Soprano Zoe McCormick Wins $12,500 Top Prize at COC Centre Stage

Soprano Zoe McCormick of Ponoka, Alberta, won the $12,500 first prize at the Canadian Opera Company's 13th annual Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition on October 22 at Toronto's Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

McCormick took the top award for her performance of "Adieu, notre petite table" from Massenet's "Manon." She is a member of Calgary Opera's McPhee Artist Development Program. She was also a vocal fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in 2025 and 2026, according to the competition announcement.

Who else won at Centre Stage?

The evening distributed a further $16,000 across three additional prizes:

• Second prize, $8,000: soprano Katie Kirkpatrick of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, for "Neghittosi, or voi che fate?" from Handel's "Ariodante."
• Erin Wall Prize, $5,000: tenor Gabriel Chona Rueda of Barichara, Colombia, for "Ah! lève-toi, soleil" from Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette."
• Audience Choice Prize, $3,000: soprano Camille Labonté of Toronto, for "Dieu! quel frisson… Amour, ranime mon courage," also from Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette." The audience decided this award by a live vote during the competition's livestream.

How did the competition unfold?

Seven finalists performed, each singing two arias across the evening. One aria came in a closed round before the judges alone. The other came in a final round before a public audience. The COC Orchestra accompanied the singers throughout, under music director Johannes Debus.

Composer Ian Cusson hosted the event. His opera "Empire of Wild" is scheduled for its world premiere at the Canadian Opera Company, giving the evening a direct link to a forthcoming mainstage production.

While the judges deliberated, the program offered the audience two interlude performances. Baritone Russell Braun sang "O du, mein holder Abendstern" from Wagner's "Tannhäuser." The orchestra then performed "Music from the Wake," an excerpt from Cusson's "Empire of Wild" — a preview of the material audiences will hear when the full opera reaches the COC stage.

What does this change for the winners?

The Centre Stage competition serves as the public gateway to the COC's Ensemble Studio, the company's young-artist development program, and the prize money gives emerging singers direct financial support early in their careers. For McCormick, the $12,500 award arrives amid a run of institutional recognition, from Calgary Opera's McPhee program to two consecutive summers as a Tanglewood vocal fellow.

The competition's thirteenth edition also marked the continuing health of a format that has become a fixture of the Toronto opera calendar: a livestreamed final round, an audience vote, and a cash pool of $28,500 spread across four singers — all pointing toward the Canadian Opera Company's next premiere, "Empire of Wild," as the season's headline event for new opera.