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The Canadian soprano, Cassandra Lemoine, studied her Bachelors of Voice Performance at The University of Victoria under the tutelage of Canadian tenor Benjamin Butterfield, graduating in 2012. It was during this time that she acquired a special affinity for Baroque repertoire with a special interest in the cantatas of J.S. Bach. She was a member of Pacific Opera Victoria (2011-2013), with which she made her Canadian debut in 2013 as Cis in Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring. During her masters degree at the Royal Danish Academy of Music (2014-2016), she sang Pamina in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, the Princess and the Fire in L'enfant et les Sortilèges, and The Vixen in The Cunning Little Vixen.
Since 2015, Cassandra Lemoine a has worked with one of Denmark's leading Baroque ensembles Camerata Øresund. The ensemble recently performed J.S. Bach's Farewell cantata BWV 209 Non sa che sia dolore for solo soprano. Lead by the group's concert master Dr. Peter Spissky, the ensemble has toured with an intimate chamber setting of George Frideric Handel's Messiah across both Denmark and Sweden. In 2016, they were invited to The Næstved Early Music Festival where they performed Charpentier's Te Deum, Litanie de la Vierge and Stabat Mater which was conducted by the legendary Catalan gambist Jordi Savall. In 2017, the group expanded their tour repertoire with J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) in a setting that included 8 singers with only 2 voices on each part.
Since 2016, Cassandra Lemoine has been a member of the Opera Academy at The Royal Danish Opera. At the Opera Academy she has sung Euridice in Gluck's Italian language version of Orfeo ed Euridice, Oberto in G.F. Handel's Alcina, Dalinda in G.F. Handel’s Ariodante, Madame Herz in W.A. Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor and Lucia in B. Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia which also performed at the Copenhagen Opera Festival in 2017. Other roles studied at the Academy include Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto, Zerbinetta in R. Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, Adina in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore. On the mainstage she understudied the title role in a new written opera Momo and the Time-theives by Svitlana Azarov. Upcoming roles for her final year at the Academy include Ophélie in Ambroise's Hamlet, Gretel in Engelbert Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, Sophie in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, Drusilla in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea.
Cassandra Lemoine made her national theatre debut at The Royal Danish Opera in the 2017-2018 season as Papagena in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. Most recently, Cassandra returned to the Canadian stage as Johanna in Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: with The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre in Victoria, BC. As part of the Royal Danish Theatre's outreach program, KGL+, she did a staged version of J.S. Bach's BWV 211 Coffee Cantata on Ofelia Beach in Copenhagen's harbour. This summer (2018), she performed J.S. Bach's Wedding Cantata with Concerto Copenhagen at Hindsgavl Festival led by concertmaster and oboist Alfredo Bernardini.
Cassandra Lemoine keeps engaged internationally. She made her American debut this May as the soprano soloist at The Bach Choir of Bethlehem's 111th Bethlehem Bach Festival, Pennsylvania. Under the direction of Greg Funfgeld, they performed and recorded J.S. Bach Cantata BWV 21 Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis and G.F. Handel's Ode on St. Cecilia's Day with Analekta Records. In the UK, she sang Papagena in Die Zauberflöte and Hebe in Rameau's Les Indes Galantes at The Woodhouse Opera Festival in Surrey; both productions were under the direction of Brazilian conductor Marcio da Silva. In Portugal, she sang Zabel in Alfredo Keil's A Serrana, a Portuguese opera, at the Zezere Arts Festival. Previous roles in Canada include Madame Herz in Der Schauspieldirektor (W.A. Mozart), Hanne in The Merry Widow (Lehar), Belinda in Dido and Aeneas (Purcell), and Kuchtík in Rusalka (Dvořák) at Opera NUOVA.
Cassandra collaborates often with organist and cembalist David Bendix Nielsen, and together the two have formed KantateKollektivet, an ensemble dedicated to performing cantatas. The duo has performed several times together and their repertoire includes full cantatas BWV 51 Jauchzet Gott in Allen Landen, BWV 82a Ich habe genug and BWV 202 Wedding Cantata. The full ensemble will make their concert debut early 2019.
Highlights of her concert performances include G.F. Handel’s Messiah, Antonio Vivaldi's Gloria, Schubert's Mass in E flat, Haydn's Die Jahreszeiten, W.A. Mozart's Requiem, B. Britten's Ceremony of Carols, Carl Nielsen’s Fynsk Forår and 3rd Symphony.
Cassandra Lemoine has performed several world premieres of newly written works. As part of the 150th celebration of The Royal Danish Academy of Music, she was selected as soprano soloist for a commission by Danish composer and professor Niels Rosing-Schow. Nu og Efter (Now and After) was performed with RDAM's symphony orchestra at the Conservatory's concert hall (formerly the Danish Radio concert hall). The performance was broadcast live on the national Danish Radio and those among the audience included Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. Danish composer Bo Lundby-Jaeger wrote Din Mund er en Smaragd (Your Mouth is an Emerald) which was performed at Cassandra's Masters Recital together with and Canadian percussionist Aaron Mattock. When American composer, Frederick Bayani Mabalot wrote his first opera Stabat Mater: A Chamber Opera for 6 voices, she was cast as the first soprano. The piece premiered at the Pulsar Festival for Contemporary Music. In 2015, she was invited to Sweden's Vadstena Academy to create the role of The Poet in Moto Osada's new opera Son of Heaven. Shortly after the production, Cassandra was featured on the cover of Sweden's leading opera magazine Tidskriften Opera. She curreently lives in Copenhagen, Denmark. |
