Donna Bennett

Westben Concerts at the Barn — Advancement & Marketing Director

Co-Founder and Advancement & Marketing Director of the Westben Arts Festival Theatre in Campbellford, Canadian soprano Donna Bennett is active on both sides of the concert stage.

Since co-founding Westben in 1999 with Brian Finley, she has acted as the organization’s principal administrative coordinator, a position which grew into Assistant Managing Director in 2001, and now includes her duties as Marketing Director. With her wealth of international experience on stages around the world, she brings a great deal of practical experience to the operations of Westben, as well as to its stage.

Known to audiences internationally for her sparkling performances ranging from opera and oratorio to Broadway and musical theatre, Donna has performed leading operatic roles at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the London International Opera Festival, the Henze Festival in Montepulciano, Italy, as well as in Berlin, Neuberg, Toronto and New York. Other career highlights include the role of Dede in the British premiere of Bernstein's A Quiet Place as well as the creation of several roles including the Mermaid in Paul Max Edlin's The Fisherman in London as well as the role of Ariana in the world premiere of R. Murray Shafer's The Enchanted Forest.

In Canada, Donna made her Canadian Opera Company debut in Britten's Albert Herring returning the following season to sing over thirty performances as Gretel in Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel for the COC's Touring Company. She has sung with Opera Atelier, Tafelmusik, the Toronto Symphonietta, Orchestra London and the Victoria Symphony. She is known to Opera Mississauga audiences for her performances as Despina in the company’s recent production of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte.

In addition to her many opera and operetta roles, Donna has performed as Maria in The Sound of Music, as Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar and as the Soprano Soloist in Requiem for a Millennium all for the Westben Arts Festival Theatre – an arts organization she founded in 1999 in Campbellford, Ontario with pianist/composer Brian Finley. Most recently, she created the role of Delilah in Brian’s opera-musical SAMSON for Westben, which also starred Mark DuBois and a cast of 150 Philistines and Israelites.

Donna holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music where she studied with Irene Jessner, in addition to the Meisterklasse Podium from the Musik Hochschule in Munich, Germany, where she studied with Reri Grist. Donna also studied with Ellen Faull in New York and was a full scholarship student at London’s Royal College Opera School.

Donna’s discography includes the Wergo release of Hans Werner Henze's opera The English Cat and a collection of Mozart Arias and Lieder recorded live at the Olympic Music Festival in Washington. Together with Brian Finley with whom she tours extensively, she has released three other CD's: A Christmas of Love & Light, Lullabies for Benjamin, and Love's Old Sweet Songs recorded in Victoria Hall. Several other performances have also been recorded for CBC, CFMX, KING-FM (Seattle), and the BBC in London.