Photo: Gaetz Photography
Canadian opera singer Kendra Dyck has been described as possessing "a pleasant sweet toned soprano that she’s well capable of colouring for dramatic effect” [OperaRamblings 2017]. She was a finalist in the 2024 Lotte Lenya Competition after reaching the semi-finals in 2023, and was also a finalist in The CANIMEX Canadian Music Competition's Stepping Stone Competition in 2019.
An avid lover of sacred and contemporary music, Ms. Dyck sang Mozart’s Requiem with Pax Christi Chorale and The Toronto Mozart Players, conducted by David Bowser, as a prize winner in the 2019 Toronto Mozart Vocal Competition. In 2020, she sang the world premiere of Juno Award-winning composer Bekah Simm’s Bestiary I & II for soprano, ensemble and electronics as part of the annual 21C Music Festival in Toronto. She made her Koerner Hall debut in November 2017 with the Royal Conservatory Orchestra in the world premiere of Michael Oesterle’s symphonic work Home, conducted by Tania Miller. Other recent performances have included Handel’s Messiah, Mozart's Vesperae solennes de confessore, Schubert’s Masses in C Major and G Major, and Schütz’ Musikalische Exequien. In addition to solo work, Ms. Dyck was a Sidgwick Scholar with The Toronto Orpheus Choir in their 2018-2019 season under the direction of Robert Cooper, and was a member of the Nota Bene Baroque Players and Singers Ensemble for five seasons.
Praised as a “natural comedienne” [Opera Canada 2017], Ms. Dyck enjoys balancing the performance techniques of both opera and musical theatre. While she has in the past gravitated towards light-hearted characters, she is always thrilled when opportunity presents more complex roles. An alumnus of the NUOVA Summer Festival and Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, she has worked with some of the top conductors in the country, including, David Bowser, Robert Cooper, Leslie Dala, Howard Dyck, Tania Miller, Jurgen Petrenko, Ivars Taurins, Rosemary Thompson and Daniel Warren, and has performed roles directed by Olivia Daniels, Brian Deedrick, Anne-Marie Donovon, Marilyn Gronsdal, Joel Ivany, Brent Krysa, Wendy Leard and Marshall Pynkoski. Past roles include Doralee Rhodes in Dolly Parton's 9 to 5: The Musical, Pitti-Sing in Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado, Ida in Johann Strauss Jr.’s Die Fledermaus, Gretel in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, and Sandrina in Piccinni’s La Cecchina, Kitty Hart in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, Lauretta in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, and Mahigan in Spy Dénommé-Welch and Catherine Magowan’s Indigenous opera Giiwedin.
Ms. Dyck holds a Bachelor of Music in Honours Performance from Wilfrid Laurier University and an Artist Diploma from The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory of Music.
REPERTOIRE
theatre
opera
Mills / The Storyteller / Lily
Parton /9 to 5 / Doralee Rhodes
Sullivan / The Mikado / Pitti-Sing
Bernstein / Trouble in Tahiti / Trio Soprano
Dénommé-Welch / Giiwedin / Mahigan
Heggie / Dead Man Walking / Kitty Hart
Humperdinck / Hansel and Gretel / Gretel
Piccinni / La Cecchina / Sandrina
Puccini / Gianni Schicchi / Lauretta
Purcell / Dido & Aeneas / Second Woman
Stravinsky / The Rake's Progress / Anne Trulove
Strauss (Johann) / Die Fledermaus / Ida
oratorio
Bach / Cantatas 21, 51, Easter Oratorio, St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion
Britten / Rejoice in the Lamb
Charpentier / Christmas Eve Mass, Messe de morts
Handel / Dixit Dominus, Messiah
Haydn / Die Schöpfung
Mendelssohn / Hear My Prayer
Mozart / Exsultate jubilate, Mass in c minor, Requiem, Vesperae solennes de confessore
Poulenc / Gloria
Rutter / Gloria
Saint-Saëns / Christmas Oratorio
Schubert / Mass in C Major, Mass in G Major
Schütz / Musikalische Exequien
Telemann / Machet die Tore weit
concert & chamber works
Bolcom / Let evening come (for soprano, viola & piano)
Britten / Les Illuminations
Grieg / Peer Gynt
Melani / All'armi pensieri
Mozart / Misera, dove son?
Oesterle / Home
Reich / Drumming
Simms / Bestiary I & II
Tiefenbach / Three poems (for soprano, trumpet & piano)