STN Ensemble
Singing with you at SING THE NORTH
Sinéad White, Soprano
Deanna Sills, Alto
Michael Dodge, Tenor
Alex Chen, Bass
SING THE NORTH is thrilled to announce the creation of the STN Ensemble.
The STN Ensemble is a group of professional and semi-professional singers who will be singing with SING THE NORTH for our full Season 2.
STN Ensemble singers assist in STN and STN Ice rehearsals, and lend their beautiful voices to the core STN sound on our recordings and videos.
Through the year, singers in the STN Ensemble may also be found supporting the choir in a number of other ways, including offering private coaching to our choristers, taking sectional rehearsals, and offering lessons through our Choir School.
Read on to learn more about these exciting singers, who contribute so much to both STN culture and sound.
Irish American soprano Sinéad White is currently based in Toronto where she has performed with ensembles such as Tafelmusik Chamber Choir, the Toronto Bach Festival, Theatre of Early Music and Opera Atelier.
Some notable performances as a soloist include the role of Angelica in Handel’s Orlando with the Boston Early Music Festival Young Artist Program, Sally in the Canadian folk opera Jimmy & Rosalia with Aureas Voces, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater with the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra, Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri with Early Music Vancouver, Handel’s Messiah with the Chilliwack Symphony Orchestra and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Okanagan Festival Singers.
Sinéad has received further training at the Ton Koopman Academy, as an Art of Song fellow at the Toronto Summer Music Festival and at the Advanced Oratorio Program at the Victoria Conservatory of Music.
Sinéad was a fellow at the Sibelius Academy’s Creative Dialogues Program where she worked on contemporary repertoire with Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan.
She obtained both her Bachelor and Masters’ degrees at McGill University and is currently in the DMA program at the University of Toronto.
Mezzo-soprano Deanna Sills was the alto soloist for Victoria Baroque’s performances of Handel’s Messiah Part 1
in December 2020 and Parts II & III in March 2021. She was also a featured student in the annual Spark to Flame concert for the Victoria Conservatory of Music (VCM) in February 2020.
After having a family and an administrative career in social sciences, Deanna decided to come back to her love of classical singing in 2018. Since then, she has taken part in several of the VCM’s vocal programs including the 2021 Summer Intensive Program Advanced Singers Course (directed by Nancy Argenta and Ingrid Attrot, with guest faculty Benjamin Butterfield and Anne Grimm), and the 2019 Mahler Project and 2018
Vaughan Williams Project (both run in association with the Pacific Song Collective, directed by Kathryn Whitney).
Deanna took part in the 2018 Summer Academy Advanced Oratorio Program in Victoria, which culminated in a performance of Handel’s Solomon in which she shared the role of Solomon (directed by Nancy Argenta and Ingrid Attrot, with coaching from artists Mel Braun, Benjamin Butterfield, Daniel Taylor, and Steven Devine).
Deanna has a Bachelor’s Degree in Voice Performance from the University of Victoria where she studied with Susan Young. She currently studies voice with Nancy Argenta and Ingrid Attrot.
American tenor Michael Dodge is a singer of art song, oratorio and opera based in Toronto, Ontario.
Michael has appeared on the opera and concert stages of North America with organizations such as Baltimore Lyric Opera, Opera Atelier, Baltimore Concert Opera, Charm City Baroque, Bel Cantanti Opera, Manchester Choral Society, Toronto Beach Chorale, Mississauga Choral Society, Opera Northwest, New Hampshire Music Festival, and more.
As a scholar of music theory and musicology, Michael has presented papers at conferences in North America and Europe on topics including Tchaikovsky, Swedish Romance and the works of Ivor Gurney.
He holds degrees from Johns Hopkins University, the Glenn Gould School and Plymouth State University. When he is not singing, Michael enjoys drinking craft beer, traveling the world and spending time with his cat Tilly
Alex Chen is a baritone, pianist, and vocal coach whose curiosity brings fresh perspectives on a diverse body of musical works.
He performs regularly as a singer and collaborative pianist in the Victoria area on Vancouver Island, exploring genres such as art song, opera, and choral music.
On faculty at the Victoria Conservatory of Music, he supports a wide variety of students and young professional singers from the piano.
Recent singing highlights include performing at Pacific Opera Victoria’s 2021 Open Air Festival; singing chamber choral works in Victoria Baroque’s 2020-2021 season; and portraying Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro in Lucca, Italy in 2018.