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The Canadian soprano, McKenzie Warriner, obtained her Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Manitoba under the tutelage of Mel Braun (2014-June 2018), earning the University Gold Medal for the highest graduating GPA in the music faculty; and her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance and Literature and an Arts Leadership Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester (2018-May 2020), with mezzo-soprano Kathryn Cowdrick. With her diverse range of interests, she could be found around Rochester working as an administrative intern for Pegasus Early Music, a choral section leader at Christ Church Pittsford, and as a consultant at the Eastman Writing Center. She also holds ARCT diplomas in both piano and vocal performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music, and has trained at Opera from Scratch, Opera NUOVA, Orford Musique, Against the Grain Theatre’s National Opera Intensive, and the Meredith Monk Vocal Ensemble’s Dancing Voice/Singing Body workshop. In 2016, she won runner-up at the University of Manitoba Zita Bernstein Lieder Competition judged by Elly Ameling; in 2018, she earned 2nd Place and won the award for best song interpretation at the Canadian National Music Festival; in 2020, she won the Gordon C. Wallis Memorial Opera Competition; in 2023, she won 1st Prize at the 46th Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition, granting her debuts with the Regina and Saskatoon Symphony Orchestras in future seasons.
McKenzie Warriner is devoted to bringing music and text to life whether it’s high Baroque or avant-garde. She is one of Canada's rising stars in the field of contemporary music. Recent repertoire highlights include Abigail Richardson-Schulte’s Alligator Pie with the Regina Symphony Orchestra and Ana Sokolovic’s SATB song cycle dawn always begins in the bones in a joint initiative with the University of Manitoba and University of Toronto, with performances in both provinces. She is a proud co-founder of Slow Rise Music, a concert organization devoted to pushing boundaries and fostering creative collaboration within contemporary vocal music. She has premiered compositions by Isaac Zee, Tristan Zaba, Priam David, Anika-France Forget, and Kitty Xiao. Mostly recently, she premiered Keith Hamel's Breath, which she will be performing across Canada along with other repertoire during her Eckhardt-Gramatté Winner's tour with pianist Danielle Guina.
As a singing actor, McKenzie Warriner has performed a variety of opera roles, with highlights including Aurore in Le Portrait de Manon (Vancouver Opera), Madame Herz in W.A. Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor (Eastman Opera Theatre), Gretel in Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel (University of Manitoba Opera in Schools, 2018), La bergère Louis XV in L'enfant et les sortileges (Eastman Opera Theatre, 2019), and Novizie in Suor Angelica (Manitoba Underground Opera). During the pandemic, she sang her first virtual role as Bessie Brent in The Shop Girl in live Zoom performances with COSA Canada. As winner of the 2020 Gordon C. Wallis memorial opera competition, she was granted opportunities to sing with the Regina and Saskatoon Symphony Orchestras and funds for future artistic development.
Fascinated by Baroque repertoire, McKenzie Warriner sang the role of Venere in a concert version of Rossi’s L’Orfeo among other repertoire with the Eastman Collegium Musicum, she performed Rameau's solo cantata Le Berger fidèle at the Rochester Early Music Festival, and she was a frequent soloist with the Eastman School of Music: Bach Cantata Series. In addition to her solo work, she loves performing as a chorister. In the 2021-2022 season, she was section lead for the Amadeus Choir and the Toronto Chamber Choir, also appearing as a soloist with each ensemble. As a former member of Winnipeg ensemble Dead of Winter, she sang several times at the renowned Winnipeg New Music Festival, most memorably as Queen Tye in excerpts from Phillip Glass’s Akhnaten, and in excerpts from Meredith Monk’s Book of Days workshopped with the composer.
An avid poetry fan, McKenzie Warriner is excited by the musical and dramatic possibilities offered by art song and has explored a wide range of recital repertoire. She works as a duo with pianist Danielle Guina, with whom she has performed everything from Schubert to Saariaho.
McKenzie Warriner will spend the 2022-2023 season in British Columbia as a Yulanda M. Faris young artist with Vancouver Opera, where she will understudy Leïla in Georges Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles and Tytania in Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. In December 2022, she returned to her home province to sing George Frideric Handel's Messiah with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra. Her season culminates in her UK debut with performances at the 2023 Aldeburgh Festival as a Britten Pears Young Artist.
McKenzie Warriner is usually based out of Toronto. When she is not singing, she loves running, knitting, and playing Dungeons & Dragons. She is a pet mother to Marcie the dog and Blake the snake. |
