Mike Fan 范祖铭

“The most vulnerable” Mike Fan | 范祖铭 (they), whose “dramatic side is remarkable” (Barcza Blog) is renowned for memorable performances in 11 languages, “sung extremely well and acted even better” (Opera Ramblings) across North America, Europe, and Australia. A multi-disciplinary artist whose work spans opera and beyond as a tenor, actor, producer, and educator, Mike is thrilled to make their professional début with Tapestry Opera in Chan’s Dragon’s Tale. Mike previously performed this opera’s aria, “Past and Present,” in their 2022 short film “Tā (他/他)”, exploring gender fluidity in an East-West operatic fusion with Starlight Chinese Opera. Upcoming in the 2023-24 season, Mike is also thrilled to début at the Canadian Opera Company in Puccini’s La bohème and Beethoven’s Fidelio, as well as projects and appearances with Unwrap Theatre, programsound.fm, and Sir Wilfrid Laurier University, collaborating with their EDI and Music Faculties.

Mike’s powerful yet flexible tenor portrays roles including Mozart’s Don Ottavio and Tito, Bizet’s Don José and Dancaïro, Verdi’s Alfredo and Conte Ivrea, and new work such as John in Livingston’s The Yellow Wallpaper, their first collaboration with Tapestry Opera at the Schulich School of Music. Recent engagements include Pacific Opera Victoria’s Civic Engagement Quartet encompassing a concert at Canada’s oldest Chinatown, as well as numerous filmed and live engagements across Vancouver Island,

Infusion Baroque’s murder-mystery “Qui as tué Leclair?” at Repentigny’s Théâtre Alphonse- Desjardins and on film via Early Music Vancouver, and Tatyana in a landmark queer-trans Eugene Onegin at Canada’s National Ballet School. Mike has received the Prix Poulenc (Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques), Gold Medal (Royal Conservatory of Music), and was a Washington National Opera True Voice Award and Premiere Opera Foundation Competition Semi-Finalist.

Passionately committed to social justice as a proudly 2nd generation Chinese- Canadian queer and non-binary artist, Mike is the founding Artistic Director of Opéra Queens, a Canadian, federally incorporated non-profit organization dedicated to LGBTQ+ and/or BIPOC+ marginalized voices and renowned across Canada as drag diva Tanya Smania. Under Mike’s leadership as a principal grant writer, Opéra Queens has received $200,000 of funding since 2021 from Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Watershed Festival & Queens University, Queer McGill, and York Region Chamber Music. Mike has created roles in addition to commissioning and programming new and living work by Morgan-Paige Melbourne for Drama Queens and When Daylight Rises for Lucky Penny Opera’s “48 Hour Opera Challenge”, the Canadian première of these wings are meant to fly by Steven Sérpa, and Cleopatra Built by Dr. Jay Marchand Knight.

Mike is a proud member of the Canadian Actors’ Equity Association and holds degrees in Opera & Voice Performance, Speech Arts and Drama Performance, Piano Performance, and Biomedical Science from the Royal Conservatory of Music, McGill’s Schulich School of Music (Shapiro Opera, Graduate Excellence, and SSHRC full scholarships), Sir Wilfrid Laurier University (High Distinction), and University of Guelph (Distinction) with additional training at the Rossini Opera Festival (Italy) and Tampere Conservatoire (Finland).