Praised as “hilarious” and “vocally charming”, Canadian Mezzo Soprano, Tessa Fackelmann, has been seen performing the works of Handel, Mozart and Rossini. This season, Tessa made her Dayton Ballet & Philharmonic debut as Lilith in Austin Jaquith’s Dracula: Bloodlines and as the Alto Soloist in Handel’s Messiah. In March, she had the opportunity to sing on the Metropolitan Opera stage as a National Semifinalist in the 2024 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. Tessa recently premiered Songs of Solemn Dreaming by composer Daniel Knaggs in Houston, Texas. Shortly after, she made her way to Edmonton, Alberta to perform in a workshop for Silence by Leslie Uyida, a commission by Opera NUOVA for their 25th anniversary. Tessa will be returning to the Santa Fe Opera to perform the roles of Woman/Woman 3/Ruth in the world premiere of Gregory Spears and Tracy K. Smith’s The Righteous.

In November, Tessa will make a hometown return to Ottawa, Ontario, where she will be the Mezzo Soloist in Duruflé’s Requiem with the Ottawa Choral Society.

In the 2022-2023 season, she competed in the Talent Gala with the Opéra de Montréal’s Atelier Lyrique at the Maison Symphonique in Montréal, Québec. Later that year, Tessa made her debut at the Santa Fe Opera under the baton of Lidiya Yankovskaya singing the role of The Kitchen Girl in Dvorak’s Rusalka. In addition, Tessa was also seen as Maria Stuarda in Donizetti’s infamous “Confrontation Scene” in the apprentice scenes programme.

Previously, as a studio artist at Wolf Trap Opera, she made her mainstage debut as The Bridesmaid in their 2022 production of Der Freischütz. Tessa is an alumnus of Manitoba Opera’s Digital Emerging Artist Program (2021) and Opera NUOVA (2019).

She received a Master of Music (2023) from Rice University under the tutelage of Nova Thomas and her Bachelor of Fine Arts (2019) and Artist Diploma (2020) from the University of Ottawa with Professor Christiane Riel.

In her spare time, Tessa enjoys rollerblading, traveling, watching hockey, karaoke and water colour painting (even though she isn’t very good at it).