To help choose recipients for our National Awards we are getting help from two wonderful musicians.
Claire Harris is a Toronto-based collaborative pianist, specialising in opera and contemporary
repertoire. Originally from New Zealand, Claire holds a Bachelor of Music from the New Zealand
School of Music and a Masters from the Royal College of Music, London, England. Prior to moving to
Toronto in 2018, Claire was a staff accompanist at the Royal College of Music, London, as well as
working with companies including English Touring Opera, the Rossini Young Artists’ Festival, Opera
Alumnus, and the Academie de La Roche D’Hys annual opera workshop in France. She has performed
internationally as a pianist in venues such as Royal Festival Hall and Wigmore Hall, London, The
Porgy and Bess, Vienna, and appeared on radio stations from Guernsey to Bogotá, Colombia.
Claire is pianist with Crossing Borders, a company performing works by living composers across
Canada and internationally, most recently touring Colombia with a programme of all Canadian and
Colombian living composers. She also recently curated and performed a recital of Canadian art song
with baritone Parker Clements at the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto.
Claire is co-producer and pianist for Opera Revue, a Toronto opera company which has been featured
on the cover of Opera Canada magazine, CBC National Radio and CTV National television.
She is also the pianist for Canadian Children’s Opera Company’s Principal Chorus, Associate Director
with Opera by Request, Toronto, and Pianist with the Toronto Children’s Chorus, as well as working
regularly as a répétiteur and coach with independent companies around Toronto and Ontario. Claire
coaches students in the vocal program at the University of Toronto as well as maintaining a private
coaching studio. Claire is also the pianist for Amarras, a Toronto-based contemporary Argentinian
Tango ensemble with whom she has performed in the USA and Argentina.