Biography
Ms. Osborne will return to the Canadian Opera Company for a very important project in the 2016-2017 season: the 50th Anniversary new production of Harry Somers’ Louis Riel as Marguerite Riel, helping to mark the 150th anniversary of Canada’s confederation. This production will also travel to the National Arts Centre in Ottawa for further performances. Ms. Osborne also will be seen as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at Pacific Opera Victoria.
Ms. Osborne began the 2015-2016 season with a return to the role of Gilda from Verdi's Rigoletto with Vancouver Opera. She also returned to the Canadian Opera Company to debut the role of Michaela in Bizet's Carmen with an all star cast. On the concert stage, Simone crossed the United States, appearing in 14 cities with the Metropolitan Opera's Rising Stars Concert Series. She made a triumphant return to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for performances of both Mahler's 4th Symphony and a selection of soprano opera arias. She debuted Berlioz' Les Nuits d'été with Berkeley Symphony and joined the Vancouver Symphony and Bach Choirs for Handel's Messiah.
Ms. Osborne returned to the Canadian Opera Company as Oscar in Un ballo in maschera and as Musetta in La bohème in the 2013 – 2014 season.
She debuted with the Vancouver Symphony singing orchestral songs of Richard Strauss and as soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Recently, Simone Osborne debuted at Opera Hamilton as Gilda in Rigoletto and returned to Vancouver Opera as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte.
Ms. Osborne also debuts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel as Barbarina in Christopher Alden’s production of Le nozze di Figaro and at Carnegie Hall with pianist Warren Jones as a part of the Marilyn Horne Song Celebration. She also took part in a special project with Lotfi Mansouri entitled Viva Verdi! in Zurich to celebrate the composer’s bicentennial. The summer of 2012 saw her debut at the Saito Kinen Festival in Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher as Marguerite under the guidance of Seiji Ozawa.
Ms. Osborne made her role debut as Gilda in Christopher Alden’s production of Rigoletto and returned for Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, both at the Canadian Opera Company in the 2011 – 2012 season. She also made her Vancouver Opera debut as Juliette in Roméo et Juliette to great critical acclaim. In concert, she made her Toronto Symphony debut in Mozart’s Requiem under music director Peter Oundjian, was soprano soloist in the Victoria Symphony’s New Year’s Day Viennese Gala, and toured Canada in recital presented by Debut Atlantic Recital Series.
If I had to bet on anybody, I'd bet on Simone