GERDA FINDEISEN

Soprano

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Born in Switzerland, soprano Gerda Findeisen is known for her luminous timbre and great musical sensitivity. In opera, her most important roles include Zerbinetta (Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos), Ophelia (Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet), Olympia (Jacques Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann), and La Donna Elvira (W. A. ​​Mozart's 'Don Giovanni'). Gerda Findeisen has had the good fortune to collaborate with many renowned conductors, including Kent Nagano, Jean-Philippe Tremblay, Peter Dala, Franz-Paul Decker, Wayne Ridell, Nicolau de Figueiredo, and Fritz Näf. She has been a soloist with the Orchestra del Teatro Communale di Bologna, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Octuor de France, among others, and has performed at major festivals including the Festival Lanaudière, the Zempleni Festival in Hungary, and the New Jersey Baroque Festival.

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In concert, Gerda Findeisen is passionate about exploring new repertoire. She can be found in John Rea's Offenes Lied, Dominick Argento's To be Sung upon the Water, and in the sound-painting opera Fata Morgana by Gabriel Thibaudeau. She has also sung at screenings of silent films (The Phantom of the Opera from 1925, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame) by Gabriel Thibaudeau, on tour in France, Italy, Switzerland, and Quebec. She has also been a soloist for various works including Joseph Haydn's Nelson Mass, G. F. Handel's Messiah, Pietro Mascagni's Regina Coeli, Antonio Vivaldi's Dixit Dominus, and J. S. Bach's Mass in B minor.

She has recently been heard in recital in Quebec, including in a program of Lieder-Mélodies by Edvard Grieg and César Franck with the talented pianist Katarina Mikhaylova at the Conservatoire de Val d'Or, and at the Westmount Arts Festival. In January 2025, Ms. Findeisen sang a program of 'Musique Vocale Sacrée de France' in Switzerland, then for Operamobile the role of the Elder Sister in their revival of Carpe Diem, 2 Schwestern in Löffingen.

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Gerda Findeisen is a graduate of the Musikhochschule Zürich and the Faculty of Music of the Université de Montréal. She has perfected her skills at the Orford Arts Centre, Opera Nuova, and Nouvel Opéra. Her main teachers and vocal coaches include Stefano Algieri, Dana Nigrim, Nino Castel, Janet Perry, Louise-Andrée Baril, Richard Margison, Aline Kutan, Jan Simons, Adrienne Savoie, Ionel Pantea, Stuart Hamilton, Jeanette Aster, Kurt Widmer, Jane Thorner-Mengedoht, and Arlene Shrut.

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First Prize at the Crescendo International Arts Festival and a scholarship recipient from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Université de Montréal, she has participated in the prestigious competitions of Classical Singer Magazine and the Centre for Contemporary Opera in New York.