Royce Vavrek is a Canada-born, Brooklyn-based librettist and lyricist who has been called “the indie Hofmannsthal” (The New Yorker) a “Metastasio of the downtown opera scene” (The Washington Post), “an exemplary creator of operatic prose” (The New York Times), and “one of the most celebrated and sought after librettists in the world” (CBC Radio). His opera “Angel’s Bone” with composer Du Yun was awarded the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Music.

With composer Missy Mazzoli he wrote “Song from the Uproar,” premiered by Beth Morrison Projects in 2012, and subsequently seen in multiple presentations around the country. Their second opera, an adaptation of Lars von Trier’s “Breaking the Waves,” premiered at Opera Philadelphia, co-commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects, and directed by James Darrah to critical acclaim in September of 2016. The work won the 2017 Music Critics Association of North America award for Best New Opera and was nominated for Best World Premiere at the 2017 International Opera Awards. A new production premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival in the summer of 2019, produced by Scottish Opera and Opera Ventures, helmed by Tony Award-winning director Tom Morris and earned star Sydney Mancasola a coveted Herald Angel Award for her performance. Their next opera, an adaptation of Karen Russell’s short story “Proving Up,” was commissioned and presented by Washington National Opera, Opera Omaha and The Miller Theatre in 2018, was a finalist for the MCANA Best New Opera Award of that year. They are currently developing a grand opera for Opera Philadelphia and the Norwegian National Opera based on an original story by two-time Governor General’s Award-winning playwright Jordan Tannahill, as well as an adaptation of George Saunders’ Booker Prize-winning novel “Lincoln in the Bardo” for The Metropolitan Opera.

Teaming up with Swedish composer Mikael Karlsson, Royce wrote the story and text for two dance projects, “Crypto,” choreographed by Guillaume Côté for Côté Dance and “Evidence of It All,” choreographed by Drew Jacoby for SFDanceworks, featuring narration by the Academy Award-nominated actress Rosamund Pike. They are currently developing two grand operas: an adaptation of Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia” to premiere at the Royal Swedish Opera in 2023, and “Fanny and Alexander,” working alongside creative partner Ingmar Bergman, Jr. to musicalize his late father’s classic film for La Monnaie de Munt in 2024, in a production to be directed by Ivo van Hove. Both operas are to feature renowned mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, for whom Mikael and Royce wrote the song cycle “So We Will Vanish,” premiered by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra in 2021 to critical acclaim.

His collaboration with composer David T. Little led Heidi Waleson of the Wall Street Journal to proclaim them “one of the most exciting composer-librettist teams working in opera today.” In April of 2016 they premiered their first grand opera, “JFK,” at Fort Worth Opera, a co-commission with American Lyric Theater and Opéra de Montréal that was called “ravishing” (Opera News), earning a ten-star review in Opera Now Magazine. This followed the success of their first opera, “Dog Days,” which received its world premiere in September of 2012 at Peak Performances @ Montclair, in a production co-produced by Beth Morrison Projects and directed by American maverick Robert Woodruff. The work was celebrated as the Classical Music Event of the year by Time Out New York and a standout opera of recent decades by The New York Times. They are currently developing an original work for the Metropolitan Opera through the Met/LCT commissioning program.

Royce has also worked extensively with composer Paola Prestini, first on the song cycle "Yoani," inspired by the blog posts of Yoani Sanchez, and then on "The Hubble Cantata," a virtual reality oratorio produced by VisionIntoArt/National Sawdust in association with Beth Morrison Projects. They recently presented the workshop premiere of “Silent Light,” an opera based on the Cannes Jury Prize-winning film by Carlos Reygadas at the Banff Centre for Creativity, a collaboration with the director Thaddeus Strassberger, and are currently working on a new opera inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea.” They are also developing "Film Stills," a project for mezzo-soprano Eve Gigliotti that dramatizes four of Cindy Sherman's iconic photographs through musical monologues composed by Paola, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly and Ellen Reid, and directed by R.B. Schlather. Royce and Paola's collaboration can be further heard on the AIDS Quilt Songbook: Sing for Hope recording, where their song "Union," as sung by Isabel Leonard, is featured.

In 2014 Royce premiered “27,” his first collaboration with composer Ricky Ian Gordon, at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Created for renowned mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, the work brought to life Gertrude Stein’s famous salon at 27 rue de Fleurus in Paris. Mark Ray Rinaldi of the Denver Post wrote that the opera “tells a great American story, about Gertrude Stein, as well as opera in the 21st century.” The opera was subsequently presented by Pittsburgh Opera, MasterVoices at New York City Center, Michigan Opera Theater, Opéra de Montréal and Opera Las Vegas. In 2017 their adaptation of Gail Rock’s Christmas classic “The House Without a Christmas Tree” for Houston Grand Opera was premiered to critical acclaim.

Other recent and upcoming projects include “Strip Mall” with Matt Marks for the Los Angeles Philharmonic; “Epistle Mass” with Julian Wachner for Trinity Wall Street, “Midwestern Gothic” with Josh Schmidt for Signature Theatre, Virginia; “Naamah’s Ark” with Marisa Michelson for MasterVoices; “O Columbia” with Gregory Spears for HGOco; “Knoxville: Summer of 2015” with Ellen Reid for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and National Sawdust; “The Wild Beast of the Bungalow” with Rachel Peters for Oberlin Conservatory; “Jacqueline” with Luna Pearl Woolf for Tapestry New Opera; “Adoration” (based on the film by Atom Egoyan) with Mary Kouyoumdjian for Beth Morrison Projects; “The Cremation of Sam McGee” with Matthew Ricketts, supported by a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts; and “Agnes” with Daníel Bjarnason for the Icelandic Opera.

Royce is co-Artistic Director of The Coterie, an opera-theater company founded with Tony-nominee Lauren Worsham. He holds a BFA in Filmmaking and Creative Writing from Concordia University’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema in Montreal and an MFA from the Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program at New York University. He is an alum of American Lyric Theater’s Composer Librettist Development Program.

Spencer Kryzanowski is a passionate crossover artist working as a conductor, music director, répétiteur, and vocal coach in both musical theatre and opera.

Spencer is the assistant conductor and pianist for Edmonton Opera; a staff member in the University of Toronto Opera department; resident music director for Good Mess Opera Theatre; and resident music director for Pop Goes the Opera in Edmonton, Alberta. On top of these regular positions, Spencer maintains a busy freelance schedule.

As a conductor and music director, Spencer has worked on numerous opera and musical theatre productions across Canada. His recent opera credits include Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle (Edmonton Opera), Strauss Jr's Die Fledermaus (Edmonton Opera), Puccini's Il tabarro (Pop Goes the Opera), Massenet's Cendrillon (UofT Opera), Hank and Gremlin (Good Mess Opera), and La bohème (Mercury Opera). Spencer's recent musical theatre credits include Newsies, Mean Girls: The Musical, and Beauty and the Beast with Bravo Academy.

Spencer's recent répétiteur credits include Guerrero's El huésped del sevillano with Toronto Operetta Theatre, Nino Rota's Il cappello di paglia di Firenze, and a comedic triple-bill of Hindemith's Hin und zurück, Offenbach's Monsieur Choufleuri, and Douglas Moore's Gallantry. Other credits include Humperdink's Hänsel und Gretel with Berlin Opera Academy; Copland's The Tender Land; Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia; Puccini’s Suor Angelica & Gianni Schicchi; and Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. Spencer had the pleasure of workshopping Melancholia, an opera based on the Lars von Trier film, by Mikael Karlsson and Royce Vavrek in 2023 for the Royal Swedish Opera. Additionally, Spencer assisted as a répétiteur and vocal coach in a workshop of Indians on Vacation by Ian Cusson and Royce Vavrek in 2024 as part of a collaboration with Against the Grain Theatre and Edmonton Opera.

Spencer has participated in a number of prestigious training programs in Canada and Europe including the Opera in the 21st Century program at the Banff Centre, St. Andrew's Opera Workshop, Berlin Opera Academy, and Opera NUOVA.

Spencer completed his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance at the Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta and a Diploma in Operatic Performance (Répétiteur) at the University of Toronto.

Spencer is based in Toronto, Canada.

Jeremy Scinocca is an award-winning tenor based in Toronto. He has performed across Canada with companies including Vancouver Opera, Toronto City Opera, Festival d’Opéra de Québec, Voicebox: Opera in Concert, Goodmess Theatre, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, Brott Opera, and the Okanagan and Saskatoon Symphony Orchestras. His operatic roles include Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore), Tonio (La fille du régiment), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Ruggero and Prunier (La Rondine), Rodolfo (La Bohème), Le Remendado (Carmen), Spoletta (Tosca), Edoardo (Un giorno di Regno), and Mr. Buchanan (Street Scene).

His performance of Nemorino with Toronto City Opera garnered praise from Opera Canada
writer Dawn Martins, who wrote: “Una furtiva lagrima ... contained lovely pianissimos and fortissimos and an ebb and flow of tempo. It was a showstopper, and the rapt silence of the audience was a tribute to Scinocca’s sensitive interpretation.”

Jeremy is an alumnus of Vancouver Opera’s Yulanda M. Faris Young Artist Program, Manitoba Opera’s Digital Emerging Artists Program, and Edmonton Opera’s Emerging Artist Program.

While at Manitoba Opera, he created The Petrarch Project, a digital arts initiative that reimagines Liszt’s Petrarch Sonnets through the integration of contemporary dance, film, and live performance.

Jeremy appeared in Opéra de Montréal’s Talent Gala, where he was awarded the Jury Prize for his performance.

Photo by Curtis Perry.

Originally from Prince Edward Island, baritone PARKER CLEMENTS graduated with his Master’s in Music in Literature and Performance from the University of Western Ontario. While there, he had the opportunity to perform with the Opera Workshop as Escamillo (“Carmen“, 2017), and Marco (“Gianni Schicchi“, 2016), as well Don Giovanni at l’Accademia Europea dell’Opera (2017).

Since graduating, Parker has appeared as soloist in Handel’s “Messiah” with the Confederation Centre Chorus and members of the PEI Symphony, as well as Brahms’ “Requiem” with Luminous Ensemble (Charlottetown).

After moving to Toronto, he sang the role of The Lecturer in Dominick Argento’s solo baritone opera, “A Water Bird Talk” in a joint project with Opera by Request and Abridged Opera. He also performed in SOPAC’s (Ottawa) production of Menotti’s “The Telephone“. He recently performed as baritone soloist in VOCA’s May 2025 performance of “Carmina Burana”.

Parker recently graduated from the University of Toronto Opera Diploma program, having played Bartolo in “Le Nozze du Figaro” and Edmund in the Canadian premiere production of Jonathan Dove’s “Mansfield Park“, based on the novel by Jane Austen.

Parker is also a two-time alumnus of the National Youth Choir of Canada (2014, 2016), working under the direction of Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt and Michael Zaugg.

Of Portuguese and Romanian descent, Canadian soprano Cassandra Amorim is a recent Master of Music graduate of the University of Toronto Opera School.

On the university stage she has performed the roles of Helene in Hindemith’s Hin und Zurück, Second Apprentice in University of Toronto’s student composed opera Disobedience, Mrs. Jenks in Copland’s The Tender Land, Madame Lidoine in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites and most recently she performed as Madame Defarge in Arthur Benjamin’s A Tale of Two Cities.

Cassandra portrayed Miss Jessel in Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw this fall during her debut with Grand River Opera. With Vienna-Tel Aviv Vocal Connection Cassandra performed Contessa from Le nozze di Figaro by Mozart and with the Summer Opera Lyric Theatre she was heard as Magda Sorel in
Menotti’s The Consul. Cassandra earned her Honours Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance at Wilfrid Laurier University and was a Choral Scholar with the Laurier Singers’ Choir. An accomplished violinist, Cassandra served as first chair of the Kitchener- Waterloo Youth Orchestra.

She has been mentored by Leslie Fagan, Lorna MacDonald, Marianne Bindig, Bethany Horst and Daniel Lichti. Cassandra has received the Richard Bradshaw Graduate Fellowship, the Joseph So Opera Scholarship and the Mary & John Yaremko Study Abroad Award from the University of Toronto. This spring Cassandra will premiere a new work by Canadian composer Justin LaPierre titled One Thousand Shields of Gold.

Photo by Sam Gaetz.