Canadian soprano Whitney Leigh Sloan has been praised for her clear, lyrical voice and ability to take full advantage of both the light and shade in a score (Opera Canada). She is an avid performer with a passion for communicating the narratives of the operatic and concert genres as well as the musical intimacy of art song and small ensembles.

Last season Whitney was selected to cover the role of Liù in Edmonton Opera’s production of Turandot. Following, she made her debut as Second Maid in their production of Strauss’ Elektra. She was fortunate to participate as a soloist in the performance of Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony with the Calgary Youth Orchestra and the Orchestra Borealis in their performance of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony.

Previous seasons performances included appearances with the Edmonton Youth Orchestra, the WindRose Trio and the portrayal of Elle in the leading role of Poulenc’s La voix humaine with L’UniTheatre; a collaboration with Opera NUOVA and La Cite Francophone under the direction of Brian Dooley.

Past engagements have included included the performance of the title role in Dvořak’s Rusalka with Opera NUOVA, Scriabin’s First Symphony with the Calgary Youth Orchestra, and Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with the West Coast Symphony. She has appeared in numerous feature engagements with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro’s William Eddins, Robert Bernhardt and Adam Johnson.

Ms. Sloan completed both her Undergraduate and Master’s degrees in Opera Performance at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Roles performed in attendance included Mimí in La Bohème, Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, Tatiana in Eugene Onegin, Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte as well as cover studies of Musetta in La Bohème and First Lady in Die Zauberflöte. Additionally, Ms. Sloan performed the roles of Tatiana in Eugene Onegin and Arsamene in Serse as a part of the collaboration between UBC and the Meteske Divadlo, Czech Republic. Ms. Sloan received additional training as a participant of the Calgary Opera Young Artist Development Program.

Passionate about song repertoire, Whitney has twice attended the Franz Schubert Institute in Austria, where she worked to hone her skills with Elly Ameling, Helmut Deutsch, Julius Drake, Robert Holl, Rudolf Jansen, Andreas Schmidt, Roger Vignoles, and Wolfram Rieger. She is particularly passionate about the Russian song repertoire and has collaborated in a number of solo and feature recitals throughout Alberta.

Future engagements for Whitney include her debut as Zerlina in Edmonton Opera’s Don Giovanni and the premiere of Tom Pinch’s Ride, a new work by conductor and composer Micheal Massey with the Edmonton Youth Orchestra. Whitney will be featured multiple times in the ²⁰¹⁸⁄₁₉ season with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in works by Dvorak (Rusalka), Korngold (Die Tote Stadt) and Vaughan Williams (Symphony No. 3).

Generous support of her endeavours to date has been received from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Edmonton Community Foundation, the Winspear Scholarship for Advanced Classical Musicians and most recently from the Edmonton Arts Council. Additionally, she has been generously supported by Mr. and Ms. Rapati.