Ambur Braid and Gordon Bintner return to the Canadian Opera Company as stars in ‘Marriage of Figaro’ and Atom Egoyan’s ‘Salome’

As far as full circle moments go, there are few which can eclipse the one Ambur Braid is having.

In 2013, she sat in a box at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts and watched Atom Egoyan’s blistering production of “Salome.” As the Richard Strauss opera drew to a close, a friend turned to the Canadian soprano, then in her final month of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio, and said that it should be Braid up on the stage.

The friend’s pithy remark has stuck with Braid. In hindsight, it’s somewhat prophetic.

Cue a decade later. Egoyan’s “Salome” is back on the COC’s mainstage for the first time since that 2013 production. And it’s Braid who will step into the role of the titular princess.

“In a lot of ways, it feels full circle,” Braid said, speaking to the Star from her home in the Blue Mountains before the start of rehearsals. “Seeing this production was what launched me into the world of opera … So I’m very grateful for this opportunity to come back to be a headliner in my home house in a role that I love.”

Braid is among dozens of Ensemble Studio artists who have gone on to chart impressive international careers after graduating from the COC’s development program. Nearly 230 emerging opera performers and pianists have been a part of the residency since its inception in 1980. Among its most notable alumni: Ben Heppner, Krisztina Szabó and Wallis Giunta.

The initiative is part of the wider COC Academy, a suite of career development programs that also includes an orchestra academy, and residencies for up-and-coming composers and directors. But of the six academy programs, the Ensemble Studio has likely left the greatest mark in developing Canadian opera talent.

This season alone, former Ensemble Studio artists featured in the COC lineup include mezzo-soprano Rihab Chaieb, who starred in “Carmen” last fall, and bass-baritone Gordon Bintner, who will play the Count in the revival of “The Marriage of Figaro” opening Friday.

Many who enter the program join as starry-eyed artists, often just having completed an undergraduate degree. Throughout the residency, which typically spans two seasons, Ensemble Studio members receive intensive training while also understudying senior artists in mainstage productions.

Ensemble Studio members often fly under the radar of the general opera-going public — their names tucked in the back pages of the program — only to return years later headlining the operas in which they were once understudies.

That’s the case for Bintner, who understudied the role of the Count in Mozart’s opera buffa back when he was an Ensemble Studio member in 2016. One of Bintner’s favourite memories from the program was being asked to perform that role during the dress rehearsal, when the primary cast member was unable to perform.

“It was a matter of hours before the dress rehearsal and my system sort of went into survival mode,” he said. “It was exhilarating.”

In other productions during those formative years, Bintner had the chance to understudy acclaimed artists like baritone Sir Thomas Allen and Quinn Kelsey.

“To be in the same room as them and to see how they approach rehearsing and performing, it just shows you what’s possible and how it’s supposed to be done,” Bintner said.

The native of Regina, Sask., joined the Ensemble Studio soon after graduating from McGill University’s Schulich School of Music. In 2012, he won the COC’s Ensemble Studio Competition after performing a program that included an aria from none other than “The Marriage of Figaro.”

Braid, meanwhile, almost didn’t audition for the program. At the time, she had finished her master’s degree, and was working in public relations and event planning. “I didn’t want to audition. My husband forced me to,” Braid said.

She made it past the first round of auditions and was invited for a callback, but she couldn’t make it due to a scheduling conflict. And yet, the COC still selected her to join the program.

“Sometimes you play hard to get and it works,” Braid said with a laugh.

For Bintner, those years of rigorous training in the program helped shape the professional he is today.

“We were exposed to so many incredible coaches and the sort of training that gave us all the tools that we needed to really bring our craft to an internationally acceptable level,” said Bintner. “It was a beautiful time in my development and my life.”

SHARE: