Italian-Canadian Mezzo Soprano, Danielle MacMillan was a member of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio. Ms. MacMillan made her Canadian Opera Company debut as the Second Niece in Britten’s Peter Grimes. She holds a bachelor of fine arts, with honours, in classical vocal performance from York University, with additional training at Istituzione Teatro Lirico Sperimentale di Spoleto, in Italy and The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory of Music.

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Her credits include: Diana in La Calisto, Cavalli, Second Lady in The Magic Flute, Mozart, Véronique in Le docteur Miracle, Bizet (GGS), Annio in La clemenza di Tito, Mozart (COSI), Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Mozart and Siebel in Faust, Gounod (HOS). Ms.MacMillan also appeared as Dorabella in the COC’s Ensemble Studio production of Cosí fan tutte, Mozart, and covered the role of Garcias in Don Quichotte, Massenet (COC). Ms. MacMillan joined Palm Beach Opera’s Benenson Young Artist Program in 2015 where she covered the roles of Mercedes in Carmen, Bizet and Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos, Strauss.

In their 2016/17 season Ms. MacMillan covered Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Puccini; Giovanna, and sang Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto, Verdi; and Edith in Pirates of Penzance, Gilbert and Sullivan. Danielle is a recipient of the IRCPA Maureen Forrester Scholarship, a winner of the St. Andrews Arts Council Aria Competition and a Regional Finalist prize winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in Denver, Colorado. Ms. MacMillan
returned to Palm Beach Opera as Cherubino in their 2018 season of Le nozze di Figaro and in 2019, making her role debut as Zerlina in Don Giovanni.

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After it’s reveal at the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts in 2017, Danielle revived the role of Agni in Against the Grain Theatre’s production of Kopernikus by Claude Vivier in April 2019; and appeared for an tenth season with the Toronto Classical Singers in Mendelssohn’s Elijah as The Angel in May. June 2019 marked Ms. MacMillan’s debut of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the NYCO and her participation in the NAC’s chamber festival. Ms. MacMillan took first place at the Clifford Poole Vocal Competition with the CBSO in Toronto and returned to sing with the TCS in Schubert’s Mass in C, March 2020.

 

Ms. MacMillan made her debut in October of 2020 with Opera Atelier, in their filmed production of “Something Rich & Strange” and looked forward to celebrating her debut as Flora in La Traviata with the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra, however it was cancelled due to the pandemic, among other engagements. 

 

Ms. MacMillan made her Opera Nashville debut as Wellgunde in Das Rheingold in April of 2022 and returned to Opera Atelier in their production of Dido and Aeneas in October of 2022 as Mercury, the Witch and Second Woman. Following this, she made another house debut with Manitoba Opera as Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte in April of 2023. 

 

Ms. MacMillan recently performed again with Opera Atelier in their remounted production of “All is Love” at Koerner Hall in March 2024 and will return to perform in Charpentier’s David and Jonathan in April 2025.

 

Another exciting project that has been in the works for the past two years is Ms. MacMillan’s debut album, entitled “Songs of Hope,” with the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra and the Odin Quartet. This project is based on the theme “hope through adversity.” There is a broad range of texts, from the Medieval masters Dante Alighieri and St. Thomas Aquinas, to new words centered around the theme of hope, by all Canadian composers. There is a variety of musical styles, and it’s all being composed to appeal to a worldwide audience. The album will be recorded for the Akashic Classics record label and will be distributed by Universal Music. This project is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council the Toronto Arts Council, RBC Foundation, TELUS Foundation, and the SOCAN Foundation.

 

The remainder of the 2024/2025 season will include Beethoven’s 9th with the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Martin MacDonald and a main stage debut with Edmonton Opera as Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus and Verdi’s Requiem with the Kindred Spirits Orchestra.