Aline Kutan
Course Instructor (Voice)
Canadian coloratura soprano Aline Kutan has been enjoying much success on international stages of the world. In the last few years, she made her debuts at the Glyndebourne Festival with the role of the Queen of the Night and at La Scala singing the role of Semele in a performance of Salieri鈥檚 Europa Riconosciuta conducted by Muti. At Op茅ra de Bordeaux, she created the role of Pasipha茅 in Philippe F茅nelon鈥檚 contemporary opera Les Rois and sang The Magic Flute at the Op茅ra National de Paris. She appeared in Carmina Burana at the Festival International des Chor茅gies d鈥橭range and the Orchestre symphonique de Toulouse in France. She recently sang the title role of Lakm茅 at l'Opera de Montr茅al to rave reviews and ovations by the public. She has also performed the role at Arizona Opera, Michigan Opera, l鈥橭p茅ra d鈥橝vignon, l鈥橭p茅ra de Toulon as well as the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe in Germany. Other roles include: Konstanze in Entf眉hrung aus dem Serail (l鈥橭p茅ra de Qu茅bec, Vancouver Opera); Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos (l鈥橭p茅ra de Montr茅al, San Carlo di Napoli, Capitole de Toulouse); Olympia in The Tales of Hoffmann (l鈥橭p茅ra Royal de Wallonie, l鈥橭p茅ra de Gen猫ve, l鈥橭p茅ra de Massy); Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute (Opera National de Paris, l鈥橭p茅ra de Marseille, l鈥橭p茅ra d鈥橝vignon, New York City Opera, l鈥橭p茅ra de Qu茅bec, Opera de Lille, Festival de St. C茅r茅 and the Chor茅gies d鈥橭range etc); Anne Trulove in The Rake鈥檚 Progress (l鈥橭p茅ra de Metz and Avignon); Comtesse Adele in Comte Ory (l鈥橭p茅ra de Metz); Ludmila in Glinka's Russlan and Ludmila. (Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe) Blumenm盲dchen in Parsifal (Op茅ra National de Paris); title role of the Armenian opera Anoush (Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit); Adele in Die Fledermaus (Opera Ontario) and Sylvie in Gounod鈥檚 La Colombe (l鈥橭p茅ra Fran莽ais de New York) at the Lincoln Center.
In concert, with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, she has sung Ravel's Feu, Princesse & Rossignol in L鈥橢nfant et les Sortil猫ges, Mozart鈥檚 Bastien et Bastienne, Stravinsky`s title role of Le Rossignol at the Lanaudi猫re International Festival as well as Gliere鈥檚 Concerto for a Coloratura Soprano op.82 conducted by Charles Dutoit. Other concert highlights include Morgana in Alcina with Toronto Opera in Concert, Handel's Messiah, Strauss's Brentano Lieder and Mahler鈥檚 4th Symphony, Carmina Burana, Mozart鈥檚 C Minor Mass and the Requiem. She has collaborated with many orchestras and chamber ensembles such as l'Orchestre Symphonique de Qu茅bec, I Musici de Montr茅al, Toronto Sinfonia, the CBC Orchestra and the Vancouver Symphony, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in NY, the NAC Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony, Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivi猫res and Buffalo Philharmonic among others. She has worked with conductors such as James Conlon, Vladimir Jurowsky, Sir Charles Mackerras, Bertrand de Billy, Gustav Kuhn, Christopher Hogwood, Julius Rudel, Jonathan Darlington, Yannick N茅zet-S茅guin, Raffi Armenian, Mario Bernardi, Bernard Labadie, Jacques Lacombe, Yuli Turovsky, Yoav Talmi, Daniel Lipton, Yves Abel, etc.
Ms. Kutan made her operatic debut at the age of 18 as Flora in Britten鈥檚 The Turn of the Screw at the Vancouver Opera. Parallel to that, she studied music at the University of British Columbia followed by l鈥橴niversit茅 Laval in Quebec City. Her most prominent teachers include David Meek and the late Louise Andr茅. Kutan was the winner of the 1995 New York Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, recipient of the George London Award in New York, the Jeunesses Musicales-Joseph Rouleau award and the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Study Grant. Other national awards include the MSO Voice Competitions, the COC Mozart and the Vancouver Operatic Society Competitions. She has also been a finalist and the prize winner at the Toulouse International Vocal Competition in France for Best Interpretation of a French Opera Excerpt. Before launching her operatic career, she also performed for two years in the national tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical The Phantom of the Opera. Ms. Kutan who sings in 8 languages has given numerous recitals and has taught masterclasses and voice lessons at the Camp Musicales de Laurentides in St.Adolphe d鈥橦oward.
Her recent CDs under the Analekta label feature Richard Strauss' lieder with renown Montreal pianist Louise-Andr茅e Baril as well as a recording of Shostakovich鈥檚 Seven Poems by Alexander Blok with the Gryphon Trio . Under the ATMA label, she has recorded German lieder for voice, clarinet and piano trio. Other recodings include a live performance of Ariadne auf Naxos with Orchestra del Teatro di San Carlo di Napoli with Gustav Kuhn as well as an album of Armenian Art Songs entitled Im Yerke with pianist Gregory Chaverdian.
Projects for the next seasons include Mignon at l鈥橭p茅ra d鈥橝vignon and Magic Flute in Santiago, Chile. She will premiere Philippe F茅nelon鈥檚 concert arias with the Biel Orchestra in Switzerland and is scheduled to record a new album for Analekta records.