Vancouver Opera has announced six participants in its Yulanda M. Faris Young Artists Program for the 2026-2027 season.

New participants include Callum Alden, Michal Aloni and Cecilia NguyenTran. They will join such returning artists as Marianne Bertrand, Julia LoRusso and Mihnea Nitu for a year of mentorship and training with Vancouver Opera artists and facilitators.

“Our annual Yulanda M. Faris Young Artists Program is an incredible part of what our artistic team does at Vancouver Opera,” said Tom Wright, Vancouver Opera’s general director, per an official press release. “During this mentorship program, we provide emerging artists with exciting live performance opportunities throughout, whether it’s performing in our community events or our large scale productions. Our 2026 2027 participants are dedicated artists who have already demonstrated their talents.”

The company’s opening production of Puccini’s “Tosca” will feature with Nitu as Sciarrone and Alden as Spoletta, under the direction of Brenna Corner, an alum of the program.

Later this season, Bertrand will appear as Berta in “The Barber of Seville” with Alden (Gastone de Letorières), Bertrand (Flora Bervoix), Julia LoRusso (Annina) and Nitu (Baron Douphol) appearing in the cast of “La Traviata.”

Bertrand, who joined the program in 2025-2026, has performed in Canada and Germany, and was a national laureate of the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers’ Associations competition.

LoRusso made her Vancouver Opera debut in 2025 as Countess Ceprano in “Rigoletto,” won the Toronto Mozart Competition in 2024, and received the Encouragement Award at the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition’s Indiana District in 2025.

Nitu recently performed Marullo in Verdi’s “Rigoletto” with Vancouver Opera, the title role in Judith Weir’s “Blond Eckbert,” and the Father in Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel” with Manitoba Underground Opera.

Alden has recently appeared as Scaramuccio in “Ariadne auf Naxos” with Pacific Northwest Opera and in Seattle Opera’s School Tour, and has performed with San Francisco Opera and Seattle Opera. He was previously a young artist with the Opera Company of Middlebury.

NguyenTran, a Vietnamese Canadian born and raised in Toronto, earned her Bachelor of Music and Opera Diploma at Wilfrid Laurier University, where she first worked as a répétiteur, and recently completed a Master of Music in Collaborative Piano at McGill University.

Aloni’s recent engagements include Chants Libres, the Canadian Opera Company and Opéra de Montréal.