| Valerie Kuinka |
| Director |
| |
|
|
|||
| Canadian
director Valerie Kuinka began her career as a classical violist and has
been active as a chamber, orchestral, and studio musician since her
graduation in 1984 from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) with a
Master of Music in Performance. She has been a member of the orchestras
of the Canadian Opera Company and the National Ballet of Canada for
over twenty years playing every position from section to principal
before her retirement from the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra in June
2005. After some time working with several mentors in the realm of opera directing (Guy Joosten, Tom Diamond, Nicholas Muni), Valerie’s career expansion into the world of producing and directing officially began in 1996 when she was assistant to director, Tom Diamond, in the Canadian Opera Company’s production of La Calisto. In 1997, Valerie established her own Toronto-based multi-disciplinary theatre company and since its inception has written, produced, directed, and often performed in 14 productions. Valerie has also directed productions for Pacific Opera Victoria (Canada), Opera Hamilton (Canada), International Vocal Arts Festival (Tel-Aviv), The Glenn Gould School (Toronto), Opera Mississauga (Canada), The Canadian Childrens’ Opera Chorus (Toronto), Opera York (Toronto), and Pro Voce Studios (Toronto), and has assisted at the New York City Opera and the Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp. In June of 2002, Valerie was a guest at the Vermont International Opera Festival as resident director and drama coach. Valerie has been working as a stage director at the Metropolitan Opera in New York since February 2005, and since that time has been on the stage directing team of the recent new production of Romeo et Juliette (2005 – 06) and its revival (2007 - 08) as well as the revivals of Samson et Dalilah (2004 – 05, 2005 – 06), Idomeneo (2006 – 07) and Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci (2006 – 07). The summer of 2008 will find Valerie on the faculty of the University of Toronto’s advanced Opera Studies programme in Sulmona, Italy (www.co-si.com) coaching both opera scene study as well as chamber music. August will mark the second season of The Highlands Opera Studio for Advanced Opera Studies (www.highlandsoperastudio.com) during which Valerie will be directing two chamber operas, coaching scene study, and sharing the duties of Artistic Director with her husband, operatic tenor Richard Margison. 01/30/08 |