The University of British Columbia Opera Ensemble was founded in 1995, with the appointment of Canadian lyric coloratura Nancy Hermiston as Head of the Voice and Opera Divisions. Beginning with a core of seven performers, Ms. Hermiston has built the program to a 70-member company, now performing three main productions at UBC every season. The Ensemble's mission is to educate young opera singers and to provide performance opportunities for them thus preparing them for an international career.
 
Past main season productions have included Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Die Gärtnerin aus Liebe, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Robert Ward's The Crucible based on the Pulitzer Prize winning play by Arthur Miller, La Boheme, Dido and Aeneas, The Merry Widow, The Bartered Bride, Manon, Eugene Onegin, Falstaff and from Il Trittico, Puccini’s Suor Angelia and Gianni Schicci, and the Canadian Opera Louis Riel by Harry Somers. The Ensemble performed with Canadian Heldentenor Ben Heppner in a special concert at the Chan Centre of the Performing Arts, broadcast on CBC Radio. They also produced the world premiere of the new Canadian opera The Dream Healer, by West Vancouver composer, Lloyd Burritt based on Timothy Findley’s novel Pilgrim.
 
In the summer of 2008 the Ensemble performed Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Handel’s Giulio Cesare, in the opera house in Teplice, Czech Republic.  In addition, the Ensemble has mounted productions of Mozart’s Die Gärtnerin aus Liebe, Handel’s Xerses, Dvorak’s The Cunning Little Vixen, Gounod's Faust, Massenet’s Manon, J. Strauss’s Die Fledermaus and Puccini’s La Bohème at the Usti nad Labem City Theatre, as well as in neighboring cities in the Czech Republic.  Ms. Hermiston was invited to the Czech Republic in September 2001 to direct the European premier of The Crucible, accompanied by select UBC students who appeared in the production. The UBC Opera Ensemble has also performed in the Czech Republic for dignitaries at the Canadian Embassy.  In May 2009 the Ensemble travelled to Beijing and Chengdu, China for their first appearance in that country. They will return there in May 2010 to give concerts in Shanghai and Chengdu.
 
Since 2006 the Ensemble has traveled to Prince George to present fully-staged productions with conductor Leslie Dala and the Prince George Symphony annually, performing The Magic Flute (2006), La Bohème (2007), Die Fledermaus (2008) and Hansel and Gretel (2009). The Opera Ensemble is also very involved with professional companies in Vancouver.  Three years ago the Ensemble formed a cooperative effort with the Vancouver Opera on Naomi’s Road, a piece about the Japanese internment in BC, commissioned for touring to schools. In the past three seasons UBC students acted as covers for the VOA’s young artist Ensemble. Productions have included The Magic Flute, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Jack Pine.
 
The Ensemble performs regularly with the Vancouver Symphony and conductor Bramwell Tovey.  Performances have included Dido and Aeneas at the Chan Centre, Die Fledermaus, The Merry Widow, The Best of Broadway, Serenade to Music, Final Fantasy and An Evening of Andrew Lloyd Webber, as well as the Symphony’s Christmas concerts in the Lower Mainland.  Following sold out performances of A Merry Old Evening of Opera at Bard on the Beach in the summer of 2006 and 2007 the ensemble returned in 2008 and 2009 to Bard with performances of Don Giovanni and Cosi fan tutte. Members of the Ensemble, along with Christopher Gaze, join the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra for Tea and Trumpets, in Franz Lehár’s Land of Smiles in March 2010.  The Ensemble performed has at the West Ben Arts Festival in Ontario for the past six years.  In 2009 they performed Cosi fan tutte, and will return there with a production of Die Zauberflöte in July 2010.
 
Along with Vancouver composer Paula Rosen, Nancy Hermiston started the UBC Children’s Opera Ensemble with an inaugural production of Hans Krása’s Brundibár. The work was produced as part of an evening at the Chan Centre celebrating children’s choirs. This year they presented Paula Rosen’s new work Optica Delusions at Kitsilano Secondary School Auditorium.
 
The Ensemble’s main fundraising event of the year is the annual Opera Ball, held on the stage of the Chan Centre. This year’s ball is on March 25, 2010. The funds raised from this event will assist in covering costs for upcoming productions, and for Ensemble students to study and perform in Europe and China in the summer.
 
Director: Nancy Hermiston