Lara Ciekiewicz

Hailed for her “tour-de-force performance” (Winnipeg Free Press) in the title role of Manitoba Opera’s Susannah, Lara 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.

This season sees Lara rejoin Opera on the Avalon for their world première of Kaminsky and Moore’s February in the role of Bartender. She subsequently makes role and house debuts as Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music for both the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre and The Citadel Theatre. Lara also returns to her Manitoba Opera family as Micaëla in Carmen.

Recent appearances include covering Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte at Pacific Opera Victoria, soloing with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for Brahms’ Requiem and Dvořák’s Te Deum, Manitoba Opera’s 50th Anniversary Gala, Countess in Fargo-Moorhead Opera’s Le nozze di Figaro, Beatrice in the Canadian première of Heggie’s Three Decembers as well as a solo recital for the Little Opera Company, Musetta in Edmonton Opera’s La bohème, a New Year’s Gala with the Victoria Symphony, Elle in Manitoba Opera’s La voix humaine, and Open Air: A Summer Festival of Music for Pacific Opera Victoria and the Victoria Symphony.

Select additional credits (and collaborators) include: Jenůfa/Jenůfa, Amelia/Simon Boccanegra; Lauretta/Gianni Schicchi and Suor Genovieffa/Suor Angelica in Il Trittico (Pacific Opera Victoria); Tatyana/Eugene Onegin (Calgary Opera); Countess/Le nozze di Figaro (Edmonton Opera, Manitoba Opera, Vancouver Opera); Rosalinde/Die Fledermaus, Sylva/The Gypsy Princess (Toronto Operetta Theatre); Micaëla/Carmen (Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Opera Kelowna, Opera Lyra Ottawa); Musetta/La Bohème (Manitoba Opera, Opéra de Montréal); Handel’s Messiah (Victoria Symphony); Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (Boise Philharmonic, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra); May/Ours, Cinderella/Into the Woods, Maria/The Sound of Music (Opera on the Avalon).

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.