Sydney Baedke
Noted by Opera Canada as a "rising star to watch", Alberta-born soprano Sydney Baedke has been described as possessing an “impressively rich” and "exquisitely lyric" instrument (London Unattached, The Guardian). Her career has seen emerging and principal artist engagements across Canada, the United States, and Europe. Lauded as “a singer to be reckoned with” (Times Colonist) she is making a name for herself as an artist of distinction in a wide breadth of repertoire.
Recent appearances include her role and company debut as a “well-projected, vocally pure, and moving” Contessa Almaviva (Opera News) for Pacific Opera Victoria’s Le Nozze di Figaro, and Ma Zegner in Mazzoli’s Proving Up with Ammolite Opera. She also appeared as the soprano soloist in Bruckner’s Te Deum in her Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra debut, appeared in concert at Carnegie Hall and the Rockport Chamber Music Festival, and won 1st prize in Edmonton Opera’s prestigious Rumbold Vocal Prize Competition.
Additionally, 2023/24 saw Sydney perform staples of her repertoire as the soprano soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Handel’s Messiah with Orchestre Philharmonique et Choeur des Mélomanes and Orchestre Classique de Montréal respectively. She looks forward to reprising both works in 2024/25, for Ensemble Caprice’s Beethoven Nine in her Québec City debut at Palais Montcalm and Montréal’s Maison Symphonique, as well as her debut with the Hamilton Philharmonic for Messiah.
Sydney’s 2022/23 season included her debut at London's Royal Opera House in Oliver Mears' critically acclaimed production of The Rape of Lucretia co-produced with Britten Pears Arts, for which she was praised for her "passionate & hauntingly sad" and "unmistakably moving" portrayal of the Female Chorus (Plays to See, Opera Today), as well as her debut as Musetta in La bohème with Orchestre Philharmonique et Choeur des Mélomanes at Montreal’s Maison Symphonique, for which she was hailed as a “revelation” for her “agile & seductive voice, projected with notorious assurance, strength, & efficiency”. (Le Devoir, Atuvu.ca) Additional engagements included debuts with the Aldeburgh Festival, where she premiered a newly discovered work by Benjamin Britten through her ongoing young artist partnership with Britten Pears Arts, the Rockport Chamber Music Festival, and her role debut as Mimì (La bohème) with ICAV & Orchestre Classique de Montréal.
Named one of Canada’s top emerging musicians under 30 by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Sydney spent the 2021 summer season as a member of the renowned Apprentice Program for Singers at the Santa Fe Opera, where she covered Tatyana in Eugene Onegin and appeared as Antonia in an excerpt from Les Contes d’Hoffmann. 2021 also saw Sydney star in the title role of Brott Opera’s abridged production of Estacio's iconic Canadian opera, Filumena. Additional Canadian appearances include her debut with Opera on the Avalon as Beatrice in Heggie's Three Decembers, and appearances as the soprano soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Handel’s Messiah with the Brott Music Festival.
Sydney made her professional debut in 2019 as La Fortuna & Valletto in Tim Albery’s critically acclaimed production of Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where she also covered Gilda in Rigoletto as a member of the Gerdine Young Artist Program. In the same season she joined the The Rebanks Fellowship Program at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music, through which she made Toronto concert debuts at Koerner Hall, the Canadian Opera Company, the 21C Music Festival, and the National Ballet of Canada
Additional operatic engagements include Marguerite (Faust), Calisto (La Calisto), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Malwina (Der Vampyr), and Johanna (Sweeney Todd). Sydney is an alumna of prestigious opera training programs at the Aspen Music Festival, the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy, the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts, and was an inaugural member of Manitoba Opera’s Digital Emerging Artist Program. Her love of chamber music has led her to collaborative performances Zemlinky’s Maiblumen blühten überall, Shostakovich’s Seven Romances (op. 127), Chausson’s Chanson Perpetuelle, and Ernst Toch’s rarely heard Die Chinesische Flöte.
Sydney is a Regional Finalist & three-time prize winner at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She holds degrees from Rice University and the University of Toronto, and she is immensely grateful for the support of the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation, the Art Song Foundation of Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Weston Family Foundation.
October 2024
Not to be altered or copied without permission.
““No one sang better than soprano Sydney Baedke [as Countess Almaviva]. Baedke made the character otherworldly, almost heavenly, giving The Marriage of Figaro a sense of pathos luminating the earthly rabble-rousing down below.
The all-too-brief Porgi amor was notable for the singer’s exquisite legato phrasing. Immediately we realize this was a singer to be reckoned with. The famous Dove Sono was equally impressive, with Baedke revealing a sweet, pure voice that projected thrillingly.”
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![“Sydney Baedke as the Countess [was] a vocal powerhouse. Baedke’s “Dove sono” positively brought the house down. Vocally brilliant and commanding, her Countess was despondent about her unfaithful husband and so sympathetic." - Schmopera](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ea12b219c03680a5cc556d0/1715886076690-GDWXFIPZEXXAGDH15PHV/sqPOV_The_Marriage_of_Figaro_0668.jpg)
!["[Among] what we will remember most of the evening is the refreshing surprise offered by the luminous Sydney Baedke in Musetta. As soon as she entered the scene, the latter swept everything away, took everything away: we only saw her. Baedke seems t](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ea12b219c03680a5cc556d0/1729284074270-HREITUIGIGJOVGJY4X4G/boheme+.jpg)
!["Sydney Baedke [as Musetta] was the revelation of the evening, in terms of aura, vocal control, and dynamics. In our opinion, we would even be interested to see her take on Mimi, as she possesses the roundness and vocal warmth." - Le Devoir fo](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ea12b219c03680a5cc556d0/1729284163172-Y1118O43G3MSQVJMM1D8/Picture15.png)
