Bio
"Wearing a stunning scarlet Métis sash draped diagonally over her shoulder, Métis soprano Melody Courage gave a nuanced, sincere, deeply moving performance. She has a clear, powerful upper reg ister, with beautifully floated piano notes" Natasha Gauthier Artsfile
I acknowledge and am grateful to live and work on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Métis soprano Melody Courage gained national attention as The Native Girl “...played with ethereal grace ...” in the 2017 world premiere of Marie Clements and Brian Current’s opera Missing, co-produced by City Opera Vancouver and Pacific Opera Victoria. Missing gives voice, in English and Gitxsan, to the story of Canada’s missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Vancouver-based Melody, of Dene, Cree and Chipewyan descent, is much in demand by composers, with recent performances in Heart of the North (Neil Weisensel, Susanne Steele) written in languages of the Métis - Saulteaux, Michif and French, premiered by Regina Symphony Orchestra. During the pandemic, Melody premiered Ian Cusson’s Winter with the Canadian Opera Company in their digital concert series and was a guest artist at National Indigenous Peoples
Day in June 2022, broadcast on APTN.
Engagements for Melody in the current season include her debut as Chrisann in Calgary Opera’s production of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, Messiah with Vancouver Bach Choir, and a recital with Marion Newman, Evan Korbut and pianist Gordon Gerrard with Toronto’s Music in the Afternoon. Melody sings the role of Countess in scenes from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro with Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
In Toronto, Melody starred in Two Odysseys: Pimooteewin/ Gállábártnit presented by Soundstreams Canada and Signal Theatre, directed by Michael Greyeyes/Cole Alvis, composed by Melissa Hui/Britta Byström. These two operas, sung in Cree and Sàmi, are rooted in traditional tales from Canada and
Nordic countries.