Lara Ciekiewicz

Hailed for her “tour-de-force performance” (Winnipeg Free Press) in the title role of Manitoba Opera’s Susannah, Lara has established herself as a dynamic, intelligent, and moving singing-actress. Her facility for fully transforming into a character, regardless of genre, has earned her the reputation of being an artistic chameleon.

This season Lara joins Vancouver Opera’s 65th anniversary season as Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus. She makes her Regina Symphony Orchestra debut as soprano soloist for their Messiah, and rejoins her Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra family for Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. Lara also returns to NUOVA Vocal Arts to create the role of Ymma in the world première of Uyeda and Hagen’s Silence.

Recent appearances include creating the role of Bartender in Kaminsky and Moore’s February for Opera on the Avalon, making role and house debuts as Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music for both the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre and The Citadel Theatre, and a role debut as Bird Woman in Mary Poppins for Rainbow Stage. Lara also returned to her Manitoba Opera family as Micaëla in Carmen, and to NUOVA Vocal Arts for their workshop of Uyeda and Hagen’s Silence.

Select additional credits (and collaborators) include: Jenůfa/Jenůfa, Amelia/Simon Boccanegra, Lauretta/Gianni Schicchi and Suor Genovieffa/Suor Angelica in Il Trittico, Fiordiligi cover/Così fan tutte (Pacific Opera Victoria); Tatyana/Eugene Onegin (Calgary Opera); Countess/Le nozze di Figaro (Edmonton Opera, Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Manitoba Opera, Vancouver Opera); Elle/La voix humaine (Manitoba Opera); Rosalinde/Die Fledermaus, Sylva/The Gypsy Princess (Toronto Operetta Theatre); Micaëla/Carmen (Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Opera Kelowna, Opera Lyra Ottawa); Musetta/La Bohème (Edmonton Opera, Manitoba Opera, Opéra de Montréal); May/Ours, Cinderella/Into the Woods, Maria/The Sound of Music (Opera on the Avalon); Beatrice/Three Decembers (Little Opera Company); Handel’s Messiah, New Year’s Gala (Victoria Symphony); Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (Boise Philharmonic, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra); Brahms Requiem, Dvořák Te Deum (Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra).

Lara is increasingly in demand as an adjudicator, and teacher. She holds a Masters in Music (Opera) from McGill University, and a Bachelor of Arts - Honours (Voice) from the University of Winnipeg. She is an alumna of l’Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program, the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center, the Banff Centre, Opera NUOVA, and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School (Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Musical Theatre). Lara also enjoys gardening, is an avid walker, loves fabulous footwear, and is a self-professed prairie-girl forever.

August 2024

Not to be altered or copied without permission.

“The vocal find was soprano Lara Ciekiewicz as Anna. Bel canto is not an easy sing, but Ciekiewicz was able to do everything required in gorgeous fashion. She could spin our her legato lines with elegance, force out her dramatic low notes to great effect and toss off high ones of crystal beauty. Her coloratura is formidable, and she is an expressive singer of note.”

— [Anna Bolena, Toronto's Opera in Concert] Opera Canada, Paula Citron

Edmonton Opera, La Bohème, February 2022

“A particularly striking element everywhere is the acting, which includes a very fine, convincing performance by newcomer Lara Ciekiewicz as Tatyana, not just in the famous letter scene and its aftermath, but in the difficult, but gripping, final duet.” [Eugene Onegin, Calgary Opera] Calgary Herald, Kenneth Delong

“Soprano Lara Ciekiewicz is captivating in the title role, a voice of light and strength amid dark subject matter and ravaged emotions. Her performance alone is enough to sustain any casual opera fan through unfamiliar territory.” [Jenůfa, Pacific Opera Victoria] Times Colonist, Sarah Petrescu

“Soprano Lara Ciekiewicz (Rosalinda) has the soaring voice that makes you believe that her character was once an opera diva before her marriage. Hers is an attractive sound that fills the house, and she certainly has the good looks of a leading lady.” [Die Fledermaus, Toronto Operetta Theatre] Ludwig van Toronto, Paula Citron

Lara Ciekiewicz had the difficult task, in a production that so delighted in comic theatricality, of providing the most serious and introverted musical moments, and succeeded.”

- [Le Nozze di Figaro, Edmonton Opera] Mark Morris, Edmonton Journal, 2020,

“…soprano Lara Ciekiewicz proved once again she’s a versatile stage chameleon, able to crack viewers up one minute with her razor-sharp comic timing, before breaking their hearts the next with soulful characterizations. Her two show-stopping solos as the Countess Almaviva — "Porgi, Amor" and the breathtaking "Dove sono i bei momenti" — did the latter, as she revealed the complex emotional underbelly of her conflicted, all-too-human character.”

[Le nozze di Figaro, Manitoba Opera] Holly Harris, Winnipeg Free Press

“[Ciekiewicz’s] tour-de-force performance, infused by her deeply felt compassion and benevolent understanding of her character, proved once again this Canadian opera star’s gifts as a singing-actress. […] In what could only be described as a career milestone, Ciekiewicz transforms before our eyes from a wide-eyed dreamer who gaily skips, sings, and square dances to shell-shocked trauma victim slinging a shotgun who ultimately triumphs over her perpetrators.” [Susannah, Manitoba Opera] Winnipeg Free Press, Holly Harris