BOC's End-of-Year Festival

Mezzo-soprano Sophie Michaux was born in London and raised in the French Alps. The 28-year-old mezzo is a versatile singer, and her voice was noticed as “a luscious shade of burgundy, velvety and ever so slightly smoky” (Boston Musical Intelligencer). Her upcoming engagements include her Boston Early Music Festival debut in November 2016, in their their chamber operas Versailles, Alto Soloist in the Duruflé Requiem and Handel’s Messiah at Trinity Church of Boston, and her Carnegie Hall debut with the Lorelei Ensemble.On stage, her roles include the title roles in La Cenerentola (NEMPAC), in Rinaldo (Boston Opera Collaborative), for which she was nominated as Best Female Performer in an Opera for the 2015 Arts Impulse Theatre Awards, Lucretia in The Rape of Lucretia (Opera Brittenica), and Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Lowell House Opera), Anne in To Hell and Back (Boston Opera Collaborative). In this work by Jake Heggie, her voice was noted as “a study in color…Michaux’s expressive quality and variety is remarkable ” (Arts Impulse). She is an active performer of 21st century works as well as early works: she premiered the role of Ceres in The Tempest, by Joseph Summer with The Shakespeare Concerts, and the role of Higuchi in Troubled Water, by Misha Saldkind-Pearl with Guerilla Opera. In 2010, she was a soloist at the Egida Sartori and Laura Alvini Early Music Seminar in Venice, Italy, directed by René Jacobs.Ms. Michaux is simultaneously active in Oratorio, and as a chamber music singer in the Boston area. She is honored to have joined the Trinity Church of Boston’s Music Staff, as an Alto section leader since 2013. She was a soloist with the Trinity Church of Boston in Bach’s Magnificat, Handel’s Messiah, and with The Metropolitan Chorale’s Petite Messe Solennelle, by Rossini. She is also thrilled and honored to join Lorelei for their 2016-2017 season. She has appeared with ensembles such as La Cappella Mediterranea, Elyma, Schola Cantorum. 

Ms. Schukis has had a multi-faceted career as a character mezzo, actress, stage director, choreographer, vocal coach, educator and administrator. She has sung a wide variety of operatic, oratorio and broadway repertoire to great critical acclaim and has performed roles with the Boston National Company of Nunsense starring Pat Carroll and Alice Ghostley, Boston Lyric Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Opera Providence, New England Light Opera, Intermezzo Chamber Opera, Raylynmoor Opera, Wheelock Family Theater; Lyric Stage Company of Boston; New Opera and Musical Theater Initiative, Opera New England, Longwood Opera Company, Northeastern Repertory Theater, Boston Publick Theater, Stoneham Theater, Old North Chamber Orchestra, Weymouth Fine Arts Chorale, Rivers Symphony Orchestra and Newton Symphony.

Ms. Schukis has been a soloist/section leader for the historic Old North Church, Boston, Massachusetts for 27 years and a soloist/cantor for 16 years at St. Paul Church in Wellesley, Massachusetts and continues to perform in theater, opera and concert engagements throughout the United States. Special performances that deserve mentioning are: National Anthem and “God Bless America” at a Boston Red Sox Game at Fenway, National Anthem on the U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides) turn around, National Anthem at New England Dragway, Epping, NH and the National Anthem at Lebanon Valley Speedway, MA and a televised performance with The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Salt Lake City, UT. 

In addition to being a performer, Vanessa is an award winning teacher with over thirty years experience in performing arts education focusing on students with learning disabilities and special needs. Currently Vanessa teaches music at The Murphy School in Dorchester, MA and Harvard Kent School in Charlestown, MA through the outreach program of The Community Music Center of Boston. Recently, Miss Schukis has published three children's books("Miss Sugar", "Mr. Dimes" and "Dallas and the Accordion") and won 2013 Children's Book of the Year for her book "Mr. Dimes". Books are available for purchase @ www.bookemon.com) Vanessa has been a member of the guest faculty at New England Conservatory, Boston, MA and visiting faculty at Longy School of Music Cambridge, MA.

Sirgourney Calven Fate Tanner, a Chicago, IL native, completed her graduate education at Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, MA where for two years; she was named a Presidential Scholar and earned a Master of Music Degree in Opera Performance, May 2016. There, she studied with Bass-Baritone, Robert Honeysucker. Among many performance opportunities, Sirgourney was privileged to perform for the Following In Her Footsteps Awards, founded by the Val-Kill Partnership in honor of Marian Anderson and Eleanor Roosevelt. She received her Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Performance and minor in Philosophy (June 2010) from Lawrence University in Appleton, WI. In 2009, Sirgourney was cast in Joan D’arc (an adaptation of the Joan of Arc Story), produced by the Goodman Theatre of Chicago, IL, written and directed by Aida Karic. It premiered in Linz, Austria at The Linz 2009 European Capital of Culture. In 2011, Sirgourney began touring and performing as soprano background vocalist for Oscar and Grammy Award Winning Actress and Recording Artist Jennifer Hudson, where she sang on national and international stages from the U.S., London and China and many others, for over three years. Some of these performances included President Barack Obama’s 50th Birthday and 2nd Term Campaign Party, and the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway. Most recently, she was featured as a soloist in Duke Ellington’s “Concerts of Sacred Music” conducted by Ellington’s protégé, Maestro Randall Keith Horton at Boston University’s 2017 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Commemoration. Sirgourney served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the David A. Ellis Elementary School in Roxbury, MA in 2014-2016 in partnership with Longy School of Music of Bard College and Boston Public Schools (BPS). As a performing artist, she continues to use music as an avenue to inspire, educate and advocate for underprivileged youth. Sirgourney is grateful for all of the opportunities afforded her through Boston Opera Collaborative, in which she proudly serves as an Artist and Production Assistant.