Leadership

Marc Chalifoux

Marc is Associate Vice President of Digital Performance where he oversees digital sales and servicing for TD’s largest business lines. He has had an eclectic career path that spans the private, public and non-profit sectors in both Canada and the US. He holds an MBA for MIT Sloan School of Management in Boston. Marc’s sole artistic talent is as an audience member and he pursues it passionately. After being blown away by Orphée+, he reached out to Against the Grain offering to help out. He joined the Board of Directors in January 2019 and became Chair in March 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 crisis. He enjoys great art and overcoming adversity.

• marc@againstthegraintheatre.com

Joel Ivany

Joel Ivany is the Founder and Artistic Director of AtG, is the artistic director of Opera at Banff Centre and was recently appointed Artistic Director at Edmonton Opera. His directing credits include productions of Verdi’s Macbeth (Minnesota Opera), Carmen (Vancouver Opera), Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Edmonton Opera), Gavin Bryars’ Marilyn Forever (Adelaide Festival) and Le nozze di Figaro (revival at Norwegian National Opera). He is the author of seven (and counting) original librettos for companies such as the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Canadian Opera Company. He is a multiple Dora Mavor Moore Award nominee for Outstanding Direction as well as for Outstanding New Opera/Musical, winning one for Figaro’s Wedding. Recent mainstage directing credits include Dead Man Walking at Minnesota Opera and the multiple award-winning production of Gluck’s Orphée⁺ with Opera Columbus, AtG and Banff Centre. He has directed productions for the Canadian Opera Company (Hänsel und Gretel, Carmen), Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Mozart’s Requiem, Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins), the Canadian Children’s Opera Company (Brundibár), Vancouver Opera (Carmen, Dead Man Walking), and Claude Vivier’s Kopernikus (AtG and Banff Centre). Recent highlights include Messiah/Complex (AtG) and directing the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards. He is a proud graduate of the Opera School at U of T and is a member of the Alumni Wall of Fame at his alma mater, Western University.

• @joelivany
• joel@againstthegraintheatre.com

Robin Whiffen

An arts administrator and performer from St. John’s, Newfoundland, Robin Whiffen was appointed as Against the Grain Theatre's first Executive Director in September 2019 after spending three seasons with Opera on the Avalon. Inspired by a lifelong love of music, Robin is passionate about creating opportunities for all to see themselves reflected through opera and removing the barriers of entry that make opera inaccessible to many.

Robin is a Master of Business Administration candidate at Memorial University of Newfoundland and holds a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from The University of Toronto. In September 2021, Robin was appointed as a member of The College of Electors for the University of Toronto representing the Faculty of Music.

Robin has been selected to participate in the Business/Arts Executive Leadership Program and the OPERA America Leadership Intensive, both of which identify promising future leaders, and provide them with mentorship and education to bolster their leadership capacity and advance their careers. Further, she is a mentor in the RBC Future Launch Fellowship Program. Robin has been invited to speak in her capacity as an arts leader and ambassador of the operatic art form for audiences in Canada, the United States, and Europe.

• @robinwhiffen
• robin@againstthegraintheatre.com

Miriam Khalil

Juno nominated artist Miriam Khalil has appeared on numerous opera stages across Canada and Europe, including a stint at the renowned Glyndebourne Festival Opera (GFO) in the United Kingdom. An alumna of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, she won first place in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (Great Lakes Region) and subsequently appeared in the 2007 documentary The Audition. Her performance credits include Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Minnesota Opera, Opera Tampa, Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Opera Hamilton, Against the Grain Theatre (AtG), Edmonton Opera, Pacific Opera Victoria, Opera Lyra Ottawa, and prominent orchestras across Canada, in roles such as Mimì (La bohème), Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande), Governess (The Turn of the Screw), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), Almirena (Rinaldo), and the title role in Alcina. Ms. Khalil’s 2020/21 season includes appearances as Mimì in La bohème with Edmonton Opera, recitals with Music in the Morning, Concerts in Banff and Rockport and Strauss’ Four Last Songs with Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra.

• @SongbirdKhalil
• miriam@againstthegraintheatre.com

Daevyd Pepper

Daevyd Pepper is a Canadian tenor and content strategist from Bracebridge, Ontario. He holds a BFA: Music from York University, MMUS: Opera from the Unviersity of Toronto, and is completing his Graduate Certificate in Content Strategy at Humber College. He is also an alumnus of several young artists and summer training programs with companies such as Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Calgary Opera, Vancouver Opera, Banff Centre Opera in the 21st Century, Highlands Opera Studio, and the Chautauqua Institution.

Daevyd is a diverse performer with an interest in doing things a little differently; which, is reflected in his diverse and unique performance resume. One of his greatest performing highlights include debuting the role of Addison Witless in the world’s first zombie opera "Prima Zombie: The Diva that Wouldn't Stay Dead!"

Daevyd is incredibly excited to join Against the Grain Theatre as their Digital Marketing Manager, where he can combine his passions of digital strategy and opera! Amidst all the chaos of 2020, Daevyd and his close friend and colleague Andrew Adridge co-founded an opera outreach company Opera InReach, which aims to increase the civic impact of opera through education and outreach.

• daevyd@againstthegraintheatre.com