Thursday, June 11th

An artist equally at home in concert, opera, and music theatre repertoire, Caroline Schiller has participated in the creation and performance of opera, theatre, and concert works with companies that include The Banff Centre, The Tanglewood Music Center, The Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, The Dartington International Institute, and The Indian River Festival. Of her concert and theatre work, highlights include performances with L’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal; the American premiere of Alexander Goehr’s Sing Ariel with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, and her performances in the roles of Princess and Christine in the original Toronto cast of Phantom of the Opera. She is a former winner of the Young Singer of the Year Award in Llangollen, Wales and the Canadian National Music Festival in Voice.

The creation of new works is of particular interest; she has commissioned three operas for young audiences, most recently, “Le phare” by Quebec composer Laurence Jobidon and author Maria Reva. Additional commissions include the chamber opera, “Your Daughter Fanny” by Canadian composer Alice Ho for performance with Duo Concertante; and a new set of songs by Canadian composer James Hurley entitled “For Broken and Tired am I”.  Recordings include, Great Britain Triumphant! a recording of 18th-century cantatas with the Hungarian baroque ensemble, Capella Savaria conducted by Mary Térey-Smith and released by Centaur and Voyage to Canada a recording of Canadian art song, released by Centrediscs.

Dedicated to the training of young singers, she is Full Professor of Voice/Director of Opera at Memorial University in Newfoundland; District Governor and past-President of the Canadian Atlantic Region of the National Association of Teachers of Singing; former Chair of Research for the National Opera Association; and an active adjudicator and clinician internationally. 

Caroline Schiller is founder and director of Opera RoadShow/Opéra en tournée, an opera outreach and touring program that began in 2003 and offers paid performing experience to university-age singers. To date, the ensemble has traveled approximately 30,000 kms to the four Atlantic Provinces and performed for more than 80,000 children.

Caroline Schiller’s research explores changes to the traditional classical canon and the inclusion of under-represented voices in contemporary pedagogy and performance; her doctoral thesis is an annotated bibliography entitled A Performer’s Guide to Works for Soprano Voice by Canadian Women Composers.

Schiller’s students have attended graduate programs throughout North America and Britain including New England Conservatory, McGill, the Royal Academy of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, New York University (Musical Theatre), The University of British Columbia, and the Royal Northern College of Music. They are active in a variety of professions working as doctors; lawyers; speech language pathologists; and performers (singing around the world and as current Artists-in Residence with L’Opéra de Montréal, the Canadian Opera Company, Calgary Opera, and Edmonton Opera). 

Schiller has an BMUS (Mount Allison University); MMUS Opera Performance (New England Conservatory); DM Voice Performance (Florida State University).