Biography

Soprano Rachel Krehm is not only a versatile artist, but also an adept producer and champion of Canadian creations. In 2012, Rachel co-founded Opera 5 and has been its General Director ever since. Since 2020, she has taken up writing. She co-created, co-wrote, produced and performed in Opera 5’s web-series Threepenny Submarine - winner of Opera America’s 2024 Digital Excellence Award in Opera – Noteworthy Project, and her first libretto for the opera Come Closer will be premiered in June 2025. Her voice is praised for its “powerful high notes” (Leslie Barcza) and her interpretations as being “soulful” (Dawn Martens – Opera Canada). She is a fierce actress whose performances “will rattle your bones” (The Visitor – Kevin Reid). In 2013, her interpretation of La voix humaine won the Critics’ Choice Award. She reprised the role in 2021 with City Opera Toronto where her performance was described as “a breathtaking virtuoso performance of boundless passion and seemingly limitless musicality” (Opera Going Toronto – Ian Richie.)

In 2012, Rachel co-founded Opera 5 and has led the institution from a collective to a major player in the independent opera scene in Canada. In 2024, Opera 5 triumphantly returned to the stage with a lauded production of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw and the first year of Opera 5’s Portfolio Artist Internship – a collaboration with Opera McGill where Interns were selected to cover and perform roles in The Turn of the Screw and also perform secondary assignments in administration, production, design, and even music staff. The program is designed to help build necessary skills to ensure a stable and vibrant artistic career beyond training.

Rachel co-created, co-wrote, produced, and performed in the award-winning Threepenny Submarine, Opera 5’s web series combining opera and puppetry in collaboration with Gazelle Automations. It is designed to be an engaging series for children and their families where the music plays a central part of the storytelling. Rachel noticed that in North America, generations of children used to be exposed to Classical Music through series like Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry. Today, few children’s series make classical music or opera a central focus and the vision of Threepenny Submarine was to provide this entry point to the stupendous sound world of classical music and opera. The series made its international debut in May 2024 when it was screened at the O. Festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands.