Biography
Canadian soprano Sarah Dufresne has been praised for her “style and elegance” (Bachtrack) and for the “richness of tone, some angelic high notes and admirable control” (The Arts Desk).
Highlights of her 2025/26 season include her Vancouver Opera debut as Gilda in Rigoletto, her role debut as the Woodbird in Siegfried at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and her house debut at Teatro alla Scala as Frasquita in Carmen. On the concert stage, she will make her debut with Les Violons du Roy, sing the Fauré Requiem with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, return to the London Symphony Orchestra to perform Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica at the BBC Proms, and make her debut at the Tiroler Festspiele as Lisa in Bellini’s La sonnambula.
In the 2024/25 season, she appeared as Ophélie in Thomas’s Hamlet with Opéra de Montréal, Gilda in Rigoletto with Pacific Opera Victoria, and Semele in Strauss’s Die Liebe der Danae with the Bayerische Staatsoper. She also performed Orff’s Carmina Burana at Festival de Lanaudière with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, all to great critical acclaim. This season also marked the release of her debut album, Quatre chansons de jeunesse (Debussy), and her featured performances on Malcolm Martineau’s The Complete Songs of Ravel.
The 2023/2024 season included concert debuts with both the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Toledo Symphony, as well as in both Cadogan and Wigmore Halls as an associate artist of The Mozartists. She finished her two-year residency with Royal Opera House’s Jette Parker Program, appearing on stage at Covent Garden in Bizet’s Carmen (Frasquita), Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’amore (Giannetta), and Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel (Dew Fairy), all to much critical acclaim. To close out her season, she appeared as the High Priestess in Verdi’s Aida under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Orchestre Métropolitain at the Festival de Lanaudière.
Sarah debuted on the stage of Covent Garden as Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), Lucia (The Rape of Lucretia), Der Hirt (Tannhäuser), Voce dal Cielo (Don Carlo), Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro), and Tusnelda (Arminio). She had the great pleasure of working under the batons of Joana Mallwitz, Bertrand de Billy, Maxim Emelyanychev, and Sebastian Weigle, and the direction of Sir David McVicar, Oliver Mears, and Tim Albery. Additonally, the summer of 2023 saw Sarah’s debut with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal for Orff’s Carmina Burana with Rafael Payare.
From 2020-2022 Sarah was a member of l’Atelier lyrique at l’Opéra de Montréal. Sarah appeared on the mainstage at Place des Arts as Nora in Opéra de Montréal’s season opening production of Vaughn-William’s Riders to the Sea. In June of 2022, Sarah placed second in the Aria Division of the prestigious Concours Musical International de Montréal, garnering praise for her “tremendous dramatic presence,” and “astonishing clarity and vocal dexterity” [Opera Canada].
Other repertoire includes Tytania (Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Mrs. Fiorentino (Kurt Weill’s Street Scene), Galatea (Handel’s Acis and Galatea), and Servilia in (Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito). Recently, in collaboration with Against the Grain Theater and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Sarah premiered the role of Rebecca Marshall in their production of Nicole Lizée’s No One’s Safe, a conceptual and immersive murder mystery opera.
Biography
Acclaimed for her irresistible humour and vocal charm, Ontario-born mezzo-soprano Tessa Fackelmann has performed on stage in works by Handel, Mozart and Rossini. She holds a Master of Music degree from Rice University, as well as a Bachelor of Fine Arts and an Artist Diploma from the University of Ottawa. Tessa is also a former student of the Wolf Trap Opera Studio and the Santa Fe Opera Apprenticeship Program. A formidable competitor, Tessa performed on stage at the Metropolitan Opera as a national semi-finalist in the 2024 Metropolitan Laffont Competition. Later that year, she won First Prize in the Edmonton Opera’s Rumbold Vocal Competition. In 2025-26, she made her debut as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro at the Sarasota Opera, conducted by Louis Lohraseb, and sang Mercedes in the production of Carmen at the Opéra de Montréal, conducted by Jean-Marie Zeitouni.
Biography
Ian Sabourin is a Canadian Countertenor making waves on opera and concert stages across the country. With a voice described as “stunning” and “powerfully expressive,” Ian’s performances captivate audiences through both technical mastery and emotional depth. Whether interpreting baroque masterpieces or modern operatic works, his artistry stands out for its clarity, nuance, and brilliance. Currently based in Montreal, Ian is the first-ever countertenor to join Opéra de Montréal’s Atelier Lyrique, a testament to his rising profile and groundbreaking presence in the Canadian classical music scene.
Biography
With infectious enthusiasm, the young conductor Thomas Le Duc-Moreau leads with great precision and artistic sensitivity, creating a powerful and human connection that is appreciated by both musicians and audiences. His discipline and musical knowledge enable him to approach the repertoire with meticulous care and consistency, in a style that unfolds with ease, flexibility, and elegance. Starting with the 2025–2026 season, he will serve as associate conductor of the St. Andrew and St. Paul Church Choir, as well as a visiting professor at Laval University.
Upon graduating from the Conservatory, Thomas held the positions of assistant conductor with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. His early career was marked by notable collaborations. First as assistant to music director Kent Nagano, he also worked with guest conductors Bernard Labadie, Hannu Lintu, Cristian Măcelaru, Susanna Mälkki, Rafael Payare, and François-Xavier Roth. Since the start of his career, Thomas has conducted over fifty concerts with the OSM.
In the opera world, he has already collaborated on numerous productions. Notably, he directed two world premieres in 2022 and 2023: Christian Thomas’s *Messe solennelle pour une pleine lune d’été*, based on the play by Quebec author Michel Tremblay, as well as *Yourcenar – Une île de passions* by composer Éric Champagne, co-productions of the Quebec City Opera Festival, the Montreal Opera, and Les Violons du Roy. In the summer of 2024, he will conduct La Vie parisienne at the Quebec City Opera Festival. He has also served as assistant conductor for productions of Verdi’s Il Trovatore and Puccini’s Madame Butterfly at the Opéra de Montréal, Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman at the Quebec City Opera Festival, and Bizet’s Carmen at the Bonn Theater in Germany.
In symphonic concerts, Thomas has conducted major Quebec and Canadian orchestras such as Les Violons du Roy and the Orchestre Métropolitain, as well as the symphony orchestras of L’Agora, Laval, Montreal, Quebec City, Rimouski, Saguenay, Sherbrooke, Hamilton, and Kitchener-Waterloo. He has also conducted the Prague National Theatre Orchestra in the Czech Republic. In popular concerts, he conducted Alexandra Stréliski’s very first symphonic concert with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra as part of the Montreal Jazz Festival, broadcast on Radio-Canada.
In the summer of 2025, he returned to the Orford Music Festival with Les Violons du Roy for the third consecutive year.
Thomas graduated from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal with a degree in cello from Carole Sirois’s class and in orchestral conducting from Jacques Lacombe’s class. In 2022, he received the very first Joseph-Rouleau Award from the Fondation du Conservatoire de musique et d’art dramatique du Québec in recognition of his promising early career.
