When Kate Fogg took to the stage in Redpath Hall for the final of the Wirth Vocal Prize Competition, she knew others, including her entire family in Maine, were watching online.
“It was nerve-wracking, but it was a very good experience,” says Fogg, a soprano and second-year master’s student in Voice and Opera at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University, which offers one of the leading opera training programs in North America.
Fogg won the prestigious annual competition after delivering exquisite performances in the semi-finals on February 28 and final on March 2. “It was so surreal. I was shocked,” Fogg says.
The $25,000 Wirth Vocal Prize is a big boost to young artists at McGill on the verge of launching their careers, including Fogg, who notes the steep costs associated with auditioning for professional gigs. She is applying to young artists programs in the U.S. and says that singers cover their own travel costs for auditions as well as paying pianists to accompany them and for recordings. “It's a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.”
Created in 2015 through the generosity of McGill graduate and Schulich School of Music benefactor Elizabeth A. Wirth, BA’64, DMus’23, the prize recognizes a voice student who demonstrates exceptional talent and significant promise for an international career. As this year’s recipient, Fogg will also perform at two recitals – the first on April 23 at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal, and in the Free Concert Series in Toronto in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre in fall 2025.
“I feel really honoured because I look up to all the singers who won it before,” says Fogg. “It's encouragement to keep working because we work so hard, and a lot of it’s alone in a tiny practice room,” she says. Auditioning and rejections are tough and winning the Wirth Vocal Prize feels like validation to Fogg “that what I'm doing is worth it and that I should keep trying.”
“Kate is an immense talent and a born performer,” says Tracy Smith Bessette, MMus’12, DMus’16, an assistant professor of Voice at the Schulich School of Music. “She’s worked very hard during her master’s degree on her vocal technique and the specificity of her storytelling, which has allowed her talent to fully blossom. She’s done such great work.”
Smith Bessette, a soprano herself, praised her student’s stellar performances in the competition.
She sang with so much heart and clarity of communication and sheer beauty,” says Smith Bessette. “She's an excellent performer, so when she's on stage, you just want to watch and listen to her – she captivates you. It’s a very special skill she has.”
Fogg chose her favourite arias and a few art songs for her repertoire. “I had fantastic pianists, Rebecca Klassen-Wiebe and Ben Kwong, who made me feel so supported up there because some of that music, you need them to help you through it. You need them to come with you as opposed to just being two separate entities.”
She also expressed appreciation for Elizabeth Wirth. “The way that she donates her money is so tangible to us students here because we have these amazing facilities thanks to her. She gives money to Opera McGill. And this prize, the fact that she invests in young singers in trying to give them a shot, no matter who you are, no matter if you have family support or not, this is invaluable.”
Growing up near Bar Harbor, Maine, Fogg fell in love with musical theatre as a child, performing in student and professional productions.
As an undergraduate at the University of Maine in Orono, she began classical voice lessons with opera singer and teacher Isaac Bray. “He told me that I might have a future in this if I want to pursue it. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be here.”
Fogg chose to come to McGill because of the Opera McGill program. “I had a great audition experience, and I loved Montreal, and going to school here is so much more affordable than pretty much anywhere in the States.
“I have loved every second of it,” she says of her time at McGill. “The best part of it has been the musical community here and the friends I've made.” She has studied under Smith Bessette and Esther Gonthier. “Both of them are fantastic. And they’ve really encouraged me to take myself seriously and go for it.”
Fogg laughs describing her favourite part of the Wirth Vocal Prize: a video of her family’s reaction to her victory that she has watched dozens of times.
“I have a really amazing, supportive family, who make me feel like such a superstar.”