TMA149 Members

In the 2023/2024 season, Jacob Abrahamse performed the role of Alfredo in Brott Opera’s production of Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata. Other recent roles this season include Ralph Rackstraw in Gilbert & Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore at the Saugeen Opera Festival, Frederic in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance with the Northumberland Orchestra in Cobourg, Ontario, and Frederic in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance with COSA Canada in Lakefield, Ontario. In concert this season, Abrahamse performed as the tenor soloist in the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir’s presentation of J. S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor at Koerner Hall. Abrahamse also toured Ruckus on the Road throughout Ontario with Opera Revue, and he performed as the tenor soloist in G.F. Handel’s Messiah with the Georgian Bay Concert Choir.

This season, Abrahamse joins the Santa Fe Opera as an Apprentice Singer, an internationally recognized program that is one of the finest of its kind. At Santa Fe Opera, Abrahamse will cover roles and perform in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Verdi’s La Traviata, Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, and Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. Abrahamse will soon perform as the tenor soloist in two performances of G.F. Handel’s Messiah. First, with choir and orchestra at St. James Cathedral. Second, with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in a benefit concert for United Way. Abrahamse will also appear as the tenor soloist in W.A. Mozart’s Requiem with the Toronto Beach Chorale and Orchestra, and he will reprise this oratorio with the Mississauga Chamber Singers and Orchestra. With the Georgian Bay Concert Choir, Abrahamse will perform as the tenor soloist in Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli.

Abrahamse’s past operatic experience includes roles with the Hamilton Philharmonic, where he performed Tintin/Sergio in Lloyd Burritt’s Miracle Flight 571 and Fenian in Abigail Richardson-Schulte’s Shot: The Story of D’Arcy McGee. Abrahamse has also performed Ralph Rackstraw in Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore; Richard in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Ruddigore; Frederic in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance; Oebalus in W. A. Mozart’s Apollo et Hyacinthus; and Orfeo in Dean Burry’s Il Giudizione di Pigmalione. Abrahamse made his operatic debut by creating the starring role of the Holy Child in the Dora-award-winning premiere of R. Murray Schafer’s opera, The Children’s Crusade.

As an oratorio soloist in 2022, Abrahamse debuted at Roy Thomson Hall as a tenor soloist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir in Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah. He has previously performed G. F. Handel’s Messiah as the tenor soloist with the Peterborough Singers, the Theatre of Early Music, the Georgian Bay Concert Choir, and the Uxbridge Singers. As a tenor soloist, he performed Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël and W. A. Mozart’s Krönungsmesse with the Northumberland Orchestra and Chorus.

Jacob Abrahamse has won numerous distinctions, including a Lieutenant Governor’s Award, the Connie Viznowski Memorial Award, and the Potten Rose Bowl Challenge Award. From the City of Peterborough, Abrahamse received a Civic Award for Cultural Betterment and the Mayor’s Youth Award.