Lithuanian-Canadian soprano, Indre Viskontas, was born and
raised in Toronto, Canada. She began her musical training at
the Royal Conservatory of Music and sang in her first
professional opera production when she was eleven, playing
an altar boy in Tosca with the Canadian Opera Company. She
continued to sing in the Canadian Children's Opera Chorus in
Toronto and later with the Toronto Mendelssohn Youth Choir
before matriculating at Trinity College, in the University of
Toronto.
She graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor
of Science degree, specializing in Psychology and French
Literature, and then pursued a Phd in Cognitive Neuroscience
at the University of California, Los Angeles. Continuing to
develop her voice privately in the studio of Marjorie Sparks,
she won accolades from the NewMarket Vocal Competition, as
well as from the Kiwanis Festival during her undergraduate
years in Toronto. During her PhD, she trained with Vicki Muto
and Armen Guzelimian in Los Angeles. She also participated in
the Spoleto Vocal Arts Symposium in Spoleto, Italy and in
SongFest in Malibu, CA, where she sang in masterclasses with
Martin Katz and Graham Johnson, among others. With the Bay
Area Summer Opera Theater Institute, she sang the roles of
Miss Pinkerton and Torbisco in fully-staged productions of The
Old Maid and the Thief and Offenbach's Les Bavards. Her
opera scene work includes Fiordiligi in Cosi fan Tutte,
Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Liu in Turandot, Mimi in La
Boheme, Frasquita and Micaela in Carmen, Monica in
Menotti's The Medium, The Governess in Britten's The Turn of
the Screw, and Beatrice in Berlioz's Beatrice et Benedict. She
made her European debut in the role of La Contessa
d'Almaviva in a fully-staged production of Le Nozze di Figaro
with the New Opera Festival di Roma symphony and chorus
under the baton of Stefano Vignati and the direction of Gordon
Ostrowski. In March of 2007, she sang the title role in Iolanthe
with the Lyric Theater of San Jose. She made her West Bay Opera debut as Margot in The Merry Widow last May and sang the role of Kate in a newly-commissioned opera called Frobisher at the Banff Summer Arts Festival in August.
In December, Indre performed the role of First Lady
in The Magic Flute at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and most recently, she was heard playing Beth in Mark Adamo's Little Women this past February: in addition to performing a lead role, Indre also co-produced this production. She made her directorial debut in December, directing fellow graduate students in a series of opera scenes.
Her concert appearances have included recitals and benefit concerts in Toronto, Los Angeles, London, Rome, the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, in Washington D.C. where she sang at an event honouring the Lithuanian President, Valdas Adamkus and at the Banff Summer Arts Festival,where she sang Lua descolorida by Osvaldo Golijov, with string quartet, at a chamber music concert honoring the composer.
Her recent oratorio performances include
the soprano solo in The Christmas Oratorio by Camille
Saint-Saens with Mission Dolores Basilica Choir and chamber
group in San Francisco. She was a winner at the 2007 East
Bay Opera League Scholarship Competition and has received
music scholarships from the Opera Buffs, the San Francisco
Conservatory of Music, the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater
Institute and the Banff Opera-As-Theater program.
After completing her PhD with honors, including winning
dissertation and teaching prizes at UCLA, and publishing more
than ten scientific articles, she is nearing completion of her Masters of Music degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of
Music, where she studies with Jane Randolph. She has also
studied acting and improvisation at San Francisco's American
Conservatory Theater and dance at the Alonzo King Lines
Ballet studio.