Pianist, Karen Lee-Morlang

Karen Lee-Morlang, piano

An award-winning performer, educator and producer, pianist Karen Lee-Morlang has been lauded as "funny, brainy and creative."  After specializing in art song and chamber music for her post-graduate degree from UBC, she then taught as a Sessional Lecturer there while continuing her own education and performing in different parts of North America, Europe and Asia.  Locally, Karen has championed music in BC with dedicated passion for over two decades, co-producing recital and lecture series for organizations such as the Vancouver Art Gallery, UBC Main Library, Vancouver Opera, the Vancouver Public Library, and CBC Radio.  As a performer, Karen has been featured at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, MusicFest Vancouver, the World Peace Forum, Women's Worlds Conference, the Vancouver Folk Festival and has been broadcast on CBC Radio. In addition to playing and touring with many different musicians and ensembles, Karen is a founding member of The Lady Larks, The No Sh!t Shirleys, and has played for choirs including Chor Leoni, The Vancouver Welsh Men’s Choir, BC Girls Honour Choir and others.  Karen is especially committed to her role as the Artistic Director of Health Arts Society of BC, which curates and delivers over 700 professional music and theatre performances annually for elders living in health care and retirement communities.  Karen also takes great pleasure in pursuing other passions such as riding her motorcycle, boating, fishing, reading, fussing over her succulent plants and now learning to coordinate her lower limbs in the form of tap dancing. 

Guest Poet, Aislinn Hunter

We’re thrilled to announce that award winning poet and author, Aislinn Hunter will be the guest poet for Art Song Lab 2020.

For your chance to work with Aislinn, apply today.

Aislinn Hunter is an award-winning poet, novelist and writing teacher. She’s the author of seven highly acclaimed books: ‘Into the Early Hours,’ ‘The Possible Past,’ and ‘Linger, Still’ (poetry), ‘Stay’ and ‘The World Before Us’ (novels), ‘What’s Left Us’ (a story collection) and a book of non-essays on material culture and writing called ‘A Peepshow with Views of the Interior: Paratexts’. 

Her work has been adapted into music, dance, art and film forms including ‘Stay’ – a feature film based on the novel of the same name (directed by Wiebke von Carolsfeld and starring Taylor Schilling and Aidan Quinn) – which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014, a song called ‘Romance of the Field’ written and sung by Veda Hille (and inspired by ‘The World Before Us’), and a dance performance choreographed by Anusha Fernando which premiered at the Chan Centre in 2016.

Aislinn identifies as a writer but she also works in academic contexts. She has undergraduate degrees in the history of art and creative writing (UVic BFA), graduate degrees in creative writing (UBC MFA) and writing and cultural politics (UEdinburgh MSc), and a PhD in English Literature (UEdinburgh) where she focused on material culture theory and the writer’s house/museum.

In 2018 Aislinn served as a Canadian War Artist working with Canadian and NATO forces undertaking live chemical, biological and radioactive weapons training. Her war artist video installation ‘A Word and A Body Are Not The Same’ will premiere at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa in February 2020.

Aislinn teaches part-time in the creative writing program at KPU and in the Writer’s Studio program at SFU. She has also served as a writer-in-residence at universities in Canada, England, and Australia. 

‘The Certainties’ – a novel about bearing witness and imaginative acts –  is due out in May 2020 with Knopf, Random House. 

Guest Composer, Leslie Uyeda

As a long-time friend of Art Song Lab, we’re thrilled to have legendary composer and collaborative pianist, Leslie Uyeda as our guest composer for Art Song Lab 2020.

For your chance to work with Leslie, apply today.

Born in Montréal, Québec, Leslie Uyeda is a composer, pianist and conductor.

She studied piano with the late Dorothy Morton at McGill University and with William Aide at the University of Manitoba. She has played chamber music since her student days and continues to perform her own music with her colleagues.

During 20 years in opera, Leslie worked as a coach, pianist and conductor with the Canadian Opera Company, L’Opera de Montreal, Manitoba Opera, Opera Hamilton, the Banff Centre and the Chautauqua Institute of Music in New York. In concert she has collaborated with some of Canada’s best singers, performing recitals with Tracy Dahl, Richard Margison, Brett Polegato, Wendy Nielsen, Heather Pawsey, Liping Zhang, Jean Stilwell and Viviane Houle. After moving to Vancouver, B.C., Leslie became Chorus Music Director at Vancouver Opera, where she also conducted several mainstage productions.

Leslie started composing at a very young age. A few years ago she left her positions at Vancouver Opera and the University of British Columbia to compose full time. Leslie is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre, and is a member of SOCAN, the Canadian League of Composers (www.composition.org), and the Association of Canadian Women Composers (www.acwc.ca).

Leslie Uyeda's principal publisher is The Avondale Press (AvP) c/o The Canadian Music Centre.

Leslie lives very happily with her family in Vancouver. She loves reading, photography, walking her dog Puff, Iyengar yoga, watching great British TV, and cheering for Le Club de Hockey Canadien – the Montréal Canadiens!

(bio from www.leslieuyeda.com/)