A couple of days ago I sat down to chat with Natalya Gennadi who will sing the title role in Tapestry’s upcoming premiere of Oksana G by Aaron Gervais and Colleen Murphy.  It’s a story about a Ukrainian girl who gets caught up with a sex-trafficking ring; an all too real phenomenon in Eastern and Central Europe as the Soviet system disintegrated.  For Natalya it’s a very personal piece.  She is Ukrainian and much the same age as Oksana would be.  It’s her era and Oksana is, she feels, a similar sort of person from a similar background and there but for…

Thankfully, Natalya’ “career path” has been rather different.  She didn’t set out to be a singer.  In fact she trained in linguistics before applying to, and being accepted by the Moscow Conservatory though she never studied there.  Instead she moved to Ottawa with her husband where she began to study music formsally.  With a degree from the University of Ottawa she came to Toronto to study for her masters.  Along the way she appeared in a number of student productions and since graduating has been keeping busy with roles mainly with opera companies and orchestras in the Toronto suburbs(*); most recently in the title role of Suor Angelica with Cathedral Bluffs and the countess in Le nozze di Figaro with the Brott Festival.  The latter representing something of a vocal shift from Puccini and the like to lighter rep.  This is something that she sees as an important (if slightly unusual) career direction.  There have also been competitions and the Karina Gauvin scholarship and a “career blueprint” award from the IRCPA.

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