Maureen Batt

Maureen Batt (she/her) is celebrated for her “rich, warm sound and masterful acting” (Opera Canada). Maureen focuses on celebrating Western classical contemporary repertoire by collaborating with established and emerging composers to commission, première, and re-perform their works.

Discography: Her latest album, Lighthouse (August 2021), is a collaboration with Grej, and follows a journey of grief through a love story, combining classical and electronic genres. This album won ECMA Classical Recording of the Year 2022. Other recent releases include: Aunt Helen (May 2021), a one-act opera by Monica Pearce about Dr. Helen Creighton nominated for Music Nova Scotia’s Classical Recording of the Year (2021); and Mirror, Mirror (March 2021), a one-act opera by Anna Pidgorna about the Grimm fairy tale Snow White. Her debut album, Lady of the Lake includes song cycles by Schubert and Halifax-based composer Fiona Ryan and was nominated for Classical Recording of the Year (2018) by ECMA and Music Nova Scotia. Maureen is also featured on Breathing in the Shadows (2020) singing a cycle by Iranian-Canadian composer Saman Shahi for which he received a 2022 JUNO nomination. All releases are on Leaf Music, distributed through Naxos, and available for purchase and streaming on all platforms.

Maureen is the co-artistic director of Essential Opera—an opera company founded in 2010 with Erin Bardua. In 2015, Maureen founded Crossing Borders, a contemporary Western classical recital series which has toured programs of art song, opera arias, musical theatre, and electronics to the United States, Canada, and Colombia, as well as digital broadcasts.

She has been engaged by the Open Waters Festival, Vocalypse Productions, Orchestra Toronto, Classics by the Bay, Windsor Symphony Orchestra, VoiceBox, Toronto Operetta Theatre, Maritime Concert Opera, Opera Nova Scotia, New Hamburg Live!, Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound, Whale Song Theatre, The Toy Piano Composers, and performed as part of Neptune Theatre’s bonus features with her trio Diva Station.

Maureen has created many Canadian opera roles, including Helen (Aunt Helen), Dorothy Parker (Etiquette), Bride (Cake), and Top Priority Air Customer Service representative and security guard (December) by Monica Pearce; Anna (Regina) and Keri Ferrell (Hipster Grifter) by Elisha Denburg; Cindy (Heather: Cindy + Mindy =BFFS 4EVER) and Hannah (Hannah & Paige and the Zombie Pirates) by Christopher Thornborrow; Lorelie Henderson (Stockholm Syndrome) by Fiona Ryan; and Sister Mary Francis (Time of Trouble) by ElizabethRaum.

Maureen has been a regular vocal coach on faculty at the Halifax Summer Opera Festival, is a frequent festival adjudicator, and offers masterclasses and workshops on voice play. She is a Wholeness in Motion practitioner and does ongoing professional development on vocal pedagogy with Dr. Shannon Coates and Babette Lightner.

Maureen has a Master of Music from the University of Toronto, a Bachelor of Music from Dalhousie University, and a Bachelor of Arts from St. Thomas University (French and Spanish). She has received funding from the SOCAN Foundation, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, SSHRC, FACTOR, Music Nova Scotia, and Arts Nova Scotia. She is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Canadian Music Centre.

For more information and to listen to Maureen’s music visit maureenbatt.com and @maureenbattsoprano

Maureenbatt.com • FB: /maureenbattsoprano • Twitter: @operaredhead • Insta: @Maureenbattsoprano