Canadian mezzo-contralto, Hillary Tufford is noted for her “rich and velvety sound,” (Dawn Martens, Opera Canada). Hillary’s incredibly unique timbre, extensive range, and artistic versatility, allows her to perform a wide range of repertoire from the Baroque to the Contemporary era. 

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A testament to her versatility, last season Hillary made her debut with The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra in Messiah, as well as her Soundstreams debut in Tim Albery’s The Garden of Vanished Pleasures. Hillary also jumped-in for the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra, singing Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. This season Hillary returned to sing Messiah with Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra and she made her international debut as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro at Daegu Opera, South Korea. She also performed the role of Mrs. Demers in Weisensel and Cavanagh’s hilarious new opera, City Workers in Love.

 

In past seasons, Hillary performed at Vancouver Opera, the Elmer Eisler Singers, Victoria Philharmonic Choir, Vancouver Bach Choir, Tapestry Opera, Highlands Opera, Brott Opera, Magisterra Soloists, and the Kingston Symphony Orchestra.

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Hillary was a District Winner (Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition), she won 3rd prize at The Macina Competition, and she won finalist prizes in The Mozart Project Competition, The Eckhardt-Grammaté Contemporary Music Competition, and The IRCPA Singing Stars Competition, which led to her radio debut on 96.3 The New Classical FM.

 

Hillary is a proud laureate of Les jeunes ambassadeurs lyriques, a graduate of the Vancouver Opera Yuland M. Faris Young Artist Program, and she holds a Masters in Voice Literature and Performance from Western University, Canada, where she achieved the Gold Medal in Music, awarded to the student with the highest average upon graduation. She is a grateful bursary recipient of Opera America, the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation, the Canada Council for the Arts, the RBC Emerging Artist Project and the Hazel Crydermann­-Wees Foundation.