Caroline Schiller

Caroline Schiller thumbnailProfessor
Voice, Opera

B.Mus. (Mount Allison)
M.Mus. (New England Conservatory)
D.M.A. (Florida State)

cschille@mun.ca
Room: MU-2013
864-7543

An artist equally at home in concert, opera, and music theatre repertoire, Caroline Schiller has participated in the creation and performance of opera and concert works with companies that include The Banff Centre, The Tanglewood Music Center, The Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, Festival of the Sound, The Charlottetown Festival, and The Indian River Festival. Of her concert and theatre work, some highlights include performances with L’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal; the American premiere of Alexander Goehr’s Sing Ariel with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, and her performances in the role of Christine in the original Toronto cast of Phantom of the Opera. She has worked with conductors and directors including Charles Dutoit, Joachim Herz, Oliver Knussen, Harold Prince, Brian Rintoul, and Kelly Robinson and is former winner of the prestigious Young Singer of the Year Award in Llangollen, Wales and the Canadian National Music Festival in Voice.

An active performer, work includes such varied performances as Musetta in La Bohème; the Canadian Premiere of John Harbison’s Milosz Songs arranged for voice and piano; and the commission and tour of a one-woman opera by composer Alice Ho entitled, Your Daughter Fanny with the ensemble Duo Concertante. Recordings include, Great Britain Triumphant! 18th-century cantatas with the Hungarian baroque ensemble, Capella Savaria conducted by Mary Térey-Smith (Centaur) and Voyage to Canada a recording of Canadian art song (Centrediscs).

Dedicated to the training of young singers, she is Professor of Voice and Director of Opera at Memorial University of Newfoundland; one of the founding faculty members of the MUN Song Academy, a week-long summer intensive program in song repertoire for high school age singers; an Assistant Editor of the Opera Journal for the National Opera Association; past District Governor and President of the Canadian Atlantic Region of the National Association of Teachers of Singing; frequent recitalist, director, adjudicator, and clinician internationally.

Caroline Schiller is founder and director of Opera RoadShow/Opéra en tournée, an opera outreach and touring program that began in 2003 and offers paid performing experience to university-age singers. The ensemble’s primary focus is touring traditional operatic repertoire to schools around Newfoundland, Labrador, and the Maritimes and it has commissioned two new operas for young audiences. The Vinland Traveler (2006) and Le nez de la sorcière (2011) traveled approximately 10,000 kms and performed for more than 20,000 children.

Caroline Schiller is a frequent recitalist, adjudicator, and presenter at conferences internationally. Her doctoral thesis is an annotated bibliography entitled A Performer’s Guide to Works for Soprano Voice by Canadian Women Composers and she is on the Board of Directors and Chair of Research for the National Opera Association.

Schiller’s students have attended graduate voice and opera performance programs throughout North America and Britain including the University of Toronto Opera School, the Manhattan School of Music, New York University, The University of British Columbia, the Royal Academy of Music, and the Royal Northern College of Music. They have performed with, among others: The Canadian Opera Company, L’Opéra de Montréal, CO-SI Centre for Opera Study in Italy, Opera NUOVA, Aspen Music Festival, New York Lyric Opera Theatre (Weill Hall), New York City Opera, and The Banff Centre.