Adjudicator: Karen Charlton
At 5 feet tall, Karen Charlton’s saucy soubrette has afforded her many performing opportunities across Canada. She has been very successful in competitions that includes a win in the voice category at the National Music Festival in 2002.
She has been featured on CBC radio and has appeared as a soprano soloist with the Saskatoon Symphony many times. Some of her role credits include Fraulein Silberklang in Der Schauspieldirektor, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Frasquita in Carmen and was ”perfectly cast as the sexy and sassy Adele” (Saskatoon Start Phoenix) in the Saskatoon Opera Association’s production of Die Fledermaus.
Ms. Charlton is also a strong supporter of new music and Canadian composers and was honored to premiere, with her duet partner, a 20 minute work entitled Sirens which was written expressly for them by Canadian composer Elizabeth Raum. Karen has also been proud to be a part of Opera NUOVA’s Canadian composers’ school tour of Dean Burry’s The Brothers Grimm , Isis and the Seven Scorpions and The Lives of Lesser Things by Isaiah Bell. In October, 2010, she also sang the Alberta premiere of Creek Bistro Specials by Saskatchewan composer David McIntyre.
Karen’s operatic experience has allowed her to play opposite some of Canada’s most exciting emerging and established leading men including Greg Dahl, Peter Barrett and Alexander Dobson. Opera Canada noted Ms. Charlton’s Musetta with the Saskatoon Opera Association as “a joy to behold”.
Most recently, in the summer of 2014, Karen performed a set of original comical pieces with composer Geoffrey Pratley - a long time collaborative pianist with Dame Janet Baker.
Karen is currently pursuing a passion for teaching clinics, workshops and masterclasses that center around the language of teaching and learning. She loves to adjudicate and work with students of singing. Ms. Charlton has adjudicated Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, and Alberta Provincials to name a few. She insists on creating an atmosphere of festival rather than competition.