She spent her early years in the settlement of Argenta, from which she later took her professional name (to avoid being mistaken for another Canadian soprano, Nancy Hermiston.
By that time, she was frequently making trips to Vancouver, British Columbia, so she could hear musical events and have additional singing lessons.
After further training with Jacqueline Richard in Düsseldorf from 1980 to 1981, and with Gérard Souzay, in 1982 she settled in London, England and completed her studies with Vera Rozsa,[1] and Sir Peter Pears.
In 1990 she received the Virginia P. Moore Prize, an annual award from the Canada Council for development of the career of a young Canadian classical musician.
These have included the Academy of Ancient Music and The English Concert, La Petite Bande, and such prominent conductors as Trevor Pinnock, Seiji Ozawa, Christopher Hogwood, John Eliot Gardiner, Roger Norrington and Sigiswald Kuijken.