If you go to hear Claire de Sévigné in an opera, there’s a good chance she’s the one singing the highest. The Canadian coloratura is a graduate of the COC Ensemble Studio, a recent semi-finalist of the Montréal International Music Competition, and soon to be a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zürich Opernhaus.

Busy as she may be, Claire made the time for some tips and demonstrations of singing lots of high notes. Trills, long high notes, staccati, Claire sheds some light on how she pulls off these vocal pyrotechnics. With clips from her performances at the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Standard Life Competition, and as the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte at the Music Academy of the West.