Lauren Margison, soprano

Lauren Margison is making her mark as an exciting emerging soprano. She returns to the mainstage of Opéra de Montréal this season as Mimi in Puccini’s La bohème and debuted the title role of Alceste with Toronto’s Opera in Concert. Upcoming in 2025/2026, Lauren makes her American debut with the Memphis and Billings Symphonies for Verdi’s Requiem.

In the 2023/2024 season, Lauren revisited the roles of Nedda in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci and Anna in Puccini’s Le villi, and debuted the role of Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello, all with Staatstheater Mainz. Lauren’s additional recent engagements include Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen with Pacific Opera Victoria, Tatyana in Highland Opera Studio’s production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 for Orchestre symphonique de Québec, The Csardas Princess with Toronto Operetta Theatre, and the titular role of Barber’s Vanessa with Opera in Concert.

Margison has been featured as Mïcaela in Carmen with the Brott Music Festival, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with Highlands Opera Studio, and appeared in concert with the PRISMA Festival in Strauss’s Four Last Songs. She also appeared as Mimi in a special presentation of La Bohème with Artists of the COC Ensemble at The Four Seasons Centre and was featured in the COC’s Elektra.

Adam Luther, tenor

Adam Luther is one of Canada’s most exciting tenors, with a repertoire ranging from Janacek to Mozart to Puccini. This season, Adam joins Edmonton Opera for Eisenstein in Strauss’ Die Fledermaus and Vancouver Opera for Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, which he also covers for the Canadian Opera Company.

His 2023/2024 season included returns to Edmonton Opera for Bizet’s Carmen and the Canadian Opera Company for Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen. Recent engagements include Bizet’s Carmen (Pacific Opera Victoria), Verdi’s Requiem (Orchestre Philharmonique et Chœur des Mélomanes), Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (Calgary Philharmonic, Regina Symphony), Handel’s Messiah with the Newfoundland Symphony, and, with the Canadian Opera Company, Verdi’s La Traviata, Strauss’ Salome, and Verdi’s MacBeth.

Recent highlights for the tenor include Luigi in Il Tabarro & Gherardo in Gianni Schicchi, and Graf Tassilo in Gräfin Mariza for Pacific Opera Victoria; Roméo in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette and Lensky in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin for Calgary Opera; and various concert galas for the Niagara Symphony, Victoria Symphony, and Sacramento Opera. In the 2021/2022 season, Adam jumped into Edmonton Opera’s La Bohème at the last minute, to star as Rodolfo for their opening night performance.

Patrick Cao, piano

Born in Nanaimo, BC, in 2011, Patrick Cao is currently a Grade 9 student in Royal Bay Secondary school (French Immersion) in Victoria BC.

Patrick began studying piano at the age of 3 and a half years old, and at the age of 9 he had already passed the RCM piano level 10 exam. When his family moved to Victoria in 2018, he continued his piano studies with University of Victoria Professor of piano, Arthur Rowe.

Patrick has been a laureate in many competitions. He has been a frequent winner in several GVPAF (Greater Victoria Performing Arts Festival) classes for several years. In 2022 he won 1st place in the Canada West Performing Arts Festival in the 12 & under category, as well as 2nd place in the Don Chrysler (Sooke Orchestra) Concerto Competition. In 2023 he took 1st place in the Don Chrysler competition, and performed Mendelssohn’s 2nd piano concerto with the Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Yariv Aloni.

In March of 2025 Patrick was invited to audition at the renowned Curtis School of Music in Philadelphia, and this summer he looks forward to his first performances with the Victoria Symphony, at Butchart Gardens and at Symphony Splash, with a movement of Tchaikovsky’s first piano concerto.