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Vancouver born, lyric mezzo-soprano, Jo-Anne Bentley is a highly regarded specialist in oratorio, contemporary chamber music and solo recital repertoire “having an attractive voice, mature and even which has been cultivated with fastidious care and sounds marvelous” (Montreal Gazette). A frequent performer on both television and radio, she has appeared as guest artist for choirs, chamber ensembles and symphonies across Canada and abroad. Jo-Anne is currently a principal singer/actor on the television series Come into the Parlour that features vocal music of the 19th century and airs on Vision, Bravo and PBS networks. In 1996 she was honoured to sing Gorecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs in the nationally televised Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Gala, a showcase of outstanding Canadian artists held at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. In May 2003 she created the dual roles of Hecuba and Clytemnestra in the world premiere of Ian McAndrew’s Cassandra presented by Amphion Opera. Ms.Bentley holds honours undergraduate degrees in both English Literature and Musicology from the University of British Columbia and masters degrees in both Voice Performance and Musicology from McGill University where she subsequently taught voice and song interpretation from 1977-1986. Her awards include two grants from the Canada Council, a Woodrow Wilson Designate Scholarship (USA) and the prestigious Commonwealth Fellowship (UK). She has been on faculty at the University of Toronto since 1990 teaching voice and song interpretation. Active both provincially and nationally as an adjudicator, she is a Past President of the Ontario Chapter of NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) and was Program Co-Chair for the 45th NATS Convention, an international gathering of voice professionals held for the first time in Canada in 1998. |