So. We need to talk about Midori. A quick bio: Midori Marsh studied in my studio at Laurier for 5 years, from 2013-2018. She then went on to do her Masters at my alma mater, University of Toronto, graduating in the pandemic in 2020. The photo above was taken backstage after she won the Canadian Opera Company Centre Stage Competition in November 2019, as she exchanged her dress up shoes for her beloved Doc Martens (this woman is nothing if not completely and utterly authentic). Blowing the field out of the water, she took every major prize, including the Audience Favourite award. She was accepted into the COC Ensemble Studio for the 2020-21 season (what a year to have THAT happen! No live performances), and had her contract renewed for the following season, performing in several online performances (Nella in Gianni Schicchi; concerts from the Aga Khan museum; Rocking Horse Winner for Tapestry Opera) at both COC and other organizations. She made a huge splash in COC’s Magic Flute in spring of 2022 as Papagena, earning a Dora Award nomination for her work here alongside some serious operatic heavyweights. Fast forward to this year, where she took home the top prize at the Louis Quilico awards in Toronto, won the district auditions in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition in Nebraska in January, and just last weekend, won the regional auditions of the same competition in Minnesota, meaning she is heading to New York City to compete in the semi-finals of the Laffont Competition on April 17. What a ride!
I just want to give a little context that goes beyond the (impressive!) bio, however. Midori Marsh is quite simply, an extraordinary human being. From the moment I laid eyes on her in the spring of 2013, I knew she had something special. Her voice was always beautiful, and she had an ease and joy in performing unusual in such a young singer. But Midori had something more: an irrepressible and infectiously delightful personality. I remember seeing her after her audition, when she thought she was unobserved by anyone making a decision about her future (!), yukking it up in the hallway with some of our audition assistants. The minute she saw me, she kind of giggled and shut down the show a bit, but it was not in apology–it was simply an acknowledgment that she recognized she had exposed some of her inner, private self. It was captivating.
Over the years, Midori became a beloved member of our Laurier Music community and beyond. At our weekly check-ins before we began our Group Technique classes, we grew to eagerly anticipate Midori’s contribution of the week. Usually laden with self-deprecating humour, razor wit and socio-political critique, we waited with bated breath to hear what she had to offer. She never disappointed us. In fact, after she graduated, a few of us felt quite bereft in that space: what would we do without Midori’s ability to crystallize what everyone else was thinking and feeling and elevate it to the masters level of rap poetry?
I’ll never forget the November day in 2016, the day after Trump was elected, when Midori came in for her lesson. A dual citizen and ardent feminist and social justice advocate, Midori literally collapsed on the floor, weeping, and saying “I just can’t sing today”. I tried in vain to comfort her in her despair, as she prophetically went on to voice her fears: “He’s going to overturn Roe v. Wade! He’s going to build a wall! He’s going to ruin everything we’ve worked for!” Midori always had an ear for the disenfranchised, and she kept abreast of current events at a breathtaking speed. She was 100% on point (sadly). And it wasn’t Hillary Clinton’s day. But honestly, I couldn’t shake the thought (and I shared it with Midori just the other day) that I would vote for Midori in a hot second for dual roles as POTUS and Prime Minister of Canada. She is a natural leader, an artistic visionary and a hope for the future.
So that’s why I wanted to take about Midori, because lest any of the folks in the opera world think that’s all she can do, they are dead wrong. Midori is a phenomenon. She is a leader, a warrior, a visionary. She is a blazing spark of light in a dark time. And I’m betting that she is going to go the distance, regardless of the outcome in New York in April. Remember her name.