Meet Yanik!

Originally from the Lake Temiskaming area of northeastern Ontario, Yanik Gosselin is now based in Kjipuktuk (Halifax). In 2022, Yanik was invited to take part in Tapestry Opera’s New Opera 101 workshop and performed in Songbook XI, the company’s first concert with a live audience since March 2020. He is currently developing several concert ideas that take inspiration from beloved German song cycles to tell contemporary stories. Yanik always seeks to contribute to the growth of the Canadian opera sector by collaborating on innovative works. He will make his role debut as Ernesto in Don Pasquale at the Under the Spire Music Festival (Kensington, PEI) in the summer of 2022.

As a member of the Association for Opera in Canada’s 2021-2022 RBC Future Launch Fellowship program, Yanik worked on exploring how to contribute to the growth of the Canadian opera sector and become a leader in the industry while being a committed collaborative artist. Through this mentorship program, he was paired with the baritone Jorell Williams.

In 2021, he participated in Lucky Penny Opera’s 48-Hour Opera Project for which he collaborated on creating a short abstract virtual opera called The Box. He has attended several programs at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance to learn from Jane Archibald, Will Crutchfield, Michael Shannon and Jonathon Adams.

In 2020, Yanik completed his MMus in Opera and Voice at McGill University. For the 2018-2019 season, he sang the role of Ruggiero in Opera McGill’s production of Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola d’Alcina (Canadian premiere) and was the tenor soloist for McGill’s performance of Honegger’s Le Roi David. Yanik sang the tenor solos in Bach’s Magnificat with the Da Capo Ensemble of Montreal. Notable engagements that were canceled in 2020 include the role of Acis in Opera McGill’s production of Handel’s Acis and Galatea, as well as a recital with pianist Kerry Agnew celebrating the recital career of English tenor Peter Pears.

During his undergraduate studies at the University of Ottawa, Yanik has sung in several of the university’s opera productions (Le nozze di Figaro, Carmen, Die Zauberflöte, Die Fledermaus). He has sung with various vocal ensembles in Ottawa and was in the National Arts Centre’s Young Artists Program in 2018 and 2019 where he worked with Arianna Zukerman and Bryan Wagorn. To celebrate the NAC’s 50th anniversary, he was invited to perform a recital with Natalie Hoffmann (harp) and Lindsay Bryden (flute) in the new Glass Thorsteinson Staircase. In July 2019, he joined the first Baroque Vocal Workshop at the Heifetz International Music Institute, where he worked with conductor David Stern on Handel’s Jephtha.

Yanik is particularly interested in the art song repertoire (particularly Schubert, Britten, and contemporary art song) and 1970s rock (from glam- to prog-), and is passionate about storytelling in all its forms. As a performer, Yanik finds creative freedom in transcending genres and artistic disciplines, and seeks innovative ways to tell new stories through music while engaging with audiences.