 Dutch soprano Elly Ameling performed concert tours that led her regularly throughout the world. She has performed with most major symphony orchestras, and conductors such as Ernest Ansermet, Carlo Maria Giulini, Bernard Haitink, Rafael Kubelik, Wolfgang Sawallisch, André Previn, and Seiji Ozawa. She is a regular guest at the major festivals (Holland Festival, Edinburgh, Lucerne, Aix-en-Provence, Tanglewood, Flanders Festival, etc.) She also regularly receives invitations to give master classes. More than 150 CD’s document her extended repertoire. Many of them have been awarded the Edison Prize (4 x), the ‘Grand Prix du Disque’, the ‘Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik’, etc. Elly Ameling has been granted three honorary degrees in the USA and Canada. |
 Already acclaimed not only as one of the foremost accompanists of our day but also for his major contribution to the development of the song repertoire, Graham Johnson has most recently completed his major recording project of the complete lieder of Schubert for the Hyperion label and has embarked on a similar project of recording the complete lieder of Schumann. He was made an OBE in the 1994 Queen's Birthday Honours list, and in 2002 he was created Chevalier in the Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the French Government. In June 2000 he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in recognition of his achievements. His encyclopedic knowledge of the song repertoire has also led to his literary achievements in the publishing world. |
Soprano  Robyn Driedger Klassen has performed with the Vancouver Opera, Pacific Opera Victoria, the Banff Centre and Seattle Opera, and the Britten-Pears Institute.
She has sung with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Vancouver Bach Choir, Vancouver’s Music on Main, and the Regina Symphony Orchestra. Robyn can be seen in the upcoming season in performances of R. Murray Schaffer’s Arcana with The Turning Point Ensemble, Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, and various recitals and concerts including Bach’s Cantata 51 and Handel’s Messiah.
Robyn is a Founding member of the Vancouver International Song Institute where she teaches and performs. |
 Pianist Laura Loewen has appeared in concerts throughout North America and in Europe and Asia, and is a professor of Collaborative Piano and the Vocal Coach at the University of Manitoba. She is on the faculties of the NUOVA opera training program in Edmonton, Alberta, the Contemporary Opera Lab in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and is a fouding member of the Vancouver International Song Institute, The Galileo Trio and Emerado. Her recordings include She Sings, She Screams, with saxophonist Richard Dirlam, and Roundabout (music of composer Robert Carl), with saxophonist Mark Engebretson. Ms. Loewen holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Accompanying/ Coaching from the University of Minnesota.
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 Baritone François Le Roux has appeared on most of the worlds operatic stages, and is known to critics as "the greatest Pelleas of his generation". Aside from his operatic recordings he has released several song discs for EMI, REM (e.g. complete songs of Duparc and Fauré), HYPERION (Saint-Saëns songs, Séverac Songs & Louis Durey Songs with Graham Johnson), and DECCA-Universal.
His first Book "Le Chant Intime”, published by Fayard, about the interpretation of French Song, has been awarded the 2004 René Dumesnil Award by the French National Académie des Beaux Arts. He has been awarded the grade of "Chevalier" in the French National Order of "Les Arts et Lettres" Western Canadian Music AwardsMr. Le Roux gives numerous recitals accompanied by such renowned names as Irwin Gage, Graham Johnson, Roger Vignoles, Noël Lee and Jeff Cohen, and also conducts master courses dedicated to the interpretation of French songs.
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With a discography of twelve CDs, and numerous performances and broadcasts throughout North America and Europe, Jocelyn Morlock is fast becoming known as one of Canada's leading composers.
Morlock's music has received numerous national and international accolades, including: Top 10 at the 2002 International Rostrum of Composers; Winner of the 2003 CMC Prairie Region Emerging Composers competition; and two nominations for Best Classical Composition at the Western Canadian Music Awards (2006, 2010.) In 2008, Morlock was a winner of the Mayor's Arts Awards in Vancouver.
Upcoming projects include Turning Point's Firebird 2011, winner of the eleventh annual Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award, and a new double concerto for the Agassiz International Chamber Music Festival. Jocelyn's Blog can be found here.
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Richard Turp has been the Artistic Director of the Montreal International Music Festival, Director of Special Projects at L'Opera de Montreal, Director of the Andre Turp Musical Society and Artistic Director of the Lachine Music Festival, a post he still holds today. He is a co-founder of the Canadian Vocal Arts Institute and director of the vocal program at the Orford Academy since 2009. He has lectured widely, hosted two editions of the Opera Canada Awards Gala (the Rubies), written program notes for musical organizations and record companies and has been a collaborator for Opera Canada. He has taught at L'Université de Montréal and McGill University.
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Susan Youens is the author of many respected books on German lieder. A noted musicologist, her work on Franz Schubert and Hugo Wolf is considered some of the most scholarly and useful material on these composers, and musicologists and performers often cite her work. She writes program notes for vocal recitals at Carnegie Hall in NYC and currently serves as a professor at the University of Notre Dame, as well as being a frequent guest speaker. Her books include: Schubert's Late Lieder: Beyond the Song Cycles; Schubert, Müller, and Die schöne Müllerin; Hugo Wolf: The Vocal Music; Retracing a Winter's Journey: Franz Schubert's Winterreise. For more information on Ms. Youens' Publications, search here.
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 Stephen Ralls began his musical career in England recording with Decca/London. This led to recital appearances with Sir Peter Pears at the Aldeburgh Festival and on the BBC, and to Mr Ralls’s appointment to the staff of the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh. In 1978 he was appointed to the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, where he held the position of Musical Director of the Opera Division from 1996 to 2008. With Bruce Ubukata he founded the concert organization The Aldeburgh Connection in 1982. He has worked with the Canadian Opera Company, the Banff Centre and the National Arts Centre. His recordings include L’Invitation au voyage: songs of Henri Duparc (CBC Records), several releases with the Aldeburgh Connection including Benjamin Britten: the Canticles, Schubert among friends and Our own songs, and the Juno award winning Songs of Travel with baritone Gerald Finley. In 2007, with Bruce Ubukata, he co-directed the inaugural Bayfield Festival of Song and in October 2010 they were joint recipients of an Opera Canada “Ruby” Award for their work in opera and with young Canadian singers. |
 Bruce Ubukata has established a reputation as one of Canada’s leading accompanists, working with singers such as Mary Lou Fallis, mezzo Catherine Robbin, and soprano Donna Brown. In addition to a long association with the Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus, his activities have included performances with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the Elmer Iseler Singers and the Canadian Opera Company, as well as regular engagements at the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh, England. He is also a noted organist and harpsichordist. His recordings include Liebeslieder and Folksongs for CBC Records, Benjamin Britten: the Canticles on the Marquis label and the Aldeburgh Connection’s most recent releases, Schubert among friends and Our own songs. He is co-founder and Artistic Director, with Stephen Ralls, of the Aldeburgh Connection and (in 2007) of the Bayfield Festival of Song. In October 2010 they were joint recipients of an Opera Canada “Ruby” Award for their work in opera and with young Canadian singers. |