Melody Courage

Bio

Métis soprano Melody Courage gained national attention as The Native Girl “...played with ethereal grace ...” in the 2017 world premiere of Missing, co-produced by City Opera Vancouver and Pacific Opera Victoria. Missing, (Clements/Current) gives voice, in English and Gitxsan, to the story of Canada’s missing and murdered Indigenous women.

This season, Melody debuts as a soloist with the Canadian Opera Company’s digital concert series, premiering “In Winter”, a new work by Ian Cusson.

Melody has performed in several digital productions during the pandemic, including Namwayut, a collaborative project led by Marion Newman with Calgary Opera’s Opera Labs, and as a soloist with Vancouver’s Allegra Chamber Orchestra, performing works by Willard, Sharman and Butler.

Vancouver-based Melody, of Dene, Cree and Chipewyan descent, is much in demand by contemporary composers, with recent performances in Heart of the North (Suzanne Steele/Neil Weisensel) written in languages of the Métis-Saulteaux, Michif and French with Regina Symphony.

Melody debuted with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in 2019 in the World Premiere of Ian Cusson’s aria ‘Dodo, mon tout petit’, a cocommission by the Canadian Opera Company and the National Arts Centre to replace the ‘Kuyas’ aria in the opera Louis Riel by Harry Somers and Mavor Moore.

In Toronto, Melody starred in the Dora Award winning double bill of Two Odysseys: Pimooteewin/Gállábártnit presented by Soundstreams Canada and Signal Theatre, directed by Michael Greyeyes and Cole Alvis, composed by Melissa Hui/Britta Byström. These two operas, sung in Cree and Sàmi, are rooted in traditional tales from Canada and Nordic countries.

Engagements for Melody in the current season include her debut as Chrisann in Calgary Opera’s production of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, Messiah with Vancouver Bach Choir, and a recital with Marion Newman, Evan Korbut and pianist Gordon Gerrard with Toronto’s Music in the Afternoon.