Tracy Cantin
Praised for her "full, gleaming sound" (Chicago Tribune), Canadian soprano Tracy Cantin “has it all - agility, power and dazzling coloratura" (Chicago Sun-Times). Recently, Tracy brought her vocal prowess to Calgary Opera, joining them for Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen, and Opera West, for Santuzza in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, marking two role debuts for the soprano. This season, she continues this streak of debuts, returning to Pacific Opera Victoria as Vitellia (role debut) in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito, and joins the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir for Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis.
Cantin returned to the Canadian Opera Company for Sir David McVicar’s new production of Verdi’s Macbeth, where she made her role debut as Lady Macbeth, stepping in for an ailing colleague and subsequently performing the remainder of the production’s run. She closed her 21/22 season with an acclaimed performance of Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Pacific Opera Victoria, where she, “impressed with her judicious displays of vocal heft, offering thrilling upper-register forays that filled the theatre, elsewhere navigating soft passages with exquisite control and a purring vibrato” (Times Colonist).
Recent performances include her debut with the BBC Scottish Symphony under Thomas Dausgaard in Bernstein’s Songfest and Verdi’s Requiem with the Okanagan Symphony. Her 2018-2019 season was rounded out with the final scene in Götterdämmerung for the Vancouver Symphony under Otto Tausk and Strauss’ Elektra for the Canadian Opera Company. Ms. Cantin made a surprise mainstage debut at the Canadian Opera Company in 2018 as the title character in Donizetti’s demanding Anna Bolena, which garnered her rave reviews.
In 2016-2017, Chrysothemis in Strauss' Elektra marked Ms. Cantin's long anticipated Canadian debut at the Edmonton Opera and, during the summer of 2017, she covered Elza van der Heever in the title role of Alcina with Santa Fe Opera. An Alumna of the prestigious Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Ms. Cantin has been featured in mainstage productions of Anna Bolena, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Elektra, Rigoletto, and Parsifal.
Her operatic repertoire includes Donna Anna and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Governess in Turn of the Screw, Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, Desdemona in Otello, Eva in Die Meistersinger, the title role in Rusalka, and Alice Ford in Falstaff. An avid concert performer, Ms. Cantin has been heard as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Schubert’s Mass in A Flat, and Mozart’s Requiem. Engagements extend to Australia where she performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Melbourne Symphony alongside Bryn Terfel, under the baton of Sir Andrew Davis.
The Prince Edward Island native has shared the stage with internationally renowned artists including Renée Fleming, Stephanie Blythe, Christine Goerke, Joyce DiDonato, Susan Graham, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Eric Owens, Ana Maria Martìnez, and has been featured by the Ravinia Festival, Grant Park Festival, Oregon Symphony, Illinois Philharmonic, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Sir Andrew Davis (Beethoven 9, La bohème, Le nozze di Figaro), Riccardo Muti (La traviata), Michele Mariotti (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Vlad Iftinca (Turn of the Screw), Bertrand de Billy (Otello), Sir David McVicar (Elektra, Rusalka) and John Caird (Parsifal) are among the highly-regarded conductors and stage directors with whom she has collaborated.
She is the first prizewinner in Canada’s Lois Marshall Memorial Competition and has received top awards from the Licia-Albanese Puccini Voice Competition, the Sullivan Foundation and Alberta’s Emerging Artist fund. The Metropolitan Opera National Semi-Finalist holds degrees from McGill University, the University of Western Ontario, and the University of Alberta.
August 2024
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““Soprano Tracy Cantin, as Elektra’s younger sister Chrysothemis, was making her Canadian opera debut. What a splendid voice she has, essentially lyrical, but with the power to effortlessly soar over Strauss’ heavy orchestration. She matches that with strong character acting, with such telling touches as the subtle cradling of her arms early on, long before we hear of her obsession of her being a mother.” ”
