Two McGill alumns at San Francisco Opera
Two former students are heading to the Merola opera program at the San Francisco Opera this summer: Rihab Chaieb, mezzo-soprano and Michael Shannon, pianist/coach.
While at the Schulich School of Music, Rihab sang Baba the Turk in The Rakes Progress, Soeur Mathilde in Dialogues des Carmelites, and the title roles in both Dido and Carmen during her BMus degree before heading off to the Canadian Opera Company Young Artist program. She was a student of Winston Purdy and Sanford Sylvan. Michael played numerous operas while at Schulich, and spent two summers in Brevard with Patrick Hansen, Director of Opera McGill, playing repertoire from Hello Dolly to Alcina. He heads to the COC this fall after spending this year at Syracuse Opera. Rihab Chaieb and Michael Shanno join the ranks of Lara Ciekiewicz, Philippe Sly, and Gordon Bintner - all recent alumni –in spending a summer with the Merola opera program. Merola is considered by many to be the top operatic summer program in the world.