The Opera Glasses Podcast

Nikan Ingabire Kanate: Rising Soprano with Two Big Wins

• Michael Jones, Elizabeth Bowman

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A rising soprano, two audience prizes, and a leap into contemporary opera —this conversation brings you inside a young career. Opera Glasses down with Nikan Ingabire Kanate to map her path from Ottawa choir rehearsals to  the Curtis Institute, then through a fall packed with finals, flights and a first-prize finish at the Center Stage competition hosted by the Canadian Opera Company.

We also open the score of Kaija Saariaho’s La Passion de Simone, where Nikon serves as the soprano voice tracing Simone Weil’s fierce, searching life. Nikon shares how she prepares for that challenge, why performing music by a woman composer feels important, and how the role expands her range as an artist.

Of course, the classics are never far. We talk about Kanate's competition repertoire – "Depuis le jour," "Porgi amor" – and her dream roles. There’s practical wisdom here for singers and fans alike: building rest into audition season, protecting the voice while traveling, finding community among finalists, and trusting technique when the moment arrives.

All episodes of The Opera Glasses podcast are hosted by the editor of Opera Canada, currently Michael Jones after Elizabeth Bowman hosted seasons 1 and 2. Follow Opera Canada on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Visit OperaCanada.ca for all of your Canadian Opera news and reviews.

SPEAKER_00:

Hello and welcome to the Opera Glasses Podcast. I'm Michael Jones, your host, and today I'm really thrilled to be speaking with Nikon Ingebire Kanate, who was the first prize winner as well as the audience choice winner at the recent center stage competition hosted by the Canadian Opera Company. Nikon is from the Ottawa area, grew up in the Ottawa area, but she's currently in Philadelphia doing her Master's of Music in Opera at the Curtis Institute of Music. Nikon, welcome to Opera Glasses. Thank you so much for having me. It's a real pleasure to meet you. I was saying to you before we came on air, this is sort of full circle, since the first one of these that I hosted a year ago was with the first prize and audience choice winner of last year's center stage competition. So I'm thrilled to be continuing in that because I really love to meet the next generation of singers, the next generation of real artists in opera. Um I start these by just having you tell me a little bit about yourself. How did you get started? Because I always think it's, you know, it's probably not every 10-year-old's dream to say, I'm going to grow up and become an opera singer. So how does this work for you?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, as a child, I always loved singing. Um, I would listen to the big pop divas and sing all around the house and drive my family crazy. And then in elementary school, I joined the school choir, and we did a concert at my local high school de la Salle in Ottawa, and they were hosting um elementary school choirs from all over the school board. And at the end of the concert, we were all on stage, over 600 kids on stage, I think. And um, you could hear the the high school singers in the back, and I remember turning around and just wanting to be like them one day, so I decided I was gonna go to De La Salle, and I did the voice program there, and decided to pursue it in university, and I did my undergrad at the University of Toronto, and now I'm at Curtis, I'm in my last year. Um, it's hard to believe that I'll be done school for if not forever next year. It's it's quite exciting, actually.

SPEAKER_00:

Very exciting. Now you're at in the opera program at Curtis. Yes. Uh, what are you singing there?

SPEAKER_01:

So next semester we're doing um La Passion de Simone by Keija Sariano. It's uh it's a contemporary opera on the story of the life of Sim Simone Weil. And it's um it's it's very interesting. I I'm very excited for us to embark on this journey next semester. I've already started to learn the music for it, and yeah, it's gonna be really cool.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm sorry, you'll probably have to enlighten our our listeners and me for that matter. Simon Vill?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, so she was um a French philosopher. She was she was a very curious child, I will say. Like she had a lot of big questions about like existential questions about life from a very young age, and she was always a little more tomboy and didn't really fit in with the girls, and um she wrote a lot of books, and um unfortunately she died very young at at 34, I think, bec uh due to tuberculosis. So she had she had a very short life, but she she really had an impact on her community.

SPEAKER_00:

That's interesting. That's interesting. And and what role do you sing in the opera?

SPEAKER_01:

I sing Simon. So there it's basically there's there's the role, well, the soprano solo, she's describing the life of Simon. So that's what I'm singing, and then there's a there's a quartet of of four singers and a chamber orchestra.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, so it's a very small piece. Yes. I don't actually know any any work of his beyond love from afar. Is there a lot? Have you have you listened to a lot in preparation?

SPEAKER_01:

Of of Keija Sariho's work. Yes. I I actually didn't know too much about her. Last year I saw um a triple bill at the at U of T Opera, and they were doing one of the three shows was by Saryaho. Um I don't remember the title, but she she's new music is her is her specialty.

SPEAKER_00:

And obviously, I didn't even know enough to properly gender her, so she.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah, she was a Finnish composer. She passed away a couple years ago.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay. That's it's it's interesting because we don't have a lot of female opera composers, at least female known opera composers. Another, who's Canadian and whose work you might know. But but recently she wrote for us that she that opera bass listed her as the fourth most frequently performed female opera composer in the world. And so so and so we just we don't have a lot. Is it is it interesting or different for you to uh uh to sing the music of a woman? Because I'm sure you don't get to do it very often.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, that's true, and it's it's always a little more special, and you feel you feel like you did your part, you know, by showcasing uh works by underrepresented composers.

SPEAKER_00:

So it's always it's always a little more special. That's wonderful. What other roles have you been singing at at Curtis?

SPEAKER_01:

So last year we did this new production called The Comet Popea, and it was two operas happening at the same time, simultaneously on a rotating stage, and one side of it was um Monteverdi's L'Incorazione di Popea, and the other side was uh The Comet, uh a new a new opera. And um I was on the Popea side, so I was singing uh Fortuna and Ottavia.

SPEAKER_00:

That's wonderful. I think that's that's really exciting. Um, have you been doing summer programs and and things like that? Actually, no.

SPEAKER_01:

I I took the summer off because I knew I was gonna have a an extremely b busy audition season, which turned out to be true. So I wanted to make sure that I I had some time off over the summer before really getting back into it. And this fall has been so busy. I've been flying around every week or every other week for auditions, touring, or concerts, or yeah, it's been it's been pretty hectic, but I'm at the end of it now.

SPEAKER_00:

You're at the end of it now. So we'll just I I know that you spent some time in Toronto. Are you allowed to say other places that you've been on your whirlwind passage?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. So um in September, I was in the finals for Chicago Lyric for the Ryan Opera Center, which was an incredible opportunity. And this is this is my first round of young artist program auditions, so I I was really happy that I even made it to the finals. And then I was in Toronto, and just this past weekend, I was um part of the talent gala for l'atelier lyrique at l'Opéra de Montréal, and I won the audience prize award, so that was really special. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you so much. That's um audience choice.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. I'm feeling the love from my home country. I really am.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I'm sure they're very deserved. Um, when when Joseph So, who reviewed the competition for Opera Canada, Joseph openly announced in his review that he had voted for you, so he certainly agreed with that. And I will say that both my partner and I were at the at the competition as well, and both of us voted for you. Thank you so much. Let's talk about the the COC competition because it's it's a f it's a long process. So the first thing you do is send in a tape, is that right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. So the pre-screen, those pre-screening videos are usually due at the end of August, and you send along a couple recommendation letters and just all your information, along with two videos. And then you get an invite for an in-person audition, and they usually do uh an audition tour in I think four different cities. They'll go to Vancouver, Calgary, I think, Montreal and Toronto.

SPEAKER_00:

And where did you go for your in-person?

SPEAKER_01:

I came back to Toronto.

SPEAKER_00:

You came back to Toronto. Let's talk about your rep. So your videos, what did you send in?

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, I think I sent in um Dis-moi que je suis belle from Thais by Masnet. And Jorge Amor from Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart.

SPEAKER_00:

Um then you're in person in Toronto. When was it? When were you here for that?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, it was the last weekend of September or third weekend of September, something like that.

SPEAKER_00:

You must have just flown in and out for that one, is that right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Because I was already missing school and and um getting ready for a two-week tour to Europe that was coming up in the first half of October. So it and I had um other auditions during this whole time too. So it was it was pretty hectic, but it all worked out in the end.

SPEAKER_00:

Did you have time to see friends when you were here?

SPEAKER_01:

I did. I did. I usually stay with my friends when I when I come to Toronto and I make sure to do a little tour and see as many people as I can.

SPEAKER_00:

As many people as you can while still maintaining that you have to sing, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, and so for that round, what did you what did you sing at the in-person in Toronto in September?

SPEAKER_01:

So I started with Depuis le Jour from Louise, and uh then they asked for Porgi Amor from uh Figaro. And what else did I have on my list? Oh, I don't remember. I think I also had the Thais, uh Dismoi que je suis belle on my list, Kil Belsogno, uh Puccini, things like that. But Depuis le jour and Porgi Amor ended up sticking because those are the two that I sang um during the the callback round. Porgiamour was for the closed round for just the jury, and then the jour is the one I sang um for the audience.

SPEAKER_00:

I know I find it very interesting that they do a closed round just for the jury and then an open round. Yeah. As opposed to having you sing both Arias in the open round. Yeah. Um but let's talk about your you spent the week in Toronto leading up to the competition, is that right? Yes. So so what comprised your week? What did you do?

SPEAKER_01:

Um, so we had coachings with uh the the staff at the in the ensemble studio at the Canadian Opera Company. We had voice lessons and coachings, and we had a session with the maestro to figure out Tempe and all that stuff, and we had a meeting with the directors of the program and the directors of the the company. Yeah, and then the day before the competition, that's when we met up with the orchestra and had a rehearsal in the hall, which was it was so special singing with the orchestra for the first time. I don't get to do it a lot, so it was really magical, especially to sing some of my favorite arias. So I I and they were amazing, of course. And um yeah, I was I I got I got kind of emotional after I finished singing the first time. I I was like, wow, I'm really here. Like it's so strange having gone from sitting in the audience so many times and then being on the stage, like, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

You would have been in the audience at that hall often when you were thinking. Did you know any of the other competitors for that night? Had you met them in advance?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. Jackson Allen, uh one of the tenors, uh, we we overlapped for a year at Curtis. So last year I got to work with him, and he's yeah, he's really cool.

SPEAKER_00:

And he's the only one though that you knew.

SPEAKER_01:

So did Yeah, some of them I uh we were mutual mutual friends, like we knew of each other, but that was my first time really getting to know them.

SPEAKER_00:

And did you enjoy them? Did you actually have enough time to get to know them, or were your schedules so disparate?

SPEAKER_01:

We we got to hang out a little bit at the at the front street location in between um coachings and such. But yeah, when you're in in competition mode like that, it's hard to like socialize too much, you know. So we gotta be careful with the voice and and people get in the zone, you know. So but everyone was super nice, and it's always nice with these things because you make new friends at the same time, and yeah, every uh all the finalists were so talented, and I just felt so lucky to be to be there with them, truly.

SPEAKER_00:

That's wonderful. So the the day of the competition. Now I assume you were staying just across the road in the hotel at the Yes. I'm sure it was very nice. Um and and you your schedule for that day, how what time did you have to be there that day? Yeah, so the day started around 11:30.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. I'm sure some people started way earlier than that that day. But the finalists, we started at 11:30, and we had a dress rehearsal, so we each um sang both our RAS, and they rehearsed the overtures that they were doing as well for the orchestra. And then we we took a little break and got into hair and makeup, uh, which was so fun having uh people do our makeup and and do whatever we want with our hair, and everybody's um outfits were just so stunning, and yeah, we all felt so glamorous.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you wear the same outfit for the closed round as you did for the Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, yes. It actually goes pretty quickly. The closed the closed round started at 5 15, and then I think uh the show started at 6 30 or something like that.

SPEAKER_00:

So it was kind of like no time to go home and relax.

SPEAKER_01:

No, no, but I think I think it was better that way because we were already like on a roll, you know, and in the zone.

SPEAKER_00:

Is it different singing the closed round with no audience?

SPEAKER_01:

Not really. I mean, I I think I was a little more nervous with the audience, but I felt I I felt the love from my friends and family who were in the audience, so that really it it it wiped all my worries as soon as I started singing.

SPEAKER_00:

So in the open round, you sang Depuis le jour from Louise by Charpentier, which is not an opera that is done very frequently as a complete opera, although many sopranos certainly have that aria in their recital and concert repertoire. Uh have you looked at any of the rest of the role? Is it something that you're dreaming of?

SPEAKER_01:

It's and the music is really beautiful. Um I haven't worked on on the rest of the opera, but I I mean I would love to sing the role one day if if they ever um do it anywhere, because like you said, it's not done very often.

SPEAKER_00:

I think it was at done at Aison Provence this past year. Yes, I heard. So with in in what looks like a very, very beautiful production. So what roles are you really focusing on learning? Where do you where do you see yourself and what complete roles as opposed to I'm looking at this aria? Are you looking at any complete roles?

SPEAKER_01:

At the moment I'm focusing on the on the Simone for for the our production of La Passion de Simone. So that's that's the only like complete role I'm looking at right now. But of course, I have I have dream roles that I would love to sing one day. Manon is always at the top of that list. Uh Violetta from La Traviata, that's always a dream role of mine.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm assuming the Countess, because you do Porgi Amara, you're not as well.

SPEAKER_01:

I do. So I got to cover the Countess at Curtis last season. So uh I yeah, Countess.

SPEAKER_00:

So you've learned that role entirely then.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, good for you. That's yeah. So there's another one. So the Countess and Violetta. And so at this point, you're sort of leaning towards the lyric roles, maybe slightly darker, a little bit of collaratura, but not.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's where my voice wants to go. And that's uh that's that's where the juicy stuff is. All the prima donna diva roles, that's that's what I like.

SPEAKER_00:

That's I mean, are you a prima donna?

SPEAKER_01:

I I think I am actually, yeah. Okay, good. I can handle it.

SPEAKER_00:

And you own that status.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, that's that's fabulous. That's fabulous. Do you have summer programs coming up this year, or any any future plans that you can talk about at this time?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean, I'm still I'm still doing some auditions for the summer, so it's still a little bit up in the air.

SPEAKER_00:

So I I like to do a little bit of a speed round as we come to the end just to help our listeners get to know you better and to know to watch know to watch for you in the future. So, what was the first opera you ever saw? Really?

SPEAKER_01:

And where was that? I saw it in Italy at um La Fenice. It was with uh my choir in high school at De La Salle. We were on uh on a tour to Italy. We were doing a competition in Florence, and then um we went to Rome and Marotica, this little town, and Venice as well. We we did our little tour. It was really fun, it was three weeks, and then we we got to see Geronda at La Fenice, so it was it was really incredible first year.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

What did you think when you first saw it? Was it immediate that this is what you want to do, or was it?

SPEAKER_01:

I think I knew that's what I wanted to do before that, and so that was just like it made me dream even bigger, you know. Your first the first opera you saw in Canada? Traviata at the COC.

SPEAKER_00:

Were you already at University of Toronto at that point?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, I think I was in my second or third year, can't remember, but it was so beautiful.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, and so that's when now that role I know is one that you then said. Had you already thought, oh, I really like this role before you saw it as well?

SPEAKER_01:

No, it was after well, yes, I I had heard um sempre libera, of course. Of course, but see seeing the whole thing made really made me fall in love with the role, and I I would love to sing it one day.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, some some more questions just about you. So um coffee or tea? Coffee. Iced coffee. Iced coffee. So lots of cream. Yeah. Lots of cream and a little bit sweet.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, and dogs are cats? Dogs. I'm allergic to cats. Oh, you are.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you have a dog?

SPEAKER_01:

Um, my dad does at his house, but I don't have a dog with me, no.

SPEAKER_00:

You aren't settled enough yet, probably. Yeah, and it it, you know, going across the border would make that challenging too. So we'll wait till you're settled for that. What do you do to relax? Ooh, binge a TV show. Oh, what if what are you watching now?

SPEAKER_01:

Right now, I'm at the last season of Shameless. That was my summer binge, the the US version. Um, yeah, I love that show. And I felt myself get really attached to the characters, and they go through a lot of hardship, and yeah, it was an emotional.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you actually binge then?

SPEAKER_01:

Like, do you watch multiple episodes in a row or do you Yeah, well, this this the past few months I haven't been able to do that? It's been like maybe I'll get one episode in a week or two if I'm lucky. But over the summer, when I was uh taking time off, I could I could get through a few episodes in a day.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, it has been a real pleasure to meet you, Nikon. Um when when is the role up in when when are you singing Maddie in in in Philadelphia at Curtis?

SPEAKER_01:

So La Passion de Simone.

SPEAKER_00:

Sorry, it is Simon, not Maddie.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So we opened La Passion de Simone on February 26th at the um Philadelphia Film Center, and uh we're doing two shows. We're doing a Thursday evening show and a Saturday matinee.

SPEAKER_00:

That's wonderful. Yeah, and and so and so it is just the two shows, so you are both in both performances.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Wonderful. Well, toy, toy, toy, for that, and for all of your future endeavors. I really, really look forward to watching your career as it goes forward.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you so much, and thank you for having me on the podcast and taking the time to chat. It's been such a pleasure.

SPEAKER_00:

Once again, I'm Michael Jones for the Opera Glasses Podcast. I've been speaking with Nikon Ingabire Kanate, who is, who was the first prize winner and audience prize winner at the center stage competition as well. I just learned as the audience choice winner at Opera de Montreal's recent gal gala. So congratulations to you. I'm sure that speaks volumes for what your future will look like. Thank you so much. Thank you to our listeners for joining us again. Please come back in another month or so. We'll have another episode. In the meantime, I would encourage you to look at Opera Canada magazine to go to patreon.com to see all 65 years of our history, a full history of this art form in this country from 19 from February 1960 forward on our Patreon page at patreon.com slash opera canada. And I would like to thank our newest Patreon member, Owen, with no last name, but Owen. So thank you, Owen, for joining us on Patreon. This has been the Opera Less podcast with Michael Jones. So thank you for listening.