Ensemble Polaris

Erica Iris Huang, vocalist
	Canadian mezzo-soprano Erica Iris Huang recently emerged into Toronto’s music scene with credits to “a gorgeous big voice, seamless from top to bottom, dramatic, and highly expressive.” (Howard Dyck) Erica developed as a musician since the age of seven, when she began her eight years with the Toronto Children’s Chorus. Gaining exceptional vocal and performance training, she toured with the chorus throughout North America and Europe. For four consecutive years since 2003, Erica was offered a choral position in the European Music Festival of Stuttgart, Germany under the direction of Helmuth Rilling, having sung at many distinguished concert halls and churches in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. With the influence of her past pedagogues Victor Martens and Kimberly Barber during her completion of her Bachelor of Music and Opera Diploma at Wilfrid Laurier University, her first desire for teaching music developed into a passion for performance. At her first attempt in the competition scene in 2007, she won first place at the Canadian Music Competition, granting her a performance with the Sherbrooke Orchestra in Quebec. She made her 2004 operatic debut as TITUBA in Robert Ward's The Crucible and performed the roles of MRS. HERRING (Britten’s Albert Herring), and DIDO (Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas) with Opera Laurier. Erica recently graduated from the Opera Diploma program at the University of Toronto under the tutelage of Mary Morrison, where she made her successes as FIDALMA (Cimarosa’s Il Matrimonio Segreto), CONCEPCIÓN (Ravel's L'heure espagnole), LA TASSE (Ravel's L'enfant et les sortileges), LISETTA (Haydn’s Il Mondo Della Luna), CARMEN (Bizet), and THE OLD WOMAN (Bernstein’s Candide). In 2008, she was “hailed for her winning portrayal of the impetuous Composer” with the Toronto Summer Music productions of Ariadne auf Naxos under the direction of founder Agnes Grossmann (Mary-Lou Vetere of Opera Today), and “gave the best singing of the evening as the sympathetic Aunt Adelaïde” in Wilson’s Kamouraska with Opera In Concert in 2009, (Ken Winters of The Globe and Mail). Praised for her stage presence of warmth and character, Erica greatly enjoys engaging an audience with art song and cabaret, equally to the operatic repertoire on stage. She has been engaged with the Aldeburgh Connection for the past two years, featured in their Discovery Series recitals and the Bayfield Festival.

Erica Iris Huang, vocalist

Canadian mezzo-soprano Erica Iris Huang recently emerged into Toronto’s music scene with credits to “a gorgeous big voice, seamless from top to bottom, dramatic, and highly expressive.” (Howard Dyck)

Erica developed as a musician since the age of seven, when she began her eight years with the Toronto Children’s Chorus. Gaining exceptional vocal and performance training, she toured with the chorus throughout North America and Europe. For four consecutive years since 2003, Erica was offered a choral position in the European Music Festival of Stuttgart, Germany under the direction of Helmuth Rilling, having sung at many distinguished concert halls and churches in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

With the influence of her past pedagogues Victor Martens and Kimberly Barber during her completion of her Bachelor of Music and Opera Diploma at Wilfrid Laurier University, her first desire for teaching music developed into a passion for performance. At her first attempt in the competition scene in 2007, she won first place at the Canadian Music Competition, granting her a performance with the Sherbrooke Orchestra in Quebec. She made her 2004 operatic debut as TITUBA in Robert Ward's The Crucible and performed the roles of MRS. HERRING (Britten’s Albert Herring), and DIDO (Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas) with Opera Laurier.

Erica recently graduated from the Opera Diploma program at the University of Toronto under the tutelage of Mary Morrison, where she made her successes as FIDALMA (Cimarosa’s Il Matrimonio Segreto), CONCEPCIÓN (Ravel's L'heure espagnole), LA TASSE (Ravel's L'enfant et les sortileges), LISETTA (Haydn’s Il Mondo Della Luna), CARMEN (Bizet), and THE OLD WOMAN (Bernstein’s Candide).

In 2008, she was “hailed for her winning portrayal of the impetuous Composer” with the Toronto Summer Music productions of Ariadne auf Naxos under the direction of founder Agnes Grossmann (Mary-Lou Vetere of Opera Today), and “gave the best singing of the evening as the sympathetic Aunt Adelaïde” in Wilson’s Kamouraska with Opera In Concert in 2009, (Ken Winters of The Globe and Mail).

Praised for her stage presence of warmth and character, Erica greatly enjoys engaging an audience with art song and cabaret, equally to the operatic repertoire on stage. She has been engaged with the Aldeburgh Connection for the past two years, featured in their Discovery Series recitals and the Bayfield Festival.