Opus 8 comprises eight of Toronto’s finest ensemble singers, dedicated to musical excellence in the pursuit of sharing the best choral music with the widest audience possible. Their repertoire covers the breadth of history, from unpublished 14th century chansons and 17th century partsongs to 21st century jazz arrangements. From the wild soundworlds of Stockhausen, Schoenberg and Machaut to the elegant compositions of Elgar, Brahms and Bach, this versatile and invigorating small ensemble of choral soloists draws diverse audiences of all ages, both experts and newcomers, with a motivation to inspire all through their formidable artistry. Silly and serious, sublime and audacious, Opus 8’s vision is an ambitious and compelling venture into spreading their love of music-making at an internationally high standard.
Opus 8 is pleased to produce its concert activities in partnership with Chamber Factory.
Singers
Soprano Katy Clark was a participant in the 2017-2018 Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Performance Residency. She recently won second place in the prestigious Harold Haugh Light Opera Competition in Jackson, Michigan. As well as singing with Shoestring Opera in Toronto, Katy sings with the Canadian Opera Company Chorus, and has sung with Michigan Opera Theatre. Favourite opera credits include The Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, Cunegonde in Candide, and Madame Herz in The Impresario. She also has a deep passion for oratorio repertoire, and has sung as a soloist with the Elora Singers, the London Fanshawe Symphonic Chorus, the Detroit Medical Orchestra, and more. As a choral singer, Katy sings with the Elora Singers, and has sung with the Grammy winning University of Michigan Chamber Choir. Katy earned her Masters Degree in Voice Performance from the University of Michigan. In addition to her work as a soloist and performer, Katy teaches private voice and piano lessons in Toronto.
Katy routinely makes beer and cider in her backyard. Not only are they drinkable, they’re delicious!
Soprano (and Opus 8 administrative wrangler) Clara MacCallum Fraser has sung as section lead in choirs at across Toronto. When not using Opus 8 as an excuse to procrastinate, Clara is wrapping up her seemingly-never-ending doctorate in Environmental Studies at York University, examining the undercurrents of the ways that we care for Creation by way of environmental conservation, and the impacts on Indigenous peoples' rights in Ontario. She is the mother of a pandemic baby who is now old enough to shout hymns and God Save the King at outrageous decibel levels far too early in the morning (she wonders if she might have a budding punk rocker for a son…).
An inordinate amount of her time is actually spent just trying to keep her plants alive during the long winter months...
Alto Veronika Anissimova has presented recitals for the Arts & Letters Club of Toronto, Carnegie Hall, the Linden Project, St. James Cathedral, Metropolitan United, and Concerts @100, and as soloist with St. Michael's Schola Cantorum, the Scarborough Philarmonic, and the Hart House Orchestra. She has sung also with the Toronto Consort, the Elora Singers, the Peterborough Singers, UofT Schola Cantorum, the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute and the American Bach Soloists Academy. Praised for her “lovely presence” and “impressively quick and precise coloratura”, Veronika was awarded the 2014 National Gold Medal in voice performance at the RCM, was among the 2022 Handel Aria Competition’s top 20, and the 2021 Art of Song fellowship with the Toronto Summer Music Festival. Veronika holds an MMus (2018) in historical voice performance and a BMus (Honours, 2016) in piano and Italian studies from the University of Toronto. Fluent in French, Russian, and Italian, she has served on Opera Atelier’s educational outreach team, and contributes text translations to VMII, a groundbreaking digital resource for early vocal music.
Veronika really prides herself on eating only her own home-baked bread for the past three and a half years, and counting.
Rebecca Claborn, Alto, is in-demand as a choral singer and soloist. She has sung with Pro Coro Canada, the Choir of St. James Cathedral, Cappella Nova Mundi, Tallis Scholars, Gabrieli Consort, Toronto Consort, and the Theatre of Early Music. She is featured as a chorister and soloist on recordings with Opus 8, Theatre of Early Music, and the Toronto Chamber Choir. She holds music degrees from the Universities of New Hampshire and Alberta where she was the 2009 winner of the Alberta Baroque Ensemble Concerto Competition. Praised for her “mellifluous yet clear” singing, Rebecca performs as a soloist all across Canada, with a repertoire ranging from the Renaissance to the present day.
Away from singing, she succumbs to her indelible passion to master the clawhammer banjo, and to serve the needs and whims of a rather bossy feline housemate.
Robert Busiakiewicz, Artistic Director & Tenor, studied at the Royal Academy of Music and King’s College London before being invited to the Yeomanry of the Worshipful Company of Musicians in 2013. Since then he completed a Masters in Music with a choral scholarship at King's College, Cambridge. He was awarded the Lord Mayor's Prize for Composition and his works have featured on BBC Radio, London Festival of Contemporary Music and are recorded by Priory Records. He has performed across the globe in venues such as the Sydney Opera House, Royal Albert Hall, the Barbican, the Hermitage Theatre, St. Thomas Fifth Avenue and Bleinheim Palace. He was the director of music at St. James Cathedral, Toronto from 2015-2020, and has served as interim director of music at King’s College (Halifax) and St. Paul’s Bloor Street (Toronto).
Robert specialises in performing close harmony after getting less than three hours sleep, or as long as his young son will permit him.
Tenor Jamie Tuttle has been with Opus 8 since 2019. To keep Jamie from causing mayhem at the family home, it is believed that his parents enrolled him as a treble chorister in a men and boys’ church choir. He did this until he thought it wasn’t cool. He then joined the choir at a church close to home as a teenaged tenor, because he thought it was cool all along. He then joined a few other church choirs in Toronto and met Clara and Robert along the way. Jamie’s various tenures have taken him to Europe, the United States, and across Canada. He has performed operas in both solo and chorus capacities, and for one opera was referred to as “the cute sailor” in one newspaper review (he had more hair than he does now). Jamie gets about town mainly via bicycle, does not like candy corn, and will one day patent ‘The Clapper’ that works on WiFi - he does foresee many glitches with how it might work.
Bass Martin Gomes (He/They/Bass) is an Afro/Latino, queer, citrus fruit loving artist born & based in downtown Toronto. A choral singer since he was a boy, Martin’s had the privilege of singing all over Canada, the U.S., and even at the Vatican for Pope Francis. He’s sung with the Orpheus Choir, Nathaniel Dett Chorale, Opus 8, St. James Cathedral, Opera Atelier, Choir 21, and even The Eagles.
Martin is also an arts educator and performer specializing in spoken-word & beatboxing, working with myriad organizations including JAYU, Unity Charity, Lakeshore Arts, Shakespeare in Action, Thrive Youth, and VIBEarts. As a poet, he’s performed for organizations like CBC, Sony, The Harbourfront Centre, and Nuit Blanche. He’s also exhibited his work at Withrow Commons, Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre, and the Meridian Arts Centre. His current goal is to create spaces that encourage people to be their most authentic, genuine selves in a raw, real, “non-Disney” type of way (he messes with Disney though, don’t get it twisted) and hopes to inspire people to live by example and be what they wish to see in the world.
He is quite clearly the coolest of the group.
Photos by Milan Ilnyckyj, 2023.
Bryan Martin, Bass, has been active in the Toronto choral and early music scenes for 35 years. He holds degrees in conducting and musicology from the University of Toronto, and is a founding member of Sine Nomine Ensemble for Medieval Music. He has appeared on stage with Poculi Ludique Societas (medieval drama), Toronto Masque Theatre, and in November will be part of Soundstreams’ production of Two Odysseys, a double bill of indigenous-language operas (Cree and Sami). In his spare time Bryan works on audiovisual media preservation at the University of Toronto Music Library, where he is also a cataloguer and the resident technology and early music geek.
He can frequently be seen attempting to convince his long-suffering wife that he really needs to do [insert gig here].
