Praised for his “classy, expressive singing and stage presence” tenor, Cory Knight, has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Ruby Mercer Memorial Scholarship which is granted to person who shows a clear potential for an operatic career.

Highlights of his engagements for 2007-2008 are Il Principe in The Glenn Gould School’s production of Respighi’s LA BELLA DORMENTE NEL BOSCO, Count Almaviva in the BARBER OF SEVILLE with the Toronto Summer Music Academy Opera Studio, and Telemaco in IL RITORNO D’ULISSE IN PATRIA with Opera Atelier.

Past engagements include Charlie in the Artist of the Royal Conservatory’s production of Kurt Weil’s MAHAGONNY SONGSPIEL, Lysander in Britten’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM and the Roasted Swan in CARMINA BURANA both in association with the Glenn Gould School. He has also appeared as the tenor soloist in Handel’s MESSIAH, Mozart’s REQUIEM and GRAND MASS IN C MINOR, and Haydn’s THE CREATION and THE SEASONS.

During the summer of 2006 Mr. Knight performed and studied in Italy as a participant in the DANIEL FERRO VOCAL PROGRAM. He received private lessons from Daniel Ferro and worked closely with acclaimed coaches from around Europe and the United States.

Mr. Knight is a recent graduate from the Advanced Diploma Programme at the Glenn Gould School. He also holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in music, as well as a Bachelor of Education from York University

Liliana Piazza is currently in her graduating year at the University of Toronto where she studies with Jean MacPhail in the voice-performance programme. A recipient of many scholarships, Liliana has just returned from Italy where she participated in a concert series put on by Centro Studi Lirica.  Liliana has been involved with the Opera in Concert chorus with Robert Cooper for the past three years where she has performed the roles of Linette in Prokafiev’s  “L’amour de Trois Oranges”, Frasquita in “El gato montes”, and Ninetta in “I Vespri Siciliani.”  She is interested in various musical styles having sung in Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians in University of Toronto’s New Music Festival as well as being an alternate soloist for the 2005 International Bach Festival.  Liliana was very pleased to be a part of the Burlington Welsh Male Chorus.

For more information on Liliana visit her website at www.lilianapiazza.com

Baritone Trevor Bowes hails from Victoria, BC where he began his vocal training at the Victoria Conservatory of Music's Opera Studio.  He now lives in Toronto where he is finishing his undergraduate studies at the U of T faculty of music.  Trevor has also studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, the Oberlin at Casalmaggiore program in Italy, and in the summer of 2003 he attended the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in Aldeburgh, England.  Trevor has performed in opera, oratorio and recital across Canada and abroad.  His roles have included Le Comte Des Grieux (Manon), Silvano (La Calisto) and Amantio (Gianni Schicchi) at the RSAMD and Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Lockit (The Beggar's Opera) and Betto (Gianni Schicchi) in Victoria's Opera Studio, as well as roles in Ariadne auf Naxos and Madama Butterfly for Pacific Opera Victoria.  He has performed the bass solos in Handel's Messiah at the Confederation Centre for the Arts, Charlottetown and Mozart's Requiem and Haydn's Creation in Toronto.  Trevor was a prize-winner in the Royal Scottish Academy Scots song competition, adjudicated by the renowned Kenneth MacKellar who called Trevor a singer with a "potential-star rating".  Trevor has received awards from the Canadian Aldeburgh Foundation, the Canadian Scottish Philharmonic Foundation and in 1999 won the YTV Youth Achievement Award in the Vocal Category.

For more information on Trevor visit his website at www.trevorbowes.com

2001 - 2003
Soprano, Monica Ling Lin

Monica Ling Lin was born in Hong Kong where her violinist father encouraged her in music. She is a Licentiate of Trinity College of Music, London, UK, and an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Canada, where she was also winner of the Silver Medal, the Frederick Harris Scholarship, and the Vladimir Reinhold Award for Voice. She took Master Classes at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Kenan Vocal Arts Institute, Lockport, New York. She received her training from such celebrated singers as Maureen Forrester, Anna Moffo, Angelo Marenzi and Genia Las. She enjoys a flourishing career at home and internationally, in concert, with orchestras, and in recital, with performances in Canada, France, Italy, Poland, Ireland, the United States and the Caribbean.

Ms. Ling Lin made her professional debut in Toronto in 1989 as Princess Mi in The Land of Smiles, for which The Toronto Star hailed her as an “opera singer [who] stages a class act”. She has also sung the role of Gilda in Rigoletto, Despina in Così Fan Tutte, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Micaela in Carmen, Yum Yum in The Mikado, Bloody Mary in South Pacific, and Tuptim in The King and I. In 2002, she was a featured soloist in the Gala Concert for His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, and in the worldwide broadcast of the Papal Vigil in Toronto. She has performed for the French network TFO, and for television and radio broadcasts in Poland where she has also given numerous recitals of Baroque, Classical and Oratorio repertoire. In recent years, she has been a frequent soloist with the Canadian Orpheus Male Choir, and the Burlington Welsh Male Chorus. As a concert artist, her programmes display an extensive range from arie antiche to contemporary numbers; from sacred works to opera and musical theatre; from Lieder, mélodies, and art songs to multi-cultural folk songs. In a review of her Christmas concert at Hamilton Place, The Tribune praised her “limpid, expressive voice,” with “supple purity… floating towards the heaven’s stars”

For more information about Monica, visit her website at www.monicalinglin.com