Featured Artists
Image description: Black graphic with a stylized, simple white icon of an unsmiley face featuring X-shaped eyes and a zigzag shape for a mouth.
Berlin Buyers Club
they/them
Berlin Buyers Club is an international grassroots art-activist collective that was founded in March 2023. They are a small group of skilled creatives doing what they can under very constrained circumstances after COVID-19 made them chronically ill — for some of them, dramatically altering the trajectory of their lives. They spend their limited energy on seeking awareness, treatments, and justice for Long Covid, ME/CFS, and other complex neuro-immune diseases.
Image description: Portrait of Christina, a white woman standing in front of a wall of green foliage. She’s smiling and has long black hair with fringe bangs, and a grey dress.
Christina Baltais
she/her
Christina Baltais is an artist who resides in Toronto, Canada. She has lived with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME, also known as ME/CFS) for the past 18 years and draws on her personal experience of chronic illness to create collage, photography, sculpture, and makeup art. She has also been involved in organizing fundraising and advocacy initiatives, such as the annual ME/CFS Art Auction and the May 12th #GoBlueForMECFS campaign. She is a patient partner with ICanCME Research Network‘s steering committee and the medical education working group. ME is a deeply stigmatized and contested illness, and she hopes her work is one ripple in the wave of change the ME community desperately needs for greater awareness, compassion, research funding, and treatments.
Image description: Headshot of Ophira, a white disabled person with long curly hair wearing wearing a neckbrace, thick-rimmed glasses and a red plaid top, sitting in a wheelchair smiling.
Ophira Calof
she/they
Ophira Calof is a multi-award-winning Disabled writer, performer, and producer based in Tkaronto (Toronto). Her work weaves together music, comedy, and storytelling, centring disability and chronic illness experience. They co-created the sketch comedy revue Generally Hospital (Canadian Comedy Award Nominee, Patron’s Pick), and her musical solo show, Literally Titanium, was developed through the Buddies in Bad Times Emerging Creator’s Unit before premiering at the prestigious 2020 Next Stage Theatre Festival. Ophira also works as a curator, workshop facilitator, consultant, and keynote speaker with projects including COVID-19 through a Disability Lens: Storytelling and Filmmaking Project and Laugh With RAFF: A night of disability comedy. Ophira graduated from Second City’s Writing and Sketch Conservatory programs, was featured in the Second City 2018 Toronto Diversity Fellowship Showcase, and is the 2018 recipient of the Tim Sims Encouragement Award. She also trained through UBC’s opera performance program and Berklee Music Online’s songwriting specialist program.
Image description: Headshot of Lindsay, a white woman with dark brown hair and eyes, wearing a blue dress and pink lipstick, and smiling.
Lindsay Gillis, soprano
she/her
Lindsay Gillis, a singer of “outstanding talent and remarkable musicality” (Manhattan Music Competition), lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. She grew up in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, earned her Master of Music in Ottawa, and has moved gradually westward to find a community of music that matches her passion for opera, musical theatre, and classical singing. Since arriving in Vancouver, Lindsay has sung with numerous local opera companies, directed scenes from Don Giovanni with Crescendo Operatic Society, and produced A Breath of Fresh Air, a virtual concert with The Opera Project. Some of her roles include Pamina in The Magic Flute, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, Violetta in La traviata, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, and Frasquita in Carmen. As an artist, Lindsay strives to infuse traditional repertoire with contemporary understanding for greater accessibility.
Image description: Headshot of Robin, a white femme disabled person with brown hair and eyes, wearing a white sweater, berry coloured lipstick and a big smile.
Robin Hahn, soprano
she/they
Robin Hahn (she/they) is a Metropolitan Opera Award-winning lyric soprano, stage director, music educator and content creator whose career has taken her around the world, from Amsterdam to New York to Disneyland. As a performer she has been hailed as “sublime, with a beautiful resonant soprano full of colour” (Opera Canada), and her highlights range from a production of Così fan tutte in the Netherlands, to a Canada-wide tour as soloist with the Chinese Radio Broadcasting Orchestra. As a stage director, Robin’s productions have been hailed as “a masterpiece of controlled mayhem” (Review Vancouver), and her work is known for reinterpreting and updating heteronormative stories. Since co-founding Opera Mariposa, she has become a respected disability advocate within the operatic community, and she is represented by Kello Inclusive, an agency dedicated to representing disabled and visibly different talent. She is also a fast-growing YouTuber whose channel Robin Hahn, sopran has been awarded the Industry Catalyst Grant from Creative BC and the City of Vancouver.
Image description: Headshot of Maria, a Korean-Canadian woman with dark hair and eyes wearing an indigo evening dress, a small jewelled cross necklace and a gentle smile.
Maria Hwa Yeong Jung, piano
she/her
Maria Hwa Yeong Jung is a music director and collaborative pianist from Toronto who worked at the University of Toronto Faculty of Music as a vocal coach and staff accompanist, and who has music directed for companies such as Summer Opera Lyric Theatre in Toronto and Opera Mariposa in Vancouver. As a collaborative pianist and repetiteur, Maria has accompanied the renowned Oriana Women’s Chorus and Acquired Taste Choir; performed in venues across North America; and worked with such renowned conductors as Evan Mitchell, Jordan de Souza, and Judith Yan. She has also participated in the Toronto Summer Music Festival Academy of Songs, Aspen Music Festival, Opera Nuova, Opera on the Avalon and Vancouver International Song Institute. Maria currently teaches at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music, and is a staff pianist at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. She is a graduate of both the New England Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto, where she earned her Master’s in Piano Performance and Pedagogy and a Bachelor’s in Music Education.
Image description: Headshot of Angus, a white man with brown hair and grey eyes, wearing a dark suit and bow tie, haloed with light against a blurred sepia background.
Angus Kellet, piano
he/him
Originally from Prince George, BC, Angus Kellett is a Vancouver-based pianist, arranger, vocal coach, and music director. Since completing his training at the University of Victoria (piano performance) and the University of Toronto (opera), Angus has worked as a répétiteur with Pacific Opera Victoria and Vancouver Opera and as the music director for Burnaby Lyric Opera. He has worked as a keyboardist and/or music director for many professional and amateur musical theatre companies in Vancouver, including the Arts Club, Gateway, Applause!, Fighting Chance, Fabulist, Sound the Alarm, Putting It Together Collective, and Patrick Street. He has also performed with several Broadway touring productions, including Wicked, Les Misérables, and The Book of Mormon.
Image description: Headshot of Jacqueline, a disabled Chinese-Canadian woman with long hair and bangs wearing a black blazer, wine-coloured dress and lipstick, and a sassy expression.
Jacqueline Ko, soprano
she/her
Jacqueline Ko is a multi-award-winning soprano who “knows exactly what to do with an absolutely gorgeous voice” (Review Vancouver). A versatile performance and recording artist whose work spans opera, theatre and film, a few of her notable role highlights include Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Angelica in Suor Angelica, Sharon in Master Class, Lauretta and La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi and the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute. She has been praised for her “definite aptitude” (Opera Canada) as the founding artistic director of Opera Mariposa, and is also an internationally-recognized disability and chronic illness advocate who has raised over $125,000 to date for chronic neuroimmune diseases such as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), with which she has lived since age six. Thanks to her work advancing disability visibility in the arts, in 2019 she was selected to become the first Canadian Ambassador for the Open Medicine Foundation, a global organization whose other representatives include international bestselling authors and Nobel laureates.
Image description: Headshot of Stephanie, a disabled Chinese-Canadian woman with wavy black hair wearing a red dress and gold necklace, turning towards the viewer smiling.
Stephanie Ko
she/her
Stephanie Ko is a disabled arts administrator, designer, consultant and national award-winning writer, as well as the general manager of Opera Mariposa. Having spent the last 15 years at the intersection of advocacy and the performing arts, she currently sits on Actsafe’s Performing Arts Standing Committee; serves on the Community Council for the Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance; and co-moderates I Lost My Gig Canada, supporting artists and freelance workers impacted by the ongoing pandemic. As a costume designer Stephanie’s award-winning garments have appeared on stages across North America, while as a graphic designer, photographer and photo retoucher her work has been published in outlets like the Vancouver Sun, Opera Canada and Opera America Magazine. Stephanie regularly consults on accessibility in the arts, and brings her lived experience of post-viral chronic illness to collaborations with a range of non-profits and community initiatives. In 2022 she received a Lifetime Honorary Membership from the ME | FM Society of BC in recognition of outstanding service to the chronic illness community.
Image description: Headshot of Lyndon, a biracial man with long wavy dark brown hair, brown eyes and a beard, wearing a white shirt and a forest green pashmina scarf.
Lyndon Ladeur, tenor
he/him
Lyndon Ladeur’s favourite roles performed includes Ferrando in Mozart’s Così fan tutte and Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. His major concert repertoire as a soloist consists of Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, and Gounod’s Messe solennelle en l’honneur de Sainte-Cécile. Lyndon made his international debut as part of the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival where he performed Marco in The Gondoliers. For this portrayal he was named the winner of the Best Male Vocalist award, as well as being nominated for Best Male Actor. He was given a 2018 Vancouver Academy of Music Emerging Artist Grant to contribute to this experience. Lyndon won both the Senior Classical Voice and Vocal Variety competitions at the 2018 BC Provincial Performing Arts Festival. He was the first runner-up of the 2022 VWMS Vocal Scholarship Competition. Lyndon is a Masters student at the University of Toronto Opera Division, where he studies with Wendy Nielsen.
Image description: Headshot of Landon, a Deaf white person with long brown hair and dark stubble. Landon wears a dark jacket and white shirt, and a serious expression.
Landon Krentz
no pronouns
Landon Krentz is a bilaterally profoundly Deaf artist who is completely bilingual in American Sign Language (ASL) and English. As a Deaf artist, Landon brings a unique perspective to the roles of Director of Artistic Sign Language and an ASL performer for theatre. Landon has presented the Award of Merit for Inclusion and Access from the Western Institute of Deaf and Hard of Hearing in 2018, and is currently a Director of Artistic Sign Language with Inside Out Theatre based in Calgary, Canada.
Landon is presently working as a playwright and performer on a Deaf-led ASL Opera that is being created in Vancouver, BC. The new work challenges social and artistic practices by exploring the intersectionality of Deaf theatre into the DNA of the opera.
Image description: Headshot of Karen, a Chinese-Canadian middle-aged woman with long hair wearing a red jacket, red lipstick and a big smile.
Karen Lee-Morlang
she/her
Award-winning pianist, producer and educator Karen Lee-Morlang has performed in Europe, Asia and across North America. She has been featured at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, MusicFest Vancouver, World Peace Forum, Women’s Worlds Conference and Vancouver Folk Festival and has been broadcast on CBC Radio. After earning two music degrees, she also taught at UBC and has co-produced several concert series for the general public. She completed a three-year project with the UBC Learning Exchange in the Downtown Eastside producing and teaching the Music Appreciation 101 course. As part of her work in the DTES, Karen had co-coordinated the “Night Before the Opera” events at the Carnegie Center with the Vancouver Opera. Karen is currently the Artistic Director of the Health Arts Society of BC, an organization that presents professional arts programmes in health care settings – and which, combined with its sister societies in every province, is currently the largest arts presenter in Canada to people in residential care.
Image description: Riley is a white male with reddish-brown hair and beard. He is wearing a grey-striped scarf and a camel-coloured leather jacket. He has blue eyes and is looking at the camera.
Riley McMitchell, baritone
he/him
Praised for his “lyrical, resonant voice” (Opera Canada), baritone Riley McMitchell is equally comfortable in opera, musical theatre, and concert repertoire. He has sung many operatic leading roles ranging from Handel to Verdi to Britten including Germont (La traviata), Nabucco (Nabucco), Marcello (La bohème), Gianni Schicchi (Gianni Schicchi), Malatesta (Don Pasquale), Falke (Die Fledermaus), Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Count (The Marriage of Figaro), Bob (The Old Maid and the Thief), and Captain Corcoran (HMS Pinafore). He has recorded several concerts for CBC Radio and is a past national finalist of the CBC Opera Quiz. Riley holds a Bachelor of Music degree from UBC and Bachelor and Master of Education degrees from Simon Fraser University. He participated in two seasons of Opera Nuova and received a full scholarship to study at the Lyric Opera Studio in Weimar, Germany. He has performed throughout Canada, the United States and Europe. Riley also spent many years working as a choral director, voice teacher and elementary music teacher. When he is not singing, Riley is an Elementary School Principal in Vancouver and advocate for inclusive, equitable public education.
Image description: Avatar of a non-binary character representing the Black diaspora, with a curly Afro, purple visor and fuchsia outfit, against a light blue background.
Guest Panelist
they/them
This contributor acknowledges being of a stolen people living on the stolen, unceded, and ancestral land of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. They are of mixed racial ancestry, living with disability, LGBTQ2+ and they recognize and value the many intersectionalities that contribute to furthering decolonization practices. Their community and artistic work explore relational justice in many forms. They are a Justice/Equity/Diversity/Inclusion (JEDI) speaker and consultant on organizational change, and a facilitator with an emphasis on Disability Justice, Body Liberation, and Food Justice.
Lia Pas
she/her
Lia Pas is a Saskatoon-based multidisciplinary artist who works in image, text, and sound exploring body and states of being. She was an active composer/performer and poet/librettist until 2015 when she became disabled with ME/CFS. Since then her work has focused on fibre arts and writing with some small forays back into music. Her symptomatology and anatomy embroideries have been featured in numerous online publications, are part of the SK Arts permanent collection, and can be seen at liapas.com
or on her Twitter and Instagram.
Image description: Headshot of Christie, a disabled white woman with grey eyes, bangs, and long brown hair tied back, standing before a stone wall wearing red lipstick, a white top, and a dark cardigan.
Christie A. Pollock
she/her
Christie A. Pollock is a disabled choral singer, opera production assistant and recovering classical flutist with dual passions for music and for healthcare. In addition to having been involved with performing arts companies like Heroic Opera, Opera Mariposa, East Van Opera and SFU Choir in a variety of roles, she also works with health organizations across BC on patient-centred initiatives. Drawing on over a decade of personal experience in outpatient and inpatient treatment for mental illness, she collaborates frequently with BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services, where she currently sits on a policy and procedure review panel. She is also a facilitator for a peer support group run by the BPD Society of BC. Christie has a degree in linguistics and archaeology with an emphasis on marginalized linguistic communities; a certificate in Quality and Safety from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement; and is currently a psychology major at Simon Fraser University in a second degree program.
Image description: Headshot of Rana, a young Black woman with curly dark hair and floral tattoos wearing a lavender shirt, silver butterfly necklace, purple eye shadow and silver nose ring.
Rana
she/her
Rana is a 29-year-old self-taught Black disabled artist living in upstate New York. She creates art inspired by her journey with chronic illness, self love, and mental health. Rana lives with fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, chronic pain syndrome, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and chronic gastritis, and has been creating digital art since 2019 when she became disabled. She makes her living as an artist offering digital art commissions for portraits, logos, music covers and more, in addition to selling her designs as stickers and teaching classes on using Procreate. She is excited to join Opera Mariposa in raising awareness for fibromyalgia and other chronic illnesses!
Image description: Headshot of Toni, a white non-binary person with short brown hair and tortoiseshell glasses wearing a brown knit cap, a russet hoodie and a smile.
Toni Scott
he/him
Toni Scott is a non-binary illustrator from Vancouver, BC. He has been living with ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia since 2019. He was the illustrator for the Chargimals and through them has worked to bring education and advocacy to the disability and chronic illness community for three years. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Toni has been working as a freelance illustrator and lives with his Husky mix, Koda.
Image description: Headshot of Eileen, a white woman with grey and white hair wearing a dark shirt and golden jewelry. She leans her head against a hand, smiling into the camera.
Eileen Theresa Stephens
she/her
Eileen Theresa Stephens (1947-2023) was a Vancouver-based writer, artist, and advocate for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME). Graduating with honours from UBC (BA, Eng Lit) and Queen’s University (MA English), Eileen pursued a doctorate at University College in England and taught English in France and Ontario, before returning to Vancouver to teach Communications at BCIT. After earning another MA (Comm & Psych) at UBC, Eileen worked as a counsellor at VCC and then Langara College for over a decade, inspiring students and colleagues alike.
Following a series of motor vehicle accidents, Eileen was diagnosed with severe ME and faced declining health. She became a committed ME advocate, educating family, friends and doctors, and creating a lasting legacy by supporting research and awareness. Eileen passed away from cancer in 2023, after her severe ME thwarted the possibility of traveling for experimental treatment. Her final wish was that her memory and artistry continue to inspire action for ME.
The Repertory Concert Artist Program
Want to discover our roster of artists available for bookings? Learn about the performers of Opera Mariposa’s Repertory Concert Artist program – and find out how to book a Singing E-telegram from select artists today.