Patricia Ahern has been a frequent soloist and core member of Tafelmusik since 2002. She was educated at Northwestern University, Indiana University, and the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland. She taught baroque violin at the Freiburg Conservatory in Germany and Oberlin’s Baroque Performance Institute, and has given masterclasses at McGill, York University, Wilfrid Laurier, University of Windsor, Western University, University of Toronto, University of Wisconsin, Grand Valley State University, California State University Long Beach, Sookmyung Women’s University (Seoul), and the Sydney Conservatorium (Australia). She has concertized throughout Canada, the US, Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America, and has performed with Milwaukee Baroque, Ars Antigua, Chicago Opera Theater, Toronto Consort, Aradia, I Furiosi, Newberry Consort, Musica Pacifica, and the Carmel Bach Festival. Tricia has recorded for Sony, Naxos, and Analekta.
In three decades of work at the Shaw Festival, Guy played in over 4000 performances. Recent work on stage includes King Charles III (Studio 180, Toronto); Agatha Christie’s comedy thriller Spider’s Web (Theatre Aquarius, Hamilton); the world premiere of Norm Foster’s The Writer (Foster Festival, St. Catharines); and The New Canadian Curling Club (Thousand Islands Playhouse, Gananoque, 2019; Western Canada Theatre Company, Kamloops and Vernon, British Columbia, 2020). On television he has been seen in Murdoch Mysteries, The Firm and Warehouse 13. Guy is also heard as the voice of Mr. Bear on Rupert the Bear. While working at the Stratford Festival, Guy received a Guthrie Award, and he has also received a Newton Award and a Paul Reynolds Award at the Shaw Festival. He has been an artist-in-residence at universities across Canada, and frequently teaches with colleague Sharry Flett, specializing in “Victorian Costumes and Customs.”
Julie Baumgartel has performed with Tafelmusik and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra across Europe, North America and Asia. Now living in Kitchener-Waterloo, she frequently performs with the K-W Symphony and Nota Bene Baroque Players. She has been featured in numerous CBC radio broadcasts and performs chamber music regularly with the Gallery Players of Niagara, with the Factory Arts Quartet as the in-residence ensemble of InnerChamber in Stratford and at the Festival of the Sound in Parry Sound. From 2003-2012 she was conductor of the KWS Youth Sinfonia and has been an instructor at the Wilfrid Laurier University String Academy since 2011. She performs on a Paulo Antonio Testore violin made in Italy in 1740.
David began his studies on the violin at the age of seven. His family having relocated numerous times allowed David to experience instruction from a number of teachers in various methods. David’s introduction to orchestral playing was with the Niagara Youth Orchestra in St. Catharines. After high school David earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education from Northwestern College in Roseville Minnesota. During his time in Minneapolis David was able to tour internationally as Concert master of the Continental Singers and Orchestra and of the Communique Singers and Orchestra. While in Minneapolis David studied with Roger Frisch, Associate Concert Master of the Minnesota Orchestra. Upon returning to St. Catharines David studied with Deryck Aird of the Bradley Institute of Music and at that time, Concert Master of the Niagara Symphony. David has been a member of the Niagara Symphony Association since 1989 and has also worked for the District School Board of Niagara as a secondary school music educator since 1989. He currently teaches music at Centennial High in Welland. David and his wife Deborah met while preparing a faculty recital for the Laura Secord Music Department where David began teaching. Since then they have formed the chamber ensemble now known as Glissandi; together with their friend and colleague Douglas Miller, principal flute with the Niagara Symphony. The past twelve years have been very full as the demand for their particular style of chamber music has increased. Performances and audiences have varied greatly providing many rich experiences. One of those was a concert tour of Southern England in the spring of 1997. Upon returning from that tour Glissandi set out to record their first CD entitled Serenity. He enjoys both teaching and performing and is looking forward to much more of the same. David and his wife Deborah have three children: Matthew, Nicholas, and Jessica.
Deborah Braun (harpist) is a native of St. Catharines and began her harp studies locally with Doris Scharing. She subsequently studied with Eilene Malone of the Eastman School of Music, Suzanne Thomas of the Buffalo Philharmonic, and Elaine Pamphilon of Cambridge, England. In additional to extensive solo and ensemble playing, she is harpist with the Niagara Symphony Orchestra and Glissandi.
Keiran Campbell was drawn to the cello after he stumbled across one in his grandmother’s basement and was baffled by its size. Once he turned 8, he began taking lessons — on a much smaller cello — in his native Greensboro, North Carolina. After studying extensively with Leonid Zilper, former solo cellist of the Bolshoi Ballet, he received his Bachelors and Masters at the Juilliard School, working with Darrett Adkins, Timothy Eddy, and Phoebe Carrai. Keiran also spent several springs in Cornwall, England, studying with Steven Isserlis and Ralph Kirshbaum at the International Musicians Seminar in Prussia Cove. Keiran has performed with orchestras including The English Concert, Le Concert Des Nations, NY Baroque Incorporated, Philharmonia Baroque, The Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, and Mercury Baroque. In addition to this, Keiran has explored a wide variety of styles and genres, such as performances of Mozart and klezmer music with clarinetist David Krakauer at Jazz at Lincoln Center, experimental hip hop with DJ Spooky at Carnegie Hall, solos with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Trinity Baroque Orchestra, and productions of period bel canto opera with Teatro Nuovo. Keiran is also fascinated by instrument making, which he studies with the maker of his cello, Timothy Johnson. keirancampbellcellist.com
Canadian soprano Sheila Dietrich is a versatile and in-demand young performer whose style and vocal technique shine in both concert and operatic roles. Ms. Dietrich has appeared as a concert soloist with ensembles across Canada including Les Violons du Roy, Capella Intima, The Toronto Continuo Collective, Nota Bene Baroque Players, TACTUS, The Toronto Classical Singers under Jurgen Petrenko, The Elora Festival Singers and The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir under Noel Edison, The Guelph Chamber Choir under Gerald Neufeld, and The Bach Elgar Choir under Howard Dyck. Operatic roles include Mother (Amahl and the Night Visitors | Menotti), Pitti-Sing (The Mikado | Sullivan), Belinda (Dido & Aeneas | Purcell), Venus (La Dafne | Gagliano), Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream | Britten), Abigail Williams (The Crucible | Ward) and La Petite Chaperon Rouge (La Foret Bleue | Aubert). A Kitchener-Waterloo native, Ms. Dietrich received her Bachelor of Music Performance and Opera Diploma from Wilfrid Laurier University where she studied with Victor Martens. Ms. Dietrich continues to study with Laura Pudwell. In 2015, Ms. Dietrich made her Carnegie Hall debut as a featured soloist in an evening devoted to the music of Purcell under the direction of Richard Egarr. She was also a finalist in the 2015 New York Oratorio Society Solo Competition and was awarded the Johannes Somary Prize. More information, including a full rep list, and upcoming performance dates, can be found at Sheila’s website: www.sheiladietrich.com.
The Eybler Quartet came together in 2004 to explore the works of the first century and a half of the string quartet, with a healthy attention to lesser known composers such as their namesake, Joseph Leopold Edler von Eybler. The group plays on instruments appropriate to the period of the music it performs. The Toronto-based ensemble’s live performances have consistently garnered praise as “glowing and committed”, “spirited” and “lively and energizing”. Their recording with clarinetist Jane Booth won praise from Gramophone for being “totally engaging performances that breathe life into Backofen’s music”; their Haydn Op. 33 garnered this praise in Early Music America: “The Eybler Quartet’s rendition of Op. 33 by Joseph Haydn… is simply a treasure. The sound of the strings is warm but not overly vibrated or assertive; the articulation is clear but not didactic; the tempos are beautifully chosen, the ensemble perfect, and the intonation absolutely pure. This is music-making that reflects the deeply human and attractive qualities found in Haydn the composer…” Violinist Julia Wedman and violist Patrick G. Jordan, are both members of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. Violinist Aisslinn Nosky is a former member of Tafelmusik and currently Concertmaster of the Handel and Haydn Society and Principal Guest Conductor of the Niagara Symphony Orchestra. Aisslinn and Julia are also members of I FURIOSI Baroque Ensemble. Cellist Margaret Gay, Artistic Director of the Gallery Players of Niagara, is much in demand as both a modern and period instrument player; she is also a founding member of the innovative and genre-bending Ensemble Polaris. The Eybler Quartet harnesses a unique combination of talents and skills: razor-sharp ensemble skills, technical prowess, expertise in period instrument performance and an unquenchable passion for the repertoire. In 2018 the group released its’ 5th CD, Beethoven Op. 18 nos. 1-3. The group’s four other recordings feature world premieres of Eybler’s Opus 1, world premieres of Backofen quintets coupled with Mozart’s clarinet quintet featuring Jane Booth, Haydn's six quartets Op. 33, complete on 2 CDs and the world premiere of Johann Baptist Vanhal’s Op. 6 quartets.
After completing a Bachelor of Music degree at Boston University School for the Arts, Margaret Gay accepted an invitation to the Banff Centre for Fine Arts, where she completed the winter programme. From there she moved to Toronto, where she earned a Master’s degree at the University of Toronto and began a remarkably active freelance career performing on both modern and period ‘cello. Margaret performs regularly with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony, Opera Atelier, Mississauga Sinfonia, Baroque Music Beside The Grange, the Eybler Quartet, and Ensemble Polaris, a group exploring the traditional music of various Nordic countries. She is the Artistic Director of The Gallery Players of Niagara, an organization based in the Niagara Region that presents chamber music. She was for many years a member of Modern Quartet, a string quartet dedicated to the performance of new works, the Burdocks, a foursome specializing in works of the 20th century, and Critical Band. In the summers she has performed at the Carmel Bach Festival, Stratford, Elora, Parry Sound, Grand River Baroque, and Lameque Baroque Music festivals, as well as teaching ‘cello and coaching chamber music at the Toronto Board of Education Music Camp, and the University of New Brunswick Summer Music Camp. Margaret can be heard on numerous CD’s, including a recent release from Analekta of Joseph Leopold Eybler's string quartets Op. 1, Ensemble Polaris, Not Much Is Worse Than A Troll, a Hungaroton disc of 17th century English theatre music, Ah! How Sweet It Is To Love, O Bali, from New Music Concerts, and, A Curious Collection for the Common Flute.
Glissandi, is a Niagara-based trio that has been performing together for over twenty-five years. They are featured regularly in Niagara's finest venues, and are members of the Niagara Symphony. Glissandi has recorded three CDs and each of the members is an established freelance musician of their own.
Violinist Rona Goldensher’s playing has been described by the Globe and Mail as having an “on-the-edge, inspired freshness”. Originally from New York City, Rona received her Bachelor and Master of Music from the Mannes College of Music. Currently a Creative Director of Nota Bene Baroque Players, she has performed and toured throughout North America and Europe as well as the Middle East and Japan with many ensembles including Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra (Toronto) , Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (San Francisco), Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and Orchestra of St. Lukes (New York), City Musick (Chicago), Elora Festival Orchestra, Hamilton Philharmonic, and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. As a chamber musician, Rona was longtime founding member and first violinist of Toronto’s Windermere String Quartet a core member of Toronto’s Talisker Players, and continues to collaborate on chamber music projects from early to new music at various venues and festival in Ontario. Her recording credits include Sony, Harmonia Mundi, Analekta, Pipistrelle, Newport Classics and MHS/ Musicmasters. Rona is on the faculty of the Beckett School at Laurier and teaches privately.
Lucas Harris leads a busy freelancer’s life as a lutenist, conductor, continuo player, teacher, lecturer, coach, researcher, and audio/video editor. After graduating summa cum laude from Pomona College, Lucas studied early music at the Civica scuola di musica di Milano (as a scholar of the Marco Fodella Foundation) and at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen. Since 2004 Harris is based in Toronto where he serves as the regular lutenist for Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. He is a founding member of the Vesuvius Ensemble (dedicated to Southern Italian folk music) as well as the Lute Legends Ensemble (a multi-ethnic trio of lute, pipa, and oud). Lucas serves as a continuo player with many ensembles in Canada and the USA, and has worked in recent years with the Helicon Foundation, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, Atalante, and Les Délices. Lucas teaches at the Tafelmusik Summer and Winter Baroque Institutes, Oberlin Conservatory’s Baroque Performance Institute, and the Canadian Renaissance Music Summer School, and also served as vocal coach & accompanist at Vancouver Early Music’s Baroque Vocal Program. In 2014 Lucas completed graduate studies in choral conducting at the University of Toronto, the degree having been funded by a prestigious SSHRC research grant not often awarded to performers. Upon graduating, Lucas was chosen as the Artistic Director of the Toronto Chamber Choir for which he has created and conducted over twenty themed concert programs. He has also directed projects for the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, the Ohio State University Opera Program, Les voix baroques, and the Toronto Consort. During the pandemic, Lucas has been busy with a range of activities including teaching at online academies for continuo players and singers, editing virtual choir videos, and reconstructing a collection of motets by the Italian nun composer Chiara Margarita Cozzolani as well as producing videos of their modern premieres. www.lucasharris.ca
Michele Jacot is a Canadian musician with an active schedule of performing, conducting, adjudicating, teaching and concert production. Besides being in demand for her skills as a clarinetist, Michele is equally at home as a saxophonist and flutist. She regularly performs with symphony orchestras and opera companies, as well as in theatre pit orchestras including Mirvish Productions and the Shaw Festival, and in many chamber ensembles. Michele was extremely honoured to be the Associate Conductor for Canadian musical icon, Howard Cable, and appeared with him as guest conductor of several Canadian orchestras. In addition, Michele is a dedicated teacher and is in demand from the elementary to the post-secondary level. She maintains a busy timetable teaching privately, presenting workshops, adjudicating, and designing and leading instructional woodwind clinics for school music teachers. Michele has been the Artistic Director of Toronto’s Wychwood Clarinet Choir since its inception in 2009. She is proud to be a Yamaha Canada Spotlight Artist, and an Artist at Vandoren, Paris, France. Born and raised in Toronto, Michele holds a Bachelor of Music in Performance from the University of Toronto and a Master of Music in Performance from Northwestern University in Chicago.
Patrick Jordan, a native of West Texas, studied with Susan Schoenfeld before moving to Boston in 1981 to study with Walter Trampler. Mr. Jordan holds a Bachelor's degree from the New England Conservatory and an Artist's Diploma in Chamber Music from the Longy School, where he began several years' study with Eugene Lehner. Now a resident of Toronto, Mr. Jordan is a member of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra with which he tours throughout Canada, the United States, Mexico, Asia and Europe. He is also the Artistic Administrator and violist with the Gallery Players of Niagara. He has been a member of the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra since 1997 and has appeared with the New York Collegium as well as the American Classical Soloists. While living in Boston, he performed regularly with D.C. Hall's Band (a recreation of a 19th-century dance and concert band),the van Swieten Quartet, a period instrument string quartet, and the Handel & Haydn Society Orchestra. He was a member of the Boston Quartet, a modern instrument string quartet, and the Really Eclectic String Quartet (RESQ), a group that explored popular dance and lyrical music from many cultures. From 1988 to 1993 he was Lecturer in Violin and Viola at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA; he is currently on the faculty of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He has recorded for Sony, Sony Classical, Dorian, Newport Classic, NorthStar, Analekta and Northeastern.
Musician Penner MacKay has been living and breathing drumming for more than forty years. His work has accompanied numerous television shows (“Off the Map”), major theatrical productions (Shaw Festival), and movie soundtracks (“The Snow Walker”). In the late 70’s he was part of the Juno Award Winning group “Myles and Lenny.” In the 80’s he toured North America with singer/songwriter Dan Hill. Most recently, ‘Accordion Crimes’, on which Penner played percussion, was listed as one of CBC musicologist Jurgen Gothe’s favourite CD’s of 2006. This versatile musician has conducted workshops for all age groups from troubled teens, to university students, to senior citizens. He’s also worked with corporations like Royal LePage, using drumming as an exercise in team building and co-operation. In 1992, with the help of artist/craftsman Rod Hillier, Penner created a set of thunderous tunable drums from wine barrels. Inspired by the Japanese Taiko drummers, and given that the two men live in the winery region of Niagara, these drums made perfect sense; they are completely unique, impressive works of art that make the ground tremble. And so was born ‘The Barrelhouse Drum Company.’ Having studied all styles of drumming, Penner has been passing his extensive knowledge along to students for 20 years. In 2006, he helped to launch “Drums Along the Niagara,’ Niagara-on-the-Lake’s annual drumming festival. In 2006, he received the town’s cultural award for volunteering. Personable, dynamic, and inspiring, when it comes to performance and percussion, Penner is one of Canada’s great communicators.
Eric is a producer/arranger/multi-instrumentalist performing in the studio and in concert on: jazz, classical, finger style acoustic and electric guitar; classical and jazz chromatic and diatonic harmonicas, celtic and jazz violin and mandolin; accordion, clarinet, banjo, tablas drums and didgeridoo. He was a member of the multiple Juno award winning country vocal group “THE MERCEY BROTHERS”, performed in shows at Casino Fallsview, COUNTRY CLASSICS, Memories from the attic, SIX CHIX and HOLIDAY PARTY. Performed harmonicas in Shaw Festival Theatre’s production of FLOYD COLLINS. Canadian tour of DON MESSER’S VIOLIN with Frank Leahey. Presently on call guitarist with KITCHENER-WATERLOO SYPHONY and is a featured jazz, country and classic guitarist at various concerts in Canada. Eric keeps busy teaching the various instruments he plays at his recording studio MAHAR MUSIC STUDIO in Bolton Ontario when he’s not mountain biking or skiing.
James Mason is highly regarded as one of Canada’s most prominent oboists. He came to Canada in 1975, accepting the position of Principal Oboe with the Saskatoon Symphony and Lecturer in Woodwinds at the University of Saskatchewan. Since 1979 he has been the Principal Oboe of the KitchenerWaterloo Symphony and Canadian Chamber Ensemble. He has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in Germany, Holland, Spain, South America and Japan as well as the United States and Canada. Mr. Mason has many recordings to his credit and is heard regularly on CBC radio, for which he has recorded most of the standard chamber music and solo oboe repertoire, along with several new works for oboe and orchestra and oboe and strings written specifically for him. Mr. Mason has appeared as guest Principal Oboe with the Boston, Toronto and Montreal Symphony Orchestras, along with the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Since 1981 he has been a regular performer at both the Elora Festival and the Festival of the Sound in Parry Sound, Ontario. Over the years, Mason has been a very familiar face in the musical life of southwestern Ontario. He and his wife, violinist Julie Baumgartel, were founding Artistic Directors of the Grand River Baroque Festival. Jim has also appeared as performer, audience member and heckler at INNERchamber in Stratford. He has performed and recorded on numerous occasions with the Gallery Players. He was on the faculty at Wifrid Laurier University for 37 years. In 2000, in recognition of his contribution to the arts, Mason was given the Kitchener Waterloo Arts Award for Music.
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Borys Medicky performs widely as a harpsichord soloist and continuo player. He co-directs the Toronto Continuo Collective, an all-continuo ensemble dedicated to fostering an increased interest in the stylish basso continuo accompaniment of seventeenth-century vocal and instrumental music. From 2006-2014 he was the artistic director of the Kitchener-based Nota Bene Baroque Players. He has served as organist of the Fifth Church of Christ, Scientist in Toronto for over a decade. As a performer he is known for his strong interest in historical dance and its influence on instrumental music. In addition he carries out harpsichord maintenance and repair duties for institutions and private owners, and completed his first harpsichord-building project in the autumn of 2009. When not involved in something musical, he can usually be found engrossed in anything readable.
Douglas Miller is a versatile soloist who is active within various symphony orchestras, chamber music series, mega-musicals, film and television recordings. He has performed with the Toronto Symphony, Hamilton Philharmonic, and Kitchener Waterloo Orchestra. He is current principal flute of the Niagara Symphony and a former Instructor at Brock University. As theatre musician, he is a regular member of the pit orchestras in Toronto productions such as The Sound of Music, Phantom of the Opera, The Wizard of OZ, and Les Miserables. In The Lion King, and The Lord of the Rings, he played a collection of ethnic bamboo flutes, several of which he built himself. In 2004-2006 he toured North America with Hal Princes' production of EVITA, celebrating the show's 25th anniversary. He has been a member of the Shaw Festival Orchestra in various productions since 1991 and performs regularly at the Stratford Festival. One of his many online videos with guitarist Timothy Phelan was used for a seminar in the music curriculum at Brock University in 2021. He has performed with Diana Krall and has made videos with Idina Menzel, Jonathan Antoine, and Chantal Kreviazuk. He is heard on the soundtracks of many films and TV series such as CBC's Road to Avonlea and David Suzuki's Nature of Things. Mr. Miller's diverse education includes a Master of Music in flute from University of Toronto, a Bachelor of Music and Licentiate with Distinction in saxophone from McGill University, where he completed a year of graduate studies in recording engineering. A graduate of the Royal Conservatory's Orchestral Training Program, he also spent a year of Advanced Studies in Music at the Banff Centre followed by private studies in Vienna. He is a founding member of The Gallery Players of Niagara and has produced three CDs with his trio Glissandi. He regularly performs his multimedia show, 'Flutes en Route!' a showcase of ethnic flutes from around the world. He makes his home in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
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A native of southwestern Ontario, harpsichordist Charlotte Nediger joined the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra as principal keyboard player in 1980 at age 21 and has held that position ever since. She has an extensive background in music research, and works behind the scenes at Tafelmusik as Assistant to the Music Director, Librarian, and Programme Editor. She also oversees Tafelmusik's Artist Training Programmes, notably as Artistic Coordinator of the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute. As a performer Charlotte is one of few keyboard players to specialize in orchestral continuo playing. Charlotte holds Bachelor and Master degrees from the University of Western Ontario and a Solo Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in the Netherlands. Charlotte teaches at the University of Toronto and the Glenn Gould School.
Joan Nicks is adjunct professor of film and popular culture, Brock University, with long experience as a film programmer, critic and juror of media and film festivals. Her writing has appeared in various edited books and journals. She is the recipient of teaching awards, research grants, and the Laura Sabina Award (2003) in recognition of women’s contributions to the arts in Niagara. Joan is co-editor of Covering Niagara: Studies in Local Popular Culture (2010), and Slippery Pastimes: Reading the Popular in Canadian Culture (2002): Wilfrid Laurier University Press. Her collaborative research on local popular culture includes blackface minstrel shows, early movie-going and theatres, and the role of newspapers in fueling fandom. She programs film series for the Niagara Falls History Museum, and is working on a history of lost movie theatres and post-WWII motel culture in the cross-border city, Niagara Falls, Ontario. She collaborates with The Gallery Players of Niagara for special silent film events with live music accompaniment. Her curated image-projections for Chorus Niagara concerts include: “A Holocaust Memoir” (2011); “A Might Cry” (2013), commissioned in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812; and “The World Remembers: the war to end all wars” (2014). She curated image-projections for the Toronto premiere of composer Larry Nickel’s Requiem for Peace performed by the Orpheus Choir and conducted by Robert Cooper (2012); and “The End of Innocence - WWI” (2014).
Passionate advocates of chamber music, Toronto-based Odin Quartet explores of the role of classical music in modern-day storytelling. Named after the one-eyed Norse god, seeker of knowledge and holder of the wisdom of the world, the ensemble is dedicated to making classical music accessible to generations of listeners, both old and new. Since their formation in 2015, the Quartet has promoted modern Canadian compositions, including those of cellist Samuel Bisson, alongside classical music literature. In June 2015, the Odin Quartet took part in the Luminato Festival's epic production of R Murray Schafer's 1980 oratorio Apocalypsis. Since their 2017 debut at the opening gala of the Music Niagara Festival, the Quartet has been a recurring performer at the summer festival, in 2019 and 2021. Other festival appearances include the University of Toronto's New Music Festival, Midday Music with Shigeru, the Ottawa Valley Music Festival, Guelph Connections, and Music Mondays Toronto. The Odin Quartet has enjoyed multiple collaborations with the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra as its ensemble-in-residence since 2018. Most recently, the Quartet premiered a new piece for string quartet and symphony orchestra by Samuel Bisson, under the baton of Maestro Ron Royer and has also been a collaborative artist for their annual New Generations Composer’s Project. The ensemble presented its first concert season in 2019-2020 in Toronto and ambitiously programmed a second concert season in 2021-2022. This second season featured their 2-part project, a commission of compositions from composers worldwide, entitled “Lockdown Lullabies” in which over 180 works were received and 30 were chosen and premiered. Additionally during this season, the Quartet released its first album entitled “Journey Through Night: Canadian Music for String Quartet” featuring the musical creations of 7 Canadian composers. The Quartet has recorded numerous film scores both locally and internationally and is regularly featured in musical projects by other artists both in Toronto and abroad.
Mike Phelan is a drummer, percussionist, instructor, educator, conductor & an arranger of Percussion Ensemble music. He was the District School Board of Niagara’s Principal Percussion Instructor from 1989 to 2012. Mike is a Percussion Instructor with the Niagara Elementary Instrumental Music Program, the Ridley College Music Department, offers private instruction for students 10 years of age & older in his home studio & continues to work with & coach several Secondary school Percussion Ensembles. Mike also teaches an Adult Percussion Class through Niagara College, providing enough students register! Mike is a percussionist with the Niagara Symphony Orchestra & performs on a regular basis with the Town of Lincoln, Thorold, Port Colborne & the Hamilton Concert “Wind” Ensembles. As a “pit” percussionist, he performs with Garden City Productions in St. Catharines & Firehall Theatre in Niagara Falls. Over the years, Mike has been the drummer/percussionist for many popular Rock & Contemporary bands such as Starlord, Nightwinds, Jeffrey & the Juniors, Private Stock & Undun. He was the Music Director, Conductor & Arranger of The Malletheads, a very popular student Percussion Ensemble, from 2000 to 2006. The group recorded 4 CD’s in that span, highlighted by performances with the John Sherwood Trio, at the OMEA Conference in Huntsville, ON. & with the Niagara Symphony Orchestra for a Christmas Pops Concert. Since 1993, Mike has been the Principal Percussion Instructor at the Niagara Symphony Summer Music Camp. In 1996, Mike wrote & performed two pieces of music for the CD “Local Scores” recorded by the late poet/lyricist Terrance Cox & in 1999, enjoyed the experience of teaching the Percussion Techniques Course at Brock University. From 2008 to 2011, Mike was the percussionist with the World Rock Symphony Orchestra, featuring a 7-piece Rock band, a 12-voice Gospel Chorale & a 35 piece Orchestra at Fallsview Casino’s Avalon Ballroom in Niagara Falls, ON.
Canadian guitarist, conductor, composer and arranger Timothy Phelan has performed in Canada, the USA, Mexico, Cuba, Martinique, Europe, Scandinavia and China. He made his CBC debut recording at the age of eighteen as concerto soloist with Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, and he has since been heard in solo, concerto and chamber music broadcasts over CBC Television & Radio, Radio France, Radio Caribbean, Cuban Radio & Television, and Radio Jalisco, Mexico. He is a regular guest soloist, conductor, teacher and lecturer at international guitar festivals in Canada, the USA, Mexico, Europe and China. A passionate and accomplished chamber musician, Tim collaborates in several duos with celebrated musicians, including fellow Canadian guitarist Emma Rush, Niagara Symphony Principal Flutist Doug Miller, violinist Julia Wedman of Canada's revered Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and with Swedish cellist Kristin Malmborg in Aurora Polaris Cello & Guitar Duo. Tim is also a member of The Gallery Players of Niagara, performing with, among others, the Eybler String Quartet and members of Tafelmusik, and he has been involved in the performance and acclaimed recording of new transcriptions of Schumann song cycles for voice, strings and guitar, with world-renowned Canadian baritone Brett Polegato. Tim is a prolific arranger of music for solo guitar, guitar ensemble, and various chamber music combinations of guitar with other instruments. Much of his work as a composer has been dedicated to expanding the repertoire for guitar with choir, and he has collaborated with many of Canada's finest choral ensembles, even writing works for choir with symphony orchestra and guitar, including a commission for Chorus Niagara & The Niagara Symphony. For the past decade, Tim has been composing new works for guitar orchestra, and conducting their premieres in Sweden, Germany and Mexico. A graduate of the University of Toronto, and a former director of the University of Toronto Guitar Orchestra, Tim has been on faculty at Brock University for the past decade.
Hamilton tenor Bud Roach maintains a busy schedule of performances from the Baroque to the contemporary. Recent highlights include performances with the Toronto Consort, Soundstreams, the role of the Sailor in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with Les Violons du Roy (Richard Egarr, conductor) in Montreal, Quebec City, and Carnegie Hall, appearances with the Hamilton Philharmonic, and a new recording (along with performances in Toronto and New York) with his ensemble Capella Intima. Bud’s recordings for the Musica Omnia label have been recognized internationally as ground-breaking achievements in historically-informed performance practice. “Roach is marvellous throughout….Five stars” (Early Music Today, UK). Recent recital appearances include Toronto (Early Music Centre), the Midtown Concert Series (New York), and the Boston Early Music Festival Fringe Series (“revelatory concerts”- Early Music America, 2013). Highlights for the 2016-17 season include concert appearances with the Toronto Consort, La Chapelle de Quebec, the Hamilton Philharmonic, Bach Elgar Choir, Nota Bene Baroque Players, the Menno Singers, the Spiritus Ensemble, Soundstreams Canada, Talisker Players (Cole Porter), and Toronto Masque Theatre, as well as solo recitals in Boston, New York, Guelph, and Thunder Bay. With Capella Intima, Bud leads programmes in Hamilton, Toronto, and Kitchener, and will also be presenting a lecture/recital on the self-accompanied performance tradition of the alfabeto aria at the Historical Performance Institute, Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University. Bud is also the founder and Artistic Director of the successful HAMMER BAROQUE concert series, presenting some of Canada’s finest early music performers. www.budroach.com
Anna Ronai has performed at major venues in Europe, North America and China, including the Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall in New York, Gläserner Saal, Musikverein, and Schubert Saal, Konzerthaus in Vienna. Anna has collaborated with distinguished singers as Brigitte Fassbaender, Michelle Breedt, Bernarda Fink, Robert Holl, and Members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Anna is a graduate of the Music University of the Arts Vienna, where she earned two Masters degrees, one in Piano Performance and the other in Collaborative Piano. She maintained positions at the Vienna and Innsbruck Conservatories, and a faculty position for piano, piano chamber music at the Institute for European Studies in Vienna. She has played for master-classes with esteemed artists including Brigitte Fassbaender, Christa Ludwig, Thomas Hampson and Linda Watson. Anna has appeared and placed in several major Lied Duo competitions such as the Robert Schumann Duo Competition in Zwickau, Germany, the East & West Artists International Auditions in New York, and Schubert und die Moderne in Graz, Austria. In 2009 Anna moved to Canada, and is a Vocal / Opera Coach at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo. In Fall 2020 Anna joined Conrad Grebel University College at the University of Waterloo as the piano instructor, where she has also been an instrumental accompanist since 2019. She is an active performer at concerts and recitals across Ontario and abroad. Performances with the Trio d’Argento include “Music Toronto” (the world-premiere of ”Manidoog” by native composer Barbara Croall). Recent collaboration with Vienna based Flutist Ulrike Anton and the “Exil.arte” Institute in Vienna included several concerts in Europe and at the Holocaust Education week in Toronto .
A graduate of the performance programme at the University of Toronto under the tutelage of Patricia Kern, Baritone David Roth has sung on the opera and concert stage in Canada, the US, Great Britain, and Germany. He has appeared recently in concert with notable organisations such as Tafelmusik, The Toronto Consort, La Chapelle de Québec, I Furiosi, The Alderborough Connection, and Capella Intima. He has sung in the professional choruses of the COC and Opera Atalier, and appeared as Figaro and Don Alfonso in Weimar, Germany, with Lyric Opera Studio Weimar and Theater Rudolstadt respectively.
Clarinettist Peter Shackleton joined the Faculty of Music at Wilfrid Laurier University in 2011 as Musician in Residence. He holds the Principal Clarinet chair with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, is a member of Music in Common, and performs with Tafelmusik on historical clarinet. In 1993 he was awarded First Prize at the 27th CBC Radio Competition, and has since performed as a soloist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, CBC Radio Orchestra, Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra and Tafelmusik. He has served as Principal Clarinettist of Orchestra London Canada and has performed with Les Violons du Roy and the Milwaukee Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and Stratford Festival Orchestras.
Christopher Verrette has been a member of the violin section of Tafelmusik since 1993 and is a frequent soloist and leader with the orchestra. He holds a Bachelor of Music and a Performer's Certificate from Indiana University and has contributed to the development of early music in the American Midwest as a founding member of the Chicago Baroque Ensemble and Ensemble Voltaire (Indianapolis), and as a guest director with the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra and the Bloomington Early Music Festival Orchestra. He collaborates with many other North American ensembles, and can be heard in Toronto with the Musicians in Ordinary and The Toronto Consort. He has also participated in crossover recordings with Terry McKenna and Sylvia Tyson and in soundtracks for film and television.
Biography for Maria Vetere, soprano An artistic daughter of the Niagara Region, Dr. Maria Vetere has since age five represented Southern Ontario from local, provincial, and national competitions to national and international performance stages around the world. She is a “triple threat artist: “ not only a seasoned and brilliant performer in voice, piano, and concert accordion, but a highly educated scholar, and one of the most sought after voice/opera pedagogues. For her global operatic and musical achievements, Dr. Vetere was inducted into the Niagara Falls Cultural Wall of Fame in October 2021. From a triumphant debut at New York’s prestigious Carnegie Hall in December of 2019, Vetere’s performances garner ecstatic ovations from international audiences. She has performed on the most prestigious performance venues in Canada, the United States, Great Britain, South America, and Europe and has quickly established herself as a world-class Italian soprano. In 2017, she received the highest honour of the NYIOP International Auditions for vocal excellence in a female voice internationally. In September of 2016 she “stole the show” in a Gala performance at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center where reviewer, Michael Caruso said, “Her singing not only combined the tonal beauty of Renata Tebaldi with just a touch of Maria Callas’ cutting edge – she’s a dead ringer for Elizabeth Taylor in “Butterfield-8,” including the blue-black “Italian Boy” hairstyle La Liz popularized during the late- Fifties and early- Sixties.” She has been lauded by some of the greatest personages in opera: Simonetta Puccini (the composer’s granddaughter), legendary Metropolitan Opera Soprano Aprile Millo, legendary opera conductor Maestro Richard Bonynge, the Fondazione Museo Renata Tebaldi, the Amici di Verdi in Busseto, Italy, as well as conductors and concert organizers on five continents. In 2015, Dr. Vetere co-founded and became the chief operating officer of the prestigious and internationally renowned program Operavision Academy. In 2017, she founded and became the General Director of Niagara’s first opera company, Opera Niagara, which features performers from all corners of the globe and seeks to bring the historic genre of opera to the general public in an accessible and humanistic manner. In 2022, Vetere established Niagara’s first international opera festival as an extended branch of Opera Niagara. “The Cantolopera Opera Festival,” shedding further light on the arts in Niagara. As of 2022, the now renowned Vetere Studio International has received global attention and the Bel Canto technique Dr. Vetere teaches her over 60 singers internationally has recently become the subject of a feature article in Opera Canada Magazine Spring Issue 2020. She teaches successful singers across five continents who are receiving international awards, recognition, and are performing readily. Academically, Dr. Vetere holds a PhD in Historical Musicology, a M.A in Historical Musicology, and a Bachelor of Music in Piano and Voice Performance Magna Cum Laude from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She has received numerous awards, accolades, and scholarships in academia and has presented her research at various musicological conferences. Her groundbreaking dissertation: Italian Opera from Verdi to Verismo: Boito and the Scapigliatura has been lauded as a seminal contribution to the historiography of Italian Opera
Trevor Wagler has dedicated his life to the art of music. He is co-owner/Director of Renaissance School of the Arts, as well as a freelance French horn player (on both modern and historical instruments), conductor, organist, composer, arranger/orchestrator, music editor/copyist and clinician. He holds a Bachelor Degree in Music Composition, a Diploma in Performance, and a Diploma in Chamber Music from Wilfrid Laurier University, as well as a Masters of Music Degree in horn performance from Western University. He has performed with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, the Canadian Chamber Ensemble, Tafelmusik, Orchestra London / London Sinfonia, the Hamilton Philharmonic, the Nota Bene Period Orchestra, the Windsor Symphony, the Stratford Festival, Drayton Entertainment and more, sharing the stage with the likes of Dianna Krall, Anne Murray, Michael Burgess and Howard Cable. Trevor has conducted the historic Waterloo Concert Band since 2006, and has spent nearly two decades conducting various ensembles for the KWS Youth Orchestra Programme. He is the regular guest conductor of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony for their acclaimed joint performances with KW GLEE. He founded the Kitchener-Waterloo Youth Concert Band (KW YCB) in 2017. Passionate about music education, Trevor maintains an active teaching schedule at Renaissance School of the Arts, and holds part-time faculty positions at both Laurier University and the University of Waterloo (Conrad Grebel University College). In addition to his active performance and teaching schedule, Trevor is also a busy arranger/orchestrator and composer, having written more than 1000 scores for orchestras, bands, chamber ensembles and soloists around the world. Recent commissions have included orchestrating (and conducting) The K-W Symphony Presents KW Glee Live! (2015, 2017, 2019 - and hopefully again in 2022, pending the end of this pandemic!) at the Centre in the Square (Kitchener), as well as new music for the KWS, Symphony Nova Scotia, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony, the Vancouver Symphony, the Edmonton Symphony, and the Kingston Symphony. Trevor is a member of the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada, the International Horn Society, the Historic Brass Society and the National Geographic Society. Trevor resides in Waterloo, Ontario with his soulmate, flutist Wendy Wagler, and three fabulous children.
The Toronto Star declared "under Warren's direction, the orchestra sounded full-bodied and alive!" and "...sounding luscious and regal, Warren accomplished his task". Daniel Warren has conducted the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, The Colorado Symphony Orchestra, The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia, Hamilton Philharmonic, Orchestra London, the Windsor Symphony, Symphony New Brunswick, The Thunder Bay Symphony, The ERGO and Continuum ensembles and the Canadian Chamber Ensemble. Many of these performances have been heard on CBC radio. Warren served as Resident Conductor of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony for fourteen years and, more recently, as Creative Advisor and conductor for Orchestra London Canada. For the past twelve years he has been conducting at the Westben Arts Festival Theatre in performances of opera, choral and orchestral programs. Comfortable with virtually all genres of orchestral music, Warren has conducted such notable opera singers including John Fanning, Gary Relyea, Susan Platts, Donna Bennett, Karina Gauvin, Jane Archibald, Daniel Lichti, Virginia Hatfield, Jennifer Enns Modolo, James McLean, and Mark Dubois. Other artists include Anne Murray, Barenaked Ladies, Roger Hodgson of Supertramp, Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo, Neil Donell (lead singer, Chicago) Louise Pitre, Holly Cole, Denzal Sinclair, Martin Fry of ABC, Laurence Gowan of Styx, Jeans ‘n Classics and Cirque de la Symphonie. Recent Opera and Ballet engagements include conducting the world premiere of Brian Finley's opera "The Pencil Salesman", Massenet's "Cendrillon", Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro", Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte” at Westben and Opera Kitchener’s "Die Zauberflöte", The Nutcracker with Ballet Jörgen and the Minnesota Ballet. Other acclaimed conducting engagements have taken Daniel Warren to the United States, Austria, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic. As a conductor and as a trumpet soloist Warren has recorded both on CD and in live television broadcast. He has toured extensively with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Canadian Chamber Ensemble throughout Canada, the United States, England, France, Holland, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and throughout South America. Also active as an arranger, Daniel Warren’s work was recently played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, England. His symphonic arrangements span Classical, Jazz, Broadway and Rock styles and have been performed by orchestras in Canada, the USA, England and Asia. He has arranged for such artists as Quartetto Gelato, Payadora, David Rogers, Louise Pitre, Michael Dore, Donna Bennett and Stephen Michaels Kabakos. He resides with his wonderful wife and family in their rural, owner-built home.
Violinist Julia Wedman brings an "infectious vitality" to music (Victoria Times Colonist). Her playing has been described as "highly communicative", and "extraordinarily lithe and intuitive" (Globe and Mail). Originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Julia completed her studies in music at the University of Western Ontario, the University of Toronto and Indiana University at Bloomington. With a life long passion for chamber music, she formed her first serious string quartet at age 15 and performs with a wide collection of chamber ensembles including the Eybler Quartet, I FURIOSI Baroque Ensemble and L’Harmonie des Saisons (Montreal). She joined the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra in 2005, and is regularly featured as a soloist with the group on their home series in Toronto as well as on tours in Canada, the U.S.A, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Germany, China and Korea. Always interested in the latest research in period performance, Julia joined the Accordes! Ensemble in 2019 at Oxford University (UK) in their ground-breaking research into 19th Century performance practice, which culminated in a CD of music by Tchaikovsky and Fuchs.