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.
Particularly praised for her performances of baroque and contemporary
music, Shannon maintains a challenging balance of opera, concert
and recital appearances. 2008-2009 is no exception. Die Zauberflöte
figures prominently on her calendar this season as Shannon makes
her role debut as Pamina with Opera Hamilton, a role she reprises
in the Pacific Opera production in Victoria and London. She
also performs as First Lady in the Toronto Symphony concert
presentation of the same opera, conducted by Bernard Labadie
and in the world première of a new opera by James Rolfe presented
by the Queen of Puddings Theatre, rounding out her season as
Valencienne in the Grand Philharmonic Choir's concert production
of The Merry Widow.
The concert stage claims Shannon for appearances in the Canadian
Classical Cabaret (Queen of Puddings Theatre), 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 Nuit with Les Violons du Roy,
and Bach's Mass in G Major and Cantata 51 with Symphony Nova
Scotia.
Her 2007-2008 season featured performances in Washington at
the National Welsh Heritage Festival, as Philine in a concert
version of Ambroise Thomas's Mignon with Opera Lyra Ottawa,
with Early Music Vancouver, the Grand Philharmonic Choir, the
Edmonton Symphony, as Asteria in Handel's Tamerlano in Toronto,
with l'Orchestre symphonique de Québec, Symphony Nova Scotia,
Tafelmusik, the Ottawa Baroque Consort, Clavecin en concert,
the Aldeburgh Connection and the Toronto Women's Music Club.
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 in the
summer of 2008.
In November 2004, Shannon released her first recording English
Fancy with Montréal's baroque ensemble Masques on the Analekta
label, garnering such praise as "Shannon Mercer sings this aria
and the disc's other fare with chameleon-like gifts. Her soprano
is bright and agile, and she uses vibrato and ornamentation
vividly to extract telling nuances from words and music. Mercer
brings equal expressive vibrancy to the amorous, hedonistic
and sorrowful feelings in these delectable pieces." (Gramophone)
and "Shannon Mercer is splendid icing on a very lovely and tasty
cake…[Campion's songs were] elegantly and artfully delivered
by soprano Shannon Mercer, whose clear and unaffected singing
is a delight to the ear." (Music Web International)
She has subsequently released two additional CD's for Analekta:
Mondonville with acclaimed harpsichordist Luc Beauséjour, was
released in March 2007 and Bach and the Liturgical Year in 2008.
Marin Marais's opera Sémélé was released on the Glossa label
in January 2008, immediately garnering acclaim "Shannon Mercer
shines in Marin Marais's Sémélé"(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!.
Awarded a Career Development Grant from the Canada Council
for the Arts and winner of the 2004 Bernard Diamant Prize, Shannon
spent most of 2005 in Vienna where she studied German operatic
repertoire with renowned voice coach Margaret Singer. She has
recently received the Virginia Parker Prize from the Canada
Council for the Arts and the Women's Musical Club of Toronto
Career Development Award.
A native of Ottawa, Shannon Mercer now resides in Toronto.
"As
the maid Despina, [Mercer] deliver[ed] a wickedly pert performance of Una donna a quindici
anni." (Globe and Mail)