Onalea Gilbertson

Onalea is a singer, theatre artist, poet and musician who enjoys experimenting with a wide variety of material from cabaret to concert hall. She has recorded four CD's ranging from big band to jazz standards, electronica to original material. With her Jazz trio she has opened for Bob Newhart, Daniel Lanios and the East Village Opera Company.

As a theatre artist she has performed numerous roles across Canada including 7 seasons as an ensemble member with the award-winning One Yellow Rabbit. She has worked extensively with several incredible Canadian composers including Dave Pierce, David Rhymer and Marcel Bergmann. With Dandi Productions, she has co-created and performed shows with symphony orchestras across Canada, and the Hallé Symphony in Manchester UK.

Onalea recently premiered Two Bit Oper-Eh?- Shun an Oratorio about homelessness that she co-produced, created the libretto for and appeared as a soloist in for the Land's End Chamber Ensemble at One Yellow Rabbit's High Performance Rodeo, she was invited to speak about the project at "Can Performance Change the World" hosted by the East Side Institute for Psychology in New York City.

Currently Onalea is directing What Brought Us Here a new Opera about Immigration premiering in May 2012 for Calgary Opera, and The Eviction of Stuart Block a co-pro with the Drop In Centre and the Mustard Seed at The High Performance Rodeo. 

She is also performing Only Love Knows Love:  An Intimate Salon of Theatre Songs with composer David Rhymer showcasing his 30 years of composition.

Her poetic song cycle BLANCHE: The Bittersweet Life Of A Wild Prairie Dame was originally commissioned by the Banff Centre, has been work shopped at the Sunset Theatre and had it's Off Broadway premiere at the 47th Street Theatre as a special event of the New York Musical Theatre Festival Oct 6,7 2011.