Lyric soprano Jennifer Taverner, noted as possessing a voice of “rare natural beauty and freshness”, is recognized for her instinctive musicality and excellent stage presence. Recent and upcoming engagements include Rose in Weill’s Street Scene for VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert, Messiah with the Grand Philharmonic Choir, the contemporary opera Airline Icarus (Brian Current) with Soundstreams, a Gilbert & Sullivan Evening for the Niagara Symphony, Bach’s Mass in B minor with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Fauré Requiem and Messiah with the Bach Elgar Choir, and an appearance with the Off Centre Salon. Past highlights include the role of Fiordiligi in a touring production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte with Jeunesses Musicales du Canada, as well as performances with the Ontario Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bach Elgar Choir, the Toronto Classical Singers, and the Larkin Singers. An accomplished concert soloist, Ms. Taverner won the 2010 Royal Conservatory Orchestra’s Concerto Competition, singing Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, and performed the same work with the Royal Conservatory Orchestra in Koerner Hall, under the baton of Johannes Debus of the Canadian Opera Company. In 2012 she was a semi-finalist in both the Montreal International Music Competition, and the New York Oratorio Society Lyndon Woodside Solo Competition. Past concert engagements have included Handel’s Messiah with The Elmer Iseler Singers; Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem with The Larkin Singers and The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir; and Elliot Carter’s A Mirror on Which to Dwell with the Royal Conservatory New Music Ensemble. Further operatic credits include Female Chorus in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia (Opera on the Avalon), Noémie in Massenet’s Cendrillon (Glenn Gould School), Angel/Witch in the world premiere of R. Murray Schafer’s The Children’s Crusade (Soundstreams/Luminato), and Laurette in Bizet’s Le Docteur Miracle (Glenn Gould School). Ms. Taverner has held two consecutive vocal fellowships at the prestigious Tanglewood Music Center. Performances there included Gyorgy Kurtag’s Scenes from a Novel for soprano and chamber ensemble, excerpts from Gluck’s Iphigenie en Tauride with mezzo-soprano Susan Graham and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Stravinsky’s Les Noces led by Maestro Charles Dutoit. Other summer studies include the Art of Song program at the Toronto Summer Music Festival, where she worked with Elly Ameling and Julius Drake, and the Highlands Opera Studio where she performed the roles of Ellen Orford, Governess, and Helena in scenes from Benjamin Britten’s operas, directed by tenor Richard Margison. Ms. Taverner is a grant recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts, and has been named a laureate of Les Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques. She earned her Bachelor of Music at Wilfrid Laurier University, and completed the Artist Diploma program at the Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School.

For more information, see jennifertaverner.com