Emma’s Banff Opera Fundraiser!

Hi friends and family!

I am very excited and humbled to share that I have been selected as one of the singers to participate in the Chamber Music and Opera: Interplay Residency at the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts!

This program has been a dream of mine for a while, having grown up singing fall fairs and square dances, to studying opera post secondary, I am incredibly proud of my small town roots and the progress I’ve made toward my career as a professional opera singer.

Programs like these are invaluable opportunities to learn, create, network with internationally celebrated musicians and workshop chamber music, as well as two contemporary operas. I am beyond excited that I have been selected to workshop the role of Kitty in a brand new opera called Indians on Vacation composed by Ian Cusson with libretto by Royce Vavrek, based on the Thomas King novel.

It is not often that Indigenous singers like myself are able to make art in Indigenous spaces in opera, and getting to work with such talented Indigenous artists and musicians is something that I am so grateful to experience for the first time in such a beautiful environment!

Another first experience for me will be leaving the province of Ontario on an airplane! ✈️

I am incredibly appreciative of any help that I could receive to pay for the travel and associated costs to participate in this prestigious project. It can be quite expensive to do summer programs like these for students like myself with limited means.

Thank you for your support and faith in me and the enrichment of the arts!

Bio:

Emma Pennell is a trailblazing 2-Spirit Mi’kmaw soprano with roots in Ktaqmkuk. Hailing from the Village of South River in rural Northern Ontario, Emma has a bachelor’s degree with honours in Voice Performance and a minor in Indigenous Studies from Western University. They trained under esteemed mentors, Pamela Teed, Torin Chiles, and presently Adrianne Pieczonka. Emma is an unwavering Indigenous activist whose work in the arts forge spaces for Indigenous voices in music. They have made significant impact through foundational advocacy, including co-authoring the Indigenous Policy Paper for the Ontario Universities Student Alliance and founding the Faculty of Music Indigenous Leadership Initiative at the Don Wright Faculty of Music. Emma previously took the stage for Opera Western in Verdi’s Falstaff, starring as Alice Ford alongside Canadian Baritone Ted Baerg, at The Glenn Gould School as The Skater in Ka Nin Chan’s Ice Time, and on the main stage of Koerner Hall as Mére Marie in Poulenc’s Dialogue des Carmelites. Emma is in their first year of the Artist Diploma Program at the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music.