AOIFE BONAVENTURA
Mezzo-soprano Aoife Bonaventura, a founding member of Luminous Voices, is a music graduate of the University of Toronto and the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, UK. She currently studies with Winston Noren at Mount Royal Conservatory, and has studied with Diane Forlano, Jean MacPhail, and Jonathan Papp. She was also a member of the core in the RAM production of Rameau’s Dardanus under the direction of Laurence Cummings.
Aoife sang as a chorister with the Opera Atelier productions of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and Acteon, the Toronto Symphony’s performance of Bach’s Magnificat with a select ensemble under the direction of Ivars Taurins, and three times with the International Festival Ensemble under Helmuth Rilling in Stuttgart, Germany. Currently, in addition to Luminous Voices, she performs often with VoiceScapes and La VIe. In addition to her musical education, she also holds an engineering degree from the University of Calgary. She works as a drilling engineer and is currently on maternity leave with her baby daughter.
JULIE FREEDMAN SMITH
Alto Julie Freedman Smith has been singing since childhood and has travelled the world with her music. A founding member of Luminous Voices, she loves to perform and to teach, having spent many years as a music teacher, voice instructor, choral conductor, soloist and clinician. Since 2002, she has encouraged parents across the country as co-founder of Parenting Power.
JULIA MILLEN
Julia Millen holds a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance (Lethbridge) and a Master of Music degree in musicology (Toronto). She has sung with Tafelmusik Chamber Choir and Opera Atelier. She has worked with Dr. Elmer Iseler, Lydia Adams, Kevin Mallon, Ivars Taurins, Jon Washburn, and Herve Niquet. She is principal alto in the Calgary Philharmonic Chorus, and a longtime member of the award-winning Spiritus Chamber Choir. She is a founding member of Luminous Voices.
Julia also has a career in science communications and environmental education, and is currently the community and partner relations team lead for Alberta Parks (Kananaskis Region). Her interests include hiking, botanizing, cross-country skiing, and insect illustration.
MEGHAN PRESCOTT
Meghan Prescott is originally from the Waterloo region of Ontario, Canada, where she studied piano, voice and violin at the Beckett School of Music, and was a student in the Eastwood Collegiate Arts Program. She spent three years travelling throughout the United States as a singer and vocal coach with Life Action Ministries. She studied voice with Stephanie Kramer at the University of Waterloo, taught piano and voice at the Guelph School of Music, and maintained a private piano studio for many years. A lifelong choral singer, Meghan sang seven seasons with the Grammy-nominated Elora Festival Singers (Noel Edison, director). She is also a founding member of Luminous Voices.
When she's not singing or at the office, she enjoys spending time in the mountains or exploring the city with her husband.
SARA STAPLES
Sara Staples, Mezzo-Soprano is an active performer across North America specializing in opera, concert work and in professional ensembles. She has performed the roles of Annie Davidson (Annie Davidson), Maria (The Sound of Music), La Suora Zelatrice (Suor Angelica), Fiamma with Mercury Opera, Hansel (Hansel and Gretel), Mercédès (Carmen), Doris Whithers (Mr. Moreover’s Magic), The Foreign Princess (Rusalka), Nancy (Albert Herring), Hermia (A Midsummer Night's Dream) and Hora (Egisto). Equally at home on the concert stage, Sara has been featured as a soloist with The Richard Eaton Singers, The Bow Valley Chorus, The Wild West New Music Ensemble, The Calgary Bach Society, Symphony of the Vines, Luminous Voices, Spiritus Chamber Choir, VoiceScapes and La VIe. She has also performed as a soloist at the Taipei International Choral Festival and the Boston Early Music Festival. Also an active recitalist, Ms. Staples has performed as a part of the Mountain View International Festival of Song & Chamber Music, The Paso Robles Paderewski Festival, The Sunday’s Live Concert series at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Casalmaggiore International Festival. Ms. Staples holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of North Texas and a Master of Music in Vocal Arts from the University of Southern California. Also a voice teacher in Calgary, Sara is passionate about arts education and the next generation of performing artists.
PATRICIA THOMPSON
Mezzo-soprano Patricia Thompson, a founding member of Luminous Voices, is the soloist you hear in Schubert's Ständchen (Zögernd leise) on Luminous Voices' award-winning Mendelssohn's Te Deum album. She has been a frequent soloist with the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra; the Bach Societies of Louisville, West Lafayette, IN and St. Louis; the Hale Library Concert Series; and the Masterworks Chorus of New Jersey, making her Carnegie Hall debut in 2009. She has sung with the famed Dale Warland Singers, where she was featured on the award-winning recordings Cathedral Classics and December Stillness with the Ensemble Singers of Vocalessence in Minneapolis.
In recital, Patricia has been praised for "bringing to the texts an expressive intensity, interpreting their emotional values with a sympathetic grasp that effectively revealed their inherent drama, all without sacrificing beauty of vocal production."
Patricia recently celebrated her 12th season as a recitalist and member of the Professional Chorale of the Carmel Bach Festival. She is a member and soloist of the Spire Chamber Ensemble of Kansas City. Also an enthusiastic jazz singer, her first vocal jazz album, It's Only Natural, will be released this winter. She holds degrees from St. Olaf College (BM), and Indiana University (MM and DM), and is Associate Professor of Voice at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas.