An active contributor to Canada's vibrant classical music and independent opera community, Natasha is a versatile artist with a blossoming multi-faceted career as a collaborative pianist, vocal coach, educator, and choral soprano.
COLLABORATIVE PIANIST
A specialist in opera and vocal collaborative performance, Natasha maintains an active Toronto-based vocal coaching studio and has performed with artists and companies across Canada. She is the Music Director of MYOpera, a company that provides professional performance and development opportunities to emerging Canadian singers. In addition to appearing on stages as a frequent freelance recitalist, she has music directed and performed with Tongue in Cheek Productions, Opera Revue, Loose Tea Music Theatre, Opera Muskoka, Opera by Request, Abridged Opera, Halifax Summer Opera Festival, Toronto Operetta Theatre, and Summer Opera Lyric Theatre. Outside the classical realm, Natasha has had the pleasure of collaborating in studio with experimental electronic artist and turntablist SlowPitchSound, and Juno-Award winning progressive metal band Protest The Hero.
A classical contemporary music enthusiast, Natasha enjoys studying and presenting newly commissioned works, and those that veer from traditional approaches. She is especially interested in projects that speak to current socio-political issues, challenge status quo, or re-contextualize traditional works for current perspectives. Recent projects include Singing Only Softly (Workshop: Musique 3 Femmes/Loose Tea Music Theatre), Verbotenlieder (Tongue in Cheek Productions), Cosí fan tutte (MD - Muskoka Opera), Carmen #YesAllWomen (Workshop MD and Arranger - Loose Tea Music Theatre), and Turn of the Screw (Abridged Opera). Natasha was a founding member and the Music Director of Whose Opera Is It, Anyway? (2017-2019, Loose Tea Music Theatre) – an innovative comedy troupe and opera company hybrid that presented a monthly show as Canada's first ensemble of its kind.
Natasha has performed with many of Canada's elite emerging singers. In 2015 she formed a duo with acclaimed mezzo-soprano Jennifer Routhier, focusing on the exploration of contemporary piano vocal repertoire. They most recently presented their work at Canada's first collaborative piano conference, Dream Big: Music Out of Bounds, where they participated in performance workshops with such celebrated collaborative artists as Dr. Margo Garrett (The Juilliard School), and Dr. Jean Barr (Eastman School of Music). They can be heard as finalists in the 2020 Ekhardt-Gramatté National Competition for Contemporary and Canadian Music in April 2020 (Brandon, Canada).
MUSIC EDUCATOR
Passionate about music education and young artist development, Natasha has spent two decades as a teacher and clinician in communities across Canada. She is currently on the teacher roster with Foley Music and Arts Inc. She is an Ontario registered music teacher (R.M.T., ORMTA) and has taught at the Royal Conservatory School in Toronto as well as several private and conservatory studios in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, and Ontario. As a teacher, Natasha’s passion lies in enabling her students to discover the piano's immense realm of expressive possibilities. She encourages the development and discovery of each student's individual artistic voice, with an equal focus on technical skill and the complex understanding of musicality and style. With a strong background in collaborative performance, she believes in instilling the art and spirit of collaboration in her studio, advocating for peer mentorship and ensemble playing at every opportunity.
As Music Director of MYOpera, Natasha has helped develop and facilitate annual intensive workshops for Canadian emerging singers. She has appeared as a guest lecturer at the Glenn Gould School, and has curated clinics for aspiring high school musicians in collaboration with the Fredericton High School music department.
As a festival adjudicator, Natasha joined the 2019 Orangeville District Music Festival (odmf.ca) adjudicating multiple instrument categories. She looks forward to expanding her festival portfolio as piano adjudicator with the 2020 Carbonear Kiwanis Festival (Carbonear, Newfoundland) and the ORMTA Bolton – Brampton – Caledon Branch 2020 Piano Festival (Brampton, Ontario).
CHORISTER
As a pursuit of passion, Natasha has been active in choral communities since childhood, and began singing professionally in 2017. She has sung with several Toronto-area choral ensembles, and currently holds soprano positions with the St. James Cathedral Choir led by director Robert Busiakiewicz (2017-2020), and the Toronto Festival Singers led by Cantor Simon Spiro (2017-2020).
