Deantha Edmunds is Canada’s first and only Inuk opera singer. She is a Dora Mavor Moore Award-winning performer and is much in demand as a singer, actor, and collaborator in both Indigenous and non-Indigenous projects. She is also a member of the Canadian Opera Company’s Circle of Artists.
Most recently, Edmunds represented the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Against the Grain Theatre’s streamed video-performance Messiah/Complex, accompanied by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The project received international acclaim.
2019 performances included the world premieres of Indigenous operas Shanawdithit with Tapestry Opera/Opera on the Avalon, and the Cree and Sámi double-bill Two Odysseys with Soundstreams/Signal Theatre/Sámi National Theatre Beaivváš.
Edmunds was nominated for the East Coast Music Award ‘Indigenous Artist of the Year’ in 2020 for her solo EP My Beautiful Home, and in 2016 for the album Pillorikput Inuit: Inuktitut Arias for All Seasons.
An urban Inuk, creator and mentor, Edmunds aims to empower Indigenous people and share their stories. Her compositions include “Song of the River” first performed by Ullugiagâtsuk, the Inuit youth choir from Nunatsiavut, at the Canadian Choral Conductors Association 2018 Podium Festival. Edmunds has mentored young Indigenous musicians in workshops for the Pan Labrador Inuit Youth Choir and elsewhere.
Edmunds explores and embraces her Indigeneity through poetry and song. Upcoming projects include recording her collection of original songs, “Connections” with string quartet. Edmunds is currently writing the libretto for her opera, Ingutak which will be the first opera sung in English and Inuktitut.