ABOUT ERIN

Soprano Erin Bardua is a frequent soloist, voice teacher, and stage director. She is also a co-founder of Essential Opera, a collective performing and creating opera in Ontario and Atlantic Canada.

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Erin's practice as an artist encompasses new composition, early music, the work of historically stigmatized and underrepresented artists, and a joyful dollop of Broadway and commercial styles. She is equally at home in an ensemble interpreting the motets of 17th-century Benedictine nuns, or improvising the Pucciniesque death scene of a lonely clown. 

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Her goal as an instructor is to help artists use their voice as singers, communicators, and humans with autonomy and agency in their creative work. This translates into a student-led, evidence-based teaching approach in the studio. and an emphasis on consent, inclusion, and accessibility in rehearsal and performance. As a director and producer, this also means finding the story within the story, the one performers are most excited to tell and audiences are most eager to experience.

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Ms. Bardua has performed with the Talisker Players, Nota Bene Baroque, Pax Christi Chorale, Toronto Sinfonietta, Oshawa-Durham Chorus, Arcady Baroque Ensemble, St. James Cathedral Choir, Capella Intima, London Pro Musica, and the Menno Singers, among others. Her concert repertoire includes Handel’s Messiah, Esther and Judas Maccabaeus, Zelenka’s Missa Omnium Sanctorum, Haydn’s Creation, Mozart’s Requiem and Vesperae solennes de confessore, Bach’s Magnificat and Passions, Vaughan Williams’ Hodie, and Vivaldi’s Gloria. She has also sung a wide variety of music in recital, ranging from early cantatas to jazz standards and contemporary works.

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Erin's operatic roles have included Alcina (Handel), numerous Mozart such as Pamina (The Magic Flute), Countess (The Marriage of Figaro) and Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Antonia and Giulietta (The Tales of Hoffmann), and Nannetta (Falstaff). Erin has also premiered leading roles in several new operas, including Frankenstein by Andrew Ager, Regina by Elisha Denburg, Etiquette by Monica Pearce, and Heather: Cindy + Mindy = BFFs 4EVER by Christopher Thornborrow. Her company, Essential Opera, is currently developing a new work with Nova Scotia composer Fiona Ryan.

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Erin has provided dramatic coaching and stage direction for the Halifax Summer Opera Festival, where she directed Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea in 2018 and Handel's Alcina for the 2019 season. She has staged works for Mount Allison University's Opera Workshop, and was Assistant Director on the Mount Allison Drama Department's production of Godspell in 2019. She will be directing at COSA (Centre for Operatic Studies and Appreciation) Canada and the Victoria Baroque Institute in 2023. She operates a private voice studio in Sackville, NB and teaches applied voice at Mount Allison University.