Taylor Burns

Taylor Burns is a soprano from Kingston, ON currently pursuing her Master’s Degree at the University of Manitoba. She recently earned her Bachelor of Music (Honours in Voice Performance) with distinction from the University of Western Ontario. Upon graduating, she was awarded the UWO Gold Medal for receiving the highest academic standing in her program. In 2024, she placed 2nd in the Rose Bowl Competition for the Winnipeg Music Festival. In 2022, she placed 1st in her category in the NATS Vocal Showcase. An avid choral singer, has performed with professional Winnipeg based ensembles Polycoro and Dead of Winter. As a lover of Renaissance music, she is a frequent participant of The Canadian Renaissance Music Summer School.

www.taylorburnssoprano.ca

Melanie Hiepler

Melanie Hiepler is a soprano from Surrey, BC. She holds a MMus from the University of British Columbia’s opera program, where she studied under Marisa Gaetanne. 

Recent performance credits include Joseph Canteloube’s Chants d’Auvergne (First Series), Cendrillon (Dorothée), The Cunning Little Vixen (Rooster, Owl, Cricket), The Florentine Straw Hat (La Modista), and Shadow Catch, among others. 

Melanie is an alumna of NUOVA Vocal Arts and holds a BA Honours in World Literature from Simon Fraser University. Melanie gratefully acknowledges the Coast Salish peoples as the traditional and continued keepers of the lands on which she studies, works, and sings.

Click here for more info.

Caroline Barata

Caroline Barata is a rising third year undergraduate studying Vocal Performance at the Eastman School of Music. There she studies under Professor Kiera Duffy. Caroline was featured in the 2024 Eastman Queer Alliance's concert celebrating queer composers, as well as the 2023 Eastman Composer's Concert where she debuted 'The Coming of Old Age' by Payton Brown. In addition to singing, Caroline plays the piano and the guitar. 

Katherine Petersen

Katherine Petersen specializes in the performance of 21st Century repertoire for Voice and Saxophone. Her collaborations with Decho Ensemble include a residency at Ohio University and University of Idaho, performances at the International Congress of Voice Teachers in Vienna and the International Saxophone Symposium. Based in Chicago, Katherine performs with Folks Operetta, Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company, Chicago Opera Theater, and Transgressive Theatre-Opera. Recent roles include Rose Maybud, Ruddigore; Margot, Die Kathrin; Bessie Throckmorton, Merrie England; Brigitta, Iolanta; Contessa, Marriage of Figaro; Sylva Varescu, Csardas Princess; Musetta, La bohème; Valencienne, The Merry Widow; Francesca, Rachmaninoff’s Francesca di Rimini.

Pianist, Laura Loewen

Praised for expressivity, virtuosity, and committed playing, Canadian collaborative pianist Laura Loewen has appeared in concerts throughout North America and in Europe, Asia and South America. Dedicated to sharing her passion for ensemble playing and coaching, she is Professor of Collaborative Piano and the Vocal Coach and Associate Dean (undergraduate programs) at the University of Manitoba’s Desautels Faculty of Music. She was a founding faculty artist of VISI (Vancouver International Song Institute), and is a long-time faculty member of the NUOVA opera training program in Edmonton, Alberta.

An extremely versatile pianist, Dr. Loewen has performed extensively with singers, instrumentalists and chamber ensembles, and is equally comfortable in traditional and contemporary idioms. She has appeared in concert with artists such as Charles Castleman, Tracy Dahl, Wendy Nielsen, Kimberly Barber, Jasper Wood, Eugene Rousseau, and William Bennett. She is a regular recital partner of fellow University of Manitoba faculty members baritone Mel Braun, soprano Monica Huisman, violinist Oleg Pokhanovski, and cellist Minna Rose Chung.

Loewen and duo partner, saxophonist Allen Harrington, have been performing together for more than a decade and are acclaimed for their virtuosic, musical, and electrifying performances. Loewen is also a founding member of The Galileo Trio with Kerry duWors, violin and Mark Rudoff, cello (“an enlightened idea” – Winnipeg Free Press). and Emerado with Rosemarie van der Hooft, mezzo-soprano, and Mel Braun, baritone (“true camaraderie and rapport” – Winnipeg Free Press).

Teaching and mentoring is an important element of Dr. Loewen's career. She shares her love of ensemble playing through teaching at the University of Manitoba, and at summer festivals and masterclasses. Her work as a vocal coach with both professionals and students is characterized by her philosophy of “Passionate Diction”. Her lectures on Diction and Ensemble were a yearly event at VISI, and she has spoken about Diction at NATS events and at Podium, the bi-annual Canadian Choral Conference. Dr. Loewen's articles on Health and the Collaborative Pianist and Diction can be found at Sparks and Wiry Cries.

Dr. Loewen has received several grants and awards, including the Rh Award for Creative Work, University of Manitoba; Creative Works Grants, University of Manitoba; a Special Opportunities Grant, Manitoba Arts Council; and grants for commissioning Canadian compositions through the Canada Council for the Arts and the Manitoba Arts Council. Dr. Loewen holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Accompanying/Coaching from the University of Minnesota, where she was a fellowship student of Margo Garrett and Karl Paulnack.

Soprano, Zorana Sadiq

Soprano Zorana Sadiq is best known for her warm sound, expressivity and chameleon-like abilities in interpreting contemporary music.  The soprano's engagements include the world premiere of Air India: Redacted, with Vancouver's Turningpoint Ensemble, Melancholiac: The Music of Scott Walker with Toca Loca, Dido in Dido and Aeneas: 21st Century Remix at Soulpepper’s Global Cabaret Festival, Granada Girl in Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar both at Tanglewood and with the L.A. Philharmonic, Ariane in R. Murray Schafer's The Enchanted Forest, ensemble in Brian Current's Airline Icarus with Soundstreams, Four Last Songs with Orchestra Toronto, Savitri in Savitri and Sam with Canadian Repertory Theatre, Nothing Compares to You: Music of Kate Bush, Radiohead and Prince with accordionist Joe Macerollo and pianist Peter Tiefenbach, Afghanistan: Requiem for a Generation with the Calgary Philharmonic (world premiere) and Vancouver Symphony, A Mirror on Which to Dwell and Vocalissimus with Boston Musica Viva.  

Passionate about the music of living composers, Zorana had the pleasure of singing the music of emerging composers with Soundstreams for program mentor Steve Reich.  She was also a finalist in the Eckhardt-Gramatté competition for contemporary music, and a vocal fellow at the Tanglewood Music Centre and the Aspen Festival. 

As an educator, Zorana taught voice at the Regent Park School of Music for 16 years. While there, she identified a scarcity of classical repertoire which adequately represented the diversity, interests, and vocal realities of her teenaged students.  In response, she began the Park Songbook Project, commissioning new works and heading-up the program for young musicians engaged in collaborative art song partnerships.  She was a guest lecturer at Acadia University’s new music festival: Shattering the Silence and has worked as a coach and teacher with the Bach Children’s Chorus and at the Rosedale High School for the Arts. 

Zorana’s strong belief in the power of music to shape and teach us about ourselves led her to write and perform the three-time Dora-nominated theatre piece, MixTape, which premiered at Crow’s Theatre and has been made into an audio drama for CBC’s PlayMe. Zorana also works as a guest host and writer for CBC Radio’s classical program, Tempo.

Baritone, Mel Braun

Baritone Mel Braun is a versatile performer, equally at home in oratorio, recital, and opera, always open to new collaborations. He is well-known to Canadian audiences for his frequent performances and broadcasts in the Masterworks of Bach and Handel. These include performances with Tafelmusik, Calgary Bach Festival, Pro Coro Edmonton, Symphony Nova Scotia, and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. New Music, another of Mel’s interests, has seen him premiere works with Banff Centre, Manitoba Opera, Winnipeg’s New Music Festival, Groundswell, and Toronto’s New Music Gallery. As a recitalist, he is renowned for his creative approach to Song, whether singing Schumann’s Liederkreis while on stage with Winnipeg’s Q Dance, staging Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch, or tracing the life of Schubert among his friends as he completed his final work, Die Winterreise. His ongoing duo partnership with pianist Laura Loewen is at the heart of many of these collaborations.

As a teacher, Mel heads up the Vocal Program at the Desautels Faculty of Music, a program renowned for its collaborative and holistic approach to training singers, He has seen many of his students go on to significant careers as performers and teachers. Among Mel’s many initiatives at the Faculty are the annual Opera Theatre School Tour, the Contemporary Opera Lab, and the Professor Bach Project.

As a music director, Mel looks after the operatic ensembles at the Desautels Faculty, as well as working with Dead of Winter (formerly Camerata Nova), a choir devoted to exploring new approaches to Indigenous choral music. He is much in demand as an Adjudicator and choral clinician, and also enjoys teaching many of the young rock singers that make up Winnipeg’s ever-burgeoning Indie Music scene. You’ll find him wherever young singers need mentoring.

Tenor, Asitha Tennekoon

Asitha Tennekoon (he/him)

Sri Lankan tenor Asitha Tennekoon has quickly established himself as one of Canada’s most versatile singing artists. He drew critical acclaim as Paul in Tapestry Opera/Scottish Opera’s Rocking Horse Winner, receiving the 2016 Dora Award for Best Male Performance. Of his performance, Richard Harris of the Globe and Mail wrote, “The surprise of the night was Asitha Tennekoon... his silky, emotional presence on stage – both vocally and dramatically – gave the show a powerful focus.” For his performance in the 2019 world premiere of Shanawdithit (Nolan/Burry) with Tapestry Opera, Ian Ritchie of Opera Going Toronto wrote: “Tennekoon’s savage depiction of vicious racist magistrate and merchant John Peyton is nothing less than harrowing.”

Asitha’s operatic highlights include performances with Opéra de Montréal, Tapestry Opera, Against the Grain Theatre, Vancouver Opera, Soundstreams Canada, Opera on the Avalon, Opera 5, and Opera Lafayette (USA).

On the concert stage Asitha is known for performing a wide variety of repertoire, from the Evangelist in Bach’s Passions to premiering new works. Concert highlights include engagements with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Regina Symphony Orchestra, Ottawa Choral Society, Toronto Bach Festival, and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

In the fall of 2021, Asitha was a featured soloist for IndiFest presented by re:Naissance Opera. He also sang the title role in Vancouver Bach Choir's performance of Britten's St. Nicholas. Most recently he was featured as The Knave of Hearts in the cinematic adaptation of Elizabeth Raum’s The Garden of Alice with Pacific Opera Victoria.

In the coming months Asitha's engagements include his debut with Edmonton Opera performing the role of Ferrando in Cosi fan Tutte, his debut with the Canadian Opera Company performing the role of First Priest in Die Zabuerflöte, and performing the role of Bénédict in Béatrice et Bénédict with Opera Kelowna. In the fall of 2022 he will perform the role of Boy Angel in the Canadian premiere of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize winning opera Angel's Bone, co-produced by re:Naissance Opera, Sound the Alarm: Music/Theatre, Loose Tea Music Theatre, Array Music, and Turning Point Ensemble.

In addition to his work as a performer, Asitha is also a co-founder of Amplified Opera (AO), an Indie opera company that seeks to place artists at the centre of public discourse. In addition to presenting performances AO continues to participate in residencies, lead webinars and mentorship sessions, and advocate for meaningful change in the opera industry. They are currently Disruptor-In-Residence at the Canadian Opera Company.

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. 

Baritone, Steven Bélanger

An accomplished clarinetist and singer, baritone Steven Bélanger is a graduate of Queen’s University (BMus, BA) and McGill University (MMus). He has performed with ensembles of all sizes and genres across Canada including the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal (SMAM), Les Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Québec, Opéra de Montréal, VivaVoce, the Elmer Iseler Singers, the Canadian Chamber Choir and Arion Baroque Orchestra. He has appeared as soloist with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM), the McGill Baroque Orchestra, Voix Libres, Le Choeur du Vieux-Montreal, Les Grands Ballets canadiens de Montréal, the Kingston Symphony Orchestra, the Queen’s University Symphony Orchestra, the Quinte Symphony, the Grand River Chorus, Opera After Hours, the Victoria Baroque Players and the Prince George Symphony Orchestra.

Steven has appeared at music festivals across North America including the Montreal Baroque Festival, the Festival international de Lanaudière, the Montreal/New Music International Festival, Festival Vancouver, the Lamèque International Baroque Music Festival in New Brunswick and the Festival Internacional Cervantino in Mexico. He has participated in over a dozen recordings for such labels as Decca, ATMA, Naxos, Centrediscs and Grouse Records, and has recorded music for radio, television and the Cirque du Soleil.

Locally, Steven has performed as both soloist and ensemble singer with the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Early Music Vancouver, the Vancouver Cantata Singers, the Erato Ensemble, SummerChor, Laudate Singers and Stellaria. Recent engagements include the title role in Dido and Aeneas with Players & Singers and the first public workshop of Lloyd Burritt’s new opera, The Art of Camouflage, based on the memoir of Canadian writer Betsy Warland. Steven is currently the General Manager of the Vancouver Chamber Choir and is a featured artist on their newest recording of the music of Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer entitled The Love that Moves the Universe.

Soprano, Robyn Driedger-Klassen

At the age of sixteen, Robyn Driedger-Klassen discovered that singing came more naturally than her attempts on the piano at Bach Preludes and Fugues.  She won a few competitions in those early days and after a few years of dilly-dallying in other university programs, she decided that music was the only career for her so, she  undertook the voice performance program at UBC with vigour.

Robyn has done lots of performing in lots of places.  She loves the costumes and grandeur of opera and adores the personal and intimate side of recitals.

Several years ago, Robyn was hired by the Turning Point Ensemble to do a work for voice and ensemble by R Murray Schafer entitled Arcana.  Faced with singing Egyptian hieroglyphs, Robyn found herself first at a complete loss, but soon fully enjoyed unravelling the mysteries found on the page.  Schafer witnessed her successful performance and since then, Robyn has thrown herself whole-heartedly into performance of contemporary vocal repertoire.  Some of her favourites have been: a fully-staged performance of Libby Larsen’s Try Me Good King, the final words and letters of the wives of Henry VIII;  Kaaija Saariaho’s Lonh, for soprano and electronics that make lovely bird sounds; Jake Heggie’s At the Statue of Venus, a woman’s inner monologue as she waits for a blind date; Brian Current’s Inventory, a complicated piece about a woman’s relationship with shoes; David McIntyre’s On the Road to Moose Jaw, a soaring song about a prairie drive; Leslie Uyeda’s White Cat Blues, a set of songs written for her with poems by Lorna Crozier; and Perruqueries, a commissioned set of songs about wigs from the weird and wonderful minds of Jocelyn Morlock and Bill Richardson.  This is an exciting time to be working with North American composers and Robyn is thrilled to make their songs come alive. However, she will always make time to sing Mozart, Schubert or Richard Strauss!

Robyn is on the core faculty of the Vancouver International Song Institute, and is also pleasantly surprised to find herself Head of Voice at the Vancouver Academy of Music. Robyn loves books, geraniums, hikes, canoes, cups of tea and a clean house.  Robyn lives with her husband and two vocal critics under the age of five. She can bake a wicked loaf of bread and in recent times, has learned a considerable amount about monster trucks, fast cars and dinosaurs.

Pianist, Corey Hamm

Pianist Corey Hamm is establishing a unique musical profile performing widely in North America and in Asia as both soloist and chamber musician. His CD of Frederic Rzewski’s hour-long solo piano epic The People United Will Never Be Defeated! (Redshift Records)  won Spotify's Best Classical Recording 2014, and Best Classical Recording at the 2014 Western Canadian Music Awards. He has performed the work over 80 times and many more performances are to come in 2018,  the year of Rzewski’s 80th Birthday. Corey Hamm’s extensive work in the 1990s with  the great French composer Henri Dutilleux will  come to fruition in his plan to record Dutilleux’s complete works for solo piano and chamber with piano in the near future. Among his other recording plans is a soon-to-be-released CD of solo works written for him by Keith Hamel, Jocelyn Morlock, Jordan Nobles, Dorothy Chang, and  Scott Godin, a CD with Nu:BC, and two more CDs with PEP (Piano and Erhu Project). He recently performed two works on Jocelyn Morlock’s CD, on Redshift Records. 

Corey Hamm has commissioned, premiered and recorded over three hundred works by composers  from all over the world.  These commissions have been for solo piano, various chamber music formations as well as concerti. 

His most extensive collection of commissioned works includes over 70 pieces  for  PEP (Piano and Erhu Project) with whom he has toured China.  To date the composers for the project come from China, Canada, UK,  and the United States, and include Michael Finnissy, GAO Ping, Brian Cherney. The result is a new and flourishing catalogue of works for piano and erhu composed in the musical languages of the 21st century.  This combination of instruments bringing together two of the world’s great musical traditions,  now has a unique collection of works for Nicole Ge Li and Corey Hamm to draw from for audiences of the 21st century. They have released some of these works on their PEP CDs, Vols. 1 and 2 (Redshift TK437 and 440). Volume 2 was nominated for Best Classical Recording at the 2015 Western Canadian Music Awards. Volumes 3, 4 & 5 are in preparation for release in 2019. 

He has also commissioned  over 50 works for The Nu:BC  Collective and for  Hammerhead Consort  (two piano and two percussion).  As pianist for The Nu:BC Collective  he has released the critically acclaimed CD Beyond Shadows (Redshift TK432). As a founding member of Hammerhead Consort, he received the 1993 Sir Ernest Macmillan Memorial Foundation Chamber Music Award, and was winner of the 1992 National Chamber Music Competition. 

In recent years, Corey Hamm has studied, recorded and toured one of the great piano works of the last decades, Frederic Rzewski's monumental hour-long solo piano epic, The People United Will Never Be Defeated! (Redshift TK431). This work, made up of a theme and 36 variations, has been recorded by a small number of pianists including Marc-André Hamelin, Ursula Oppens,  and Stephen Drury. Frederic Rzewski received Corey Hamm’s interpretation as one of the finest to date. “Excellent! Bravo! This may be the best recording.” 

Corey Hamm premiered Dorothy Chang’s new PEP Double Concerto for erhu and piano soloists, Gateways, with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) in Apr. 2018, and was soloist in the World Premiere of Jordan Nobles’ Piano Concerto with Bramwell Tovey and the VSO. He gave the World Premiere of Howard Bashaw's Concerto for Two Pianos and Percussion with conductor Grzegorz Nowak and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and  has recent and upcoming performances of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto 3, Prokofiev Piano Concerto 2, Bartok’s Piano Concerto 2, Lutoslawski’s Piano Concerto, Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, Faure’s Fantasie Op. 111, and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.

Dr. Hamm is Professor of Piano at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, where he was awarded the prestigious Killam Teaching Award. He is on the Piano Faculty of both the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice (SICPP) at NEC in Boston, and MusicFest Perugia, in Italy. His beloved teachers include Lydia Artymiw, Marek Jablonski, Stéphane Lemelin, Ernesto Lejano, and Thelma Johannes O'Neill.

Contralto, Lynne McMurtry

Described as “a force of nature” (Toronto Star) and “an actress of immense talent” (Opera Canada), contralto Lynne McMurtry is happiest when rehearsing powerful words set to evocative music, which is why she loves Art Song Lab.  Recent opera performances include Mistress Quickly in Verdi’s Falstaff with Calgary Opera and Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro with Opera Lyra.  In the concert realm she dreams of singing more of Das Lied von der Erde (Mahler) and the Alto Rhapsody by Brahms, both of which she performed with orchestra recently.  She teaches at the State University of New York College at Fredonia and is a Founding Faculty Artist of the Vancouver International Song Institute.

Pianist, Rachel Iwaasa

Hailed in the press as a "keyboard virtuoso and avant-garde muse" (Georgia Straight) with the “emotional intensity” to take a piece “from notes on a page to a stunning work of art” (Victoria Times Colonist), pianist Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa has performed as soloist and chamber musician in Canada, the United States, the Netherlands and Germany. Known for bold and innovative concerts, Rachel combines her warmth and curiosity to touch the hearts and minds of audiences, whether she is playing Beethoven and Schumann or Ligeti and Saariaho.

One half of the flute/piano duo Tiresias with Mark McGregor, Rachel has also performed with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Judith Forst, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw and Richard Reed Parry of Arcade Fire. Rachel has appeared for Muziekweek Gaudeamus, Music TORONTO, Vancouver New Music, Music on Main, Redshift, the Western Front, the Victoria Symphony, the Aventa Ensemble (Victoria), CONTACT contemporary music (Toronto), New Works Calgary, Groundswell New Music (Winnipeg), and Vancouver Pro Musica. Rachel has a shameless passion for contemporary music, and has performed numerous premières, including pieces written especially for her by Rodney Sharman, Jeffrey Ryan, Jocelyn Morlock, Emily Doolittle, Alexander Pechenyuk, and many other Canadian composers. Rachel’s debut solo CD, Cosmophony, piano music inspired by the cosmos, was released in 2010 on Redshift Records. Praised by the Vancouver Sun as “brilliant” and “unforgettable” and nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award, Cosmophony features the Canadian premiere recording of George Crumb’s Makrokosmos, Volume II and no less than nine commissioned works by Canadian composers.

Rachel is one half of the flute/piano duo Tiresias with Mark McGregor. Their debut CD, Delicate Fires, was nominated for a 2008 Western Canadian Music Award. Delicate Fires was produced with the generous assistance of the Barbara Pentland fund, and features the first commercially released recordings of her Sonata Fantasy for solo piano and Trance for flute and piano. It also presents the premiere recordings of works commissioned by Tiresias from Canadian composers Rodney Sharman, Jennifer Butler, and Jocelyn Morlock. Tiresias’s sophomore recording was double CD released in 2013: Trade Winds, showcasing the works of BC composers Jean Coulthard, Paul Douglas and Christopher Kovarik, paired with Halos of the Moon, exploring Japanese-Canadian hybridity in music with works by Toru Takemitsu, Jo Kondo, Eliot Weisgarber, Anthony Genge, Derek Charke, Hiroki Tsuromoto and Kara Gibbs.

Rachel’s major teachers were Jane Coop, Menahem Pressler, and Robin Wood. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of British Columbia, a Master of Music from Indiana University, and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Victoria, where she earned the Victoria Medal as the top graduating student in Fine Arts. She was also a two-time recipient of the prestigious Annual Grant from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) for graduate studies at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" Berlin. Other awards include numerous grants from the Canada Council, the BC Arts Council, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and the Alberta Heritage Foundation. Rachel is a founder of the Queer Arts Festival, regarded as one of the top 5 festivals of its kind worldwide.

Pianist, Alison d'Amato

Pianist Dr. Alison d'Amato is a dynamic and versatile musician, committed to performing and teaching in the full spectrum of collaborative musical genres. A valued colleague and innovative mentor, she is Artistic Co-Director of Florestan Recital Project (www.florestanproject.org), Assistant Professor of Vocal Coaching at Eastman School of Music, and Clinical Assistant Professor at University at Buffalo. In all these activities, Alison is dedicated to energizing the relationships and communication inherent in music.

As both a pianist and teacher, Alison has developed several projects that explore interdisciplinary collaborations and new approaches to the performer-audience relationship. She is Program Director of Art Song Lab (www.artsonglab.com), an intensive workshop that presents new works in collaboration with composers, poets, and performers. Alison has been a guest artist at The AmBul Festival (Sofia, Bulgaria), SOURCE Song Festival, University of Toronto, Tufts University, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, SUNY Fredonia, University of Minnesota, and Boston Conservatory. In addition to traditional masterclasses, Alison has shared classes with musicologists, English professors, singers, and instrumentalist partners. She has pursued that interdisciplinary approach in performance, notably with a Florestan/Maine State Ballet collaboration of “The Poet’s Love,” a highly-acclaimed original presentation of Schumann’s Dichterliebe with original choreography. 

Recent recording projects include The Complete Songs of Virgil Thomson (New World Records) and Music for Violin and Piano by Joseph Achron with violinist Michael Ludwig (Naxos). Recent concert activities include programs at the Schubert Club (St. Paul, MN), premieres with Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), Wordsong, and the Buffalo Chamber Players, and recitals with acclaimed soprano Tony Arnold.

Soprano, Dorothea Hayley

It's our pleasure to have Dorothea Hayley joining us for the first time this summer for #ASL2018.

www.artsonglab.com

Praised for her “very personal creative power” (Badener Zeitung) and her “amazing coloratura skills” (Opera Canada), Dorothea Hayley has been a soloist with the Vancouver Symphony, the Bourgas Symphony, the Allegra Chamber Orchestra, and Capriccio Basel, and has appeared in recital in Europe, Asia, and North and South America. She has performed in festivals such as Sonic Boom, the Happening Festival, Gulangyu Piano Festival, Performer’s Voice Symposium, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, and the Atempo Festival of Caracas, and with organizations like the SMCQ, Chants Libres, CIRMMT, Codes d’accès, Vancouver New Music, the Little Chamber Music Series That Could, and the Land’s End Ensemble. She is a member of the Erato Ensemble, the Broadwood Duo, Ensamble Atempo, and the Hayley-Laufer Duo.

An enthusiastic performer of contemporary music, Dory has worked with composers such as Helmut Lachenmann, Diógenes Rivas, Owen Underhill, Jordan Nobles, and Chris Paul Harman, and created roles in Mark Haney’s Omnis Temporalis and Michael James Park’s Diagnosis Diabetes. The Georgia Straight called her performance of Joelysa Pankanea’s The Fifth Stage one of “five transcendent arts moments” of 2015.A former Visiting Scholar at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute and Visiting Faculty Artist at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, she currently teaches at Vancouver Community College. She is the Artistic Co-Director of the Blueridge Chamber Music Festival.

Dory pursued vocal studies at McGill University, the University of British Columbia, and the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, and has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Koerner Foundation, the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada, and the Conseil des arts et des letters du Québec. She holds a Doctor of Music degree from Université de Montréal.

Pianist, Marguerite Witvoet

It's our pleasure to announce that Marguerite Witvoet will be joining our performers for a second time at Art Song Lab 2018!

Don't miss the chance to work with Marguerite and all our amazing performers.

Apply today: www.artsonglab.com

With a rich musical palette and an adventurous spirit, Marguerite Witvoet lays claim to a diverse range of musical territories. As a pianist, vocalist, composer, sound designer, music director/conductor and vocal coach, Marguerite has gained a reputation across Canada as a versatile and creative musician.

An active player in the development of new opera and musical theatre, Marguerite has conducted the world premieres of several new Canadian operas and assisted in the development of numerous others, with companies such as Autumn Leaf Performance, The Banff Centre, Modern Baroque Opera Company, Pro Musica, Restless Productions, Tapestry New Music Theatre, The Vancouver Playhouse and Vancouver New Music. No stranger to theatre, she has also worked with the Arts Club, Belfry Theatre, Canadian Stage, Chemainus Theatre, Shaw Festival and Toronto Operetta Theatre.

Ms. Witvoet regularly performs as a solo and chamber artist, and has made numerous recordings with CBC, frequently interpreting works by established contemporary composers such as John Cage and Georges Aperghis, commissioning new works by Canadian and international composers and performing works of her own composition.

In 2002, Marguerite was nominated for a Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for Significant Artistic Achievement for musical composition and arrangement. Her first venture into sound design was deemed "outstanding" by critics and audiences alike, and was nominated for a Jessie Award in 2003 for Best Sound Design. Since then, artists of all disciplines have sought her out for creative collaborations.

Marguerite lends a compassionate approach and a critical ear to her work as a vocal coach and piano teacher for both professionals and amateurs. Working with a combination of intuition, keen observation, years of musical training and a wealth of performance experience, she inspires students to develop their own unique voice as artists and creators.

Recent projects include conducting a 2016 production of White Wines, Radio Play in 3 Acts, composed by Dorothy Chang, and composing and music directing for Th'Owxiya: The Hungry Feast Dish, for Axis Theatre in June 2017. Upcoming projects include music directing a December 2017 workshop of Leslie Uyeda's Your Breath, My Breath: Dialogue for a Mother and Daughter and playing in the Arts Club remount of Onegin, by Veda Hille and Amiel Gladstone.

Marguerite is a member of AFM, SOCAN, CMRRA and SCGC, and currently teaches in the Bachelor of Performing Arts program as well as conducting Beginning Choral Ensemble at Douglas College. She also teaches individual voice and choir at Studio 58, Langara College. For over ten years, Marguerite was faculty vocal coach at the International Advanced Voice Workshops at the Banff Centre.

Singer, Will George

We're thrilled to have Will George coming back for another year at Art Song Lab. This will be the 7th installment of #ArtSongLab, and this will be Will's 6th time!

Don't miss the chance to work with Willl, and all our amazing performers...

Apply today: www.artsonglab.com

Will George is a versatile performer, equally at home in the world of classical, musical theatre, and pop music.

He has performed leading roles with many international musical organizations, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City Operas, and festivals and concerts in Canada, Hong Kong, Finland, England, Sweden, Germany, the Philippines, and Carnegie Hall.

An active recitalist, Will is co-founder and Artistic Director for Erato Ensemble, and has been featured in a solo recital for Japan’s NHK network television. His CD, “Dew-drops on a Lotus Leaf”, a collection of songs by composer Marga Richter, was released on the Redshift label in 2014. “EAST,” with guitarist Michael Strutt, followed in 2017. Other recordings include “Geometrics” by L.Warde and Brent Michael David's “Viola Jokes”, with acclaimed violist Melia Watras.

A specialist in contemporary music, Will has worked closely with many respected composers, including Michael Tippett, Barry Truax and Marga Richter. He recently received rave reviews for his performance in Peter Maxwell Davies’ “Eight Songs for a Mad King” with Nu:BC Ensemble.
In addition to his classical work, Will also has years of experience singing popular music - rock, jazz, soul and country. He is well known in town as a singer-songwriter, and is the lead singer of the roots-rock band Horse Opera. The band released their debut album in November 2017.
Will received his Masters of Music degree from the University of Southern California, where he was honored as Outstanding Graduate from the School of Music. He currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Also a composer, Will's songs and vocal chamber works have been performed and commissioned by such organizations as New Music New York, Erato Ensemble, Vancouver International Song Institute, Holy Rosary Cathedral, and The Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies. His cantata "The Virtues" was nominated for a 2005 Pulitzer Prize in Music. Mr. George is the recipient of multiple ASCAPlus Awards, and is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre.