Current Emerging Artists

Delaney Dam

Mezzo-soprano

Delaney Dam is a mezzo-soprano from Waterloo, Ontario, and has been singing for as long as she can remember. She earned her Honours Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Wilfrid Laurier University, where she is currently pursuing a Diploma in Opera, studying under renowned Canadian mezzo-soprano Allyson McHardy.

Delaney’s recent stage roles include The Witch in Hansel and Gretel (Grand River Opera), Jo in Little Women (Opera Laurier), and The Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods (Opera Laurier). She has also performed in the chorus for La Traviata with Brott Opera and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, and has sung excerpts from The Magic Flute, Cendrillon, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Dido and Aeneas.

Beyond her operatic achievements, Delaney is deeply rooted in choral music, having sung with several choirs, including the Grand Philharmonic Youth Choir, the Maureen Forrester Singers, and the Grand River Chorus. These experiences have allowed her to cultivate a strong connection to community music-making, which remains one of her greatest sources of joy. Delaney is dedicated to sharing the beauty of music with others and is thrilled to be joining Arcady this season!

Ben Wallace

Baritone, conductor, & pianist

Ben Wallace is a “versatile and vocally powerful” (Opera Canada) baritone, conductor, and pianist currently studying at the University of Toronto with Wendy Nielsen. He was the recipient of the Laurier Alumni Gold Medal, a finalist for UofT’s Norcop Prize in Song, and a winner of the Laurier Concerto Competition. 

Recent solo performances include Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia (Highlands Opera Studio), Pandolfe in Cendrillon (UofT Opera), Le Dancaïre/Moralès in Carmen (Southern Ontario Lyric Opera), Billy Bigelow in Carousel (Cambridge Symphony/P&P), Duruflé’s Requiem (Grand Philharmonic Choir), Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem (Symphony in the Barn), John Brooke in Little Women (Opera Laurier), and Barone Douphol/Dottore Grenvil in La traviata (KW Symphony). Last June, Ben travelled to the Banff Centre to workshop a new chamber opera by Ian Cusson and Royce Vavrek. This season at UofT, he will be appearing as Guglielmo in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Prospero in Saariaho’s Tempest Songbook, and Bartley in Vaughan Williams’ Riders to the Sea. 

Ben formed his own KW-based chamber choir and orchestra in 2022 and has since conducted the world premières of three choral works by Canadian composer Justin Lapierre. He has also served as the music director for productions of Cabaret, Matilda (Royal City Musical Productions), Company, The Last Five Years, and In View: The Lyrics of Gord Downie (Downtown Theatre Project).

Austin Larusson

Baritone/bass

Praised for his “fine baritone voice” (The Brooklyn Eagle), “Austin Larusson sang beautifully”, “offering us luxury vocals” (barczablog.com), “Austin Larusson’s Crespel was a very effective and even touching foil” (John Gilks operarambling.blog), Austin’s previous concert appearances include the bass soloist in the Messiah, the baritone soloist in the Brahms Requiem, and the baritone soloist in the Faure Requiem. Recent appearances include both Ariodate and Elviro in Xerxes with Summer Opera Lyric Theatre, Carretero/Corregidor in El huésped del Sevillano with Toronto Operetta Theatre, Noodler in Peter Pan and the Wendy Lady and Tales of the Grotesque as Hugo with White Mills Theatre, Morales and covering Escamillo in Carmen, Elder McLean in Susannah, Die Fledermaus as Frank, Don Giovanni as Masetto and Tosca as the Sacristan and covering Scarpia with Toronto City Opera, and Conte Ceprano in Rigoletto with Opera York. Instagram: @austinlarusson YouTube: @ilcontealmaviva1

Lindsay Scott

Soprano & composer

Lindsay Scott is in the fourth year of her Bachelor of Music degree in Self Directed Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. She is currently studying vocal performance with James McLean and composition with Matthew Emery. Lindsay is a passionate performer and composer, who is actively involved in Laurier’s student composer concerts and classical performance recitals. Lindsay’s compositional works span various genres and instrumentations such as classical and contemporary works for choir, chamber orchestra, string quartet, and voice. Lindsay is the musical director of Laurier’s acapella group ‘Hawkapella’, an emerging artist with the Grand River Chorus, and teaches voice, violin, and guitar at the Kitchener Academy of Music. Lindsay has been immersed in choral singing in the premiere of Justin Lapierre’s Mass of St. Anne (2022), Stabat Mater (2023), and One Thousand Shields of Gold (2024), and in the Guelph Chamber Choir as a Neufeld Emerging Artist (2024/2025). Lindsay looks forward to performing her own art song composition at Laurier’s upcoming student composer concert, performing in Opera Laurier’s Le nozze di Figaro as Cherubino, and joining the Arcady ensemble as an RBC Emerging Artist!

Alexander Cappellazzo

Tenor

Singing with “clarity and richness of voice” (Opera Canada), “force and strength” (National Capital Opera Society) and “easy delivery and fearless command of his upper register” (Barcza Blog), Torontonian tenor Alexander Cappellazzo’s performing career of 32 different roles includes Tamino, Lensky, Acis, Don Ottavio, and Oronte to name a few. Alexander sings with companies across Canada including: VOICEBOX: Opera In Concert, Toronto City Opera, Toronto Operetta Theatre, Opera By Request, OperOttawa, and the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra, as well as choirs including the Trinity Bach Project, Jubilate Singers, Brott Festival, and Metropolitan United Church.

In 2022, Alexander founded Apocryphonia and Diapente Vocal Quintet, dedicated to live performances of rare and underperformed classical music such as Renaissance Mexican Christmas music, Azerbaijani opera arias, and Norfolk sailor songs.

Alex holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Vocal Performance and Opera from Montreal’s McGill University and is a member of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society.

Jordan Baldwin

Tenor/Countertenor

Jordan Baldwin is a classical musician residing in Toronto. He recently completed his MMus in Historical Performance at the University of Toronto under the guidance of Jean MacPhail and Daniel Taylor. His studies were supported through the Dame Emma Kirkby and Suzie Leblanc Graduate Scholarship. In 2023, Jordan was a finalist in the National Capital Opera Competition in Ottawa, where he received the third prize. This past summer Jordan sang the role of Arsamenes with Summer Opera Lyric Theatre in Toronto. Jordan is an avid choral singer and also enjoys playing the violin and song writing in his spare time.

Caleb Alexander

Tenor

Caleb Alexander recently received his MM in Voice from San Francisco Conservatory of Music and his BM in voice from California Institute of the Arts. There, he developed a passion for new music, including the works of Jake Heggie with whom Caleb had the privilege of personally working at SongFest at the Colburn School of Music. Caleb was selected for the Poland Endowed Scholarship Award for Classical Voice, 2022 and 2023, and a recipient of the Dumont Scholarship Award for Voice, 2019 through 2020. 

Caleb performs regularly around the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond, recently appearing with Livermore Valley Opera, Opera Parallele, Santa Cruz Opera Project, and West Edge Opera Festival. Caleb most recently made his debut as Alfredo in La Traviata with Verismo Opera Company. He has also spent the previous two years as a Teaching Artist with the San Francisco Opera Guild, performing the roles of Ramiro in La Cenerentola and Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore. Caleb was privileged to perform as a soloist at Summer Music Festivals in Assisi, Italy, including special performances at the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi.

Anjelique Croteau

Mezzo-soprano

Anjelique Croteau is a French-Canadian mezzo-soprano based in London, Ontario, originally trained as a stage actor. She has most recently enjoyed the roles of Third Lady in Mozart’s Magic Flute and Mistress Quickly in Verdi’s Falstaff, both with Western University. She has also performed the role of Diana in Dean Burry’s Pandora’s Locker with Can of Soup in London, Ontario, as well as Valetto in Opera Nuova’s production of Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea. Her concert work includes In Pacem, as a soloist with the Stratford Concert Choir, performing selections of Haydn. In addition, she has enjoyed spearheading local outreach concerts with the Canadian Club and London Club. Anjelique greatly values her education and is proud to be a Dean’s List Graduate from Western University with an Honours Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance and a minor in Italian. Anjelique is currently studying for her Masters of Music in Voice Performance and Literature at Western University. Apart from her studies, she is a choral scholar at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, and enjoys being a spokesperson for body-positivity within her writing and on social media. Storytelling is one of her greatest passions whether it be under the heat of the lights or ink of a pen, Anjelique truly enjoys sinking her teeth into each character’s story splayed before her. Anjelique’s love of music, poetry, and languages combined lead her to find opera. She is passionate about the healing capabilities of the arts and hopes that in her performances she can help at least one audience member to feel something special. She asks that you follow with an open heart the journey that music takes all of us on.

Zoë, Lilly, and Cosette Holliday

Dancers

Zoë, Lilly, and Cosette Holliday are triplet dancers and musicians very excited to be performing with Arcady in this year’s production of Ruth. Beginning their dance training at the age 3 of three at Jo Read School of Dance, they currently continue to choreograph and dance with Western University’s HEAT Dance Team. They are internationally award-winning dancers both as a team and individually through various competitions, and were privileged to perform in the 2025 Solar Fusion Showcase in Tyler Hutchings’ Moriari. Zoë additionally performed in Taylor Collis’ Malus and The Normal People Collective’s Love is Everywhere. All three are also pianists, while Cosette is a soprano currently studying under Torin Chiles in her third year at Western University, where she has participated in various opera and galas as a singer, choreographer and scene director. She is additionally completing a second degree in English Literature concurrently. Zoë and Lilly are both studying Medical Sciences at Western, respectively specializing in Medical BioPhysics (a large influence on Zoë’s choreographic concepts such as in Gravity Falls) and Integrated Medicinal Studies.