Canadian soprano Elizabeth Polese has been praised as “powerful and engaging” [The Globe and Mail], She is a recent graduate of l’Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Centre, winner of the prestigious 2019-20 Sullivan Foundation Gail Robinson Award for Soprano, and recipient of the 2021 Hnatyshyn Foundation Developing Artist Award for Classical Voice. 2021-22 will present Elizabeth as Papagena in Barrie Kosky’s Die Zauberflöte with Opéra de Montréal, and her return to Tanglewood Music Centre to sing the role of Isabel in the North American premiere of George Benjamin’s Lessons in Love and Violence with the composer at the podium. She will also join the Gewandhaus Orchester, in collaboration with the Mendelssohn Orchestra Academy and Tanglewood Music Center, in Leipzig, Germany in a special programme of chamber music by Bach and Webern. Throughout the pandemic, Elizabeth maintained a busy performance schedule in concert work with Mécénat Musica and Orchestre Classique de Montréal. She also formed a voice-harp duo with Antoine Malette-Chénier, and together they performed their programme entitled La Lettre du Jardinier with Société d’Art Vocal de Montréal, Les Concerts Ponticello, and on tour with Orchestre Symphonique de Trois Rivières. Highlights of her time at Opéra de Montréal included the privilege of working with world-renowned conductors like Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Nicole Paiement, Alain Trudel, and Carlo Montanaro, and Elizabeth especially enjoyed working with sensational fellow young artists in the instrumental world like Nicolas Ellis and l’Orchestre de l’Agora. Along with many concert performances, she performed the roles of Alice B. Toklas in the Canadian premiere of Twenty-Seven (Gordon + Vavrek), Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw (with Orchestre de l’Agora) Contessa di Ceprano in Rigoletto (with René Barbara as Duca), and covered the roles of Marzelline in Fidelio (Orchestre Métropolitain), and Agnès in Written on Skin. A versatile young artist, Elizabeth considers herself most at home in old and new music. Messiah, Carmina Burana, and several Bach cantatas are staples of her repertoire, and she has won several competitions for her rendition of Mozart’s Exsultate, Jubilate (University of Toronto Concerto Competition, Toronto Mozart Competition, Ottawa Symphony Orchestra Mozart-Sénécal Prize). Elizabeth has also performed works by Messiaen, Knussen, Foss, Gordon, Freedman, Cage, Crumb, Benjamin, and Stravinsky, among others. Ms Polese is an alumna of many esteemed training institutions internationally, including the Rebanks Family Fellowship of the Royal Conservatory of Music, Highlands Opera Studio, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, the Universität der Künste Berlin, Domaine Forget, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Brott Opera, Opera NUOVA, Centre for Opera Studies in Italy, Victoria Conservatory of Music, and Centre d’Arts Orford. Ms Polese holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from the University of Toronto, where she studied under the tutelage of celebrated Canadian soprano, Mary Morrison (OC). Originally from Toronto, Elizabeth currently resides in Montréal with her husband and dog.