Career Biography
Cassie Chang is a Chinese-Canadian Soprano who has received international recognition in her early career. She is endorsed by The American Guild of Musical Artists to hold O1B status in the United States and is currently based in NY, working closely with her team.
In her 2023-2024 season she covered The Old Maid and The Thief (Laetitia) with Heroic Opera Company. Ms.Chang made her Lincoln Center debut of An Operatic Affair with Nobuko Amemiya at the NYPL sponsored by The Bradley Family Foundation and raised funds for Vocal Productions NYC, a local opera company supporting emerging talent. She recreated the event in Vancouver: Operatic Affair: New Years with increasing popularity. Her performance first caught the attention of Operawire and gained attention through the media. In its revival at the Chan Center of Performing Arts, the concert featured ensemble scenes from La Bohème Cassie Chang (Mimì) with members of the Yulanda M. Fairs Young Artist Program: Jeremy Scinocca (Rodolfo) and Indra Igan (Piano). She has also featured UBC alumni Tyran Plater(Musetta) and Matthew Kim (Marcello).
Ms.Chang was an emerging artist selected to attend the Canadian Opera Company: Summer Intensive where she performed Un bel dì Vedremo (Madame Butterfly) in the final concert. Her original song cycle Internalized Globalization (Beijing, Vancouver, New York), was released on streaming platforms Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, and iTunes. Composed by Pouria Khadem and performed with Juan Jose Lazaro. Ms. Chang’s “Vancouver Song” is a favourite among her audience and was written in conversation with her friend: Chelsea Gladstone of the Haida Nation to contain an aspect of reconciliation. Cassie was invited by Shawnigan Lake School to speak and to perform this song on Truth and Reconciliation Day in Canada.
During her academic years, Ms.Chang sang Die Zauberflöte (First Lady) with the Berlin Opera Academy at Alte Münze and covered the role of Gianni Schicchi (Lauretta) in 2022. She has sung scenes from La Bohème (Musetta) and Viaggio a Reims (Corinna) with Classic Lyric Arts 2021.
Some of her past credits with Manhattan School of Music include Serse (Romilda), Le nozze di Figaro (Barbarina), and Orpheus in the Underworld (Minerva). She has also sung The Handmaidens Tale (Offred’s double) and participated in the first workshop of Justine Chen’s new opera Seven Sisters as the cover of sister 1 and 7. She has sung (Marie’s Lullaby) from Wozzek and premiered Internalized Globalization coached by Lucy Shelton.
Ms. Chang received a High Distinction Award at the Vienna International Competition in 2020 and won The Johann Strauss Foundation: Lotte and John Hecht Memorial Scholarship for study at Mozarteum 2020 (canceled due to COVID-19). Chang is a recipient of the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienist (DAAD); where she earned her B2 German certificate at the Bayreuth Universität 2019, sang Kommt ein Schlanker Burch Gegangen (Ännhen) at Das Zentrum, and attended the Wagner Festspiele. In 2016 Chang made her McPherson debut in Victoria and was selected to compete in Senior Provincials at Festival Performing Arts BC. Despite her intermediate age category she was awarded Honorable Mention. That same year Ms. Chang received the BC Dogwood Scholarship for excellence to peruse Opera Performance at the University of British Columbia.
ORGANIZATIONS & ASSOCIATIONS
New York Public Library
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Chan Center of Performing Arts
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Canadian Opera Company
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Heroic Opera
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Operawire
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Stir Magazine
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Vienna International Competition
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Manhattan School of Music
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DAAD Scholarship
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New York Public Library • Chan Center of Performing Arts • Canadian Opera Company • Heroic Opera • Operawire • Stir Magazine • Vienna International Competition • Manhattan School of Music • DAAD Scholarship •
Early Life
Soprano Cassie Chang is a Third Culture Kid who grew up between Canada, China, and the United States.
Chang was born in Beijing to a Chinese lawyer and a Chinese-Canadian electric engineer. Her parents moved to North Carolina, USA to study Law at Duke University when Chang was 4 years old and when she was 7 years old immigrated to Vancouver, Canada. Her younger brother Samuel Chang was born in 2018 via surrogate in Los Angeles, USA.
Chang grew up in a Christian home with her mother in Vancouver. In her early childhood she was a competitive rhythmic gymnast with Club Adagio and an award-winning athlete. Her mother discover her love of singing and enrolled her at University Chapel Children’s Choir, where she became a regular soloist under the baton of Canadian conductor Charissa Bagan.
From ages 13-15 Chang attended Tsinghua International School. There she started the women’s soccer team and was captain for the Women’s Volleyball and basketball team. She performed with a local dance company by Andrew Delo and rehearsed in the hallways of Peaking University. She began to study the flute and voice privately and took ABRSM exams.
Chang decided to returned to Canada at the age of 15 and was admitted into private English-Canadian boarding school: Shawnigan Lake School on Vancouver Island where she graduated centennial year with honours. She also attended the preparatory opera program: UBC summer workshop. Chang took RCM exams, music theory, and performed regularly in a 10 person acapella choir. Her highly anticipated chapel performances won her the Chapel Award, the Recording Arts award, and her first lead role Glinda from Wizard of Oz among other achievements.
Chang received her Bachelor of Music from the University of British Columbia in Opera Performance under the tutelage of Peter Barcza in 2020. Then continued her education at Manhattan School of Music in New York under the tutelage of Joan Patenaud-Yarnell but switched studios to Catherine Malfitano mid-degree. She graduated her Masters in Classical Voice 2022 and was ultimately saved by Valentin Peytchinov, a talented bass and vocal pedagog who corrected her technical misinformation and found her singing in the wrong soprano Fach. She studies the bel canto technique through his approach and his mentors: Mirella Freni, Nikolay Ghiaruov, and Ghena Dimitrova.