Though originally from Cleveland, she followed her Canadian roots up to Kitchener-Waterloo in 2013 to study voice at Wilfrid Laurier University. Midori went on to get both her Bachelors in Music and Opera Diploma there, before moving to Toronto in 2018 to pursue a Masters degree in Opera Performance at the University of Toronto.

She’s performed many opera roles over the years, and even spent the past summer in BANFF for their Opera in the 21st Century Program. She’s brought her own flair to characters like Don Giovanni ’s Zerlina, The Tender Land ’s Laurie and La Finta Giardiniera ’s Arminda, among others.

This season she’s singing Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro and Mary Crawford in Mansfield Park with U of T Opera, and she recently won both the First Prize and Audience Choice awards at the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio Competition.

Watching Midori perform has always been an amazing experience. She takes the air out of the room. People who don’t know her cheer for her. She has the ability to disappear into a character, but now and again, there is a moment. A flash. Blink and you’ll miss it. A moment where you can see just how much
fun she’s having doing her favourite thing in the world. I’m convinced that’s what makes her a joy to watch. It was never a wonder that Midori would take the stage by the cojones. Her entire world is a stage that she is constantly on. There are moments of comedy, drama, action and a lot of adventure, sometimes all at once.

Now, this is not to say that she is fake or playing pretend, quite the opposite. It is real and vibrant. It’s like watching a carefully crafted piece of performance art, and you get to star in it as well. She is always more than ready to share the stage. One moment she is sitting in the kitchen telling an anecdote, then suddenly she’s performing a dance routine with two sock puppets to Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Three little maids from school are we”, and then carefully crafting an impromptu sea shanty that would make a sailor blush. If you dare look away for one minute or tune out for a second, you’ve missed something magical. It is truly a whirlwind for the senses. When she is on stage, she is just herself: something that is larger than life.

Bio written by Evan Theriault and Chad Quigley, Midori’s roommates and two of her best friends.

What ‘hood are you in?

I’m living in the Parkdale area! Very convenient once a year for going to the CNE, lots of good places to eat, and so many friendly neighbourhood dogs!

What do you do?

I’m currently completing the second year of my Master’s degree in opera at U of T. It’s amazing, and busy! We put on three full operas a year, so there’s never a dull moment. Other than doing that, I love to draw, paint and write, eat good food, watch period dramas and cartoons, and SLEEP. I’m a pro napper.

What are you currently working on?

Currently working on the role of Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. It’s a doozy. But I love Susanna, she’s strong and funny, with lots of heart. Plus I get to wear a corset and a big skirt! Honestly more fun than you would think. And getting to play dress up at school, what could be better??

Where can we find your work?

You can find me on the stage of the MacMillan Theatre on November 22nd and 24th, singing Susanna! If you can’t come on those nights, see the other cast on November 21st and 23rd, they’re amazing and Nozze is just such a great show, there’s something for everyone. I’m also at least another few days, it’s a work in progress!

The post “A Day in the Life” with Toronto opera singer Midori Marsh appeared first on Toronto Guardian.

The program included spending a day learning and interacting with hands-on technology that celebrates science, technology, engineering and math, otherwise known as STEM.

Other partners of the event included Google Canada along with Actua, which is the country’s biggest STEM outreach charity.

Jennifer Flanagan, CEO of Actua talks about the National organization and how it has grown throughout the past two decades. “We have a network of 35 university and college-based member organizations…our member organizations are now delivering in 500 communities reaching in every province and territory and engaging about 250,000 kids each year,” she says.

Flanagan also talks about the different levels of implementation of the outreach program. “At the ground level, kids have always been excited about science and technology. That has not changed. They are curious and excited to try new things and eager to learn,” she says. “I think what has changed is the recognition of how important those early experiences are.”

“So when we first started at Actua, there weren’t science camps or coding camps like there are today, so we were really sort of leading a movement to recognise how important that engagement is.”

Focusing upon underrepresented minorities, Flanagan says that Actua has four major programs specifically designed for them. “One for girls and young women, one for indigenous youth called INSTEM, and we engage over 30,000 indigenous youth across the country every year. And we have a program that engages at-risk youth and the fourth is a program across the arctic.”

Dawn Britton is the director of the outreach office for the Engineering faculty at the University of Toronto. She explains how the university partnered with the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) two years ago to teach teachers and students how to code.

“For the past year and a half, we’ve seen 700 teachers and sort of worked with them to get excited and continue to bring technology into their classroom,” she says.

Britton also focuses upon the importance of females and indigenous Canadians within STEM, “Just over 40 per cent of our first year students are female. Of course there’s a lot to celebrate there but that also acknowledges that there’s a lot more work that needs to be done.”

She goes on to say, “The one thing that we have started to see is that there’s people, men and women, all backgrounds increasingly interested in technology and the STEM field.”

The University of Toronto has been a member of Actua Canada for almost 20 years. Britton explains that the partnership with TDSB only encouraged the institution to reach out to Actua and ask if they would like to get involved in bringing coding into classrooms.

Nicole, a Google representative who has also partnered for the outreach program talks about the importance of learning to code. The focus is on “trying to give STEM programming to kids that don’t get it. So they’re either underrepresented in STEM education or underrepresented in STEM careers. So it’s a lot of focusing on girls, focusing on at-risk youth,” she says.

When it comes to the different kinds of workshops, she says that all of them are mainly hands-on and easy to understand.

Readers can learn more and get involved through Actua Canada and their various camps. They can also check out the website of the University of Toronto for more engineering outreach programs.

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Nora Young, from CBC’s hit radio show, Spark, will emcee the evening that includes:

• Emerging Canadian designer and researcher Brady Peters presenting Architecture, Atmosphere, Computation;
• Toronto-based scholar, composer and artist, Mitchell Akiyama presenting Matter and Metaphor;
• Director of the Green Roof Innovation Testing Laboratory, Liat Margolis presenting Green Roofs: Interdisciplinary by Nature;
• Founding partner at the design practice Lateral Office, Mason White presenting Micro-environments;
• and Director of Visual Studies, Charles Stankievech presenting The Rare Earth Age of the Canadian Arctic.

Audience will get a first look at the exhibit housed at the U of T Art Museum (15 King’s College Circle) and discover some cutting edge innovations as well as  some of the most exciting ideas already shaping Canada’s present and future.

Tickets are free but you must register online at this link: Future Environments 

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