About Us
Founder and artistic director, Daria Parada has sung in opera and concert from Canada to Kazakhstan performing many leading roles: Tatyana "Eugene Onegin", Nedda "Pagliacci", Mimi "La Boheme", Santuzza "Cavalleria Rusticana", Cio cio san "Madama Butterfly",First Witch "Dido and Aeneus",Abigail "The Crucible",on stages as diverse as Kyrgyz State Opera, Tashkent Bolshoi in Uzbekistan, Almaty Opera,The Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Dartington Festival,Brooklyn Lyric Opera,Usedomer Germany, etc. Recording credits include a compilation album with British disco king Jimmy Somerville and numerous film soundtracks on the Decca and London labels.
Her entry into the realm of producer and director was inspired in 1994 by an invitation to perform Act 1 of La Boheme inside a loft in Tribeca, NYC, and by an art event presented inside The Brooklyn Bridge's cavernous anchorage where she began dreaming of staging opera in unusual spaces. These events were pivotal and unleashed her desire to take her beloved artform and make it more accessible to audiences who might find it initmidating in a traditional sense.
Mercury Opera was first established in Manhattan New York in 1999, performed a sold out debut of Cavalleria Rusticana inside of Studio Ze in May 2000 for three performances and was documented and featured on ABC NEWS/Lifetime LIVE.
The company currently base their operations in Edmonton, Canada, where they have been presenting regularly for the past four seasons,while still endeavoring to maintain a presence in NYC.
Plans are to revive Coney Island Clowns or Pagliacci for an off broadway performance run.
Other plans include the development of an international touring company.
