim’s A Little Night Music at Koerner Hall, a Canadian tour as Mimì in La bohème with Against the Grain Theatre, and her role debut of Tatyana in Eugene Onegin with Highlands Opera Studio.

She was in residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity for their Opera in the 21st Century program, where she premiered the role of Esther in Poala Prestini and Royce Vavreck’s Silent Light, directed and designed by Thaddeus Strassberger. In April of 2019, she made her company debut with Toronto’s Against The Grain Theatre in Vivier’s Kopernikus, which earned her a 2019 Dora Award as a member of the ensemble.

Further operatic credits include Rosalinde in J. Strauss’ Die Fledermaus with The Glenn Gould School, Musetta in La Bohème in the Muskoka Opera Festival, Micaëla in Carmen with Summer Opera Lyric Theatre, and Cecchina in La Cecchina with The Glenn Gould School. As Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia (MYOpera), Jonelle was praised for, “she handles the huge vocal range expertly and takes us on a beautiful dramatic arc throughout the show” (Schompera, Greg Finney).

Currently based in Toronto, Ms. Sills has completed the Artist Diploma Program (ADP) at The Glenn Gould School at The Royal Conservatory of Music in 2018, after her studies at York University. Jonelle has also performed in master classes and coachings with notable artist such as Gerald Finley, Liz Upchurch, Adrianne Pieczonka, Tim Noble, Martin Katz, Catherine Robbin, Dawn Upshaw, and Joan Dornemann.

August 2024

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“Sills is the kind of talent that rarely comes along, replete with power in her top from both head and chest but rich in the subtler lower end too... I found her Mimì mesmerizing as both an actor and a singer, producing swells and different colour-volumes with a naturalness of hue and tone, blended with an ease we don’t often get to see. My hope is that audiences cheer her for being the rising star she is, one in need of a home in the bigger houses as her voice continues to only grow more and develop further. Jonelle Sills is a thrill.”

— Stephan Bonfield, Ludwig van Toronto

Bizet’s Carmen, Vancouver Opera (Emily Cooper, 2024)

As Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, 2022.

Though I’ve seen La Bohème innumerable times, this intimacy (and the wonderful performance of Jonelle Sills†) made the death of Mimi more devastating than in any production in recent memory. Musically, the principal revelation of the evening was Jonelle Sills as Mimì. She has a lovely smooth soprano and such a glowing stage presence that when Mimì dies it feels as if the guiding light of the world of the opera has gone out. [La Boheme with Against the Grain, 2019, Christopher Hoile for Stage Door]

"Sills, however, needed no slack whatsoever; from the first rapturous duet, Schumann’s “In der Nacht”, she came out in Olympian form, with an especially thrilling, free, spinny top range. She sounded even more glorious live than she had in the livestream—there’s an electric, dimensional energy to her voice and performance that is impossible to glean through a laptop screen. [In recital with Chamberfest, 2021, Natasha Gauthier for Opera Canada]

But the most stunning and evocative moments of the night came from soprano Jonelle Sills, whose scenes in both the car and the rain were commanding and moved me to tears. Sills played both a life destroyed and a life restored all to absolute perfection while maintaining total control over her naturally expressive, lyrical instrument. Her performances of Esther’s collapse under the horrible duress of realizing that her world with her husband and within her whole community life as a whole was over, and her subsequent transformation in the aftermath, held the audience’s attention throughout. Direction and timing had to be perfect in these very difficult scenes and the immediacy of Sills’ acting and singing voice was inescapable. Sills’ performance made the night for me. [Stephan Bonfield, Calgary Herald]