About the Cast of The Marriage of Figaro November 16 and 18, 2006
Geoffrey Butler - Artistic Director - 
Geoffrey Butler has earned a well-deserved reputation as a musician of unique versatility. He is currently in his tenth year as Artistic Director of the Toronto Choral Society. Under his direction, the Toronto Choral Society has grown to become an umbrella organization consisting of three separate choirs – the Toronto Community Choir, North 44° Ensemble and the Street Haven Women’s Choir. The Street Haven Women’s Choir was founded in 1999 by Mr. Butler, through a grant from the United Way. The Women’s Choir is drawn from the women who use the services of the downtown shelter - Street Haven at the Crossroads and North 44 Ensemble acts as a fundraising body for the Street Haven Women's Choir.
Mr. Butler has served as Organist and Choir Director at All Saints Roman Catholic Church in Etobicoke, since 1983. He has built a choral program that now boasts two children’s choirs; a youth chamber choir as well as an adult choir, all of which serve to fulfill the needs of this 4000 family congregation.
As a guest conductor he has performed with the Niagara Symphony, the Hart House Orchestra of the University of Toronto, the Oakville Symphony in both their main season and at the Oakville Waterfront Festival and the Canadian Opera Orchestra. He was Music Director for the premiere of the David Warrack musical Piper and won critical acclaim for his conducting of Puccini’s Suor Angelica at Queen’s University, Kingston. Mr. Butler has been the Artistic director for La Boheme and The Magic Flute with Opera York.
Mr. Butler maintains a busy career as a solo tenor and is well known throughout his native Canada and the United States. A proponent of New Music, he has been involved in many North American and World premieres, and continues to enjoy an active involvement in both concert and opera

Sabatino Vacca  –  Conductor
Sabatino Vacca earned his music degree from McMaster University and then continued his piano studies with Gyorgy Sandor in New York. He completed a diploma in operatic performance at the University of Toronto where he later worked as an opera coach. He is now in his seventh season as repetiteur with Opera Hamilton, and also in his sixth year as conductor of the Palestrina Chamber Chorus. He has led the choir in three performance tours of Italy. Sabatino has also been involved with the International Opera Workshop, held in the Czech Republic, since it began in 1994. He completed CD of children’s songs for which he arranged the music. In November 2004 he conducted Udo Zimmermann’s “Weisse Rose” in Toronto, which traveled to Prague in June 2005, as well as a concert performance of “Carmen” for Opera York. He recently completed his Masters in Conducting from the University of Montreal.

Lucia Cesaroni - Susanna
Soprano Lucia Cesaroni has completed her Bachelor of Music at the University of Toronto and will begin an Opera Masters in the fall. This past year she participated in masterclasses with Adrianne Pieczonka, Russell Braun and Francis Ginzer and gave a Young Artist Recital for the Aldeburgh Connection and for the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto. Summer 2006 and 2005 found Lucia in Montreal for the International Vocal Arts Institute under Joan Dornemann and Marlena Malas. She then attended the Aspen Music Festival’s opera program with credits in Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen, Villa-Lobos’ Bacchianas Brazilieras no. 5 and scenes from Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, Verdi’s Falstaff and Massenet’s Werther.
In June 2004, Lucia was awarded first place at the Canadian Music Competition’s national final. In summer 2004, she completed an intensive study with opera great Mirella Freni in Modena, Italy. That summer, she sang the lead role of Lauretta in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Suor Genovieve in Suor Angelica with La Musica Lirica Summer Opera Festival in Italy. In the realm of oratorio, Lucia understudied the First Soprano in Mozart’s Mass in C- under Helmuth Rilling and was a featured soloist with the MacMillan Singers in Mendelssohn’s Lobegesang, Symphony No.2. This summer she attended the Chautauqua Summer Institute with Marlena Malas.
ANDREW TEES - Baritone - Figaro
Andrew Tees became an Opera York favourite in the title role of the 2004 production of The BARBER OF SEVILLE.  Since then he has performed at the 2004 & 2005 Opera York Galas and at the York Region Newspaper Group 2004 CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS. In the 2004-2005 season, Mr. Tees played Escamillo in the in concert production of Carmen and in  the 2005 production of Puccini's La Bohème as Marcello. Opera Canada singled out Tee's performance as Marcello saying "Top vocal honors went to former COC Ensemble member Andrew Tees. His rich baritone rang out thrillingly in the acoustically friendly Markham Theatre." In addition, Mr. Tees has taken on the Artistic Director role for the Opera for Schools program. This season, Andrew Tees made his debut as the Artistic Director of a full opera production with the children's holiday classic Hansel and Gretel.  In March, Mr. Tees performed the title role in Opera York's production of Gianni Schicchi.
An alumnus of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio, baritone Andrew Tees has caught the attention of opera impresarios in both the U.S. and Canada.  In Europe, he debuted in Holland with the Dutch Radio Orchestra in VENUS UND ADONIS a work by Henze he first performed with the COC.  He was engaged as the Pirate King in Cleveland Opera’s production of THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE and starred as Figaro in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO for Opera Ontario and Pacific Opera Victoria. The swaggering toreador Escamillo in Bizet’s CARMEN was his debut role for Manitoba Opera in Winnipeg.  For the Toronto Symphony, he was featured in a Halloween ‘Pops’ concert conducted by Eric Kunzel and starred in the staged premiere of R. Murray Shafer’s ZOROASTER for Soundstreams Canada.  In Thunder Bay, he was engaged for an Italian Opera Evening conducted by Geoffrey Moull. For the Canadian Opera,  he was featured in mainstage productions of OTELLO, BILLY BUDD and LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST. Heard also as Hercules/Orestes in GIASONE, he appeared as soloist in the Altamira Festival and starred as Tarquinius in the Ensemble production of Britten's THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA, repeating his interpretation of the Etruscan general later in Amsterdam.  Additional mainstage assignments include the Marquis in LA TRAVIATA and he covered the roles of Marcello in LA BOHEME, Don Giovanni in DON GIOVANNI and Belcore in THE ELIXIR OF LOVE.  As a concert artist, he appeared with Susan Haig and the Windsor Symphony in an evening of opera highlights and with the Esprit Orchestra in the premiere of LONDONSONG.  Further concerts included a Robbie Burns evening for the Aldeburgh Connection and Haydn's LORD NELSON MASS for Robert Cooper and Chorus Niagara. The tall Opera McGill alumnus sang Escamillo for Toronto's Summer Opera Lyric Theatre and he was chillingly convincing as King Conachar in Opera in Concert's revival of Healey Willan's DEIRDRE.  Mr. Tees was in Humbach, Germany where his roles were Monterone in RIGOLETTO, Sacristan in TOSCA and Fiorello in IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA, later repeating Fiorello for the Canadian Opera Company.  Three times a Canadian Champion rower, Mr. Tees has summers at Chautauqua among his credits and his music theatre roles include Sky Masterson (GUYS AND DOLLS), Carl Magnus (A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC), Pooh Bah (THE MIKADO) and Lun Tha (THE KING AND I). On screen Mr. Tees has been seen as John Smithson in England's Film Four production of TRUE BLUE.
Adriana Albu - Mezzo Soprano
Adriana Albu comes to us with an excellent background. Trained in Romania, Czech Republic and Toronto, she has performed in operas and concerts in such wide-spread venues as Bucharest, Iasi, Brno, and Toronto. Between 2003-2006 Adriana participated in several Opera Training Programs; she attended several Master Classes with maestro Franz Albanese and soprano Mariana Nicolesco and she is the winner of the 2005 Artist International Music Competition in Toronto.
Her operatic roles repertoire include Fenena from “Nabucodonosor”, Maddalena & Giovanna from “Rigoletto”, Suzuki from “Madama Butterfly”, Bertha from “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”, Lola from “Cavalleria Rusticana”, Carmen & Mercedes from “Carmen”, Dorabella from “Cosi fan tutte”, Popova from “The Bear”.   She performed equally Opera and Lied with a wide repertoire, sustained between 1993 and 2006 many concerts and recitals in Canada and Romania.
Ms. Albu was recently seen on the Opera York stage in the November production of The Magic Flute as The Third Lady and in Suor Angelica in the role of La Badessa in March. She recently came back from Romania where she performed the title role from Carmen by Bizet.
Ramona Carmelly - Mezzo Soprano
Dynamic and versatile mezzo soprano Ramona Joy Carmelly has captivated opera, theatre and concert audiences in numerous roles from the sublime to the ridiculous.  Critics have raved: "Her performance was a lesson in how deft acting can overcome the limitations of opera on the concert stage," (Opera Canada Magazine) and "Ramona Carmelly, with her plush mezzo, was outstanding" (The Globe & Mail). 
Equally at home on the opera stage and in music theater, Ramona played La Ciesca in Opera York’s recent production of Gianni Schicchi.  Previous roles include Mercedes in Carmen, Maddalena in Rigoletto, Antonia's Mother in The Tales of Hoffmann, Dido in Dido and Aeneas, Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana, Mère Marie de I’incarnation in Dialogues of the Carmelites, both Filipievna and Olga in Eugene Onegin, Meg Page and Dame Quickly in Falstaff, as well as Katisha in The Mikado, Golde in Fiddler on the Roof, and Miss Hannigan in Annie.  While obtaining her Artist Diploma in Voice Performance from the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music, Ramona appeared there as the Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas, Ottavia in The Coronation of Poppea, Mrs. Grose in The Turn of the Screw, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Mme de la Haltière in Cendrillon, and the Mother in Hansel und Gretel.  On graduation in 2003, Ramona was awarded third prize in the Christina and Louis Quilico competition, and was engaged in the prestigious Apprentice Artist program with Des Moines Metro Opera.  Ramona sang Mrs. Nolan in The Medium, Bianca in The Rape of Lucretia, and the Foreign Woman in The Consul with Opera Anonymous, and was caught moonlighting as stage director for their hilarious double bill of Susanna's Secret and L'heure Espagnole. 
An avid collaborator with contemporary composers, Ramona created the lead role of Alora in the world premiere of the Canadian opera, The Last Wife, was the sole live performer featured at the Centre for Cultural Renewal's multidisciplinary Arts Symposium, Leap to Meaning 2, and sang local composer Helen Greenberg's Kaddish in one of the first world-wide concerts in memory of slain Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl sponsored by PEN-Canada.  As a concert soloist, Ramona has appeared with choirs and orchestras in the Toronto and Ottawa regions, in programs of opera highlights, cabaret and jazz, as well as masses by Dvořak, Haydn, and Mozart, Vivaldi's Gloria, and the Fauré and Rutter Requiems, and was the featured soloist in Mahler's Symphony No.3 with conductor Richard Bradshaw and the Royal Conservatory Orchestra at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. 
Recent years have seen more eclectic engagements: Ramona made her TV debut in an episode of the comedy/mystery series Zoe Busiek: Wildcard  (on GlobalTV and Lifetime Television), featured as the diva amid murder and mayhem, and was featured at the Canadian Athletes Fund “See You in Torino” 2005 gala in support of Canada’s participants in the recent Olympic games. Ramona is also a regular performer with the Ardeleana chamber trio throughout southern Ontario, most recently appearing at the prestigious “PGI plays the Red Barn”, the annual gala before the Peter Gzowski Invitational Golf Tournament for Literacy at the Briars Resort, and the CD single Mother Gaia's Song, released on the occasion of the recent United Nations Climate Change Conference in Montreal, at the Windfall Ecology Festival. Future engagements include a regional series of multilingual cabaret concerts, a recital and recording of new vocal works by Canadian composers, and a new lyrical portrait of the boldly adventurous, nonconformist and visionary Canadian artist and writer Emily Carr, currently being written for Ramona.
Stacie Carmona  - Soprano
Soprano Stacie Carmona has been described by the National Post as "…the whole package- voice, acting, and the kind of charisma that draws the eye…."    Ms. Carmona made her professional debut with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bach Elgar Choir in November 2004 as the Soprano Soloist in Verdi's Requiem, coducted by Ian Sadler.  Her operatic roles have included Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen, and Ariadne in R.Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos with Summer Opera Lyric Theatre.   She is a recent graduate of the University of Toronto's Opera Division while there she performed the roles of Jenny Diver in Britten's Beggar's Opera, La Ciesca in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, Frau Fluth in Nicolai's Die Lusitgen Weiber von Windsor, and La Contessa Almaviva in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro.  

Ms. Carmona received a vocal fellowship to the Tanglewood Music Center, where she performed the world premiere of Alan Smith's `Vignettes: from George to Evelyn', a cycle written for Phyllis Curtin's 80th Birthday Gala. Also at Tanglewood she performed Shostakovich's `From Yiddish Folk Poetry' Op.79, and was in the octet of Kaija Saariaho's 'Chateau de l'ame' with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Robert Spano.    . Ms. Carmona made her main stage debut with Opera York as the title role in Puccini's Suor Angelica in March 2006, conducted by Sabatino Vacca.   This season she returns to Opera York as La Contessa Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro.     Ms. Carmona will make her debut with the National Ballet of Canada in March 2007 in Eliot Feld's A Footstep of Air, is ballet set to Beethoven's Scottish and Irish Folk songs with performances in the new Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts and the National Arts Center i! n Ottawa. 
Gerrit Theule - Bass
Matthew Zadow - Baritone

Canadian Baritone Matthew Zadow is a graduate of Queen’s University in Kingston and the studio of baritone Bruce Kelly.  Recently, Matthew has added a number of contemporary opera roles to his repertoire, including "Fellowship" (The Summoning of Everyman - Opera in Concert), "Hans Scholl" (Die Weiße Rose - MacMillan Theatre), and “Ben” (Night-Blooming Cereus – OIC); most recently, he created the roles of "Jack Worthing" in a workshop production of The Importance of Being Earnest for Stratford Summer Music and “Sir William Johnson” in a US-Canadian production of the historical opera Molly Brant.  More traditional roles include "Dancaïre" (Carmen - Opera York), “Morales / Zuniga” (Carmen - Summer Opera Lyric Theatre, Kingston Symphony), "L'Horloge Comptoise / Le chat" (L'Enfant et les Sortileges - RCM/Glenn Gould School), “Baron Douphol / Doctor Grenvil” (La Traviata - KSO), and "Manuel / Cantaor" (La Vida Breve - SOLT); Matthew also appears on the recent Naxos international CD release of Rameau's Castor et Pollux (Aradia Ensemble/OIC). Operetta roles include "Danilo" (The Merry Widow - Opera York), "Don Pedro" (El Barberillo de Lavapies - Toronto Operetta Theatre), "Rudi" (Land of Smiles - TOT), "Bob Beckett" (H.M.S. Pinafore - KSO) and "Pish-Tush" (Mikado - Kingston Meistersingers). In July 2005, Matthew visited Millau, Languedoc, France to study with the renowned French tenor Pierre Fleta. In spring 2007 he will appear with Toronto's Severn Players in a programme of Finzi, Mozart and Vaughan Williams songs, including the Five Mystical Songs, and in August 2007 he moves with his family to Mons, Belgium, to pursue a European career.