Local singer’s rising voice creating a rising star

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This article was published 06/12/2017 (3209 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Local audiences can catch a rising star this weekend when Winnipeg soprano Lara Ciekiewicz is featured during Virtuosi Concerts’ homegrown event Artists of Manitoba: Smiles of a Summer Night.

The pair of weekend concerts, being performed by all-local musicians Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. at the University of Winnipeg’s Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall, also showcases the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra String Ensemble, comprising Gwen Hoebig and Karl Stobbe on violins, Daniel Scholz on viola and cellist Yuri Hooker, as well as dynamic pianist Madeline Hildebrand.

“It is always special to perform at home,” said Ciekiewicz, who is the first vocalist to appear on the Virtuosi stage in eight years.

“I am thrilled to be working on this beautiful repertoire with an exceptional group of musicians whom I admire so greatly, and with whom it is always a privilege to make music. That we get to do it for Virtuosi Concerts is icing on the cake!”

The Winnipeg-born soprano is becoming one of Canada’s highly sought-after singing-actresses, acclaimed for her soaring, three-plus octave voice, versatility and mesmerizing performances.

Her Manitoba Opera roles have included Papagena in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (2011) and the Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro (2015), as well as her searing portrayal of slave girl Liu in Puccini’s Turandot (2015).

She also regularly appears as a concert artist, including an upcoming performance of Malcolm Forsythe’s Three Métis Songs with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO) in March, and her ongoing, five-year gig performing with the bubbly Salute to Vienna New Year’s gala concerts, which light up stages this year in Montreal and Quebec City.

“Lara has this kind of aura where you can’t take your eyes off her,” said Manitoba Opera CEO Larry Desrochers, who directed the 30-something singer during her 2008 company debut as saucy chambermaid Paquette from Bernstein’s Candide.

“It’s exciting to see where she goes as an artist as she gets older, and which repertoire is going to come her way.”

That might include two significant role debuts for the singer this year. She performed the title character in Janacek’s Jenufa with Pacific Opera Victoria in October, with the all-Czech production directed by Canadian film director Atom Egoyan, his first production directed in his hometown in 40 years.. He sang praises for Ciekiewicz during an earlier interview for Opera Canada.

“It’s been a huge pleasure working with Lara,” Egoyan said. “She’s incredibly inventive. She not only has a lovely voice, but she’s a very astute actress and is able to give all sorts of inflections and contours to a really complex role.

“She also has a great sense of humour. We laughed a lot (during rehearsals) and that’s also very important for me. It’s been wonderful getting to know her.”

Ciekiewicz also portrays Tatyana during Calgary Opera’s February production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin — now performing in Russian with the show directed by Tom Diamond. Ciekiewicz adores musical theatre, and has just returned from St. John’s Opera on the Avalon, where she appeared as Cinderella in Sondheim’s Into the Woods, directed by another Winnipegger, Donna Fletcher.

This weekend, the singer will be treating listeners to Berlioz’s romantic song-cycle Les nuits d’été, dealing with love, loss and ultimate renewal. She’ll also perform Handel’s L’Allegro il Penseroso ed il Moderato and Dvorak’s Song to the Moon, excerpted from his fairy-tale opera Rusalka, once again sung entirely in Czech.

“These works all share a very human core. In some way, they all seem to explore humanity’s condition as it journeys through life,” Ciekiewicz reveals of her chosen repertoire.

“More importantly, they share an undeniable ability to paint this journey in musical form.”

Ciekiewicz had this to say when asked to describe her artistic journey: “This life has been more of a discovery than anything I could ever have expected. As a singer, I’m an interpreter. I’m a storyteller. I tell stories with music, and to have that responsibility of sharing those stories with an audience is a great honour, and also pretty cool.”

Tickets (adults: $40.95; under 30: $23.10; students: $13.65; all Sunday tickets Sunday are half-price) are available at 204-786-9000.

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Hallelujah! The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra unveils its newly minted WSO Chorus, performing Handel’s Messiah Dec. 15 and Dec. 16th at 8 p.m. led by WSO resident conductor Julian Pellicano.

The concert features Winnipeg soloists Jane Fingler (soprano), Daniel Peasgood (countertenor), Peter John Buchan (tenor) and Kris Kornelson (baritone).

“With an all-Manitoban cast of singers, it will be something special to look forward to,” promises WSO Chorus director John Wiens, who also helms a cappella vocal group Polycoro.

“It’s one of history’s great composers at his best, and it has extraordinary staying power. We’re so excited to perform it.”

For tickets or further information, visit wso.ca

holly.harris@shaw.ca