Meghan Lindsay

Praised as being equal to “the best Mozart interpreters anywhere in the world”, Canadian soprano Meghan Lindsay continues a diverse practice as a performer and creator. In the 2023/24 season, Meghan will sing Helmwige in Pacific Opera Victoria’s production of Die Walküre and will join Opera Atelier and Tafelmusik Baroque Opera as Mélisande in Debussy’s Pelleas et Mélisande. An avid chamber musician, Meghan will present a program of Latin American chamber repertoire at Pontiac Enchanté and will join Carson Becke in recital at the Hills Winter Music Festival.

In the 2022/2023 season, Meghan received great acclaim for her interpretation of Mary Magdalene in Handel’s La rezurrezzione with Opera Atelier, performed the titular role in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (Opera Atelier), and made her role debut as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with the Northern Lights Music Festival. Meghan was a soloist in a concert of R. Murray Shafer with Soundstreams, for whom she performed the premiere of Frehner’s L.E.X at Koerner Hall. She returned to her hometown of Ottawa to present Strauss Four Last Songs at Chamberfest in Summer 2023.

During the 2019-2020 season, Meghan performed in a variety of repertoire highlighted by Handel’s Dixit Dominus at the Music and Beyond Festival, Saffi in Strauss’ Der Zigeunerbaron for Toronto Operetta Theatre, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Opera Atelier and performed Mary Magdalene in Opera Atelier’s film Handel’s La resurezzione. In the wake of COVID-19, she expanded her creative practice to collaborate with composers Krists Auznieks and Luis Fernando Amaya on two new chamber music commissions. She premiered the role of Eve in Edwin Huizinga and Chris Bagan’s Angel October 2021 and recorded a filmed version of Frauenliebe und Leben with choreographer Jennifer Nichols for world premiere 2024. 

 In the 2018/19 season, she appeared as Ilia in Idomeneo (Opera Atelier), Paride in Paride ed Elena (Odyssey Opera), Sandrina in La Finta Giardiniera (Opera Nova Scotia), Arethuze/Hunter and Galatée in a double bill of Actéon and Pygmalion (Opera Atelier/Royal Opera Versailles/ Harris Theater Chicago). An artist eager to stretch the bounds of live theatre, Ms Lindsay co-created and performed in an installation for the Contact Festival/Division Gallery with visual artist Alex McLeod and Co-Founded the interdisciplinary artist collective, New Art/New Media. She is a frequent performer with Canada’s Opera Atelier, having performed the title role in Alcina, Amour in Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice, Giunia in the Canadian premiere of Mozart’s Lucio Silla, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas, and Minerva in Il ritorno d’ulisse in patria. An avid interpreter of French Baroque repertoire, The Royal Opera House at the Palace of Versailles was the scene for her performances of Sidonie/ Nymphe des Eaux in Lully’s Armide, Vénus in Persée, and Nérine in Charpentier’s Medée. Meghan Lindsay made her recording debut with the Grammy-nominated early music company, Ars Lyrica, in a recording and ‘modern world’ premiere of Scarlatti’s La Sposa dei Cantici. Equally at home in the Romantic repertoire, she has performed the title role of Luisa Miller with Opera Nova Scotia, Mimi in La bohème with The Northern Lights Festival, and Agathe in Der Freischütz. She made her U.S. operatic debut with Opera Columbus as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and performed the Sacerdotessa in Aida and Sidonie/Nymphe des Eaux in Lully’s Armide with the Glimmerglass Festival

 As a young artist with Opera Studio Nederland, she made her European debut as Euridice in Pierre Audi’s production of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and her Concertgebouw debut singing Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. She performed at Carnegie Hall as a member of The Song Continues workshop with the Weil Institute and has presented recitals internationally including a concert tour of China, Barrie’s Colours of Music, the Creemore Music Festival, the Houston Early Music Festival, and Holland’s Uitmarkt. Awards, prizes, and competitions include the Brian Law Competition, the Queen Elisabeth Competition and the Klaudia Taev Competition. She is an alumnus of the Glimmerglass Festival Young Artist Program; The Toronto Summer Music Festival; the International Vocal Arts Institute; the Daniel Ferro Vocal Program; Opera Studio Nederland; and of The Royal Conservatory of Music’s Glenn Gould School, where she completed her Bachelor of Music and participated in the Artist Diploma Program. 

 Meghan is the Co-Director of Pontiac Enchanté, a chamber music series in the Outaouais region of Quebec and is the Co-Founder of Hills Winter Music Festival. In addition to her active musical outputs, Meghan is a PhD Candidate in Cultural Studies at Queen’s University, where her research explores how the social impact of the arts is co-constructed between artists and the state. She works on research teams and consulting projects at the intersection of arts funding, cultural policy, and the performing arts, is on the Board of Directors for La Fab sur Mill, and is on the Editorial Council for Newest Magazinel. Meghan holds a Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Leadership from Carleton University (where she now teaches), has both moderated and curated academic panels on Canadian arts practice, and is an OGS recipient for her research on classical music organizations in North America. Ms. Lindsay is a proud recipient of the Ottawa Arts Council Career Award for artistic achievement. 

January 2024

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“Lindsay delivered a roller coaster of lustrous phrasing and expression throughout her emotionally torn performance, especially in her Act II emotional nadir ‘Se il padre perdei,’ and also in the equally affecting and nuanced cantabile masterpiece ‘Zeffiretti, lusinghieri’ in Act III.”
— [Idomeneo, Opera Atelier] Stephen Bonfield, Opera Canada