By Jessica Rose
Ottawa resident Kasia Sadej has been honoured with the Vivian Asfar Award for Vocal Excellence. The $2,000 bursary is given to a young member of Opera Lyra Ottawa each year and was presented to the mezzo-soprano on March 19.
Sadej, who was born in Poland and arrived in Ontario at the age of five, is wrapping up her fourth year as a music student at the University of Ottawa.
“There are many things about Kasia that make her special,” says Tyrone Paterson, artistic director and principal conductor for Opera Lyra. “She has very good music skills and instinct,” he adds.
Paterson was one of five judges who selected Sadej for the award, along with Neil Kelly, director of the Vivian Asfar Foundation and three members of the cast of Falstaff, Opera Lyra’s current production.
“She is just beginning her career, but her potential is really terrific,” he says. Especially, since she did so well in a very difficult audition process.
“There’s no costume, no make-up, no props. It’s you all alone,” he says which he believes is important because it prepares young artists for one day standing before a crowd of 2,000 spectators in a venue like the National Arts Centre, where Falstaff is currently running.
“It is a huge honour,” says Sadej. “I’ve put so much work into singing through these four years at university. I have such a passion for it,” she says.
“She’s a wonderful student,” says Ingemar Korjus, head of the voice sector at the University of Ottawa and Sadej’s teacher for the past three years. “She’s very committed and hardworking,” he says adding her grounded personality and vocal range will help her to succeed.
Sadej is a member of the Opera Lyra Ottawa Young Artists Training Program, which prepares students who are studying or have recently graduated from an opera-based post-secondary program and gives them the opportunity to gain performing experience.
Sadej says the opportunity to perform in front of an audience has given her the chance to observe the reactions of spectators and to communicate with them. She especially loves performing for children, as she did in Opera Lyra’s production of Hansel and Gretel in December, where she played the male lead of Hansel.
“I just love the expressions of the kids, because you see them experiencing it,” she says “They’re so impressed by it.”
Both Sadej and Paterson believe it is crucial to keep youth engaged in performing arts, such as opera, at a young age, a practice that is often underappreciated in North America.
“I think this is the biggest tragedy,” says Paterson. “We’re not exposing children to these art forms. It’s really becoming a huge problem in this part of the world, (especially) with cutbacks in educational systems. And parents themselves often aren’t particularly well-versed in the arts, so it becomes a perpetual problem.”
Things are much different in Europe, says Paterson.
“It’s more expensive to go and see a movie at the cinema in Europe than it is to buy a ticket to the opera,” he says.
Sadej hopes to continue to explore her art abroad, in both Europe and the United States, without ever completely leaving Canada behind.
“Next year there are so many options and decisions to make,” she says stressing the importance of keeping herself linked to the Canadian opera community. She believes it is important for singers to come back to perform in Canada to ensure a vibrant artistic community within the country.
“If you start out with the idea that you have to always study outside of Canada then the art form won’t continue to produce itself here,” she says.
“Canada is actually fairly well known for developing talented singers in opera. We have some of the finest singers in the world,” says Paterson of the opportunities that Sadej has before her. “The negative about beginning a career in Canada is there are not as many companies as there are in other parts of the world,” he says adding that Opera Lyra is Ottawa’s only professional company.
Sadej says that receiving this award encourages her to work harder at her craft.
“I’ve realized that this is possible and that I can keep moving forward,” she says.
Opera Lyra has awarded the bursary in memory of Vivian Asfar since 2001. Asfar had been a member of the opera community in Ottawa until her death from cancer in 2000.