Led by the dynamic soprano Sydney Baedke and the Terra Quartet, Festival artists let their hair down with an irreverent program of American Songbook, opera and more.
 

Named a “rising star to watch” by Opera Canada, soprano Sydney Baedke has been described as possessing a voice of “exquisite lyricism” (The Guardian). Recent engagements include her Royal Opera House debut in The Rape of Lucretia, for which she was praised for her “unmistakably moving” portrayal of the Female Chorus (Opera Today), role debuts as both Mimì and Musetta in La Bohème, and concert appearances with the Aldeburgh Festival and Carnegie Hall. In 2023/24 she debuted with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (Bruckner’s Te Deum), Pacific Opera Victoria (Contessa Almaviva, Le Nozze di Figaro), and returns to Montreal’s Maison Symphonique as the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with Orchestre Philharmonique et Chœur des Mélomanes. The first prize winner of Edmonton Opera’s 2023 Rumbold Vocal Prize Competition, she is a three-time prize winner at the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.

Prizewinners at both the 2023 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and 2023 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition, the Terra String Quartet is a vibrant young international ensemble based in New York City. They are composed of graduates of The Juilliard School, The New England Conservatory, Harvard University and the Curtis Institute of Music. Praised for their “remarkable maturity and musicality” (Hyde Park Herald, Chicago), has garnered additional wins including the Grand Prize and Gold Medal at the 2022 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the Christine and David Anderson Career Development Prize at the 2022 Banff International String Quartet Competition. TSQ is a member of Le Dimore del Quartetto in Italy and is the first quartet to have been chosen to participate in the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival’s Professional Fellowship Program at East Carolina University.