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The Canadian soprano, Ellen Wieser, studied at Glenlawn Collegiate in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She obtained her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Manitoba, School of Music (2004); and her Masters of Music degree and Artist Diploma from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music (2007). Her Artist Diploma was dedicated to the research and performance of contemporary Canadian song literature. She also graduated from the prestigious San Francisco Opera Merola Opera Program. She is a two-time laureate of the Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques (2013 and 2014), and was the recipient of the FIDAPA prize at the 2014 Alcamo International Voice Competition in Sicily.
Hailed by critics for her “ethereal", “powerful yet lucid", and “silvery bright" voice, Ellen Wieser turned heads at the Castleton Festival, where she created the role of Justice Ginsburg in the world premiere of Scalia-Ginsburg. Her commanding stage presence has been described as “tremendous", “especially compelling", “vibrant" and “a ray of sunshine", and has led to operatic and concert engagements with reputed Symphony and Chamber Orchestras and Opera companies across the USA, Canada and Asia. She has appeared in lead and supporting roles with Palm Beach Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Highlands Opera Studio, Les Jeunesses Musicales du Canada, the Pazzia Collective in collaboration with the Cluster New Music and Integrated Arts Festival, the Compagnie Baroque de Mont-Royal, and Opera da Camera. Solo concert highlights have included featured appearances with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra, Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.
Recent career highlights have included solo appearances at the Jeonju International Sori Festival and with the Korea Union Orchestra in South Korea, a recital tour in the Nagoya region of Japan, Steve Reich’s Tehillim with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the roles of Clorinda (Cinderella) and Frasquita in Georges Bizet's Carmen with Opera Lyra Ottawa, and Countess Almaviva in W.A. Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro with Montreal’s Opera da Camera. In recital, she recently performed Samuel Barber's Hermit Songs with pianist Stéphane Lemelin at the Prince Edward County Music Festival, as well as Hugo Wolf’s complete Italienisches Liederbuch with baritone Alex Dobson and pianist Marc Wieser at Montréal’s Chapelle Historique du Bon-Pasteur, and has made repeat appearances at the Music and Beyond Festival in Ottawa, with Juno-nominated harpist Caroline Leonardelli.
A strong advocate for contemporary opera and song literature, Ellen Wieser maintains working relationships with a number of gifted Canadian and American composers. Recent premieres have included the operas Scalia-Ginsburg by Derrick Wang (Justice Ginsburg), No Masque for Good Measure by Matthew Ricketts (Soprano 1: Messenger/Drag Queen), Meriwether by Jim Lahti (Julia Hancock) and Nessie by Danielle Post (Nessie/Alice), as well as Luna Pearl Woolf’s One to One to One, Isaiah Cecarelli’s Toute clarté m’est obscure, Defora fai sinhes lo finestra, and Da caelo servare, Matthew Ricketts' Song Cycle, Danny Clay’s Children’s Songs, and Jim Lahti’s Three Songs on Poems of Hart Crane. Other recent performances in collaboration with Canadian composers include The Vinedressers by Tobin Stokes (Helena) at Highlands Opera Studio and Tanzer Lieder by Ana Sokolovic at the Prince Edward County Music Festival.
Also active as a teacher, Ellen Wieser currently maintains a private voice and piano studio in Montreal, Québec and is on faculty at the Conservatoire de musique de la Montérégie in St. Lambert, Québec. Previously, she maintained a private voice studio in New York City, and was a faculty member at the Center Stage Dance and Performing Arts Studio in West Islip, New York. Other teaching positions have included the position of Music Director for the Theater Arts Program of the Farmingdale Youth Council, in Farmingdale, New York, summer voice staff at Belvoir Terrace in Lenox, Massachusetts, instructor at the University of Manitoba’s School of Music Preparatory Division, and Keyboardist, Music Director, and Choral Director at St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Highlights of Ellen Wieser's current and upcoming seasons include her solo debut with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra in Johannes Brahms’ Ein Deutches Requiem, a solo recital featuring the chamber music version of Gabriel Fauré’s La Bonne Chanson at La Chapelle historique du Bon Pasteur in Montreal, W.A. Mozart's Requiem and Mass in c minor at Montreal’s Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul, with Ensemble Caprice, and repeat guest soloist appearances with the St. Lambert Choral Society. She currently lives in Montréal, Québec |
