A celebrated singer, conductor, and educator, Teri has been the Music Director of the Canadian Children’s Opera Company since 2015.  She also holds the position of Dean of Choral Studies at the St. Michael’s Choir School, where she conducts three of their internationally acclaimed choirs.  Her choirs have appeared at Carnegie Hall, at the Vatican, at the Toronto International Choral Festival, and been awarded first prize in the National Competition of Canadian Amateur Choirs.

Besides choral programmes, she has prepared the Children’s Chorus and soloists for numerous Canadian Opera Company productions  including La Bohème, Carmen, The Magic Flute, and Hansel and Gretel. She has led several operas with the CCOC including the world premiere of Alice Ho’s The Monkiest King (recorded for CMC) and a European tour of Hans Krasa’s Brundibar. Teri is a recipient of the Leslie Bell Prize in Choral Conducting.

Kelsey Taylor is a passionate educator, conductor and performer, and is thrilled to be working with the Intermediate Chorus this year. 

Kelsey teaches music at the Claude Watson Secondary Arts Program within Earl Haig Secondary School, where her choral ensembles regularly achieve gold and platinum standings at local festivals. Most recently, the Earl Haig Singers achieved first place after being invited to compete at the provincial Ontario Music Festival Association competition. Invitations have also led to performances with Tafelmusik, Musica Intima and at numerous community events. Additionally, Kelsey has had a longstanding relationship with the Toronto Children’s Chorus, where she directed the Cantare and Chorealis ensembles for their 2023/24 season. 

Kelsey completed her Masters of Music in Opera Performance at the University of Toronto. Select opera role credits include Norina (Don Pasquale), Miss Jessel (The Turn of the Screw), Servilia (La Clemenza di Tito), and Frasquita (Carmen). Kelsey continues to sing regularly as a featured soloist and choral lead with ensembles across Ontario.

Chelsea is a playwright, staging director, and arts educator. Her playwriting work includes: Paint Me This House of Love (Tarragon Theatre, Upcoming: USA Premiere), Enormity, Girl, and the Earthquake in Her Lungs (Nightwood Theatre’s Groundswell Festival), and The Mountain which toured Eastern/Central Canada with Geordie Theatre, and later with Spinning Dot Theatre in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Chelsea’s work has been featured at the Kennedy Centre in Washington D.C., and at the “Shakespeare is Dead” Festival in Leuven, Belgium. 

She is the founder of the Mixed-Arts Performance Partnership Program connecting young artists living in precarity to professional mentorship, and co-wrote a script titled, One Day with teens living at Red Door Shelter. As an arts educator she has worked with: Etobicoke School of the Arts, Cawthra School of the Arts, TDSBcreates, The WeeFestival, and the Harbourfront Centre’s Powerplant Program in partnership with Boys and Girls Club Toronto.

Chelsea has a Bachelor of Education and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Lethbridge where she won the 2024 Young Alumni Award. She is also a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada’s prestigious Playwriting Program. 

Pianist and composer Stéphane Mayer has established himself as one of Canada’s premier collaborative piano artists. A graduate of the COC ensemble, Stéphane has served as a rehearsal pianist and member of music staff for Carmen, The Magic Flute, Norma and Arabella among many other productions at the Canadian Opera Company. He has also served as an opera répétiteur for productions of Les dialogues des Carmélites and Flight (Glenn Gould School), La Bohème (Edmonton Opera), Louis Riel (Opéra de Québec), Missing (Pacific Opera Victoria) and The Rocking Horse Winner (Tapestry Opera). An accomplished art-song recitalist, having studied German Lied extensively at the Schubert Institute in Baden bei Wien, Stéphane has appeared on stages across the country with many of Canada’s leading vocal artists. For the past 4 years, Stéphane has been a member of music staff for Highlands Opera Studio. There he served as head coach and répétiteur for their productions of Don Giovanni, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Eugene Onegin and L’elisir d’amore. A graduate of McGill University’s Schulich School of Music, Stéphane also worked as a vocal coach and accompanist at Western University. This upcoming season, Stéphane is looking forward to coheading the new Young Artists Studio at the Canadian Children Opera Company (CCOC) with Co-Director Chelsea Woolley.

Evelina Soulis, classical pianist (ARCT diploma), has experience performing both as a solo artist and collaboratively.  She currently runs a successful music studio, and takes great pleasure in inspiring her students to further their love of music.

Stacy Jolena Collins (B.Mus w. Hons, R.M.T.) has always had a passion for music and music education. She has worked in classical, musical theatre and choral settings, and has over a decade of experience in the field of music education. She graduated with honours from University of Toronto’s Bachelor of Music Education program in 2015, majoring in voice & piano. She studied piano with the late Boyanna Toyich, and voice with Frédérique Vézina and the late Lynn Blaser.

Stacy works as an educator, performer, music director, conductor, and accompanist with many organisations in Toronto. She opened Stacy Jolena Studio in 2018 where she teaches piano and voice lessons, and is a Professor at George Brown College’s Ballet Jörgen Dance Program, providing vocal instruction for their Commercial Dance students. She is truly grateful to teach and share in the Arts, and to see the love for them grow in the next generation.

Zoë is a mezzo-soprano and conductor based in Toronto.

Ensemble highlights include singing with Canzona, Dead of Winter, Xara Choral Theatre, and being a Toronto Chamber Consort member with the Toronto Chamber Choir. This season she’s excited to join The Nathaniel Dett Chorale and be alto section lead with VOCA Chorus of Toronto. 

Her education includes a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Manitoba under the tutelage of Tracy Dahl, a certificate in ASL and Deaf Studies from George Brown College.

Zoë loves running around the operatic stage, and has been in over 30 operas/operettas. Her favourite roles performed include Hansel in Hansel and Gretel and Bradamante in Alcina.

This season she begins teaching Music and Movement at Sistema Toronto, and continues conducting the Butterfly Chorus here at the Canadian Children’s Opera Company.

Since 2014, Adine Mintz has been a conductor and educator for the CCOC. She is the conductor of the Apprentice Chorus and the primary artist/educator & outreach coordinator for CCOC’s in-school programming, inspiring students all over Toronto by creating original operas with them. With over 25 years of experience conducting operas and ensembles, her past credits include music director of the St. Clement Community Orchestra, director of the music school at Cosmo Music and musical director of Il barbiere di seviglia by Rossini at U of T. She has a Bachelor’s in Music Education and a Master’s in Conducting from the University of Toronto.

COMING SOON.

COMING SOON. 

Alice Norton-Bell is an arts administrator and programmer with a background in libraries, archives and museums. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto’s iSchool having earned both a Master of Museum Studies and a Master of Information with concentrations in library and information science, as well as archives and records management in 2018.

Alice has a detailed history of work and volunteer experience with past roles for the Museum of Inuit Art, the Multicultural History Society of Ontario, the Toronto Public Library, the Toronto Railway Museum, the John M. Kelly Library, and most recently one of Toronto’s six local arts service organizations, Scarborough Arts. 

She is passionate about the field of arts and culture and is thrilled to be able to continue to support and promote the incredible artistic programming and opportunities being offered by the CCOC alongside a team of talented leaders, artists, and administrators!

COMING SOON.

Two-time Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) Gold Medalist Nora Jane Montana has immersed herself in music her entire life, with a special focus on classical training. She is a high-achieving young musician, who recently placed first in the Alberta Provincial Music Festival for the second time, and was a national semi-finalist in the NATS Student Auditions. She also received four ARMTA Gold Medals for exceptional vocal exam marks.

Nora Jane has performed in the RCM’s production of John Blow’s Venus and Adonis, Juno Awards Pop-Up Concerts, and various professional theatres, as well as occupied compositional, educational, and directorial positions throughout her career, including instructing private voice and theory students through studio lessons and vocal masterclasses. She now is studying opera at the RCM’s Glenn Gould School for her Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance under the guidance of her studio teacher Stephanie Bogle and vocal coach David Eliakis.

She is thrilled to join the CCOC to continue her work with young musicians and sharing her love of music with the next generation of opera

COMING SOON. 

Savannah is a CCOC alumni currently attending the University of Guelph-Humber and studying Early Childhood Studies. As a performer, Savannah’s experience ranges from theatre, to playing cello, conducting, and singing both as lead in a band and an alto in several choirs.

Savannah has worked in theatre through varying avenues, both on and backstage, and adores all aspects of it. She has performed in operas such as the CCOC’s staging of Hans Krasa’s Brundibar as well as Alice Ping Yee Ho’s The Monkiest King and its 2020 cast recording.

Within musical theatre she has worked as an Assistant Producer and most recently held the position of Marketing Manager on Curtain Call Production’s Board of Directors for their 2023 production, Heathers.

Since being a part of the CCOC was an incredible experience during her formative years as an artist, Savannah is excited to return to the company and is looking forward to supporting the next generation of aspiring performers!