Her voice has been described as luminous, dazzling and shining
and her acting witty, delightful, and feisty - Shannon Mercer
is taking on the opera world as one of Canada's most promising
young stars. Critically acclaimed by the international press
for her musical artistry, she has been hailed as "one of Canada's
most promising young sopranos" and a "Leader of Tomorrow (Maclean's)."
An alumnus of San Francisco Opera's prestigious Merola Opera
Summer Program, Shannon began her operatic career as a member
of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio Program. She has
since gone on to perform major roles with the COC (Sesto in
Sartorio's Giulio Cesare in Egitto, a Madrigalist in
Henze's Venus and Adonis, Xenia in Boris Godunov,
Oscar in Un ballo in maschera and Elvira in L'italiana
in Algeri), l'Opéra du Québec, Opera Lyra Ottawa (Nanetta
in Falstaff, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia
special school performance), Opera Ontario, Opera Atelier (Médée)
and the Toronto Operetta Theatre. In July 2006 Shannon made
her London debut under the auspices of the ROH Covent Garden
in The Midnight Court with Toronto's Queen of Puddings
Music Theatre.
2009-2010 Season
Particularly praised for her performances of baroque and contemporary
music, Shannon maintains a challenging balance of opera, concert
and recital appearances. Her upcoming 2009-2010 season is no
exception. She begins in Ottawa where she reprises her "achingly
beautiful" Pamina in Opera Lyra's The Magic Flute. October
sees Shannon at London's famed Royal Albert Hall for a performance
of Eric Idle's highly popular Not the Messiah.
Highlights of her concert calendar include Carnegie Hall in
New York for Bach's Christmas Oratorio with Les Violons
du Roy, Roy Thomson Hall with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
for Handel's Messiah and concerts at the TSO's Mozart@254
Festival, Luc Beausejour's Clavecin en Concert, Generation
Purcell in Houston with Mercury Baroque and Les Voix Baroques,
in Montreal for Handel's German Arias with Les Idées
Heureuses, St Matthew Passion with the Ottawa Choral
Society and a concert with her JUNO Award partners, Ensemble
Caprice, in March.
Recent performances
Performances as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte figured prominently
on Shannon's 2008-2009 calendar - her role debut as Pamina with
Opera Hamilton was greeted with praise: "beautiful tone, pure
and steady, she was a delight" (Hamilton Spectator).
Her reprisals of the role with the Pacific Opera production
in Victoria and London were no different: "Shannon Mercer's
Pamina is tender, guileless and, in her moments of anguish,
deeply moving" (Victoria Times Colonist). She also sang
First Lady in the Toronto Symphony concert presentation of the
same opera, conducted by Bernard Labadie and in the world première
of Inês, a new opera by James Rolfe presented by the
Queen of Puddings Theatre. A highlight of Shannon's 2008-2009
concert calendar was the launch of her new recording Wales
~ The Land of Song (Analekta) in Ottawa on March 8th with
the Skye Consort. Other appearances included a concert at the
Glenn Gould Studio under the auspices of OffCentre Music Series,
performances of the Messiah with the Vancouver Chamber
Choir, Charpentier's Messe de Minuit with Les Violons
du Roy, and Bach's Mass in G Major and Cantata 51
with Symphony Nova Scotia.
Recent engagements include her return to the Canadian Opera
Company as Despina in Mozart's Così fan tutte, performances
of Handel's Messiah in Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal,
her debut in France with the Opéra national de Montpellier,
in the title role of Marin Marais's French Baroque opera Sémélé.
She has also appeared in Handel's Israël en Égypte with
Les Violons du Roy in Montréal and Québec City, debuted at Alice
Tully Hall, Lincoln Center in an all-Mozart recital featuring
renowned American soprano Barbara Bonney, peformed at the Ottawa
International Chamber Music Festival, in solo recital with Music
Toronto for The Discovery Series and in a Schubertiade recital
with the Aldeburgh Connection at the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto.
In June 2007 Shannon appeared in the world premiere of Eric
Idle's new comic oratorio Not the Messiah with the Toronto
Symphony Orchestra under Peter Oundjian both at Toronto's first
Luminato Festival and at the Caramoor Festival. She reprised
the role in a US tour to Houston, Washington, and Los Angeles'
Hollywood Bowl in the summer of 2008.
Recordings
Shannon's award-winning discography includes several releases
on the Analekta label: the 2009 JUNO Award recipient Gloria!:
Vivaldi's Angels with Ensemble Caprice, the JUNO nominated
Bach and the Liturgical Year and Mondonville with
harpsichordist Luc Beauséjour, and English Fancy, a disc
of songs by Purcell, Campion and Jenkins. Her much-lauded French
debut in the title role of Marin Marais's Sémélé is part
of the renowned Hérve Niquet/Le Concert Spirituel trilogy of
tragédie lyriques on Glossa: "Mercer's Semele seduces" (BBC
Music Magazine). She also starred in Alexina Louie's Gemini-nominated
comic opera Burnt Toast, an 8-vignette series directed
by Larry Weinstein that was presented at the Toronto and Calgary
film festivals and broadcast nationally on CBC television and
Bravo!.
With her latest release, Wales ~ The Land of Song with
the Skye Consort (Analekta), Shannon recalls her Welsh roots
through traditional Welsh songs in new arrangements. "A gem,
and you don't need to be able to pronounce titles like Fenyw
Fwyn (Gentle Maid) or Y Fwyalchen (The Blackbird) to enjoy the
superb music-making. Mercer sings beautifully in her light,
radiant soprano." (Ottawa Citizen)
Her next CD for Analekta features early Italian music and will
be released in 2010.
"Shannon
Mercer seems incapable of singing anything less than beautifully."
(Ottawa Citizen)