Christina Haldane
![](/sites/default/files/styles/faculty_view_image/public/2022-08/CHaldane2021.jpg?itok=tnwDi959)
Christina Rapha毛lle Haldane soprano has performed in the UK, Europe, Asia, and Canada, singing operatic lead roles, chamber music, orchestral concerts, and recitals. She specializes in Handel鈥檚 heroines, comedic bel canto and contemporary opera and continues to collaborate with composers of our time to bring their vocal music to life. As an Assistant Professor she teaches applied voice lessons and academic courses in the field of vocal studies.
Biography
Christina Rapha毛lle Haldane (she/ her) soprano鈥檚 career spans the UK, Europe, Asia and North America, and she is currently based in the Atlantic provinces. She has interpreted many lead opera roles, having performed for opera houses such as The Finnish National Opera, The Royal Opera Covent Garden, Scottish Opera and Musica Viva Hong Kong. Her specialism is performing HANDEL鈥橲 HEROINES, COMEDIC BEL CANTO roles and CONTEMPORARY opera. Christina enjoys performing and curating RECITAL and CHAMBER MUSIC concerts, and she is often invited to perform with LEADING ORCHESTRAS. Her exploration of contemporary music has led to many collaborations with composers, and she continues to bring their VOCAL WORKS TO LIFE. Christina is a bilingual English and French speaker with Acadian heritage, and she is proud to be a citizen of Canada and Great Britain.
She is thrilled to present Tu Me Voyais, her first record on Leaf Music set to be released on October 21, 2022. This album is the result of the collaboration between Christina and her cousin, interdisciplinary artist Carl Philippe Gionet, along with several other artists, writers, and composers who have contributed their own offerings. The album is anchored around Gionet鈥檚 new arrangements of Twelve Acadian Folk Songs, tailored for Christina鈥檚 voice. These re-imaginings are set in the 19th century lieder aesthetic or art song where voice and piano play equal solo parts within the musical architecture. This project is supported in part by ARTS NB, Music NB, Canada Council for the Arts and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
Christina enjoyed some exciting creative activities and collaborations in the 2021/ 22 season. She was thrilled to have been selected as one of the season鈥檚 鈥楨XPORT NB鈥 artists, a prestigious career development initiative with MUSIC NB, in her home province of New Brunswick. Back on the operatic stage, she also created the role of Helen to critical acclaim, in the premiere performance of Michael Rose鈥檚 musical opera A NORTHERN LIGHTS DREAM, for Toronto Operetta Theatre.
As a recording artist, Christina released her critically acclaimed debut album 鈥樷 LET ME EXPLAIN鈥 (2019), a collection of Canadian art songs which explores folk, jazz and avant-garde styles. She was the lead artist for ICARE (2020), an interdisciplinary digital performance product produced through the Canada Council for the Arts Digital Innovation initiative, in partnership with CBC/ Radio Canada.
Christina鈥檚 operatic career began by performing comedic bel canto roles, with her debut as the iconic title role in Donizetti鈥檚 LA FILLE DU R脡GIMENT for Swansea City Opera鈥檚 30+ date tour of the UK, a role she later reprised for Musica Viva Hong Kong. In the bel canto repertoire she went on to perform Clorinda in Rossini鈥檚 LA CENERENTOLA for Iford Arts and Scottish Opera, and Adina in Donizetti鈥檚 L鈥橢LISIR D鈥橝MORE for Musica Viva Hong Kong.
Handel鈥檚 heroines have provided Christina with many vocal and dramatic opportunities, especially in the roles he wrote for the great Italian diva Francesca Cuzzoni. Christina has performed Cleopatra in GIULIO CESARE for Finnish National Opera and the title role in RODELINDA for Opera in Concert Toronto, as well as curated a program of arias called 鈥楥APTURING CUZZONI鈥 for Handel House in London, UK. She has also performed Solomon鈥檚 Queen in Handel鈥檚 SOLOMON with Krak贸w鈥檚 acclaimed baroque orchestra Capella Cracoviensis.
Christina has enjoyed a strong relationship with the Royal Opera Covent Garden. She performed the London premiere of Jonathan Dove鈥檚 MINTERNE in the Crush Room recital space and the role of Rapunzel in their production of Sondheim鈥檚 INTO THE WOODS. As a cover artist for the Royal Opera, Christina has been engaged as Fiorilla in Rossini鈥檚 IL TURCO IN ITALIA, Sifare in Mozart鈥檚 MITRIDATE, Nella in Puccini鈥檚 GIANNI SCHICCHI and Silvia in Thomas Ad猫s鈥 bold opera THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL (also for the Salzburg Festival). Christina鈥檚 performance of Silvia鈥檚 aria was streamed to over 50 000 viewers in the ROYAL OPERA HOUSE INSIGHTS special on Ad猫s鈥 exciting new opera.
Other roles in Christina鈥檚 repertoire include Pamina in Mozart鈥檚 DIE ZAUBERFL脰TE (Cambridge Philharmonic), Vixen and Fox in Jan谩膷ek鈥檚 THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN (Oundle International Festival and Longborough Festival Opera), Mercedes in Bizet鈥檚 CARMEN (Cambridge Philharmonic), Musetta in Puccini鈥檚 LA BOH脠ME (Minack Theatre Cornwall), Lucinda in Mendelssohn鈥檚 DIE HOCHZEIT DES CAMACHO (Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and European Opera Centre), the title role in Handel鈥檚 ALCINA (Hampstead Garden Opera) and Second Niece in Britten鈥檚 PETER GRIMES (Cambridge Philharmonic).
Christina is an active performer of Oratorio, and has been a soloist in works by HANDEL, MOZART, BACH, ROSSINI, HAYDN, PERGOLESI, BUXTEHUDE and MENDELSSOHN.
Alongside her performance and teaching roles, Christina has begun to build an academic research portfolio. She presented conference papers, 鈥淏alancing Performing and Teaching Roles: The Voice of Classical Singers鈥 and 鈥淲hen We Sing to Our City! Investigating University-level Psychological Wellness for Classical Singers in Community Engaged Performance鈥 (third author) at the International Symposium on Performance Science in Reykjav铆k, Iceland (August 30 鈥 September 2, 2017). Her first publication, 鈥淏alancing Performing and Teaching Roles: The Voice of Classical Singers鈥 in Frontiers in Psychology: Performance Science was published in 2018, with a full fee waiver. Her thesis, a qualitative study of twelve boutique opera companies in Toronto, 鈥淪egmentation models for Arts Public Relations: Finding an Audience for Opera,鈥 combined her public relations and opera experience, and the findings were presented as a paper at the Association of Arts Administration Administrators online conference, NYC, NY (May, 2020).
Christina strongly believes in mentoring the next generation of talented young singers, and has an international profile as a vocal educator, adjudicator, and master teacher. She is the head of the Atlantic division of Canada's national opera training program COSA, and is the co-president of the Canadian Atlantic Provinces National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) chapter. Christina is on the voice faculty at two masterclass programs, BIIMA 鈥 Breno Italy International Music Academy and Musique sur mer en Acadie, New Brunswick. She was on the Voice Faculty at Dalhousie鈥檚 Fountain School of Performing Arts from 2019, and joined the team at 快猫成版视频 Allison鈥檚 Department of Music in July, 2022, where she continues to combine performing with her love of teaching.
Education
DMA, Voice Performance, University of Toronto, 2019
Diploma in Public Relations, Chartered Institute of Public Relations, London, UK, 2013
Post Graduate Vocal Training, Voice Performance, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, 2005
MMus, Voice Performance, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, 2004
Year of Study, Voice Performance, Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, 2003
BMus, Voice Performance, University of Toronto, 2001
Teaching
Applied Music (Voice)
Vocal Pedagogy
Research
Performance, Opera | Chamber Music | Oratorio | Art Song, Voice, Voice Pedagogy, Arts Public Relations and Audience Building for Opera, Balancing Teaching and Performing Roles, Qualitative Research
Recordings
Music Video, 鈥榃hy Think About Tomorrow鈥 by Oscar Peterson, 2021
Digital Recital, Debut Atlantic, Carl Philippe Gionet, pianist, 2021
ICARE, Interdisciplinary digital performance project, Royal Society of Canada 鈥 Engaging Creativities: Art in the Pandemic, 2021
Let me explain 鈥 , debut album, 2019
Grants, awards & honours
Sheila K. Piercy Teaching Award, Fountain School of Performing Arts, 2022
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Connection grant, 2022
Canada Council for the Arts 鈥 Concept to realization grant, 2022
Music NB 鈥 Music Industry Development, sound recording, 2021
Music NB 鈥 Music Industry Development, marketing and promotion, 2020, 2021 & 2022
Music NB 鈥 Music Industry Development, music video, 2020
Arts NB 鈥 Career development, professionalization and promotion, 2020, 2022
Arts NB 鈥 Creation grant, 2020
Canada Council for the Arts 鈥 Digital originals, 2020
Canada Council for the Arts 鈥 Concept to realization grant, 2018
![](/sites/default/files/styles/faculty_view_image/public/2022-08/CHaldane2021.jpg?itok=tnwDi959)