海角社区

Teiya Kasahara 笠原 貞野 (they/them) became an opera singer as a teen but it took two decades to become an intentional artist. This talk chronicles Teiya’s journey from opera singer to ethical artist through queer, trans and racialized self-awareness, and what these identities mean for how they make art in meaningful ways.? We are also fortunate to have the evening and the month opened by our invited Elder Sedalia Kawennotas Fazio.

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Presenters

Sedalia Kawennotas Fazio. Mohawk Elder, Bear Clan from Kahnawá:ke. Founder and Director of first Sweat Lodge in Montreal.

Teiya Kasahara . Nikkei-Canadian settler (they/them) is a queer, trans non-binary, interdisciplinary creator-performer based in Tkarón:to (Treaty 13). Heralded as “a force of nature” (Toronto Star) and “an artist with extraordinary things to say” (The Globe and Mail), Teiya comes from a background of over 15 years of singing both opera and concert roles, most recently (Windsor Symphony), and the soprano solo in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (Vancouver Symphony). They explore the intersections of identity through their original works including the 2022 world premiere of (Canadian Opera Company/Amplified Opera/Nightwood Theatre/Theatre Gargantua), and which was in development as the 2021-2022 artist-in-residence at the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies (University of Toronto). Teiya is a co-founder of , and is the 2022 recipient of the Joseph S. Stauffer Prize in Music from the Canada Council for the Arts.