About

What is love? Not long after Valentine’s Day, soprano Tracy Cantin, tenor Marcel d’Entremont and pianist Dakota Scott-Digout will explore this question in their upcoming Musique Royale performance on February 17 at St John’s Anglican Church.

Hailing from rural Nova Scotia, tenor Marcel d’Entremont and pianist Dakota Scott-Digout together recently won the Wirth Vocal Competition, considered the top music prize of academic institutions across Canada (2018), and are described as having “virtuoso technique and requisite poise” (Joesph So, Ludwig van Toronto). They are joined by major Canadian soprano Tracy Cantin, praised for her “agility, power and dazzling coloratura” Chicago Sun Times), not to mention her ” interpretive intelligence and stage presence to boot” (Chicago Tribune). Tracy Cantin jumped to the forefront of the Canadian music scene, in the Spring of 2018 when she made a surprise debut at the Canadian Opera Company as the title character in Donizetti’s demanding Anna Bolena, replacing super-star soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, which garnered her rave reviews.

Their concert program explores the five love languages, in five mini-parts: Acts of Service, Physical Touch, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, and Words of Affirmation. We will hear works by a myriad of composers: Frank Bridge, Ralph Vaughan Williams, George Gershwin, Claude Debussy, Henri Duparc, Francis Poulenc, and Robert Schumann. Join Musique Royale at historic St John’s Anglican Church in Lunenburg on Friday February 17 at 7 pm to hear three Canadian music gems, soprano Tracy Cantin, tenor Marcel d’Entremont and pianist Dakota Scott-Digout.

About the Artists

Tracy Cantin

Praised for her “full, gleaming sound” (Chicago Tribune), Canadian soprano Tracy Cantin “has it all – agility, power and dazzling coloratura” (Chicago Sun-Times), not to mention “vocal and physical allure, with interpretive intelligence and stage presence to boot” (Chicago Tribune). Jumping to the forefront of the Canadian music scene, in the Spring of 2018 Ms Cantin made a surprise debut at the Canadian Opera Company as the title character in Donizetti’s demanding Anna Bolena, replacing super-star soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, which garnered her rave reviews. She has also recently appeared with Edmonton Opera as Chrysothemis in Elektra. A former member of the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Ms. Cantin was featured in mainstage productions of Il barbière di Siviglia, Elektra, Rigoletto, Parsifal, and Anna Bolena. Her operatic repertoire also includes Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Governess and Miss Jessel in Turn of the Screw, Amelia in Simon Boccanegra, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, Desdemona in Otello, Eva in Die Meistersinger, the title roles in Rusalka and Alcina, and Alice Ford in Falstaff. Cantin looks forward to returning to the stage as the title character in both Fidelio and Anna Bolena, with Calgary Opera and Edmonton Opera, respectively.

An avid concert performer, the 2018/19 marked her BBC Symphony debut as the soprano soloist in Bernstein’s Songfest, conducted by Thomas Dausgaard, a program she was scheduled to repeat with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra earlier this year. Additionally she sang Verdi’s Requiem with the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra, followed by a concert performance of Brünnhilde’s famous Immolation Scene with both the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony of Costa Rica. Cantin has also been heard in Handel’s Messiah, Schubert’s Mass in A flat, Mahler’s Symphony no.2, and Mozart’s Requiem. Engagements extend to Australia where she performed as the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Melbourne Symphony alongside Bryn Terfel, under the baton of Sir Andrew Davis. Rescheduled appearances will include performances with the Victoria Symphony, National Arts Center of Canada, and the Denver Philharmonic.

Recent triumphs include debuts with the Ravinia Festival, Grant Park Festival, Oregon Symphony, Kingston Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Philharmonic, Thunder Bay Symphony, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Additionally, Ms Cantin has had the privilege of working with several of today’s most respected conductors and directors, including Sir Andrew Davis (Beethoven 9, la Bohème, Le Nozze di Figaro), Riccardo Muti (la Traviata), Michele Mariotti (Il Barbière di Siviglia), Carlos Kalmar (Beethoven 9), Bertrand de Billy (Otello), Sir David McVicar (Elektra, Rusalka), John Caird (Parsifal), Alexander Prior (Elektra), David Alden (Alcina), Stephen Lawless (Anna Bolena), Johannes Debus (Elektra), Otto Tausk (Götterdämmerung), and Michael Cavanaugh (Elektra).

The recipient of many honors, Ms. Cantin has received top awards from the Licia-Albanese Puccini Voice Competition (2016), the Bel Canto Foundation (2015), and was a 2016 National Semi-Finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in New York City. Ms. Cantin was an apprentice artist at Lyric Opera of Chicago (2012-2015), Santa Fe Opera (2016-2017), was a Voice Fellow of the Steans Music Institute at Ravinia (2018), and holds degrees from McGill University (2012), Western University (2011), and the University of Alberta (2008).

Marcel d’Entremont

Tenor Marcel d’Entremont is becoming recognized across Canada for both his powerful voice and sincere stage presence. A former first prize winner of the Atlantic Young Artist Competition, Marcel also placed first in the vocal division of the National Music Festival of Canada and claimed the Grand Award for overall best performer. In November of 2018, he was named the winner of the Wirth Vocal Prize at McGill University, which resulted in solo recitals at La Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur in Montreal and the Richard Bradshaw Theatre of the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto.

Marcel has a keen interest in many styles of singing and was a featured soloist for six years with the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo, performing alongside musicians from around the world for audiences in the tens of thousands. He was also invited to perform at the inauguration ceremony of The Honourable Arthur J. LeBlanc, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. Marcel has been a resident artist at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance, the National Arts Center’s Young Artist Program, the Art of Song Institute with the Toronto Summer Music, and was a Yulanda M. Farris Young Artist with the Vancouver Opera.

Marcel’s role performances include Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte with Opera McGill, Il Podesta in La Finta Giardiniera and Luiz in The Gondoliers with Opera Nova Scotia, Rodolfo in La bohème with Opera Saskatoon, and two tours with Jeunesses Musicales du Canada as the title role in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette as well as Alfredo in La Traviata. In concert, he has performed Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings with the PEI Symphony Orchestra, and appeared as the tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Orchestre classique de Montréal. In 2016 Marcel made his international opera debut as Don Ottavio with Opéra de Rouen in Rouen, France and at the Château de Versailles, as a laureate of the Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques. Most recently, Marcel performed the role of Rodolfo over 20 times in a cross-Canada tour of La bohème with Against the Grain Theatre. This production was the first live broadcast of a professional opera in Canada and has been nominated for a Canadian Screen Award in the category of Best Performing Arts Program. In 2020, Marcel was named one of the Top 30 Under 30 classical musicians in Canada by CBC Music.

Dakota Scott-Digout

Nova Scotian pianist Dakota Scott-Digout is quickly establishing himself as one of the brightest upcoming collaborators in the country. Currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Toronto, Dakota was recently named the winner of the Gwendolyn Koldofsky Prize in Accompanying, awarded to the top collaborative pianist at the university. Additionally, he is in constant demand in Toronto as a vocal coach, soloist, and teacher. He also serves as the accompanist for undergraduate voice classes at the University of Toronto.

Equally comfortable as a soloist, Dakota has performed in masterclasses for some of the world’s most renowned pianists, including Angela Hewitt, David Jalbert, and André Laplante. He has further refined his skills at the Orford Music Academy, Barachois Summer Music Festival, and will be an Art of Song Fellow as part of the Toronto Summer Music Festival in the summer of 2021. Dakota has had success in various competitions, including the Atlantic Young Artist Competition, the NBMRTA Music Competition, and the National Music Festival of Canada. As a collaborator, Dakota has performed in many recital tours of the Atlantic provinces and as part of the Musique Royale performance series. He has also performed at La Chapelle historique du Bon Pasteur in Montreal and the Richard Bradshaw Theatre of the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto. Upcoming engagements include a live-broadcast recital at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto as part of the Music Mondays performance series, and a CBC broadcast with fellow Nova Scotian, tenor Marcel d’Entremont.