Sri Lankan-born Canadian Dinuk Wijeratne is a JUNO and multi-award-winning composer, pianist, and conductor who has been described by the Toronto Star as ‘an artist who reflects a positive vision of our cultural future’, and by the New York Times as ‘exuberantly creative’. His boundary-crossing work sees him equally at home in collaborations with symphony orchestras and string quartets, tabla players and DJs, and takes him to international venues as poles apart as the Berlin Philharmonie and the North Sea Jazz Festival. Dinuk was featured as a main character in 'What would Beethoven do?' - the documentary about innovation in classical music featuring Eric Whitacre, Bobby McFerrin and Ben Zander. Dinuk's music has been performed by virtually every Canadian orchestra, and he has also performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center (Washington DC), Opera Bastille (Paris), Lincoln Center (New York), Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), in Sri Lanka, Japan, and across the Middle East. Forthcoming collaborations include works and premieres for the Banff International String Quartet Competition, Grammy-nominated mandolinist Avi Avital, and Boston's 'A Far Cry' orchestra. Dinuk's music and collaborative work embrace the great diversity of his international background and influences.

Shauntay Grant is an award-winning writer of poetry, plays, and poetic picture books for children. A former poet laureate for the City of Halifax, "she creates artworks that are engaging and accessible, but also challenging, rigorous, and informed by deep research" (The Royal Society of Canada). A member of The Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists, her other honours include a Joseph S. Stauffer Prize in Writing and Publishing from the Canada Council for the Arts, a Poet of Honour prize from the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word, a Robert Merritt Award for her play The Bridge (Playwrights Canada Press, 2021), and a Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award for her children's book Africville (Groundwood, 2018). Africville was also shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Awards. Shauntay's forthcoming poetic picture book titles include Bright Lights and Summer Nights (Penguin Random House, 2025) and Where There Is Love (Penguin Random House, 2025). Shauntay lives and works in Kjipuktuk (Halifax, Nova Scotia) where she is Associate Professor of creative writing at Dalhousie University.

Grammy® Award-winning Canadian baritone, Elliot Madore has established himself as one of the most sought after, accomplished singers of his generation, enthralling audiences around the world with his “robust singing and take-no-prisoners acting” (The New York Times), “exquisite vocal beauty” (Opera News) and “movie star good looks” (Merkur). At just 33, Madore’s career spans the past decade, singing in major opera companies and orchestras throughout Europe, The United States and Canada.
The 2021-2022 season sees Mr. Madore’s house debut in the world premiere of Giorgio Battistelli’s new opera Julius Caesar with Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, directed by Robert Carsen and conducted by Daniele Gatti. Mr. Madore will also make his role debut as Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus with the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy in Japan. Orchestral work includes Handel’s Messiah with the US Naval Academy Orchestra and Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Santa Cruz Symphony, conducted by music director Daniel Stewart. Mr. Madore will also join the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music faculty this season, in a newly created position as a performing Associate Professor of Voice.

Tyler Emond is an acclaimed bassist, composer, and record producer based in Toronto. His career has covered jazz, classical, baroque, Arabic maqam, pop, experimental electronica, and more. He has served as a musical director, composer and arranger for FabCollab’s Women in Song, The Scarborough Philharmonic, One Little Goat Theatre, & Spectrum Music. As a bassist he has performed with Kevin Breit, Sundar Viswanathan’s Avataar, Alessia Cara, Hiromi, Ahmed Moneka, Marito Marques, Fethi Nadjem, Mark Kelso’s Jazz Exiles, Randy Brecker, Selcuk Suna, Tyler Shaw, Matt Dusk, Charbel Rouhana, Dave Douglas, Naseer Shamma, Elmer Ferrer, and his own groups Tennis Partner & Hush. As a record producer he has produced/engineered/mixed albums for Selcuk Suna (The Space Between), Ahmed Moneka (JUNO nominated - Kanzafula), Tamar Ilana & Ventanas (Azadi), Tennis Partner (Johnny’s New Nose Job, Free Clothes and Life Cycles), Tara Moneka (Madina), Kune (Canadian Folk Music Award Winner - Universal Echoes), Melissa Lauren (My Voice), and Hush (Pull the Sky).

Jason is a Toronto-based designer working in theatre and opera. He has built a reputation for developing innovative lighting designs for site-specific productions with Against the Grain and Tapestry New Opera. His passion is creating the lighting for large-scale musicals and operas, and for new works.

Jason has lit productions at several of Canada’s largest opera companies including the Canadian Opera Company & Vancouver Opera (Carmen), Edmonton Opera (The Tales of Hoffmann*). In 2014, made his American debut with Macbeth at the Minnesota Opera Company. He has worked with acclaimed directors Tim Albery (Imeneo*, Dido and Aeneas*, M’Dea Undone**), Paul Curran (The Rape of Lucretia*) and Tom Diamond (The Marriage of Figaro, Oksana G.**).

His theatre designs include productions for the Stratford Festival (The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Trespassers**), Young People’s Theatre (Mary Poppins, Blue Planet, James and the Giant Peach, Jacob Two-Two and the Hooded Fang**, Seussical), Tarragon Theatre (Hamlet, Enemy of the People, Peace River Country**, The Summoned**, Abyss**, Sequence, The Ugly One), Canadian Stage (This, The Arsonists, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Winter’s Tale), and the Shaw Festival (Arms and the Man), as well as Theatre Calgary, Drayton Entertainment, and the Soulpepper Theatre Company.

In 2015, Jason was invited to become the Resident Lighting Designer for Against the Grain Theatre, cementing a relationship with the company that extends from the company’s first fully-mounted production. For Joel Ivany and AtG, Jason has lit La Bohème**, Turn of the Screw*, Figaro’s Wedding**, Pelléas et Mélisande*, Death and Desire**, #UncleJohn**, AtG’s Messiah, A Little Too Cozy**, Bound, and Kopernikus*. He has also lit Ayre which has been remounted internationally.

Jason is a regular guest instructor the National Theatre School of Canada and Banff Centre for the Arts.

In 2011, Jason collaborated with director Joel Ivany and designer Camellia Koo to conceive a production of I Capuletti e i Montecchi that placed third in the biennial European Opera-Directing Prize. He has been nominated eight times for Dora Awards for Outstanding Lighting Design, and is a protégé recipient of the prestigious Siminovitch Prize in Theatre. He has won a Montreal English Theatre Award for his lighting of the NAC/Centaur co-production of The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God.

Jason holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from York University. After completing his studies, Jason continued his education by working as an assistant and associate designer on over 40 major productions with noted international designers such as Thomas Hase, Max Keller, Peter van Praet & Robert Carsen, Robert Thomson, Bonnie Beecher, Michael Whitfield, and Alan Brodie.

Upcoming projects include projects at the Charlottetown Festival, Tarragon Theatre, and a new production of The Louder We Get (formerly Prom Queen the Musical) at Theatre Calgary..

Jason holds both American and Canadian citizenship, and makes his home in Toronto with his wife and his daughters.

Andrew Adridge (he/him) is a multidisciplinary artist and opera producer based in Toronto with a passion for equity and industry reform. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto holding both a Bachelor of Music Performance in Voice and a Master of Music in Opera. He has been featured as an ensemble soloist both at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto and the Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C. Andrew has participated in several young artist programs including The Chautauqua Institution Voice Program, and the Banff Opera program. Andrew is an avid writer having contributed to both Opera Canada and Ludwig Van Toronto and continues his pursuits through his personal blog and through spoken word bringing to light issues around artistry, identity, and race.
Andrew has worked as an arts administrator with such organizations as the Association for Opera in Canada and Tapestry Opera and has recently made his directorial debut with the Canadian Opera Company and Against the Grain Theatre as the Associate Director on Mozart’s Requiem. Most recently he directed the Edmonton Opera Valentine’s Day Gala which premiered on Global TV in February of 2022. Andrew currently works as the Artistic Producer for the Banff Centre Opera in the 21st Century program and is the Co-Founder of the national arts education collective Opera InReach. Andrew’s recognizable commitment to EDIJA advancement in the arts sector has made him sought after as a panellist, consultant, and outlet contributor.
This season, Andrew will assistant direct Identity: A Song Cycle with Against the Grain Theatre and Carmen with the Canadian Opera Company. Andrew is very excited to continue his journey as an opera producer through this opportunity provided by the Metcalf Foundation allowing him to work in Artistic Operations with Against the Grain Theatre.

Riddle Films

Led by producers Liam Romalis and Jason Charters, Riddle Films is an award-winning company dedicated to capturing the worlds of the performing arts and culture and making them accessible to as broad an audience as possible. Their work has streamed, screened and aired on television, online and at film festivals around the world, including the CBC, BBC, PBS, ARTE, NHK, the Toronto International Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival and New York’s Museum of Modern Art. With a strong belief in supporting arts organizations and artists, Riddle Films has partnered with the Royal Conservatory of Music, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Summer Music, the Azrieli Music Prize and Against the Grain Theatre in addition to artists such as the Gryphon Trio, the Afiara String Quartet, Dione Taylor, Serena Ryder, Kevin Breit, the Nathaniel Dett Chorale and Danny Grossman to name but a few. Productions include the Emmy-nominated music documentary, Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas, the documentary and performance film The Group of Seven Guitars Project produced for the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, and Joel Krosnick: What to Play Next, an intimate portrait of the famed cellist as he retired after 42 years with the Juilliard String Quartet.