Leo Evason

Brandon Boy Leo Evason

Leo Evason - Bass-Baritone-Tenor -- Leo Evason was born in Brandon, Manitoba in 1932 to a Ukrainian family. At the age of seven he saw the movie I Married an Angel starring Nelson Eddy. Then and there he decided that he wanted to become a singer. At the age of ten he started taking violin lessons and in a few years became one of Brandon's finest violinists. However, his first love was singing. After graduating from Brandon College with a BA degree in 1954, he moved to Toronto and began studies at the Royal Conservatory of Music. He joined the Canadian Opera Company in 1964 and performed under Herman Geiger-Torel and Lofti Mansouri. In 1990 he toured Ukraine as a soloist with the Ukrainian Youth Ensemble conducted by Wasyl Kardash. He also performed with Toronto Opera Society and Toronto Opera Repertoire in leading tenor roles in Cavalleria Rusticana, Madama Butterfly, Tales of Hoffman, Lucia di Lammermoor, Macbeth and Carmen. In 1992 he issued a cassette recording with Victor Mishalow, bandurist, under the title Levko Evasiuk: Ukrainian Romances and Folk Songs, dedicated to the Centenary of Ukrainian Settlement in Canada, in honour of his grandparents who were among the first wave of immigrants to Canada. In 1994 he was the tenor in a vocal quartet performing in The Magic of Opera at Glenn Gould Studio, CBC, Toronto. In 2001 he was invited by the Government of Ukraine to participate in a Gala Concert in Kiev to celebrate the Tenth Anniversary of Independence. In 2003 he made his debut at Roy Thomson Hall as a bass-baritone-tenor in the RBC Seniors' Jubilee Concerts.