COLLEEN  SKULL

BIO

Colleen has performed with Canada's leading orchestras under such conductors as David Atherton, Richard Bradshaw, Martin Isepp, Julian Kovatchev, Nicola Luisotti, Julian Reynolds, and Timothy Vernon. In opera Miss Skull has worked with directors Tim Albery, Tom Diamond, Atom Egoyan, François Girard, Colin Graham, Christopher Newton, and James Robinson. She has performed/covered over thirty operatic roles at venues including the Canadian Opera Company, Pacific Opera Victoria, Manitoba Opera, Esprit Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony, and many others.

 

Miss Skull is well versed in both soprano and mezzo-soprano repertoire, having performed professionally in both fachs. Roles include the title roles of Ariadne in Ariadne auf Naxos, Elle in La Voix Humaine, and Jenůfa. As Ariadne, Times Colonist reviewer, Kevin Bazzana noted, "Colleen Skull has the plush, robust tone and commanding presence befitting both incarnations of her character." Other roles include, Dido, Queen of Carthage in Dido and Aeneas, Mrs. Grosse in The Turn of the Screw, Wellgunde in Götterdämmerung, Alice Ford in Falstaff, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Agatha in Der Freischütz, Jocasta in Oedipus Rex, Lisa in Pique Dame, Liu in Turandot, Marina in Boris Godunov, Waltraute, Rossweise, and Siegrune in Die Walküre, Zulma in L'Italiana in Algeri, and Mère Marie de l'Incarnation in Dialogues des Carmélites.

 

This season she returned as a guest artist with the Orchestra of Northern New York performing great songs, arias, and ensembles by Puccini, Rogers and Hammerstein, Mozart, Verdi, Délibes, Bizet, conducted by Kenneth Andrews. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing and protecting women’s constitutional right to vote in the United States. Colleen and pianist Andrea Grant have curated a new recital titled “The Here and Now” highlighting works by living female composers. Works by Jocelyn Morlock, Kaija, Saariaho, Sofia Gubaidulina, and Rosephanye Powell will be presented at the Crane School of Music on February 17 and on March 19 at the Dan School of Drama and Music at Queen’s University.

 

As an avid recitalist, Colleen was seen in the 2018-2019 season performing works by Berlioz, Rachmaninoff, Crumb, and Schoenberg with Laura Loewen at the University of Manitoba, Desautels Faculty of Music and at Grace Church on-the-Hill in Toronto with Andrea Grant, with all proceeds going to support youth mental health initiatives for CMHA Peel Dufferin region. She was also seen in solo recital with François Germain at the Crane School of Music. Chamber works included the soprano soloist performing Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 by Heiter Villa-Lobos with the Crane Guitar Ensemble conducted by Douglas Rubio.

 

Equally active in orchestral and recital repertoire, she has performed as a soloist in works including Verdi's Requiem, Handel's Messiah, Bruckner's Mass in D minor, Beethoven's 9th Symphony and Mass in C, and Mahler's 2, 3, and 4th Symphonies.

 

Colleen is a past member of the prestigious COC Ensemble and has won many awards and prizes including the Metropolitan Opera District Competition, a Chalmers Award and a Professional Artist Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts.

 

Radio and television appearances include performances on CBC Radio, CTV, Definitely Not the Opera with Sook-Yin Lee, Breakfast Television, TVO, and YTV.

 

Miss Skull has completed her Doctorate in Musical Arts, specializing in voice performance at the University of Toronto. Her dissertation investigated a model of factors that lead to the sustaining of elite performance in opera. Colleen won the Graduate Award for the best research paper from the International Symposium on Performance Science where she was a featured keynote speaker. Dr. Skull's research was also featured at 52nd Conference of the National Association of Teachers of Singing in Orlando.

 

Dr. Skull is currently an Assistant Professor of Voice at the Crane School of Music, SUNY - Potsdam where she teaches Applied Voice, Introduction to Diction, and Vocal Techniques. Previous academic appointments include Mount Allison University where she taught Applied Voice, Vocal Pedagogy, and was the Director of Opera Workshop. While completing her doctorate, Colleen taught Song Interpretation as a sessional instructor at the University of Toronto.

 

Current and previous students have been accepted into the Manhattan School of Music, Texas Christian University, the University of Toronto, The University of British Columbia, Sheridan College, Humber Music College, and to prestigious summer programs including The Chautauqua Institution of Voice Program, the Janiec Opera Company of the Brevard Music Center, The Center for Operatic Studies in Italy, and Accademia Europea Dell’Opera.