Simone Osborne is a Canadian lyric and operatic

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

. She was one of the youngest-ever winners of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2008 at age 21. Osborne was born in British Columbia. She studied opera performance at the University of British Columbia and later joined the Canadian Opera Company's Studio Ensemble program. Prior to joining the COC, she busked on the streets of Toronto in order to be able to afford singing lessons. She is "considered one of Canada's most sought-after sopranos". She sings with the Canadian Opera Company and has also appeared with ensembles from around the world, including the New York City Opera, the

Vancouver Symphony The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The VSO performs at the Orpheum, which has been the orchestra's permanent home since 1977. With an annual operating budget of $16 million, it is ...

, and the

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...

. Her operatic roles have included Susanna in '' Le nozze di Figaro'', Gilda in '' Rigoletto'', and Pamina in '' Die Zauberflöte''. One of her performances of Pamina, with the Vancouver Opera, required her to learn an English and Musqueam adaptation. She also participated in the Viva Verdi! gala in Zurich in celebration of

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

's bicentennial. Osborne has received significant critical recognition. F. Paul Driscol of ''

Opera News ''Opera News'' is an American classical music magazine. It has been published since 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a non-profit organization located at Lincoln Center which was founded to engender the appreciation of opera and also support ...

'' called her a "lyric soprano with outstanding ability and impressive charm". Marilyn Horne, who Osborne cites as a mentor, said Osborne is "half athlete and half artist...She understands that voices need to be brilliant, dark and bright, all at once". Osborne was the first winner of the Jeunesses Musicales Canada's Maureen Forrester Award Tour, which comprises two seasons of recitals across Canada and a commission from the

Canadian Art Song Project The Canadian Art Song Project (CASP) is a group that performs, records, promotes, and commissions the composition of Canadian vocal music in the tradition of art song and song cycles. The contemporary classical music group is based in Toronto an ...

. Osborne has also won the Marilyn Horne Foundation Vocal Competition at the Music Academy of the West in 2009, and the International Czech and Slovak Opera Competition.

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Simone Osborne
at Columbia Artists {{DEFAULTSORT:Osborne, Simone Canadian operatic sopranos Musicians from British Columbia University of British Columbia alumni Living people Winners of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Music Academy of the West alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Marilyn Horne Song Competition winners 21st-century Canadian women opera singers