ELLITA GAGNER
Lyric Mezzo Soprano
Based in Montreal QC Canada
Canadian mezzo-soprano Ellita Gagner, currently based in Montreal Quebec, 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), Tetka (Jenufa), Dido (Dido and Aeneas), Lysistrata (Lysistrata), Hansel (Hansel and Gretel), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Tisbe (La Cenerentola), and Iphigenia (Disobedience). She has appeared with Opéra de Montréal, L’Orchestre de L’Agora, Opera Nova Scotia, the Brott Festival, London Community Orchestra, Maritime Concert Opera, Uxbridge Messiah Singers and Orchestra, Chorus Niagara, GoodMess Opera, and Can of Soup Collective.
A dedicated performer of contemporary music, Ellita has worked with leading and up and coming composers and librettists. Most recently she workshopped and presented scenes from Opéra Magnolia’s Opera Creation Forum in 2026. Some workshops include 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.
The 24-25 season saw Ellita perform as the Soprano II solist in Bach's B minor mass with Chorus Niagara, perform various recitals with the Royal Conservatory and Alto Solo in the Messiah with the Uxbridge Messiah Singers.
In the 26-27 season, she joins the Atelier Lyrique at the Opéra de Montréal for a second season where she will perform Célénia in Atys (Dawe), Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto, and Alto solo in Mozart’s Requiem. Also at the Opera de Montreal, she will cover Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier and Maddalena in Rigoletto. She will appear in The Messiah with Uxbridge Messiah Singers, in a solo recital at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance, and in scenes staged by Stephen Lawless. In December 2026, she will workshop the role of Young Hester in A Prayer for Owen Meany (Luna Pearl Wolf) for Pacific Opera Victoria.
She has been a young artist with Brott Opera, Toronto Summer Music, The Castleton Festival, Equilibrium Young Artists (with Barbara Hannigan), Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance, Rebanks Fellow (Glenn Gould School) and Manitoba Opera. She is a graduate of the Opera School at the University of Toronto and the Don Wright Faculty at the University of Western. She's studied with Dr. Patricia Green, Dr. Lorna MacDonald and Adrianne Pieczonka and currently studies with Laura Brooks Rice and Lena Hellström-Färnlöf and coaches with Martin Dubé and Richard Turp.
Biography
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Reviews
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Ombra mai fu - Xerxes - G. Handel
Che Faro Senza Euridice - C. Gluck
Listen
Noble Seigneur - G. Meyerbeer
Faites-lui mes aveux - Faust - C. Gounod
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Photos
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Siyavash (workshop) - Homa Samiee
Workshop Singer - The Storyteller
July 20-24
The Story of Siyavash is a deeply moving saga from the Shahnameh about a prince whose purity was tested by fire and whose tragic betrayal by two kings led to his martyrdom. Siyavash embodies the ultimate Persian ideals of innocence and integrity. His legacy endures in the red flowers of Iran, a lasting reminder that truth, though bloodied, is never forgotten.
Materials & Craftsmanship
Mozart's Requiem - L'Orchestre de L'Agora
Alto Soloist
October 21 and 22 2026
Salon Richmond 1861
The Orchestre de l’Agora and the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal invite the public to enjoy a unique experience centered on Mozart’s Requiem, in the immersive atmosphere of the Salon Richmond 1861, a former church in Little Burgundy. Far from a traditional concert, this production transforms listening into a sensory journey. Staged by Thomas Lussier, the Requiem unfolds around and among the audience, carried by the voices of the St. Andrew and St. Paul Church Choir and soloists Grace Buddolski, Ellita Gagner, Jeremy Scinocca, and Colin Mackey. Under the direction of Nicolas Ellis, this production offers a striking encounter with a timeless work.
Chants perdus: Les Tresors caches de Schubert
Soloist
November 25, 2026
Salle Bourgie
Seven young artists from the Atelier lyrique de l'Opéra de Montréal explore the world of Schubert through ensembles for solo voices and fragments of his Lieder, in reconstructions by musicologist Reinhard van Hoorickx, under the artistic direction of bass-baritone Christian Immler and pianist Francis Perron. A collaboration between the Atelier lyrique ODM and Salle Bourgie.Songs from Home
Solo Recital
November 28, 2026 - Lunenburg Academy of Musical Performance
A recital as part of the Alumni Series at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance. With roots in Porters Lake and Middleton in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, mezzo soprano Ellita Gagner wanted to see if it was possible to recreate the feeling of belonging in an east coast kitchen but in the concert hall. Weaving together folk music and music inspired by the folk music from other lands, Ellita moves between genres to retrace what it means to come home in song.
Materials & Craftsmanship
A Prayer for Owen Meany, Luna Pearl Woolf- Opera Magnolia x Pacific Opera Vancouver (Workshop)
Performer/Workshopper (Young Hester)
December 2026
Translated into more than thirty-five languages, A Prayer for Owen Meany is Canadian-American Author John Irving’s all-time best-selling novel, in every language.
The novel begins:I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice – not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother’s death…
Following Johnny Wheelwright, his friend “THE VOICE” Owen, and John’s fiery cousin Hester, the opera captures Irving’s dynamic, often hilarious and sometimes heartbreaking moments and characters, escalating to the climatic episode that reveals the miracle of Owen Meany’s faith and power. John is left to endlessly feel the impact of Owen’s overwhelming belief, in an increasingly unfathomable world. Meanwhile Hester’s on-stage grunge-rock stardom is her outlet for grappling with the unthinkable.Materials & Craftsmanship
The Messiah - Uxbridge Messiah Singers
Alto Soloist
December 14th and 15th, 2026 - Uxbridge Baptist Church
Probably Handel’s most famous work, Messiah (1741) is the only composition of its time to be performed continuously since its premiere in Dublin on April 12, 1742. The remarkable frequency of its performance was due in part to the accessibility of the score (which was published in 1767), and its enduring popularity owes much to the unique qualities of its text and the ways Handel set it to music.
La Tragedie d'Atys - Ballet Opera Pantomime x Opera de Montreal
Célénia
March 25, 26, 27 2027
Salle Ludger-Duvernay
Drawing on the resources of opera, contemporary theatre, and dance, American composer Jonathan Dawe and multidisciplinary artist Stéphanie Jasmin rewrite the musical tragedy Atys (1676) by Jean-Baptiste Lully and Philippe Quinault, overlaying the traces of the original work with the outlines of a new narrative and new music, like a palimpsest. Drawing on the Baroque fascination with trompe-l’œil and the world of dreams, the show will incorporate the sounds of ancient instruments to move the audience imperceptibly between epochs and offer glimpses of bygone worlds.
Rigoletto
Countess Ceprano
May 1, 4, 6, 9, 2027
Salle Wilfred-Pelletier
Under the direction of François Racine, this staging revisits Victor Hugo’s Le Roi s’amuse with intensity, exposing a world where passion, authority, and moral corruption collide.
A bitter jester in the service of a predatory duke, Rigoletto believes he’s untouchable — until the cruelty he helps fuel comes crashing back onto his own life. His daughter Gilda, sheltered from the world, falls in love with the same duke without knowing who he really is. Manipulation, betrayal, vengeance: the tension tightens around father and daughter, propelling them toward a fate as devastating as it is inevitable. Even the purest love offers no protection here.