MPS Instructor, Voice
Room 319 Taché Hall
150 Dafoe Road
University of Manitoba (Fort Garry Campus)
Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2
Lara Ciekiewicz
Recently hailed for her “tour-de-force performance” (Winnipeg Free Press) in the title role of Manitoba Opera’s Susannah, Ciekiewicz has established herself as a dynamic, intelligent, and moving singing-actress. Her facility for fully transforming into a character, regardless of genre, has earned her the reputation of being an artistic chameleon. She is also the recipient of the Winnipeg Arts Council RBC On the Rise Award, and a CGS Master's Scholarship from the SSHRC.
In the faculty
- MPS instructor, voice
Education
- BA, University of Winnipeg
- MMus, McGill University
Performance highlights
In addition to the title role in Manitoba Opera’s Susannah, the 2019-20 season saw Lara as Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi) and Suor Genovieffa (Suor Angelica) for Pacific Opera Victoria’s Il Trittico, as a soloist for the Victoria Symphony’s Messiah, and make her Edmonton Opera debut as the Countess (Le nozze di Figaro).
As theatres reopen, upcoming projects include Musetta (La Bohème) for Edmonton Opera, Beatrice (Three Decembers) for the Little Opera Company, rejoining the Victoria Symphony as a soloist for A Viennese New Year's, a return to the NAC’s stage with Opera on the Avalon, reprising the role of May (Ours), as well as an appearance with the Agassiz Chamber Music Festival.
Further credits (and collaborators) include: Jenůfa/Jenůfa, Amelia/Simon Boccanegra, Nellie Forbush/South Pacific (Pacific Opera Victoria); Tatyana/Eugene Onegin (Calgary Opera); Countess/Le nozze di Figaro (Manitoba Opera, Vancouver Opera); Rosalinde/Die Fledermaus, Sylva/The Gypsy Princess, Countess Maritza/Countess Maritza (Toronto Operetta Theatre); Micaëla/Carmen (Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Opera Kelowna, Opera Lyra Ottawa); Musetta/La Bohème (Manitoba Opera, Opéra de Montréal); Handel’s Messiah (Orchestre symphonique de Sherbrooke, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra); Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (Boise Philharmonic, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra); Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été (Virtuosi Concerts); Cinderella/Into the Woods, Maria/The Sound of Music (Opera on the Avalon); Liù/Turandot (Manitoba Opera); Lyudmila/Ruslan I Lyudmila, Anna/Anna Bolena, Elisabetta/Roberto Devereux (VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert); Fiordiligi/Così fan tutte (Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, Merola Opera Program, Opera McGill); Alcina/Alcina (Opera McGill); Pamina/Die Zauberflöte (Janiec Opera Company); Helga/Gisela in Her Bathtub (Flipside Opera); Mrs. Nordstrom/A Little Night Music (Dry Cold Productions); soloist (Salute to Vienna!).
Ongoing research and creative works
Lara is increasingly in demand as an adjudicator, and teacher. She holds a Masters in Music (Opera) from McGill University, and a Bachelor of Arts - Honours (Voice) from the University of Winnipeg. She is an alumna of l’Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program, the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center, the Banff Centre, Opera NUOVA, and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School (Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Musical Theatre). Lara also enjoys gardening, is an avid walker, loves fabulous footwear, and is a self-professed prairie-girl forever.