Keira Davis is returning to HSOF for her fourth season. She debuted as Willie Maurrant in the 2015 production of “Street Scene,” was in the chorus for both “Carmen” and “Don Giovanni” and is thrilled to be back as the Third Spirit in Die Zauberflöte. With the Broadway Company Players, Keira has performed the lead roles of Gertrude in “Seussical,” Fiona in “Shrek The Musical” and most recently the title role in “Mary Poppins.” Keira will be entering 12th grade at Citadel High School in the fall.
Steven is a member of Halifax Camerata Singers and the Halifax Gay Men’s Chorus and studies vocal technique with Jason Davis. In his first season with the HSOF, Steven is the Speaker in The Magic Flute and Schlemil and Luther in The Tales of Hoffmann. Steven learns his music while doing his second-favourite thing, running.
Oakville born soprano, Julie Gate, recently graduated with her Bachelor of Music Honours
Performance degree at the University of Western Ontario, under the tutelage of Rachel Mallon.
In the past, she has performed in Western Universities Opera Gala (2016/2019) and made her
operatic debut as Helena in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Halifax Summer Opera
Festival (2018). Julie had the opportunity to attend Opera Nuova’s 10-day opera program (2018)
in Edmonton Alberta. While there she worked with many accomplished Canadian singers, and
completed workshops led by Carol Castel, Rebecca Hass, and Kim Mattice Wanat. Julie has
spent time learning languages such as French, Spanish and Italian to further her performance
skills. She is looking forward returning to the Halifax Summer Opera Festival as the First Lady
in Die Zauberflöte.
Raised in Scarborough Ontario, Alexander Cappellazzo has since moved to Montreal to continue cultivating his passion of singing. This year he has earned the degree of Master of Music at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music under the tutelage of Stefano Algieri. His operatic and oratorio debut was in 2017, in the ensemble of Die Fledermaus and as Jepthe in Carissimi’s Jepthe. Alexander has since been involved in thirteen operas, including Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (1st Sailor), Arne’s Thomas and Sally (Squire), Britten’s Albert Herring (Mayor Upfold), and McGill’s production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (Monostatos). In sacred works, Alexander has performed as a soloist in Saint-Saens’ Christmas Oratorio, Bach’s B Minor Mass, and Vivaldi’s Magnificat. With regards to art song, he holds a strong passion towards songs after 1900, and has performed works such as Benjamin Britten’s Who are these Children?, Gavin Bryars’ Songs from Northern Seas, Shostakovich’s From Jewish Folk Poetry, and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Southern Love Songs. Not only a performer, Alexander also has directed (Haydn’s La Canterina), assistant directed, assistant stage managed, as well as designed set, costume and sound for opera and spoken word theater. When he is not singing, he enjoys cooking, nature walking, and playing D&D. Alexander is both thankful and delighted to be a part of the festival!
Grace Hakala is a soprano from Sarnia, Ontario, and a fourth year Voice Performance student at Western University. She studies with Torin Chiles and Marianna Chibotar-Rutkevich. She is very excited for her HSOF debut as Papagena in “The Magic Flute”.
Grace has participated in the Western University Opera Workshop for the past three years; there she sang the First Spirit in “The Magic Flute”, as well as ensemble roles in “The Turn of the Screw” and “The Pirates of Penzance”. She also performed in the 2018 Canadian Operatic Arts Academy in London.
Throughout elementary and high school, Grace sang roles in many musical theatre productions, including the Gingerbread Man in “Shrek: the Musical” and Zaneeta Shinn in “The Music Man”. She has also been an active participant in the Lambton County Music Festival, where she was nominated several times to sing in Ontario Music Festival Association’s provincial competition; here she won a Bronze Medal in the 2016 Grade 8 voice competition, and was a provincial finalist in the 2018 Grade 10 competition.
Follow me and my future musical endeavours on Instagram: @grace.hakala
