Canadian Mezzo-soprano Katarzyna (Kasia) Sadej was born in Wroclaw, Poland. Katarzyna’s singing calendar has most recently found her in Bogota and Cartagena, Colombia for the Cartagena International Music Festival. She was also recently in Taipei for Stravinsky's Les Noces; Sulmona, Italy for Cherubino in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro; and Jerusalem, for the world premiere of A Call For Peace, composed by Sharbel Dalal. Kasia is a member of Les Amis Ensemble of Toronto, for whom she premiered Michael Pepa’s Isomorphe at the Glenn Gould Studio in June 2008. She reprised this piece and performed several others on tour with Les Amis Ensemble and the Penderecki String Quartet in April 2009 in Croatia, Serbia and Romania. Recent oratorio debuts include Mendelssohn’s Die Erste Walpurgisnacht, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem and Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in May 2009 through the The Weill Music Institute’s Dawn Upshaw and Osvaldo Golijov Composing Song Workshop, for which she sang the world premiere of Oceanic Verses by composer Paola Prestini. Kasia made her debut at the Bard Summerscape Music Festival in June 2009 with a performance of Wagner’s Wesendonk Lieder. Also in June 2009, she performed for the second time as a soloist with the Berkshire Bach Society in Handel’s Chandos Anthems 9 and 11, as well as alto soloist in Purcell’s Rejoice in the Lord Alway. She is also one of four guest vocal artists to perform in Ottawa in June 2008 and 2009 as part of the National Arts Center Summer Music Festival, in a special vocal workshop with renowned soprano Benita Valente. Kasia has numerous recitals coming up in Boston, New York, Ukraine, Romania and Serbia. Keep up to date in the schedule section of the website!
Kasia is a Graduate of the Vocal Arts Program at Bard, where she premiered in February 2010, the title role of Isabelle Eberhart in Song from the Uproar, a new opera composed by Missy Mazzoli. She also sang the roles of Maman and Libellule in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, in Bard’s triple-bill opera production at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Kasia studies with Lorraine Nubar, Kayo Iwama and Dawn Upshaw in New York. Kasia graduated summa cum laude from the University of Ottawa, earning her Bachelor of Music degree; she completed her Master’s Degree in Opera at the University of Toronto, where she studied voice with Darryl Edwards. In the summer of 2008 she participated in the exclusive Academy of Villecroze, France, where she worked with Dalton Baldwin and Lorraine Nubar, a relationship she has nurtured through the Academie de Nice and the Foliage Art Song Festival in Vermont. Kasia has been an apprenticeship artist with Opera Lyra Ottawa, with whom she had her professional operatic debut in December 2005 as Hansel in Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel. Other opera roles she has performed include the Mozart roles of Donna Elvira, Cherubino and Second Lady, Bianca in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, Giannetta in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore and the title role in Handel’s Ariodante. Kasia made her debut with Saskatoon Opera as Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto in July 2008. Notable awards and distinctions include the Vivian Asfar Memorial Award for Vocal Excellence, the William and Phyllis Waters Graduating Award from the University of Toronto, New England Regional Finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and numerous scholarships from the University of Ottawa, University of Toronto, Bard College and the Canadian Opera Volunteer Committee.
Kasia is a Graduate of the Vocal Arts Program at Bard, where she premiered in February 2010, the title role of Isabelle Eberhart in Song from the Uproar, a new opera composed by Missy Mazzoli. She also sang the roles of Maman and Libellule in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, in Bard’s triple-bill opera production at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. Kasia studies with Lorraine Nubar, Kayo Iwama and Dawn Upshaw in New York. Kasia graduated summa cum laude from the University of Ottawa, earning her Bachelor of Music degree; she completed her Master’s Degree in Opera at the University of Toronto, where she studied voice with Darryl Edwards. In the summer of 2008 she participated in the exclusive Academy of Villecroze, France, where she worked with Dalton Baldwin and Lorraine Nubar, a relationship she has nurtured through the Academie de Nice and the Foliage Art Song Festival in Vermont. Kasia has been an apprenticeship artist with Opera Lyra Ottawa, with whom she had her professional operatic debut in December 2005 as Hansel in Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel. Other opera roles she has performed include the Mozart roles of Donna Elvira, Cherubino and Second Lady, Bianca in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, Giannetta in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore and the title role in Handel’s Ariodante. Kasia made her debut with Saskatoon Opera as Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto in July 2008. Notable awards and distinctions include the Vivian Asfar Memorial Award for Vocal Excellence, the William and Phyllis Waters Graduating Award from the University of Toronto, New England Regional Finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and numerous scholarships from the University of Ottawa, University of Toronto, Bard College and the Canadian Opera Volunteer Committee.