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Performance by The Canadian Opera Company

Hailing from Windsor, ON, Wesley Harrison, named in 2023 as one of CBC's “30 hot classical musicians under 30,” is a tenor who holds his master’s degree in opera and voice performance from McGill University as well as a bachelor in vocal performance from Wilfrid Laurier University. In 2022, before placing third in the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio Competition, he earned the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation bursary, the Jean-Paul Jeannotte bursary; in 2021, he was also a finalist in the Wirth Vocal Prize. During his time in Montreal, Harrison was able to work with various local composers and companies such as Luna Pearl Woolf and Sortilegio and took great joy in the collaborative process of these workshops. Recent roles include Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni and Valcour in L’amant anonyme (Opera McGill), as well as COC mainstage roles as First Prisoner in Fidelio and Parpignol in La Bohème.

Brian Cho studied in London, Ontario, where he completed his Bachelor of Musical Arts and Masters in Collaborative Piano at Western University and has since participated in the Orford Summer Music Academy, the Accademia Europea Dell’ Opera, and, most recently, Music Academy of the West. He won first place in the 2023 Marilyn Horne Song Competition and has been nominated numerous times in the Classical Musician of the Year category of the Forest City London Music Awards. In addition to being an accomplished concert pianist and music director, Cho is the co-founder and head coach of Can of Soup Collective, a non-profit organization dedicated to making opera accessible and relatable to wider audiences.

Emily Rocha is a Portuguese-Kiwi soprano born in Oshawa. A recent U of T Opera graduate, she was awarded Second Prize at the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio Competition in 2023, was a District Winner at the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, and received the Nora London Encouragement Award at the George and Nora London Foundation. In 2024, she was a Vocal Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival. Recent opera credits include Adina in The Elixir of Love, Micaëla in Carmen, Gilda in Rigoletto, Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Ernestine in M. Choufleuri, Lucie Manette in A Tale of Two Cities, Erste Dame in The Magic Flute, and Cassandra in Disobedience (premiere). This season at the COC, she covered Anna in Nabucco and performed as Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly.

Toronto-born Polish-Canadian soprano Karoline Podolak holds a master’s degree from the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Poland. She had her operatic debut at Silesian Opera House as Zuzia in Moniuszko’s Verbum Nobile, and Adele in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus. Recent opera credits include Violetta in La Traviata at the National Opera and Ballet of Bulgaria, and Fire/Princess/Nightingale in Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges with Opéra de Montréal. Last season, Podolak was a member of the Atelier Lyrique of Opéra de Montréal. Since 2021, she has been a Jeune Ambassadeur Lyrique of Théâtre Lyrichorégra 20. In 2022, she took home both the First Prize and the Audience Choice Award at the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio Competition. This past year, Podolak won a George and Nora London Foundation Award and Second Prize at the Loren L. Zachary Competition in Los Angeles.