. . . gave us an extraordinary performance (Süddeutsche Zeitung)

. . . possesses a fresh, vibrant voice partnered with excellent technique and musicianship (Opera Canada)

Praised for her sparkling stage presence and beautiful voice, Janet Catherine Dea enjoys a varied performing career in opera, concert and chamber music, all of which have taken her across Canada and to Europe. Last season's highlights include jumping in for an ailing colleague with less than twenty-four hours notice to perform in Salute to Vienna's Gala New Year's Day performance at Toronto's Roy Thompson Hall. Following up her previous performance with the Canadian Sinfonietta of Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate, she was the featured soloist in a program of all Italian music. In recital audiences heard her in “Moonlight and Lovesongs” songs by Debussy, Donaudy, Joseph Marx and Bellini with renowned Munich-based pianist Tomoko Okada.

Miss Dea appears regularly with eclectic harpist Kristen Moss Theriault as ArpaVox. They are currently touring Southern Ontario in support of their debut CD “Sleeps the Noon in the Deep Blue Sky: Folksongs for Voice and Harp” which was released in May 2009.

As soloist, recent engagements include a return to Thunder Bay Symphony in Britten's Les illuminations de Rimbaud, and Opera Galas with the Toronto Philharmonia, and York Symphony, Lester Trimble's Four Fragments from the Canterbury Tales (for soprano, clarinet, flute and piano) with the Aubergine Chamber Ensemble (Toronto). With pianist Brahm Goldhamer she was heard in solo recitals “Ain't it a Pretty Night” and “I'm Just a Broadway Baby” (Toronto).

Career highlights include a return to her hometown as Mabel in Edmonton Opera's The Pirates of Penzance, and Christmas Pops concerts with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, with whom she also sang Beethoven IX and Mahler IV. With the Thunder Bay Symphony she performed “La Scala to Broadway,” and Carmina Burana. She sang Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Boris Brott Festival (Hamilton) and Musetta in La Bohème with Opera York.

She performed Carmina Burana with The Toronto Choral Society and Gounod's Messe Solenelle (St. Cecilia) with the Ottawa Valley Festival. A favourite guest soloist with conductor Kerry Stratton she has performed a number of classical and pops programs with the Toronto Philharmonia and the Huntsville Festival of the Arts.
Hamilton and Kitchener audiences saw Janet Catherine Dea as Mrs. Hayes in Opera Ontario's Susannah. With Opera in Concert (Toronto) Miss Dea performed the title roles of Thaïs and Lucrezia Borgia and Lisa in La Sonnmabula. Other roles include Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, Violetta, in La Traviata and Mimi, in La Bohème with both (Summer Opera Lyric Theatre, Toronto) and (KomishcheKammerOper, Munich). In addition to Mabel, her operetta roles include Margot in The Desert Song Gabrielle, La Vie Parisienne, Yum Yum, The Mikado, Josephine, H.M.S. Pinafore, and Giannetta, The Gondoliers.

A lifelong vocal student of Lucile Vilneuve Evans and Robert K. Evans, Janet Catherine Dea holds a Master of Music in Voice Performance from McGill University and a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University. She has been the recipient of numerous prestigious scholarships and awards including The Clara Lichtenstein Fellowship (McGill-Montreal), Career Development Grants from The Alberta Foundation for the Performing Arts, for study and auditions in Europe; Winner second place, Metropolitan Opera Auditions (Vancouver), The Edmonton Opera Guild Scholarship, and The Johann Strauss Foundation Scholarship (Edmonton).

 

September 2009