Meet the 2025 Centre Stage Finalists!

Selected from 117 singers heard by judges on our national audition tour, our seven talented finalists will perform live at this year's Centre Stage: Ensemble Studio Competition on October 23.

We asked each finalist a few questions to get to know the people behind the performances.

Read on to meet our finalists!

Sarah Anderson-Caulfield, soprano

COC: What's your go-to karaoke song?

Sarah: "Manic Monday" by The Bangles. It's also the song I time myself with when getting ready in a hurry (though it takes longer if I sing along)!

COC: Earliest musical experience that made you consider a career in opera?

Sarah: Growing up, I was always singing around the house, and made "operatic" sounds enough that my non-operaphile mom brought home a Joan Sutherland album for me in grade 4. However, it wasn't until grade 10 when I attended my first live opera, a touring outreach performance of Cinderella, that I realized "opera singer" was my dream job.

Nikan Ingabire Kanate, soprano

COC: What’s your go-to karaoke song?

Nikan: "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls FOR SURE!

COC: Earliest musical experience that made you consider a career in opera?

Nikan: When I was in 5th grade, I sang in the chorus for Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and I was completely mesmerized by the soloists. I knew I wanted to be like them one day.

Camila Montefusco, mezzo-soprano

COC: What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?

Camila: “Deliver with love.” Whenever I get in my head about high-pressure situations, I remind myself of this. It’s never about me, but about serving a bigger purpose. This advice always brings me back to my why.

COC: How do you manage nerves before a performance?

Camila: A mix of meditation first, and then blasting Latin American music in my headphones while I get ready. It keeps me grounded and happy.

Søren Pedersen, baritone

COC: What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?

Søren: I’ve received so much good advice from my family over the years, but what first comes to mind is actually something my voice teacher at CCM, Elliot Madore, told me when I first started studying with him: Whenever you sing, sing only for yourself.

COC: What’s your guilty pleasure TV show?

Søren: I’m not sure I have a guilty pleasure TV show, but I definitely have some comfort shows! The two that come to mind are Avatar: The Last Airbender and Schitt’s Creek. 

Onur Hilaloglu, bass

COC: What is your desert island movie/video game/book/movie?

Onur: Album: Inhale / Exhale by Rüfüs Du Sol. Movie: Whiplash. Game: God of War.

COC: What aria always gives you goosebumps?

Onur: The first opera I ever saw was Tosca, and I still remember that moment. Scarpia’s “Tre sbirri” gave me goosebumps then, and it still does today.

Jacob Abrahamse, tenor

COC: Earliest musical experience that made you consider a career in opera?

Jacob: In 2009, I played the Holy Child in Schafer’s The Children’s Crusade. That’s when opera grabbed me.

COC: What’s your guilty pleasure TV show?

Jacob: Too Hot to Handle. I call it research. Nobody believes me.

Jackson Allen, tenor

COC: Earliest musical experience that made you consider a career in opera?

Jackson: This is a good Can-con one—when I was very young, I used to play games on the TVO Kids website, one of which was a memory/concentration style game where you had to match the soundbite to the opera character. I didn’t really get into opera until I was in high school stumbling across clips on YouTube but I remember being so fascinated by the Habanera and the Queen of the Night aria at the time and I’m sure it planted a seed somehow…

COC: What’s your guilty pleasure TV show?

Jackson: Any Home Network show, especially if it involves impractical renovations or British couples shopping for a holiday home.

Presenting Sponsor: RBC Foundation

Finalist and Audience Choice Prize Sponsor: Hatch

Second Prize Sponsor: Wendy J. Thompson

Erin Wall Prize Sponsor: Peter Neelands

Finalists Participant Prize Sponsor: The Estate of Donald Lawrence Biderman

Ensemble Studio Audition Tour Presented By: Pamela & Paul Austin and The P. Austin Family Foundation

Visionary Sponsors: Azrieli Foundation, BT/A Advertising, Letko Brosseau

Gala Table Sponsors: W. Bruce C. Bailey, Dr. Frank Bartoszek & Mr. Daniel O’Brien, Marcia Lewis Brown, Mr. Michael & Mrs. Lauren Brown, Burgundy Assets Management Limited, Mr. Nick Iozzo and Ms. Arlene McTernan, Morgan Meighen & Associates, Frances & Tim Price, TD Bank Group

Event Sponsors: Sash Restaurant + Wine Bar, BT/A Advertising, Element Event Solutions, Wellington Printworks Inc., Masala Spirits Co., Sobrii

Centre Stage Gala Chair: Al Ramsay

Honorary Centre Stage Gala Co-Chairs: Tim & Frances Price, Marcia Lewis Brown, Brian Collins & Amanda Demers, Jonathan Morgan & Adjoa Duncan, Gael Mourant & Caroline Hubberstey, Glenn & Beverly Sakaki