Soprano Jonelle Sills was named one of York University’s 2022 Top 30 Alumni Under 30 and, in 2020, was one of CBC Music’s 30 hot classical musicians under 30. Jonelle is excited to return Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music this season as a member of The Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Residency Program.

Jonelle’s 2023 began with Guelph Symphony Orchestra for “New Years Day in Vienna.” Miss Sills will return to Vancouver Opera to make her main stage debut as Helena in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and then joins the star-studded, Canadian cast of Sondheim’s A Little Night Music at Koerner Hall (2023). Recent highlights include her returns to the National Arts Centre Orchestra under the batons of Alexander Shelley, Dinuk Wijeratne, and Cosette Justo Valdés; joining the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir for Brahms’ Requiem, and her role debut of Tatyana in Eugene Onegin with Highlands Opera Studio.

Past highlights include her Canadian tour as Mimì in La Bohème with Against the Grain Theatre, as a recital soloist with Ottawa Chamberfest, as well as her residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity for their Opera in the 21st Century program. In Banff, she premiered the role of Esther in Poala Prestini and Royce Vavreck’s Silent Light, directed and designed by Thaddeus Strassberger. In April of 2019 she made her company debut with Toronto’s Against The Grain Theatre in Vivier’s Kopernikus, which earned her a 2019 Dora Award as a member of the ensemble.

Other highlights include Rosalinde in J. Strauss’ Die Fledermaus with The Glenn Gould School, Musetta in La Bohème in the Muskoka Opera Festival, Micaëla in Carmen with Summer Opera Lyric Theatre, Cecchina in La Cecchina with The Glenn Gould School. As Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia (MYOpera), Jonelle was praised for, “she handles the huge vocal range expertly and takes us on a beautiful dramatic arc throughout the show” (Schmopera, Greg Finney).

Currently based in Toronto, Ms. Sills has completed the Artist Diploma Program (ADP) at The Glenn Gould School at The Royal Conservatory of Music in 2018, after her studies at York University. Jonelle has also performed in master classes and coachings with notable artist such as Gerald Finley, Liz Upchurch, Adrianne Pieczonka, Tim Noble, Martin Katz, Catherine Robbin, Dawn Upshaw, and Joan Dornemann.