It should be no surprise that the eight finalists just announced for the the COC’s 2015 Ensemble Studio competition don’t contain any tenors in the group.

No wonder, when last year the top three places in the competition went to tenors, even though the ensemble already has talented tenors.  (my mistake… two of three were tenors as i was advised after publishing)  

The riches were amply on display last night’s La traviata, from the opening line delivered by Charles Sy as Gastone (winner of the 2014 competition), to the star turn by Andrew Haji as Alfredo.

This year’s finalists? (click for more info)

• 

  click for more info about the finalists

  mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo (Toronto);

• mezzo-soprano Lauren Eberwein (London, Ontario);
• soprano Eliza Johnson (Stratford, Ontario);
• mezzo-soprano Marjorie Maltais (Clermont, Quebec);
• soprano Samantha Pickett (Kitchener, Ontario);
• baritone Zachary Read (Halifax);
• baritoneBruno Roy (Montreal);
  and
• mezzo-soprano Pascale Spinney (Laval, Quebec).

Coming Tuesday, Nov 3. 2015: http://coccentrestage.ca/