Biography
Saskatchewan-born soprano McKenzie Warriner is devoted to bringing music and text to life whether it’s high baroque or avant-garde. Usually based out of Toronto, she will spend the 22/23 season in British Columbia as a Yulanda M. Faris young artist with Vancouver Opera, where she will understudy Leïla in Les pêcheurs de perles and Tytania in A Midsummer Night's Dream. In December 2022, McKenzie will return to her home province to sing Messiah with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra. Her season culminates in her United Kingdom debut with performances at the 2023 Aldeburgh Festival as a Britten Pears Young Artist.
New Music
McKenzie is becoming increasingly known for her work with contemporary repertoire, both in performing existing works and premiering new ones. Recent repertoire highlights include Abigail Richardson-Schulte’s Alligator Pie with the Regina Symphony Orchestra and Ana Sokolovic’s SATB song cycle dawn always begins in the bones in a joint initiative with the University of Manitoba and University of Toronto, with performances in both provinces. She is a proud co-founder of Slow Rise Music, a concert organization devoted to pushing boundaries and fostering creative collaboration within contemporary vocal music. She has premiered compositions by Isaac Zee, Tristan Zaba, Priam David, and Anika-France Forget, and mostly recently she performed a new composition for amplified soprano and electronics by Kitty Xiao, commissioned by Slow Rise Music.
Opera
As a singing actor, McKenzie has performed a variety of opera roles, with highlights including Madame Herz in Der Schauspieldirektor (Eastman Opera Theatre), Gretel in Hansel and Gretel (University of Manitoba Opera in Schools), La bergère Louis XV in L'enfant et les sortileges (Eastman Opera Theatre), and Novizie in Suor Angelica (Manitoba Underground Opera). During the pandemic, she sang her first virtual role as Bessie Brent in The Shop Girl in live Zoom performances with COSA Canada. As winner of the 2020 Gordon C. Wallis memorial opera competition, she was granted opportunities to sing with the Regina and Saskatoon Symphony Orchestras and funds for future artistic development.
Early Music and Ensemble Singing
Fascinated by Baroque repertoire, McKenzie sang the role of Venere in a concert version of Rossi’s L’Orfeo among other repertoire with the Eastman Collegium Musicum, she performed Rameau's solo cantata Le Berger fidèle at the Rochester Early Music Festival, and she was a frequent soloist with the Eastman Bach Cantata series. In addition to her solo work, McKenzie loves performing as a chorister. In the 21/22 season, she was section lead for the Amadeus Choir and the Toronto Chamber Choir, also appearing as a soloist with each ensemble. As a former member of Winnipeg ensemble Dead of Winter, McKenzie sang several times at the renowned Winnipeg New Music Festival, most memorably as Queen Tye in excerpts from Phillip Glass’s Akhnaten, and in excerpts from Meredith Monk’s Book of Days workshopped with the composer.
Art Song
An avid poetry fan, McKenzie is excited by the musical and dramatic possibilities offered by art song and has explored a wide range of recital repertoire. In 2018 she placed second and won the award for best song interpretation at the Canadian National Music Festival, and she won runner-up at the University of Manitoba 2016 Zita Bernstein Lieder Competition judged by Elly Ameling. She currently performs as a duo with pianist Danielle Guina, with whom she has performed everything from Schubert to Saariaho.
Education
McKenzie completed her Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music with mezzo-soprano Kathryn Cowdrick, and her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance at the University of Manitoba under the tutelage of Mel Braun. She also holds ARCT diplomas in both piano and vocal performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music, and has trained at Opera from Scratch, Opera NUOVA, Orford Musique, Against the Grain Theatre’s National Opera Intensive, and the Meredith Monk Vocal Ensemble’s Dancing Voice/Singing Body workshop.
Other Things
When she isn’t singing, McKenzie loves running, knitting, and playing Dungeons & Dragons. She is a pet mother to Marcie the dog and Blake the snake.
