Joshua Clemenger is a thirty year old Tenor living and working in Toronto Canada. He recently completed a Masters degree in the University of Toronto's Opera program, and continues to perform around Toronto and the greater Toronto area. Recent opera credits include Luiz in Gondoliers with Toronto Operetta Theatre, Ferrando in Cosi fan Tutte at La Musica Lirica in Novafeltria Italy, President Wintergreen in Bernsein's Of Thee I Sing, and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, at The University of Toronto, and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte at The Arts and Letters Club.

       Born January 23rd, 1991 in Bogota, Colombia Josh moved to Toronto, Ontario at a young age.  He grew up listening to Elton John, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and The Rankins, and developing a love for music that would shape his life.  In 2003 Josh and his family moved to Hamilton, Ontario where his parents would rediscover their love of community theatre, eventually involving Josh in a production of Oklahoma with Theatre Ancaster.  Having loved his first foray into Musical Theatre, Josh then enrolled in the Theatre Aquarius Performing Arts Program,  Playing Roger in their 2007 performance of Grease, his first summer there.  At Aquarius he met Baritone Tom Oliver the program's vocal director.

     Tom saw something in Josh, and offered his a spot in his studio Voice Concepts, where he would study for the next four years.  During his scholarship at Voice Concepts, Josh continued to sing in choirs and participate in musical theatre in and around Hamilton, playing Richard in Hammer Entertainment's A New Brain,  and John in Theatre Aquarius's Miss Saigon.  After successfully performing his first romantic lead as Anatoly in Theatre Aquarius's 2009 Production of CHESS, Tom convinced Josh to pursue a University education in classical voice.

      After completing high school and receiving his grade 8 accreditation from the Royal Conservatory of Music, Josh was accepted to The Don Wright Faculty of Music at Western University, where he would go on to complete the Performance Honors Program under the instruction of Torin Chiles, the celebrated Canadian Tenor and vocal pedagogue.  Studying with Torin gave Josh a wealth of knowledge in healthy vocal training, and the technical grounding on which to craft his own approach to vocal Education.  This collaboration also connected him with Marianna Chibotar, an extremely talented vocal coach and collaborative accompanist, whose attention to detail and artistic integrity continue to shape his approach to music today.

      While at Western, Josh performed in several Western Opera performances, under the direction of some of Canada's premier theatrical artists.  In 2012 he won the role of Lt. Joseph Cable in South Pacific directed by Michael Cavanagh, and also played Ivan in Die Fledermaus directed by Theodore Baerg.  He was lucky enough to continue working with them in the following years playing Camille in The Merry Widow, and Romeo in City Workers in Love. 

Since graduating from Western he has continued to perform in the Faculty's baroque chorus Thames Scholars, directed by Gerald Neufeld whose collaborations with the Early Music Studio continue to reward local audiences with nuanced performances of historical music.  His time spent at Western also led him to Spend two summers training at COAA, the Canadian Operatic Arts Academy, studying under world-class artists such as Sophie-Louise Roland, and Tom Diamond to name but a few,

    In the fall of 2013, after being immersed for years in the world of classical music, Josh was given an opportunity to rediscover his love of theatre when he was cast in another production of Oklahoma, with some close friends from the Don Wright Faculty.

     This collaboration with MTP London led to a role in their spring 2014 production of Songs for a New World, for which he also played percussion. 

     Josh has also been privliedged to perform with some of Ontario's best Orchestras, both as a soloist, and as a Chorister.  While attending the Canadian Operatic Arts Academy he performed selections from Mozart operas with Orchestra London, and in 2014 he was in a musical review celebrating the life of Pauline Zamprogna, performing Broadway classics with the Brott Festival Orchestra.  He had just completed his bachelors degree when the Stratford Symphony Orchestra approached him to sing the role of Nanki-Poo in their concert production of The Mikado, where he was humbled to sing alongside Stratford Festival stars Spencer Reid and Douglas Chamberlain, under the baton of Berthold Carrière, and the direction of Barbara Steed Young. 

  Josh continued to perform in and around London at benefits, weddings, private functions and every Sunday morning at New Saint James Presbyterian, where he was a soloist for five years.  He taught a small but feisty studio of talented young singers,  and supported community theatre in London with various concerts and fundraising initiatives, as well as supporting Save the Children in their worldwide campaign to help the most vulnerable among us.

    In the fall of 2014 he joined the Faculty of LYTE, (the London Youth Theatre Experience) where he taught musical theatre voice and choral music.  Unsure at first if a room full of unruly adolescents was a challenge he could handle, he dove in and was surprised to find the experience trans-formative. He acted as musical director alongside the very talented youth director Ruth Noonan until the end of the season when he left to teach English overseas for a time.

   After spending a few months learning about teaching English in the North of Thailand, he returned to Canada to arrange a position teaching in South Korea, where he lived and taught public school English. Upon completing his contract, he was accepted into the Opera program at the University of Toronto, and began taking lessons with Professor Lorna MacDonald.