Kantorei’s Affiliated Vocal Coaches

Each season, our choristers are able to access the talents of some of Western Canada’s top vocal coaches, here in Calgary. These talented educators support our incredible choir by generously sharing their skills, time and knowledge. For that, we are so very grateful.

Cass Bessette
www.cassbessettemusic.com
Cass is a choral composer, arranger, and conductor based in Calgary, AB.  They have been involved in the YYC choral community for nearly a decade, performing and directing with several local ensembles, and have shared the stage with many esteemed artists, including Tanya Tagaq, Chris Hadfield, The Tenors, and Eric Whitacre.  Cass currently holds the position of Artistic Director with the Calgary Men's Chorus, One Voice Chorus, and the Daytime Choir at Youth Singers of Calgary.  Cass has become well-known for their bold approach to performance as well as their ability to uplift and encourage fearlessness in others.  Fascinated by interdisciplinary performance art, Cass seeks out new creative intersections and aims to bring an enhanced choral experience to singers and their audiences alike.   When they aren’t busy creating music, Cass enjoys spending time at home with their two kitties, gaming, and going to the cinema.

Lauren Woods
www.sopranolaurenwoods.com
Lauren Woods is a soprano from Calgary, Alberta. Lauren has been a performer since she was a child, beginning with choir, piano, and competitive figure skating. She completed a vocal performance diploma at Mount Royal University, and went on to the University of British Columbia where she received a bachelor’s degree in Opera. Lauren now carries a Master's in Voice Performance from the Schulich School of Music at McGill University. She was recognized as a finalist in the Wirth Vocal Competition in Montreal, and was one of six singers to represent Canada in the international Belvedere competition in Amsterdam in 2015.  Lauren was one of Calgary Opera's Emerging artists for the 2016-2017 season. During the program, she played Laurette in Le Docteur Miracle, Fairy-Godmother and Clorinda in Cinderella, and covered Adele in Die Fledermaus. Previous roles include: the title role in Rodelinda, Amy in Mark Adamo's Little Women (Opera McGill), Adina in Love Potion No. 9 (Cowtown Opera), Rose in Jake Heggie's At the Statue of Venus, The Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte, Musetta in La Bohème, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Meg in The Phantom of the Opera (Cowtown Opera), Gilda in Rigoletto, Sophie in Wether (Calgary Concert Opera), and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro (Opera NUOVA). At UBC she played Countess Blavinskeya in the world premiere of The Dream Healer, Nanetta in Verdi’s Falstaff and Despina in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte in the Czech republic, Ontario and Vancouver.  Lauren has been fortunate to tour across canada with Cowtown Opera in Toronto and Charlottetown, as well as Mercury Opera, in Alberta and Ontario. She's worked with the edgy opera company on various projects including Fiamma (Magnetic North Festival in Ottawa) and 109 Underground in Edmonton (Omni tv documentary).  Aside from performing across the country, Lauren is a prominent voice/piano teacher and clinician in Alberta. She is extremely passionate about music and acting, and she believes that music broadens the mind, feeds the soul and enriches lives.

Kathryn Parrotta
www.kathrynparrottamusic.com
Without a doubt, Kathryn's contribution to choral music is quickly becoming recognized all over the world. She is known for being a major influence in Calgary's choral community because of her enthusiastic and passionate approach with her choirs. With a mission to inspire singers with quality music and vocal training, Kathryn aims to encourage self-awareness and confidence through performance opportunity, music education and literacy, and community involvement. Over the years Kathryn has trained hundreds of students who have subsequently become professional singers, performers, and educators in the areas of vocal pedagogy, musical theatre, music therapy, theory and composition, tv and film, and opera.  Currently, Kathryn (b. 1981) is the director for a large youth show and concert choir with the Youth Singers of Calgary as well as the director of the University of Calgary Chorus at the School of Creative and Performing Arts in Calgary, Alberta. Since March of 2020, Kathryn has been the Artistic Director for the Calgary Physician Choir- a choir of women physicians who sought music to cope with the stresses of being on the front lines during the COVID-19 Pandemic. In addition to teaching private music students, she is a frequent adjudicator and clinician for several schools and music festivals in and around Alberta. Several treble and mixed choir compositions are published by​ Cypress Music Publishing in Vancouver, B.C, Alliance Music Publications in Houston, Texas. Kathryn holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance and a Master of Music degree in Music Education, specializing in Choral Conducting.

Tyler Fitzgerald
Tyler is an operatic baritone, pianist, arranger, and conductor and performs internationally with theatres, opera companies, and symphony orchestras in a variety of musical styles.  Notable performances include principal roles with: Pacific Opera Victoria (Madama Butterfly, Camelot) Calgary Opera (Pirates of Penzanze, La Traviata) Edmonton Opera (Don Giovanni), Opera Kelowna (Le Nozze di Figaro)  Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony (Die Fledermaus), Peterborough Singers (Carmina Burana), and the Regina Symphony Orchestra (Candide).  As a finalist of the Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques in Montreal, Tyler made his European debut as Marullo (Rigoletto) at the Mainz Staatstheater in Germany and sang the role of Scarpia (Tosca) at Schloss Rheinsberg, Germany.  Musical theatre credits include tours of Jesus Christ Superstar (Jesus), The Sound of Music (Rolf), Les Misérables (Marius), and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Joseph), and Camelot (Mordred).  With a passion for building community through group and choral singing, Tyler is the founder and Artistic Director of Out of the Blue Chorus - a non-auditioned rock/pop and folk choir with over sixty voices and is currently completing an Advanced Placement Program in Choral Conducting at the Mt. Royal University Conservatory.  Proudly from Nanaimo, BC., Tyler is a graduate of the Calgary Opera Emerging Artist Program and holds a bachelor’s degree in Voice Performance Music from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Julie Freedman Smith
Julie Freedman Smith has been involved in teaching for the past 28 years. Her experience as an Elementary/Jr. High music teacher, a choral conductor with the Calgary Boys Choir, a voice instructor and a choral clinician has resulted in extensive opportunities to work with children and adults in both individual and group environments. A founding member of Luminous Voices and a regular addition to VoiceScapes, Julie continues to feed her love of performance. Since 2002, she has encouraged parents across the country as co-founder of Parenting Power. Julie holds B.Sc. Biology and a B.A. Psychology with Distinction from the University of Calgary.  Julie is on the board of directors for Choir Alberta.

Andrea Timmons
Andrea Timmons is a Calgary born Entertainer, Vocal Coach and Music Director.  She is classically trained and studied Music and Vocal Performance at the University of Calgary and then moved out East and successfully completed Sheridan Institute's prestigious Musical Theatre Program.  From there Andrea found herself performing all over the GTA in Celtic Rock Shows, singing back-up vocals for Heart, performing countless cabaret shows and finding a true love of vocal coaching. Since moving back to Calgary Andrea has been working closely with Community Theatres where she has Music and Orchestra Directed multiple successful productions. She can also be found collaborating and performing at many corporate events with musicians through Occasional Notes which produced Zoostreet, If the Shoe Fits as well as an exciting new Incognito Entertainment Troop.  Select Musical Direction credits include Priscilla Queen of the  Desert, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Urinetown (FRC) as well as Goodnight Moon (Storybook Theatre). Select on Stage credits include Anything Goes (FRC), Oklahoma (FRC), The Piper (Downstage), High School Musical (Theatre Aquarius), Metamorphosis (Theatre Sheridan), and Beauty and the Beast (Storybook Theatre).

Leon Leontaridis
Leon Leontaridis has toured and performed with groups such as: The Canadian Tenors, Destino, Calgary Opera, Cowtown Opera, GhostBoy, piano/violin sensations Roy and Rosemary. Some of his touring highlights include performances in: Carnegie Hall, Beijing Olympics, Miss America Pageant, Children’s Miracle Network. He has performed in cross-Canada tours with The Rankin Family and country star George Canyon. Leon holds a Bmus in Performance from the University of Victoria. Currently, Leon teaches at The Conservatory, at Mount Royal University in Calgary. He is a vocal coach and has worked with performance companies such as Storybook Theatre, Young Canadians, Revv52 and Kantorei.

Andrea Hill
Born and raised in Calgary, Canada, Andrea Hill has had the honour of performing on stages that include the Metropolitan Opera New York, l’Opéra National de Paris, Covent Garden London, Teatro alla Scala Milan, and at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. Operatic roles include Carmen (Carmen, Bizet), Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Rossini), Varvara (Janaček’s Katia Kabanova), Despina and Dorabella (Così fan tutte, Mozart) and Mélisande in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande. Andrea was also selected by Kurt Masur to sing Octavian in a concert of excerpts from Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier under his baton at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, and was an original cast member of Patrice Chéreau’s brilliant final production, Strauss’ Elektra under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen, who then asked her to sing with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London in their semi-staged production of L’Enfant et les Sortilèges.  Transitioning to soprano repertoire, she will be performing Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle (Bartok) in the Fall of 2023, and covered the title role in Puccini’s Tosca with Edmonton Opera in 2022.On the concert stage, Andrea’s performances have included the alto solos in Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony… the second soprano solo in Mozart’s Mass in C minor, as well as Ravel’s stunning Shéhérazade, and many more.  As she continues to perform, she now also operates a private teaching studio in Calgary, Canada, and is the facilitator for the upcoming Vocal Academy at the Mount Royal Conservatory.