Teiya Kasahara
笠原 貞野
Soprano
Bio
Nikkei-Canadian settler Teiya Kasahara 笠原貞野 (they/them) is a queer, trans non-binary, interdisciplinary performer-creator based in Tkarón:to (Toronto). Heralded as “an artist with extraordinary things to say” (The Globe and Mail), Teiya comes from a background of over a decade of singing both traditional and contemporary operatic roles across North America and Europe and explores the intersections of identity through opera, theatre, electronics, and taiko within their artistic practice (THE QUEEN IN ME; 夜YORU; THE BUTTERFLY PROJECT). For the 2021/22 season Teiya will join the Queer and Trans Research Lab as the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies Artist-in-Residence at the University of Toronto.
Teiya is also a co-founder of Amplified Opera (AO), a new initiative which is bringing Canadaan “injection of [...] creativity & politics of inclusivity” (barczablog) to the opera sector, and is also the Canadian Opera Company’s Disruptor-in-Residence since 2021, working closely with young opera artists who are developing new ways to decolonize their artistries.They are a graduate of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio and the University of British Columbia (B.Mus).
