About
Canadian mezzo-soprano Ellita Gagner has been praised for her “gorgeous, warm tone and winning gamine personality” (Gianmarco Segato, La Scena Musicale).
Ellita has performed leading and supporting roles across Canada, including Cendrillon (Cendrillon), L’Enfant (L’Enfant et les Sortilèges), Lysistrata (Lysistrata), Hansel (Hansel and Gretel), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Tisbe (La Cenerentola), and Iphigenia (Disobedience). She has appeared with Opera Nova Scotia, the Brott Festival, London Community Orchestra, Uxbridge Messiah Singers and Orchestra, GoodMess Opera, and Can of Soup Collective.
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​ A dedicated performer of contemporary music, Ellita has worked with leading and up and coming composers and librettists. She workshopped the role of Gabby for the Royal Swedish Opera’s Melancholia by Mikael Karlsson and Royce Vavrek, as well as Mimi in scenes from Indians on Vacation by Ian Cusson and Royce Vavrek.​
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Ellita has been fortunate to be a part of several young artist programs in Canada and the United States. She is currently a Rebanks Fellow at the Royal Conservatory, and an Equilibrium Young Artist. In the summer of 2024, Ellita attended the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance through Barbara Hannigan's Equilibrium Program where she performed Ottorino Respighi’s Il Tramonto with a string quartet. Later in 2024, she participated as a finalist in the Opéra de Montréal National Auditions Gala.
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In 2025, Ellita was a young artist with the Castleton Festival, where she had the opportunity to work with esteemed artists Paul Groves, Michelle DeYoung, Ben Malensek, and Robert Grayson. As part of the festival’s opera scenes program, she performed Octavian in the Presentation of the Rose from Der Rosenkavalier and Béatrice in the trio from Béatrice et Bénédict.
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The 2025-26 season will see Ellita debut with Chorus Niagara in the Bach B- Mass, perform a solo recital at the Royal Conservatory, and perform a solo recital as a part of the Nine Sparrows Concert Series. She will also be joining the Atelier Lyrique at the Opéra de Montréal this season where she will perform several roles.
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​ She has also been a young artist with Brott Opera and Manitoba Opera. She is a graduate of the Opera School at the University of Toronto and the University of Western where she studied with Patricia Green and currently studies with Dr. Lorna MacDonald and Adrianne Pieczonka.
[Her voice] It’s got a dark sexy quality that really suits Carmen
- John Gilkes, Opera Ramblings.
The more impulsive Dorabella sang with style
-Opera Canada Magazine
As Lucette, mezzo-soprano Ellita Gagner showed off a gorgeous, warm tone and winning, gamine personality
-Gianmarco Segato, La Scena Musicale
Artistic Statement
I believe in the importance of bringing the sounds of classical voice to new audiences. As an artist from rural Ontario, it was by chance that I was exposed to and educated in classical music. It is fundamental to my art that every performance features an underlying authenticity that reflects the human experience. I'm driven to create approachable and accessible spaces in the operatic repertoire, bringing it back to its roots in community and collective experience. It is powerful to touch someone who knows and loves opera but to connect with someone like my Dad, who grew up on Johnny Cash and AC/DC, is an opportunity to open doors for another person to enjoy this rich and diverse art.
Photos
"The tender and touching duet of Lucette (Gagner) and Pandolfe (Wallace) in the third act was nuanced singing at its finest"
- Albert Wong, Ludwig Van Toronto
Events
Chorus Niagara: Bach B Minor Mass
Soprano II Soloist
May 3, 2025 @7:30pm
Celebrate Robert Cooper’s 35th anniversary, and farewell season of artistic leadership, with the grand emotional span of Bach’s magnum opus Mass in B Minor. Majestic in its complexity and sweep, Bach’s transcendent Mass in B Minor is undoubtedly his most spectacular choral work with its sizzling choruses, sublime solos and virtuoso orchestral ensembles rendering it one of the most joyous of musical experiences in the western choral canon.
Rebanks: The Glenn Gould School
Vocal Fellow 2024-2025
The Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Performance Residency Program at The Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School is the only one of its kind in Canada, offering a rich curriculum for career development. Alumni of the program grace the world’s great stages, including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall and Koerner Hall, perform with major orchestras in Canada and abroad, and are members of leading chamber ensembles such as The ARC Ensemble and The Rolston Quartet.
Recital
Featured Soloist
April 2, 2025
Mazzolini Hall
Solo and chamber works are performed by young artists on the cusp of major careers, who are enrolled in The Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Performance Residency Program at The Glenn Gould School.
Chorus Niagara: Bach B Minor Mass
Soprano II Soloist
May 3, 2025 @7:30pm
Partridge Hall, St Catherines
Celebrate Robert Cooper’s 35th anniversary, and farewell season of artistic leadership, with the grand emotional span of Bach’s magnum opus Mass in B Minor. Majestic in its complexity and sweep, Bach’s transcendent Mass in B Minor is undoubtedly his most spectacular choral work with its sizzling choruses, sublime solos and virtuoso orchestral ensembles rendering it one of the most joyous of musical experiences in the western choral canon.
Contact
The development of this website, including many photos were generously supported by the Ontario Arts Council