SSO93 Torch Songs Bios

Julie Nesrallah, mezzo-soprano

Mezzo-soprano Julie Nesrallah is a singer, actress and broadcaster who dazzles audiences with her engaging personality and her rich, expressive voice. Miss Nesrallah has sung for leading opera companies, symphonies, festivals and chamber music ensembles across Canada and the U.S. and around the world. Julie débuted as Isabella in Rossini’s L’italiana in Algeri at Pacific Opera Victoria and went on to perform major roles including The Composer in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, Suzuki in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Cenerentola in Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Carmen in Bizet’s Carmen and Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto, among others.

Concerts and festivals include engagements in Paris, Vienna, Hong Kong, Jordan, Macau, Brazil. In 2015, Miss Nesrallah sang at Carnegie Hall in New York City in a concert for harp and voice.  She sang God Save the Queen for “Will and Kate” the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their first visit to Canada on Parliament Hill in a performance that was viewed around the world. She was the sole vocalist in “An Evening for Peace” for Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan in Montreal.

Currently, Miss Nesrallah is the host of Tempo on CBC Music, Canada’s national classical music program; and is also the executive producer and star of Carmen on Tap, a company she created that performs Bizet’s opera Carmen as dinner theatre. Julie has been the recipient of several distinguished awards including the Canada Council for the Arts Emerging Artist Award, and most recently the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for her cultural contribution to Canada’s performing arts.

Miss Nesrallah graduated with honours from Carleton University in Ottawa where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a major in music and continued her studies at McGill University in Montreal graduating with a Performance Diploma.

www.julienesrallah.com

Janna Sailor, conductor

Hailed by critics as “charismatic, crisp, precise, and elegant”, Janna Sailor has firmly established herself as a conductor, violinist, and groundbreaking visionary on the Canadian music scene. Originally from rural Saskatchewan, Janna completed her studies in violin and conducting at the Brandon School of Music and the University of British Columbia.

Recently listed on the Women in Music Canada’s “Honour Roll ­ 10 Female Artists to Watch” in March of 2023, and Winner of the Betty Webster Award for Orchestral Innovation from Orchestras Canada, Janna combines diverse experiences on the international stage with a deep sense of community, equality, and social justice. Janna’s creative output is firmly rooted in the conviction that classical music should be inclusive and accessible to all. This guiding principle has led Janna to work on a number of arts­based social initiatives, including music instruction for disadvantaged youth in downtown Vancouver’s Eastside, fundraising and outreach activities for immigrants, establishing music therapy programs, and the founding of the Allegra Chamber Orchestra, an all­female professional ensemble with a social action mandate to champion the works of female minority artists and to enact change through music.

Highlights for Janna Sailor in 2024 include presenting at the International Conductor Guild Conference in New York as well as at the Global Leaders Institute Innovation Summit in Arequipa, Peru. In January, Janna conducts the debut of IndigiDivas: Indigenous Stories and Opera Hits in Vancouver with Allegra Chamber Orchestra, and with guest artist Marion Newman and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. Janna Sailor leads the Saskatoon Symphony in YXE Divas, showcasing local female artists in pops, rock, blues and jazz, and returns to conduct Torch Songs with Julie Nesrallah with the Saskatoon Symphony.

Janna has conducted major orchestras and ensembles including Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia, Kingston Symphony, Brott Festival (National Academy Orchestra), Winnipeg Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra, Vancouver Inter­Cultural Orchestra, Kensington Sinfonia, Saskatoon Symphony, Regina Symphony, Symphony New Brunswick, and Société de musique contemporaine du Québec.

Active as a concert producer, Janna’s work can be seen on stages across Canada, and heard on the airwaves as a producer for CBC Calgary.