One of the most critically acclaimed singers on the international stage today, Canadian tenor Richard Margison has performed in many of the world's leading opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, the Vienna Staatsoper, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the San Francisco Opera, the Th颴re Royale de la Monnaie in Brussels, Covent Garden, the Sydney Opera and the Netherlands Opera.

Verdi, Puccini, Bellini, and Mahler all feature on Richard Margison's 2006-2007 calendar. He begins the season as Bacchus in the Teatro Real's production of Ariadne auf Naxos in Madrid and returns to Madrid in February for four performances of I Pagliacci. November will see him take on an unusual role - he will perform Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, the composer's farewell to the joy and beauty of the world, to a ballet choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan and performed by the National Ballet of Canada. Mr. Margison appears in Hamburg twice next season - the first time as Riccardo in Un Ballo in Maschera and the second in concert performances of Norma with Edita Gruberova. Spring signals a return to the Metropolitan Opera for one of his signature roles - Calaf in Turandot. Mr. Margison completes his season with appearances at the Cincinnati Opera Summer Festival as Radam賠in Verdi's Aida.

Richard Margison's 2005-2006 includes performances as Enzo in La Gioconda in Barcelona, Ricccardo in Verdi's great masterpiece Un Ballo in Maschera at the ROH Covent Garden, Florestan at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and Radam賠in the l'Op鲡 de Montr顬's production of Aida. The season concludes in Cincinnati where he will appear in Un Ballo in Maschera.

The highlight of the 2004-2005 season was Richard Margison's performance as O'Brien in the Royal Opera House Covent Garden's premiere production of Lorin Maazel's 1984. The production will subsequently be seen at La Scala and other cities, yet to be confirmed. In that same season, Mr. Margison appeared as Manrico in Il Trovatore at Berlin's Deutsche Oper, Radam賠at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Oviedo, Spain, in the title role in Don Carlo at the Metropolitan Opera and as Calaf in Barcelona.

Recent seasons have featured performances in the Washington Opera's production of Norma, productions of Turandot and Il Trovatore for the Canadian Opera Company, as Dick Johnson in La Fanciulla del West and Florestan in Fidelio for the Seattle Opera, and as Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos at the ROH Covent Garden as well as regular appearances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in Ariadne auf Naxos, Don Carlo, Aida, and Turandot. He also made a highly acclaimed appearance as Manrico in the San Francisco Opera production of Il Trovatore.

A much sought after concert artist, Mr. Margison took Toronto by storm in a concert at Roy Thomson Hall garnering such praise as "?it is an important experience to hear Margison live, simply to come into contact with the phsyical presence of the voice. It has both brass and beauty, and its power is so forceful and concentrated that you have to remind yourself that its source is a human throat?"(Globe and Mail). As well, he has appeared with with the Royal Philharmonic in London, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto Symphony Orchestras, the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and at the Ravinia Festival. He has also performed with Bryn Terfel at his opera gala at the Faenol Festival in Wales.

Mr. Margison's most recent releases are an all-Verdi recording on CBC Records and the highly acclaimed recording of Fidelio with Christine Brewer. He has also recorded Lanza (Warner Music), a recording made for the film on the life of Mario Lanza, in which he sings the title role. Other recordings include Verdi's Don Carlo with the Royal Opera House Orchestra and Chorus under the direction of Bernard Haitink (Philips) and Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Neeme J䲶i (Deutsche Grammophon). He has made three recordings with Richard Bradshaw and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra: a solo album of French and Italian Arias (CBC Records), Rarities by Rossini and Verdi, with Gary Relyea (CBC Records) and Aria, une s鬥ction de Radio-Canada with Anita Krause, Wendy Nielson and Gary Relyea (CBC Records). Richard Margison is also a featured artist on the Millennium Opera Gala recording released by CBC Records.

Richard Margison was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2001.

Valerie Kuinka

Canadian director Valerie Kuinka began her career as a classical violist and has been active as a chamber, orchestral, and studio musician since her graduation in 1984 from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) with a Master of Music in Performance. She has been a member of the orchestras of the Canadian Opera Company and the National Ballet of Canada for over twenty years playing every position from section to principal before her retirement from the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra in June 2005.

After some time working with several mentors in the realm of opera directing (Guy Joosten, Tom Diamond, Nicholas Muni), Valerie's career expansion into the world of producing and directing officially began in 1996 when she was assistant to director, Tom Diamond, in the Canadian Opera Company?s production of La Calisto. In 1997, Valerie established her own Toronto-based multi-disciplinary theatre company (CollabArts.com) and since its inception until January, 2005, has written, produced, directed, and often performed in 14 productions. Valerie has also directed productions for Pacific Opera Victoria, Opera Hamilton, International Vocal Arts Festival (Tel-Aviv), Opera Mississauga, The Canadian Childrens? Opera Chorus (Toronto), Opera York (Toronto), and Pro Voce Studios (Toronto), and has assisted at the New York City Opera and the Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp. In June of 2002, Valerie was a guest at the Vermont International Opera Festival as resident director and drama coach.

Denise Fujiwara's six exquisite solo dance concerts have moved audiences at festivals and theatres to critical acclaim from coast to coastin Canada and internationally.  She is also a sought after teacher and has led workshops and master classes across Canada and in Seattle, Washington D.C., Cleveland, Copenhagen, London, Bogota, Colombia, Quito, Ecuador and Chennai, India.  Her approaches to teaching movement have developed over 29 years of intensive practice, performance and study.  She has created methodologies that progressively assist the student to develop their artistry through the cultivation of the imagination, presence and a deep physicality.   

Her most influential mentors include Tokyo butoh master, Natsu Nakajima, Montreal master dance pedagogue, Elizabeth Langley, Byron Brown and the now disbanded Mangrove Dance Collective of San Francisco, and the American theatre director, Anne Bogart.

ARCT, B.Mus., B.Ed. (U. of T.). Also studied in Banff and Orford. Active as an accompanist, coach and Music Director. Performances include Elora Festival, Opera in Concert, Toronto Operetta Theatre, "Music Around Us" series at Glenn Gould Studio; and Summer Opera Lyric Theatre of which he has been Music Director for many years. RCM faculty since 1982.