Jillian Bonner

Jillian Bonner, mezzo soprano hails from Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. She is a graduate of the Calgary Opera Emerging Artist Program (2017 - 18) and the University of Manitoba (MMus, 2016).  She is currently a Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Performance Residency Recipient at the Glenn Gould School in Toronto, as well as part of soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium Young Artist Initiative (EQ). Through EQ, Jillian made her debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in January 2020, performing Mozart's Requiem under the baton of Sir Andrew Davis.  Based in Toronto, Jillian teaches voice lessons at Bayview Glen Independent school, and is the Alto 2 lead for the local choir, B-XALTED! 

An avid competitor, Jillian was a National Finalist at the Opera de Montreal’s Atelier Lyrique competition (2019), a Regional finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (2019 & 2015), a winner of the St. Andrews International Aria competition (2018), a semi-finalist for the WMC Doris McLellan Competition in Winnipeg (2020), and a finalist in the upcoming Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition.

During the 2018 -19 season, Jillian made her debut with her "home" orchestra: Symphony New Brunswick, singing her first Handel's Messiah in Fredericton, Saint John, and Moncton. That season, she also performed rare early music with the Calgary Bach Society Chorus and Orchestra, for which she received a Canada Council grant for travel. This season, she sang Messiah with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra.

Jillian's recent operatic roles include Concepcion in Ravel's L'Heure Espagnole (Glenn Gould School Opera and the RCM Orchestra, performances cancelled due to COVID-19), Arsace in Semiramide (Rossini Academy at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance, 2019), Charlotte in Werther (LAMP's Richard Margison Opera Studio, 2019); Dorabella in Cosi fan Tutte (Calgary Opera, 2018); The Fox in The Cunning Little Vixen by Janáček (Opera NUOVA, 2017).