Hailed as “ravishing” (New York Times) and possessing “sheer vocal proficiency, a bright, flexible voice, big but controlled, shaded with plentiful color” (Boston Globe), Canadian soprano Linda Tsatsanis enjoys a career that spans the concert hall, opera stage, movies, and television.
Ms. Tsatsanis’ concert performance ranges from oratorio to renaissance song to world premier performances such as a stunning arrangement made for her, cello and string orchestra of the Preludes of Bach's Cello Suites. Her versatility has made for a distinguished career taking her across the United States, Canada and Europe performing with groups such as the Tallis Scholars, Toronto Symphony, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Mark Morris Dance Group, Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Early Music Seattle, Pacific MusicWorks, Auburn Symphony, and Seattle Opera. Holding a Master’s degree from Indiana University specializing in Historical Performance, she has collaborated with the country’s most prominent Early Music chamber ensembles being presented by Pacific Baroque Festival, Indianapolis Early Music Festival, San Francisco Early Music Society, Early Music in Columbus, Renaissance and Baroque Society (Pittsburg), Early Music Now (Milwaukee), Magnolia Baroque Festival, Bloomington Early Music Festival, Dumbarton Oaks, and the Smithsonian National Gallery of Art. Mixing studied knowledge of this era along with her unique artistry Ms. Tsatsanis has been praised for breathing a new life into this ancient repertoire.
Her passion for chamber music, which appeals to her sense of expression and musicality, has also lead her to perform contemporary works especially those of unusual pairings. Her performance of William Bolcom’s Let Evening Come brought her to Carnegie Hall in 2016 as part of their 125th anniversary season. In celebration of Mr. Bolcom’s 80th Birthday in 2018, Ms. Tsatsanis had the pleasure of performing for the composer himself at Merkin Hall in New York City. The program, showcasing the wide range of styles and expressions of Bolcom, in turn showed off Ms. Tsatsanis’ range having a “consistently silky tone in all registers” in Let Evening Come while “the sweet-toned Tsatsanis played the disingenuous ingénue as the title character in Amor, walking through town with a wiggle that distracted the police officer, the ice-cream man, and the judge from their work. She waxed wistful in the smoky ballad Waitin, and sketched a shadowy portrait of Black Max…” (New York Classical Review) This project brought Ms. Tsatsanis close to both Mr. Bolcom and Ms. Morris (for whom the cabaret songs were written) and she has cherished every moment working with them and looks forward to more collaboration in the future.
Her debut solo album with Origin Classical, And I Remain: Three Love Stories, was described as a “seductive recital of the darker sides of 17th-century love” by Gramophone Magazine. Her past collaboration with the Mark Morris Dance Group was the inspiration for her most recent album, Beethoven alla Britannia with Centaur Records released in 2016. She can be heard on the Emmy-nominated PBS documentary When Seattle Invented the Future, various recordings by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Naxos.
Past opera roles include First Soprano in The Combat (Seattle Opera), Semele in Handel's Semele and Agrippina in Handel’s Agrippina (Portland Baroque Opera), Jonathas in Charpentier’s David et Jonathas (Helios Opera), Colombina in Haydn’s Die Feuersbrunst (Northwest Puppet Opera), Una Ingrata in Monteverdi’s Ballo dell’Ingrate (Pacific MusicWorks), Valletto in Monteverdi’s L'incoronazione di Poppea (Early Music Guild), Venus in Blow’s Venus and Adonis (Anima e Corpo), and Fanny in Arne’s The Cooper (Bloomington Early Music Festival).
She was winner of the Ladies Musical Club of Seattle Frances Walton Competition, the Unicorn (first place) and Audience Award of the Early Music America Renaissance Competition, the Madge Wilson Music Scholarship from Indiana University, and the Alta Lind Cook Prize from the University of Toronto.
Ms. Tsatsanis received her undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto and continued her education with a Master’s degree at Indiana University in the studio of Alan Bennett, working with Early Music Institute faculty such as Nigel North, Elisabeth Wright, Paul Elliott and Wendy Gillespie. Currently, she is a Visiting Scholar at the University of Washington.
Ms. Tsatsanis’ concert performance ranges from oratorio to renaissance song to world premier performances such as a stunning arrangement made for her, cello and string orchestra of the Preludes of Bach's Cello Suites. Her versatility has made for a distinguished career taking her across the United States, Canada and Europe performing with groups such as the Tallis Scholars, Toronto Symphony, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Mark Morris Dance Group, Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Early Music Seattle, Pacific MusicWorks, Auburn Symphony, and Seattle Opera. Holding a Master’s degree from Indiana University specializing in Historical Performance, she has collaborated with the country’s most prominent Early Music chamber ensembles being presented by Pacific Baroque Festival, Indianapolis Early Music Festival, San Francisco Early Music Society, Early Music in Columbus, Renaissance and Baroque Society (Pittsburg), Early Music Now (Milwaukee), Magnolia Baroque Festival, Bloomington Early Music Festival, Dumbarton Oaks, and the Smithsonian National Gallery of Art. Mixing studied knowledge of this era along with her unique artistry Ms. Tsatsanis has been praised for breathing a new life into this ancient repertoire.
Her passion for chamber music, which appeals to her sense of expression and musicality, has also lead her to perform contemporary works especially those of unusual pairings. Her performance of William Bolcom’s Let Evening Come brought her to Carnegie Hall in 2016 as part of their 125th anniversary season. In celebration of Mr. Bolcom’s 80th Birthday in 2018, Ms. Tsatsanis had the pleasure of performing for the composer himself at Merkin Hall in New York City. The program, showcasing the wide range of styles and expressions of Bolcom, in turn showed off Ms. Tsatsanis’ range having a “consistently silky tone in all registers” in Let Evening Come while “the sweet-toned Tsatsanis played the disingenuous ingénue as the title character in Amor, walking through town with a wiggle that distracted the police officer, the ice-cream man, and the judge from their work. She waxed wistful in the smoky ballad Waitin, and sketched a shadowy portrait of Black Max…” (New York Classical Review) This project brought Ms. Tsatsanis close to both Mr. Bolcom and Ms. Morris (for whom the cabaret songs were written) and she has cherished every moment working with them and looks forward to more collaboration in the future.
Her debut solo album with Origin Classical, And I Remain: Three Love Stories, was described as a “seductive recital of the darker sides of 17th-century love” by Gramophone Magazine. Her past collaboration with the Mark Morris Dance Group was the inspiration for her most recent album, Beethoven alla Britannia with Centaur Records released in 2016. She can be heard on the Emmy-nominated PBS documentary When Seattle Invented the Future, various recordings by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Naxos.
Past opera roles include First Soprano in The Combat (Seattle Opera), Semele in Handel's Semele and Agrippina in Handel’s Agrippina (Portland Baroque Opera), Jonathas in Charpentier’s David et Jonathas (Helios Opera), Colombina in Haydn’s Die Feuersbrunst (Northwest Puppet Opera), Una Ingrata in Monteverdi’s Ballo dell’Ingrate (Pacific MusicWorks), Valletto in Monteverdi’s L'incoronazione di Poppea (Early Music Guild), Venus in Blow’s Venus and Adonis (Anima e Corpo), and Fanny in Arne’s The Cooper (Bloomington Early Music Festival).
She was winner of the Ladies Musical Club of Seattle Frances Walton Competition, the Unicorn (first place) and Audience Award of the Early Music America Renaissance Competition, the Madge Wilson Music Scholarship from Indiana University, and the Alta Lind Cook Prize from the University of Toronto.
Ms. Tsatsanis received her undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto and continued her education with a Master’s degree at Indiana University in the studio of Alan Bennett, working with Early Music Institute faculty such as Nigel North, Elisabeth Wright, Paul Elliott and Wendy Gillespie. Currently, she is a Visiting Scholar at the University of Washington.