Cheryl Hickman, Soprano

""Hickman sang ‘Il est doux, il est bon’ from Massenet’s Herodiade with the superb authority and glorious free steady sound of a young Eileen Farrell."

COC Altamira Concert
Ken Winters, Globe and Mail

Cheryl Hickman is poised to take her place among the outstanding sopranos of her generation. Top prize winner in the George London Competition, this St. John’s Newfoundland native debuted in 2000 with Florida Grand Opera as Desdemona, sang the role of Mary in New York City Opera’s Ballad of Baby Doe and starred in Saint-Saëns La Principesse Jaune for L’Opera Français de New York in 2001, conducted by Yves Abel. Featured in Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi at New York City Opera, Miss Hickman’s roles for this company include Erste Dame(Die Zauberflöte), La Ciesca (Gianni Schicchi) and Fortuna in Il Ritorna D’Ulisse in Patria.

In Canada, Miss Hickman has sung with many of the leading opera companies, including Vancouver Opera (Marianne in Der Rosenkavalier), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) with Manitoba Opera, Michaëla (Carmen) and Countess (Le Nozze di Figaro) with Pacific Opera Victoria, Madame Lidoine (Les Dialogues des Carmelites), Mother/Witch in Hansel and Gretel, the role of Kitty Hart in the Canadian Premiere of Jake Hegey’s Dead Man Walkingand Clorinda (La Cenerentola) with Calgary Opera.

Miss Hickman is a Graduate of the University of Toronto, the Juilliard School of Music, and was a member of the Juilliard Opera Center. While a member of the prestigious Canadian Opera Company Ensemble, Cheryl sang Female Chorus in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia, Mother/Witch in Hansel and Gretel, and covered the roles of Senta in Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer and Marenka in Smetana’s The Bartered Bride. This gifted young artist has attended the Aldeburgh Festival, the Aspen Festival and was a Finalist in the Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition.

Recent concert engagements include Berg’s Sieben Frühe Lieder for Orchestra Toronto, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia and Symphony No. 9 for Symphony Nova Scotia, the Immolation Scene from Wagner’s Götterdämmerung with Vancouver Symphony, Dvorak’s Te Deum for Newfoundland Symphony and Bernstein’s Kaddish with Toronto Mendelssohn Choir.

Highlights of the current season include Miss Hickman’s return to Calgary Opera as Berta in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and the title role inTosca with Nova Scotia’s Maritime Concert Opera in June, 2009.

Future appearances include The Hibernia Gala in October, 2009, and the Messiah with Newfoundland Symphony in December 2010.