Highlands Opera Studio: Finding New Ears in Haliburton, Ont.

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For the last 17 summers, Canada’s promising opera singers have flocked to Haliburton, Ont., to participate in the Highlands Opera Studio (HOS) which, this year, takes place July 27 to Aug. 28. The professional training academy and festival was brought to life by internationally renowned tenor Richard Margison and former Metropolitan Opera stage director Valerie Kuinka who, as Kuinka put it, “recognized a disconnect between high-level training programs and the professional world.” The pair identified the need to assist early career singers by offering high-level musical opportunities, as well as exposure to industry professionals.

They have been filling that gap ever since. HOS auditions singers from around the world, selecting a small elite cohort to participate—free of charge—in masterclasses, concerts, outreach events, and two staged opera works. Running the program is a “labour of love.” Seeing singers grow over the residency, “getting to know their voices,” and watching them interact with the various professional consultants are among the highlights of Margison’s summer, who will also lead masterclasses and other activities.

HOS offers numerous merits for the community in Haliburton. “Our role in the region has grown over the years,” says Kuinka, providing an accessible introduction to classical singing and offering enrichment and opera education to the Haliburton cultural community. With events like Pop Goes the Opera! (Aug. 9), Music on the Water (Aug. 12), and the Casual Song Soirée (Aug. 14), singers present musical selections in a more laid-back setting. Margison dubs this “cottage country formal.” Audience members are invited to come as they are, and to dive into the world of opera through both music and spoken explanations by singers.

This year, the Highland Opera Studio will produce two full operas. First up is Mishaabooz’s Realm, a piece commissioned and premièred by the HOS in 2017 with Opéra de Montréal’s Atelier Lyrique. Written in Haliburton County by Indigenous composer Andrew Balfour, the piece explores themes of creation, colonization, and hope for the future. Mishaabooz’s Realm will see two performances: on Aug. 17 and 19. The summer’s operatic activities will conclude with Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, which Margison will direct, running from Aug. 24 to 28.

The opera industry is evolving now more than ever in the wake of the pandemic, and Kuinka and Margison are on the frontlines of this evolution—combining professional development with community outreach, and standard operatic repertoire with newly composed works. The hills are alive in the Haliburton Highlands, and it’s certainly worth making the trip.