Sunday, February 19, 2012 | 2:30 pm

Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre

30 TH ANNIVERSARY GALATHE

Accordes String Quartet 1995 • Phillip Addis, Baritone 2008 • Colin Ainsworth, Tenor 1999 • Laura

Albino, Soprano 2005 • Valdine Anderson, Soprano 1990 • Allison Angelo, Soprano 2003 • Johane

Ansell, Soprano 2010 • Allison Arends, Soprano 2007 • Nancy Argenta, Soprano 1997 • Mehgan

Atchinson, Soprano 2000 • Kimberly Barber, Mezzo 2001 • James Baldwin, Baritone 2010 • Colin

Balzer, Tenor 2007 • Julia Barber, Mezzo 2011 • Daniel Bard, Violin 1999 • Peter Barnes, Baritone

1984 • Lindsay Barrett, Soprano 2009 • Michael Barrett, Tenor 2005 • Peter Barrett, Baritone 2009 •

Sasha Bataligin, Tenor 2006 • Anthony Bekenn, Reader 2005 • Steuart Bedford, Piano 2010 • Mary

Bella, Soprano 1997 • Scott Belluz, Baritone 1999 • Nathan Berg, Baritone 2000 • Malcolm Bilson,

Piano 1997 • Marianne Bindig, Mezzo1992 • Susan Black, Mezzo 2002 • Michèle Bogdanowicz,

Soprano 1999 • Benoit Boutet, Tenor 1988 • Tony Boutté, Tenor 1985 • Trevor Bowes, Baritone 2003

• Leslie Ann Bradley, Soprano 2010 • Russell Braun, Baritone 1989 • Kathleen Brett, Soprano 1990 •

Donna Brown, Soprano 2000 • Nils Brown, Tenor 1991 • Blaise Bryski, Piano 1997 • Krista Buckland,

Violin 1986 • Norine Burgess, Mezzo 1990 • Benjamin Butterfield, Tenor 1993 • Peter Butterfield,

Tenor 1988 • Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus 1994 • Philip Carmichael, Baritone 2003 • Gregory

Carpenter, Tenor 1991 • Lucia Cesaroni, Soprano 2005 • Dan Chamandy, Tenor 1995 • Saemi Chang,

Soprano 2002 • Jesse Clark, Treble 1988 • Ditto, Baritone 2000 • Rebecca Collett, Soprano 2011 •

Martha Collins, Soprano 1986 • Michael Colvin, Tenor 1997 • Brenna Conrad, Soprano 2005 • René

Cormier, Reader 1995 • Clare Coulter, Reader 1990 • Hélène Couture, Mezzo 2006 • Benjamin Covey,

Baritone 2007 • Miranda Davies, Soprano 1999 • Melinda Delorme, Mezzo 2002 • Sally Dibblee,

Soprano 1996 • Lisa DiMaria, Soprano 2004 • Robert Dirstein, Tenor 1986 • Alexander Dobson,

Baritone 1998 • Kathryn Domoney, Soprano 1986 • Tyler Duncan, Baritone 2004 • Halyna Dytyniak,

Soprano 1987 • Cary Ebli, Oboe 2005 • Darryl Edwards, Tenor 2002 • Elmer Iseler Singers 2002 • Elora

Festival Singers 1994 • Christopher Enns, Tenor 2010 • Stephen Erickson, Tenor 2001 • Jonathan

Estabrooks, Baritone 2005 • Glyn Evans, Tenor 1988 • Exultate Chamber Singers 1992 • Mary Lou

Fallis, Soprano 1985 • Mark Fewer, Violin 2002 • Jacqui Lynn Fidlar, Mezzo 1995 • Gerald Finley,

Baritone 1988 • Sebastien Forest, Double-Bass 1999 • Lynne Fortin, Soprano 1989 • John Fraser,

Reader 2002 • Simon Fryer, Cello 2004 • James Gardiner, Trumpet 1999 • Vasil Garvanliev, Baritone

2009 • Tyrsa Gawrachynsky, Soprano 2005 • Dennis Giesbrecht, Tenor 1988 • Andrew Gillies, Reader

1987 • Leah Gordon, Soprano 2003 • Sonya Gosse, Soprano 2000 • Sandra Graham, Mezzo 1990 •

Andrea Grant, Piano 2003 • Martha Guth, Soprano 2007 • Wayne Gwillim, Baritone 2003 • Andrew

Haji, Tenor 2010 • Mia Harris, Mezzo 2009 • Virginia Hatfield, Soprano 1999 • Eve-Lyn De La Haye,

Soprano 2005 • Stephen Hegedus, Baritone 2004 • Joni Henson, Soprano 2002 • Marta Herman,

Mezzo 2010 • Nancy Hermiston, Soprano 1988 • Susan Hoeppner, Flute 1999 • Joshua Hopkins,

Baritone 2006 • Martin Houtman, Tenor 1991 • Erica Iris Huang, Mezzo 2009 • Carla Huhtanen,

Soprano 1999 • Henry Ingram, Tenor 1986 • Randall Jakobsh, Baritone 1991 • David James, Contralto

1994 • Patrick Jang, Tenor 2009 • Heather Jewson, Mezzo 2006 • Jerry Johnson, Trombone 1999 •

Graham Johnson, Pianist, Commentator 1999 • Mark Johnson, Violin 2007 • Beverley Johnston,

Percussion 1990 • Gaynor Jones, Soprano 1988 • Philip Kalmanovitch, Baritone 2008 • Jane Keal,

Reader 1992 • Gillian Keith, Soprano 2003 • Bruce Kelly, Baritone 1988 • Charles De Kerkhove,

Treble 1988 • Dale Kim, Viola 1999 • Heidi Klann, Soprano 1998 • Laura Klassen, Soprano 2008

• Kathryn Knapp, Mezzo 2003 • Robert Kortgaard, Piano 2006 • Ingemar Korjus, Baritone 1983

• Anita Krause, Mezzo 1996 • Lynn Kuo, Violin 2000 • Jay Lambie, Tenor 1986 • Jeanne Lamon,

Violin 1996 • Rosemarie Landry, Soprano 1991 • Julia Lang, Reader 1992 • Corinne Langston, Reader

2006 • André Laplante, Piano 1997 • Megan Latham, Mezzo 2001 • James Leatch, Tenor 1986 •

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Thirty Years of the Aldeburgh Connection

“What’s the Connection?” many of you may be asking. Well, we can start the story in July 1977, when a young and enthusiastic Canadian pianist was paying his first visit to the summer school of music which Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears had founded in connection with their flourishing Aldeburgh Festival. The young musician thought he had arrived as an observer to sit in on masterclasses. Instead, he found himself filling a last minute vacancy as an accompanist - and, in the process, Bruce Ubukata met another staff pianist, Stephen Ralls. The rest, as they say, is history.

In 1978, Stephen emigrated to Toronto and, for a decade and a half, we returned each summer to Aldeburgh where we had first “connected.” What a rich repertoire we absorbed through our associations with Peter Pears, Hans Hotter, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Galina Vishnevskaya and many other great singers! How could we transplant the joy we felt in the sympathetic and civilized Aldeburgh environment home to Toronto? We took the plunge on February 21, 1982, with our first concert at Hart House. “Sound the trumpet, to celebrate the glories of this day!” rang out in the Great Hall. We had made the tickets ourselves and the box office was literally that: an old Dacks shoe-box. The audience seemed to like what we did; so for a couple of years, we made ourselves available for sporadic bookings in and around the city. Then in 1985, we established our own Sunday Series in Walter Hall. It was a red-letter day when, with the help of a compilation of Christmas card lists, our subscriptions edged into three digits.

The establishment of a Board and the incorporation of the Aldeburgh Connection in 1986 put us on to a new plane. President Robert Baillie taught Stephen double-entry bookkeeping (arcane skill!) over coffee and cookies. Carol Anderson, who came to us as the universe’s best and most loyal volunteer, took on a host of responsibilities and became an invaluable part of our team. Our artistic range extended and deepened: not all our concerts had to have happy endings, we discovered. New and exciting talents emerged to join us and we were fortunate to be a nurturing part of their auspicious beginnings. Tour opportunities beckoned - concerts in New York (1987), Aldeburgh (1988) and Edinburgh and London in 1992, our tenth anniversary year, let us spread our wings and even transplant some Canadian musical content beyond our borders.

The twenty years since then have seen a steady increase of activity. For 12 years we put energy into a recital series and are proud of those performances in the Glenn Gould Studio, which engaged many of Canada’s very finest singers. In Walter Hall, in December 1998, we presented (in collaboration with the University of Toronto) the first recital in our Young Artists Series, later renamed the Discovery Series, in which artists such as Alexander Dobson, Virginia Hatfield, Joni Henson, Benjamin Covey and Lucia Cesaroni made their first public recital appearances. Five recording projects have been achieved and well received, and in 2007 we inaugurated the first Bayfield Festival of Song in our beloved, beautiful village on Lake Huron.

If we tried to choose our favourites among our concerts, the list would be too long. However, some of our finest hours, we feel, have been our celebrations of composers’ birthdays. One night continues to cast a glow in our memories - January 31, 1997, when we united with the CBC, and the rest of the world, in paying tribute to Schubert on his 200th birthday. Since then, we have marked important anniversaries of Poulenc, Wolf, Duparc, Britten, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Liszt. Next year, stay tuned for our celebration of the centenary of our “signature” composer, Benjamin Britten!

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Our Honorary Patrons have inspired us with their encouragement and marvellous example. May we list them for you (in chronological order)? - Sir Peter Pears, Nancy Evans, Eric Crozier, Greta Kraus, Steuart Bedford, Lois Marshall, Christopher Newton, Léopold Simoneau and Catherine Robbin - all great friends and sterling advocates of the art of song. Our Board, led since 1994 by Michael Gough and then, since 2008, by Patsy Anderson, has lightened our load with sage advice and helped us to turn in a series of impeccably balanced budgets. Individuals have provided princely support and the fleeting, but vivid, joys of parties and celebrations. Our audiences - you! - have astounded us with your intelligence and generosity. You always laugh at our jokes and have expressed your appreciation in countless ways. Letters and jars of relish are valued as much as splendid donations. And our singers - too numerous to mention, though you will hear a good many of them this afternoon - have stimulated us with their insights and ravished us, the two crow-voiced pianists, with their melody. It has been the greatest thrill to see them take their rightful places on the world’s great stages.

SR and BU

Bouquets from Absent Friends

Steuart Bedford, conductor and pianist,Honorary Patron of the Aldeburgh Connection:

My greetings to the Aldeburgh Connection on the occasion of their thirtieth anniversary! For an incredible thirty years you have been providing programmes of rare sophistication, devoted to the untrodden byways of both literature and song, very much in the spirit of the early Aldeburgh Festivals. This represents a wonderful achievement with which I am proud to be associated. May you continue as long as life shall last!Steuart

Adrianne Pieczonka, soprano:

Congratulations, dear Stephen and Bruce, on the 30th Anniversary of the Aldeburgh Connection! Over twenty years ago you featured me in one of your recitals while I was still at student at U of T. This was the start of a wonderful relationship, both personal and professional. Kudos to you both for delighting audiences year after year with your thoughtful, insightful, often witty programs. You continue to feature the finest Canadian artists - both firmly established and newly emerging. In 1987, I spent two months in Aldeburgh at the Britten-Pears School. It was an unforgettable experience which made a lasting impression on me. Canada is fortunate to have its very own Aldeburgh Connection. May it flourish for years to come!

Love,Adrianne

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Russell Braun, baritone:

The Aldeburgh Connection has told, and been part of, so many important stories in our musical lives.

It has strengthened our sense of purpose as performers and made us all ambassadors for a better world with art song.

Most importantly, though, Bruce and Stephen have gifted us all with a home in which that rare goal can be achieved - where performer and listener are engaged in dialogue.

All the best to you both,Russell

Michael Schade, tenor:

I can unequivocally say that I would not be a Liedersinger, and the kind of singer of recitals that I am today, without the support of Stephen Ralls, Bruce Ubukata and the dear Aldeburgh Connection. Not only did Stephen and Bruce already ask me to sing with the recital series at a very young age, creating an opportunity to be heard while helping and guiding me, but their influence then, as now, speaks of the dedication to detail that one needs to make every single Lied a mini-drama, a true vignette and reflection of life’s emotions, from triumphs to trials and tribulations. Stephen and Bruce have helped to recruit a whole new generation of enthusiasts for this art form with their informative, charming and superb programming and their knack for finding young talent. Much of this talent has gone on to sing throughout the world and we are proud of our heritage. I remember that, when I started, I realized and was honoured to see how Stephen and Bruce’s work with the greats from Peter Pears to Benjamin Britten to the various great singers, many of whom to this day frequent their house, had an influence on my learning and my performing. In essence, a torch was being passed, and a responsibility that comes with that knowledge. The great masters and their past performing servants are speaking to us directly through the music performed at the Aldeburgh Connection. Long may it live and long may it prosper! Congratulations from all my heart and thank you, Stephen and Bruce, for all you have brought and keep bringing us.

Ever so fondly, Michael.

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Our sincere thanks to

Carol and Ken Anderson, for sponsoring Colin Ainsworth

Patsy and Jamie Anderson, for sponsoring Susan Platts

Suzanne and James Bradshaw, for sponsoring Gillian Keith

Sally Holton and Stephen Ireland, for sponsoring Michael Colvin

Lorraine Kaake, for sponsoring Lauren Segal

Pat and Tony Keith, for sponsoring Lawrence Wiliford

Christopher Kelly, for sponsoring Brett Polegato

Hans Kluge, for sponsoring Krisztina Szabó

John Lawson, for sponsoring Monica Whicher

Joanne Mazzoleni, for sponsoring Nathalie Paulin

Roger Moore, for sponsoring Benjamin Butterfield

Sue Mortimer, for sponsoring Gerald Finley

Sasha Olsson and Tony Fyles, for sponsoring Giles Tomkins

Patricia and David Stone, for sponsoring Tyler Duncan

Justin Young, for sponsoring Shannon Mercer

James and Connie MacDougall, for providing the flowers on stage

Elfrieda and Vern Heinrichs

The Stratton Trust

and the following organizations, for their generous assistance throughout the season:

The Bel Canto Foundation

The C. P. Loewen Family Foundation

Also, please see the list of individual donors later in this programme book.

This concert is being captured for future broadcast on In Concert, heard Sundays on at 11:05 a.m. with host, Bill Richardson, and for on-line video streaming on cbcmusic.ca.

generous sponsor of this afternoon’s celebration

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Programme

Introduced by Christopher Newton, C.M. and Catherine Robbin, O.C.

THE SINGER AND THE SONG

A Song of Enchantment (Tit for Tat) (Walter de la Mare) | Benjamin Britten (1913-76)Brett Polegato baritone, Bruce Ubukata piano

A Song of Enchantment I sang me there, Twilight came; silence came;In a green-green wood, by waters fair, The planet of evening’s silver flame;Just as the words came up to me By darkening paths I wandered through I sang it under the wild wood tree. Thickets trembling with drops of dew.

Widdershins turned I, singing it low, But the music is lost and the words are goneWatching the wild birds come and go; Of the song I sang as I sat alone,No cloud in the deep dark blue to be seen Ages and ages have fallen on me -Under the thick-thatched branches green. On the wood and the pool and the elder tree.

A Man and his Flute (Miriam Waddington) | John Beckwith (b. 1927)Monica Whicher soprano, Stephen Ralls piano

This song was commissioned for our millennium celebration with the assistance of Martin and Judith Hunter, and first performed by today’s artists on Sunday, April 30, 2000.

A man in a black coatplays a song on a black flutein a concert hall.He plays with his wholebody with his handswith his trunk untilhe becomes a tree andhis arm a branch;his fingers are urgentextensions that startlethe air in the leaves.

His song is obscurelyabout a lemonpicked from an old treein another country thenbrought home and cutagainst the blueof a winter sky.

The lemon and theblack flute and the manin the black coat whosways with the musicin the concert halltakes the blue sky theyellow lemon and thecold sunlight of Marchand turns it into an Aprilfilled with the bluenessof hyacinth; winter turnsits back and melts awayin the runnelled snow piled against frozen houses.

The man and his fluteplay their song,the audience is piercedby the blueness of sky,the audience herasthe snow melting,the audience sees springapproaching the audiencestands up the audience claps,the audience dances.

The man and his fluteend their song,a smell of cut lemonfills the air.

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THE FOLK IMPULSE

Yarmouth Fair (Hal Collins) | Norfolk folksong, arr. Peter Warlock (1894-1930)Giles Tomkins baritone, Stephen Ralls piano

As I rode down to Yarmouth Fair Then on we rode to Yarmouth FairThe birds they sang “Good day, good day,” Past field and green hedgerow,And the birds they sang “Good day!” And in our hearts no fret nor care,O, I spied a maid with golden hair And the birds they sang “Hullo!”A-walking along my way -A tidy little maid so trim and fair, At the fair the fun was fast and free,And the birds they sang “Good day!” And the birds they sang “Hurray!” The band struck up a lively airI said: “My dear, will you ride with me?” On fiddle and fife and drum.And the birds they sang “Go on!” The maid and me we made a pair,She didn’t say “yes” and she didn’t say “no,” And we danced to kingdom come.And the birds they sang “Heigh ho!” The lads and lasses cheer’d us on,I lifted her right on to my mare, My bonny maid and me, O light as a feather was she, We danced till stars were in the sky,I’d never set eyes on a girl so fair, And the birds they sang “Goodbye!”So I kiss’d her bravely one, two, three.

Der Hochzeitsbraten (Franz von Schober), D930 | Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Gillian Keith soprano, Lawrence Wiliford tenor, Tyler Duncan baritone, Bruce Ubukata piano

The Wedding Roast. This scena for three voices - incredibly, written at the same time as the deeply serious Winterreise - was clearly designed for a Schubertiad finale. It is a silly story of a poaching couple caught by the game-keeper, but allowed to keep the roast for their wedding-feast all the same. In the telling, double-entendres abound: perhaps the girl bestows her favours on the lecherous game-keeper in order to save her fiancé’s bacon? With ladies present at the Schubertiads, such salacious dealings could only be hinted at.

Therese (soprano) and Theobald (tenor) set off to catch a hare for the feast. He instructs her in beating the undergrowth and driving the hare out with imitative noises. The commotion attracts Caspar, the game-keeper (baritone), who apprehends them after the hare is shot. To escape prison, they offer wine, a new haversack, even money - but it is the girl’s charms that soften Caspar’s heart. They join in a final quasi-Tyrolean allegretto: the lovers sing of the joys of the wedding-feast, while Caspar mocks their lala-ing and remarks that Therese herself is no bad wedding dish.

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THE ALDEBURGH TRADITION

Palm Court Waltz | Lennox Berkeley (1903-89)Stephen Ralls and Bruce Ubukata piano-duet

Berkeley and Britten met in 1936 while attending a festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music in Barcelona. They lived together for a while and indeed, had the singer Peter Pears not entered Britten’s life, the earlier partnership might well have been enduring.

Sonetto XVI (Michelangelo Buonarroti), Op.22/1 | BrittenColin Ainsworth tenor, Stephen Ralls piano

The earliest songs written specifically for Peter Pears’s voice, the Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, were premiered privately in 1940 on Long Island, during Britten and Pears’s American sojourn.

Sì come nella penna e nell’inchiostroE l’alto e ’l basso e ’l mediocre stile,E ne’ marmi l’imagin ricca e vile,Secondo che ’l sa trar l’ingegnio nostro;

Così, signor mie car, nel petto vostroQuante l’orgoglio, è forse ogni atto umile:Ma io sol quel c’a me proprio è e simileNe traggo, come fuor nel viso mostro.

Chi semina sospir, lacrime e doglie,(L’umor dal ciel terreste, scietto e solo,A’vari semi vario si converte),Però pianto e dolor ne miete e coglie:Chi mira altà beltà con sì gran duolo,Dubbie speranze, e pene acerbe e certe.

Just as in pen and inkthere is a high, low, and medium style,and in marble are images rich and vile,according to the art with which we fashion it;

so, my dear lord, in your heart,along with pride, are perhaps some humble thoughts:but I draw thence only what is proper for myselfin accordance with what my features show.

Who sows sighs, tears and lamentations(dew from heaven on earth, pure and simple,converts itself differently to varied seeds)will reap and gather tears and sorrow:he who gazes upon exalted beauty with such painwill have doubtful hopes and bitter, certain sorrows.

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The Salley Gardens (W.B.Yeats) | Irish tune, arr. BrittenMichael Colvin tenor, Bruce Ubukata piano

Perhaps the best known of Britten’s folksong arrangements was premiered on November 26, 1941, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Down by the Salley Gardens my love and I did meet;She passed the Salley Gardens with little snow-white feet.She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree,But I being young and foolish with her did not agree.

In a field by the river my love and I did stand,And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand;She bid me take life easy as the grass grows on the weirs,But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.

At the round earth’s imagin’d corners (John Donne), Op.35/7 | BrittenLawrence Wiliford tenor, Stephen Ralls piano

Britten completed his Holy Sonnets of John Donne in August 1945. He and Yehudi Menuhin had recently returned from a harrowing concert tour, performing in recently liberated German concentration camps.

At the round earth’s imagin’d corners, blow Your trumpets, Angels, and arise From death, you numberless infinities Of souls, and to your scatter’d bodies goe,

All whom the flood did, and fire shall o’erthrow,All whom war, dearth, age, agues, tyrannies,Despaire, law, chance hath slaine, and you whose eyes Shall behold God and never taste death’s woe.

But let them sleep, Lord, and mee mourn aspace,For, if above all these, my sinnes abound,’Tis late to ask abundance of thy grace,When we are there; here on this lowly ground,Teach me how to repent; for that’s as goodAs if thou hadst seal’d my pardon, with Thy blood.

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The Choirmaster’s Burial (Winter Words) (Thomas Hardy), Op.52/5 | BrittenBenjamin Butterfield tenor, Bruce Ubukata piano

This, the central song of Winter Words (1953), makes integral use of the psalm tune Mount Ephraim, requested for his funeral by the choirmaster.

He often would ask usThat, when he died,After playing so manyTo their last rest,If out of us anyShould here abide,And it would not task us,We would with our lutesPlay over himBy his grave-brimThe psalm he liked best -The one whose sense suits“Mount Ephraim” -And perhaps we should seemTo him, in Death’s dream,Like the seraphim.

As soon as I knewThat his spirit was goneI thought this his due,And spoke thereupon.“I think,” said the vicar,“A read service quickerThan viols out-of-doorsIn these frosts and hoars.That old-fashioned wayRequires a fine day,And it seems to meIt had better not be.”

Blithe Bells | J.S.Bach (1685-1750), arr. Percy Grainger (1882-1961)Stephen Ralls and Bruce Ubukata 2 pianos

Published in 1932, this was described by Grainger as a “Free Ramble on Bach’s Schafen können sicher weiden from the Cantata BWV 208”.

Hence, that afternoon,Though never knew heThat his wish could not be,To get through it fasterThey buried the masterWithout any tune.

But ’twas said that, whenAt the dead of next nightThe vicar looked out,There struck on his kenThronged roundabout,Where the frost was grayingThe headstoned grass,A band all in whiteLike the saints in church-glass,Singing and playingThe ancient staveBy the choirmaster’s grave.

Such the tenor man toldWhen he had grown old.

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THE RING OF WORDS

Two songs from “Songs of Travel” (Robert Louis Stevenson) | Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) Gerald Finley baritone, Stephen Ralls piano

Whither must I wander?Home no more home to me, whither must I wander?Hunger my driver, I go where I must.Cold blows the winter wind over hill and heather:Thick drives the rain and my roof is in the dust.Lov’d of wise men was the shade of my roof-tree,The true word of welcome was spoken in the door:Dear days of old with the faces in the firelight;Kind folks of old, you come again no more.

Home was home then, my dear, full of kindly faces,Home was home then, my dear, happy for the child.Fire and the windows bright glittered on the moorland;Song, tuneful song, built a palace in the wild.Now when day dawns on the brow of the moorland,Lone stands the house and the chimney-stone is cold.Lone let it stand now the friends are all departed,The kind hearts, the true hearts, that loved the place of old.

Spring shall come, come again, calling up the moorfowl,Spring shall bring the sun and rain, bring the bees and flowers;Red shall the heather bloom over hill and valley,Soft flow the stream through the even-flowing hours.Fair the day shine as it shone on my childhood;Fair shine the day on the house with open door.Birds come and cry there and twitter in the chimney -But I go for ever and come again no more.

Bright is the ring of wordsBright is the ring of wordsWhen the right man rings them,Fair the fall of songsWhen the singer sings them.Still they are carolled and said -On wings they are carried -After the singer is deadAnd the maker buried.

Serenade to Music (William Shakespeare) | Vaughan WilliamsGillian Keith, Shannon Mercer, Nathalie Paulin, Monica Whicher sopranosSusan Platts, Catherine Robbin, Lauren Segal, Krisztina Szabó mezzosColin Ainsworth, Benjamin Butterfield, Michael Colvin, Lawrence Wiliford tenorsTyler Duncan, Gerald Finley, Brett Polegato, Giles Tomkins baritonesStephen Ralls and Bruce Ubukata 2 pianosErika Raum violin

Vaughan Williams’s setting of Shakespeare’s well-known lines from The Merchant of Venice was composed in 1938 and dedicated to the conductor, Sir Henry Wood, ‘on the occasion of his jubilee, in grateful recognition of his services to music.’ The first performance was given in the Royal Albert Hall by sixteen of the leading British singers of the day. The Australian pianist and composer, Guy Noble, arranged the orchestral score for two pianos. We have added the solo violin, an intrinsic part of the original effect.

Low as the singer liesIn the field of heather,Songs of his fashion bringThe swains together.And when the west is red With the sunset embers,The lover lingers and sings,And the maid remembers.

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Lorenzo:How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!Here will we sit, and let the sounds of musicCreep in our ears: soft stillness and the nightBecome the touches of sweet harmony.Look, how the floor of heavenIs thick inlaid with patines of bright gold:There’s not the smallest orb that thou behold’stBut in his motion like an angel sings,Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins;Such harmony is in immortal souls;But, whilst this muddy vesture of decayDoth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.Come, ho! and wake Diana with a hymn!With sweetest touches pierce your mistress’ ear,And draw her home with music.

Jessica:I am never merry when I hear sweet music.

Lorenzo:The reason is, your spirits are attentive –The man that hath no music in himself,Nor is not mov’d with concord of sweet sounds,Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils;The motions of his spirit are dull as nightAnd his affections dark as Erebus:Let no such man be trusted. Music! hark!

Nerissa:It is your music of the house.

Portia:Methinks it sounds much sweeter than by day.

Nerissa:Silence bestows that virtue on it.

Portia:How many things by season season’d areTo their right praise and true perfection!Peace, ho! the moon sleeps with EndymionAnd would not be awak’d.

Intermission

Refreshments are available at the bars on each level. When we return to Walter Hall on March 18, we will be pleased to offer you complimentary tea.

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AN INTERNATIONAL SALON

Valse romantique III | Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-94)Stephen Ralls and Bruce Ubukata 2 pianos

Sred’ shumnogo bala (Alexei Tolstoy), Op.38/3 | Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-93)Lauren Segal mezzo, Bruce Ubukata piano

Sred’ shumnogo bala, sluchajno,V trevoge mirskoj sujety,Tebja ja uvidel, no tajnaTvoji pokryvala cherty.

Lish’ ochi pechal’no gljadeli,A golos tak divno zvuchal,Kak zvon otdaljonnoj svireli,Kak morja bushujushchij val.

Mne stan tvoj ponravilsja tonkijI ves’ tvoj zadumchivyj vid,A smekh tvoj, i grustnyj, i zvonkij,S tekh por v mojom serdce zvuchit.

V chasy odinokije nochiLjublju ja, ustalyj, prilech’;Ja vizhu pechal’nyje ochi,Ja slyshu veseluju rech’,

I grustno ja, grustno tak zasypaju,I v grjozakh nevedomykh splju . . .Ljublju li tebja, ja ne znaju,No kazhetsja mne, chto ljublju!

La regata veneziana (Soirées musicales) (Carlo Pepoli) | Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)Shannon Mercer soprano, Krisztina Szabó mezzo, Stephen Ralls piano

Voga, o Tonio benedeto,Voga, voga, arranca, arranca:Beppe el suda, el batte l’anca,Poverazzo el nol pò più.

Caro Beppe el me veccieto,No straccarte col to remo;Za ghe semo, za ghe semo,Spinze, daghe, voga più.

Ziel pietoso, una novizzaC’ha el so ben nella regada,Fala, o zielo, consolada,No la far stentar de più.

In the midst of the noisy ball,amid the anxious bustle of life,I caught sight of you,your face, an enigma. Only your eyes gazed sadly.Your divine voicesounded like pipes from afar,like the dancing waves of the sea. Your delicate form entranced me,and your pensiveness,your sad yet merry laughter,has permeated my heart since then. And in the lonely hours of the night,when I do lie down to rest,I see your pensive eyes,hear your merry laugh . . . And wistfully driftinginto mysterious reveries,I wonder if I love you,but it seems that I do!

The Venetian Regatta:Row, blessed Tony,row, row, pull away:Beppe is sweating away at his oar,poor fellow, he can’t go on.

Dear Beppe, my old friend,don’t let your oar tire you;now we’re there, now we’re there,heave away, keep at it, row on!

Heaven have mercy on a young girlwho has a lover in the regatta.Give her, o heaven, some comfort;don’t keep her on tenterhooks.

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Sonnet (The Heart Mislaid) (Douglas LePan) | Derek Holman (b.1931)Colin Ainsworth tenor, Stephen Ralls piano

The cycle of four songs to poems by Douglas LePan was commissioned with the assistance of the Laidlaw Foundation, and premiered by today’s artists on Sunday, April 28, 2002.

How shall I find love’s octave, the modest stringThat answers to the wishes of the dumb?I had believed speech easily would come,Issuing as water; so I could singThe liquid gamut of imagining.But I am new arrived in this sweet kingdom,The old use clings, the mind is troublesome,My satisfaction seems a buried thing.

There is the song of white-throats through the land;I sing within. The overarching brightBlue sky, horizoned as the robin’s egg,Describes my hope. To make you understand,Those tones of borrowed eloquence I beg,Wood full of birds, bending of morning light.

Dans le forêt de septembre (Catulle Mendès), Op.85/1 | Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)Brett Polegato baritone, Bruce Ubukata piano

Ramure aux rumeurs amollies,Troncs sonores que l’âge creuse,L’antique forêt douloureuseS’accorde à nos mélancolies.

Ô sapins agriffés au gouffre,Nids déserts aux branches brisées,Halliers brûlés, fleurs sans rosées,Vous savez bien comme l’on souffre!

Et lorsque l’homme, passant blême,Pleure dans le bois solitaire,Des plaintes d’ombre et de mystèreL’accueillent en pleurant de même.

Bonne forêt! promesse ouverteDe l’exil que la vie implore,Je viens d’un pas alerte encore Dans ta profondeur encor verte.

Mais d’un fin bouleau de la senteUne feuille, un peu rousse, frôleMa tête et tremble à mon épaule;C’est que la forêt vieillissante,

Sachant l’hiver où tout avorte,Déjà proche en moi comme en elle,Me fait l’aumône fraternelleDe sa première feuille morte!

In the September forest: Foliage of deadened sound, resonant trunks hollowed by age, the ancient, sorrowful forest is attuned to our melancholy.

O pines, gripping the abyss,deserted nests with broken branches, burnt thickets, flowers without dew, you know well our suffering!

And when man, that pallid passer-by, weeps in the solitary wood, laments of shadow and mystery greet him with weeping, just the same.

Kind forest! Open promise of the exile that life implores, I come with a step, still alert, into your depths, still green.

But from a slender birch along the path, a reddish leaf brushes my head and quivers on my shoulder; for the ageing forest -

knowing that winter, when all withers, is already near, for me as for it - gives me the fraternal alms of its first dead leaf!

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Blaue Augen hat das Mädchen (anon. Spanish, trans. Emanuel Geibel), Op.138/9 | Robert Schumann (1810-56)Michael Colvin tenor, Tyler Duncan baritoneStephen Ralls and Bruce Ubukata piano duet

Schumann’s song-cycle, Spanische Liebeslieder, Op.138 was written in 1849 for four voices and piano-duet - a precursor of Brahms’s Liebeslieder-Walzer.

Blaue Augen hat das Mädchen, Wer verliebte sich nicht drein! Sind so reizend zum Entzücken, Daß sie jedes Herz bestricken, Wissen doch so stolz zu blicken, Daß sie eitel schaffen Pein!

Machen Ruh’ und Wohlbefinden, Sinnen und Erinn’rung schwinden, Wissen stets zu überwinden Mit dem spielend süßen Schein!

Keiner, der geschaut ihr Prangen, Ist noch ihrem Netz entgangen, Alle Welt begehrt zu hangen, Tag und Nacht an ihrem Schein

Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (Friedrich Rückert) | Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)Susan Platts mezzo, Bruce Ubukata piano

Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen,Mit der ich sonst viele Zeit verdorben;Sie hat so lange nichts von mir vernommen,Sie mag wohl glauben, ich sei gestorben!

Es ist mir auch gar nichts daran gelegen,Ob sie mich für gestorben halt.Ich kann auch gar nichts sagen dagegen,Denn wirklich bin ich gestorben der Welt.

Ich bin gestorben dem WeltgetümmelUnd ruh’ in einem stillen Gebiet.Ich leb’ allein in meinem Himmel,In meinem Lieben, in meinem Lied.

Der Schiffer (Johann Mayrhofer), D536 | SchubertGerald Finley baritone, Stephen Ralls piano

Im Winde, im Sturme befahr ich den Fluß,Die Kleider durchweichet der Regen im Guß;Ich peitsche die Wellen mit mächtigem Schlag,Erhoffend, erhoffend mir heiteren Tag.

Die Wellen, sie jagen das ächzende Schiff,Es drohet der Strudel, es drohet das Riff,Gesteine entkollern den felsigen Höh’n,Und Tannen erseufzen wie Geistergestöhn.So mußte es kommen, ich hab es gewollt,Ich hasse ein Leben behaglich entrollt;

Blue eyes has the maiden,who wouldn’t fall in love with them?

They’re so charming, so enrapturing,that they capture every heart,yet their glance can be so haughtythat they cause nothing but pain.

They can bring peace and comfort,banish thought and recollection,and always they know how to conquerwith a sweet and playful glint.

No one who has seen their splendourhas escaped their net.All the world yearns to baskday and night in their warmth.

I am lost to the worldwith which I used to waste so much time;it has heard nothing from me for so longthat it may very well believe that I am dead!

It is of no consequence to mewhether it thinks me dead.I cannot deny it,for I really am dead to the world.

I am dead to the world’s tumult,and I rest in a quiet realm.I live alone in my heaven,in my love, in my song!

The Boatman:In wind and storm I traverse the river,my clothes soaked through with the downpour;I lash the waves with powerful blows,hoping, hoping for a fine day.

The waves, they drive the creaking boat,the whirlpool threatens, as does the reef,rocks tumble down from the craggy heights,and fir-trees sigh like moaning ghosts.So it must be, and so have I willed it:I hate a life that unfolds comfortably;

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Und schlängen die Wellen den ächzenden Kahn,Ich priese doch immer die eigene Bahn.

Drum tose des Wassers ohnmächtiger Zorn,Dem Herzen entquillet ein seliger Born,Die Nerven erfrischend, o himmliche Lust!Dem Sturme zu trotzen mit männlicher Brust.

Nymphes et sylvains (Valse chantée) (Armand Ocampo) | Herman Bemberg (1859-1931)Nathalie Paulin soprano, Stephen Ralls piano

Bemberg was a Franco-Argentine pupil of Massenet who achieved considerable success in opera, notably the Arthurian Elaine at both Covent Garden and the Metropolitan Opera. This waltz-song was a favourite party piece of Nellie Melba.

La nuit sur les bois va s’étendre,Accourez, nymphes et sylvains,Venez danser sur l’herbe tendreAu bruit des joyeux tambourins!

L’air est léger, la brise est pure,Un frais parfum monte des fleurs,Le clair ruisseau jase et murmureAuprès des vieux ormes rêveurs!

Dans l’herbe fraîche et douce,Sur la naissante mousse,DansezAmoureusement enlacés!

Marquez la danseBien en cadence,Gais tambourinsDes vieux sylvains.

Et vous, naïades,Faunes, dryades,Dansez,Tournez, volez!Chantez dans la nuit languissante!

Aux cieux pâlis que votre voixMonte enivrante au sein des bois!Hâtez-vous, avant que l’auroreNe reparaisse à l’orient;

Chantez encoreEn tournoyant!

Le jour revient, l’aube s’éclaire;Dans un dernier soupir d’amourEloignez-vous de la clairière,Disparaissez, voici le jour!

even were the waves to swallow this creaking boat,I would still praise the path I have chosen.

So let the waters roar with impotent rage,from my heart springs forth a fountain of bliss,refreshing the nerves - O heavenly joy!I brave the storm like a man!

Nymphs and satyrs: Night is spreading over the forest, hasten, nymphs and satyrs, come and dance on the soft grass to the happy sound of tambourines!

The air is light and the breeze is pure, a fresh scent rises from the flowers, the clear stream murmurs beneath the dreaming elms!

On the fresh, sweet grass, on the springing moss dance arm in arm!

Mark the dance, keep the rhythm,gay tambourinesof the old satyrs.

And you naiads,satyrs, dryads, dance, turn, fly! Sing in the languorous night!

As the skies lighten, let your voice ring in ecstasy in the depths of the woods! Hurry, before dawn appears in the east;

Sing still, whirling!

Day comes, dawn brightens;in a final amorous sigh flee from the light, disappear, here is the day!

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Qui vive! (Grand galop de concert) | Wilhelm Ganz (1833-1914)Stephen Ralls and Bruce Ubukata piano-duet

This piece has been a much-loved pièce d’occasion of the Artistic Directors, ever since its discovery in the 1990s in a piano bench in Warkworth, Ontario.

The composer came from a distinguished German family of string players. He settled in London in 1850 and pursued a career as violinist, organist and conductor. He was notable for conducting the first complete performances in London of several Berlioz works, including the Symphonie fantastique in 1881.

Tutto nel mondo è burla (Falstaff) (Arrigo Boito) | Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)The CompanyStephen Ralls and Bruce Ubukata 2 pianos

The fat knight introduces the miraculous, fugal finale of Verdi’s Shakespearean opera, his musical last will and testament.

Falstaff: Falstaff:Un coro e terminiam la scena. A chorus to finish the play!

Ford: Ford:Poi con Sir Falstaff And then to dinner - all of us -Tutti andiamo a cena. with Sir John Falstaff!

Tutti: All:Evviva! Hurrah!

Falstaff: Falstaff:Tutto nel mondo è burla, All the world’s a prank,L’uom è nato burlone . . . and man is born a clown . . .

Tutti: All:Tutto nel mondo è burla, All the world’s a prank,L’uom è nato burlone, and man is born a clown,Nel suo cervello ciurla with his addled headSempre la sua ragione. his brains are in a whirl.Tutti gabbati! Irride We are all fools! Every manL’un l’altro ogni mortal, laughs at the others’ folly,Ma ride ben chi ride but he laughs best who hasLa risata final. the last laugh.

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Highlights from 30 Years

Aldeburgh is the small town on the east coast of England where Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears and Eric Crozier founded the Festival of Music which flourishes to this day. Artistic Directors Stephen Ralls and Bruce Ubukata visited and worked there for many summers, as have many of the singers who appear with the Aldeburgh Connection.

During its 30 year history, the Aldeburgh Connection has presented 281 concerts, commissioned 23 new works, made 5 CDs and featured 273 different performers. We have appeared in festivals and cities all across Canada, as well as in the USA and the UK. Here are some highlights:

Illustrations Front cover: An audience in 1856 (engraving by “Phiz”) Page 2 : Ticket for the first Aldeburgh Connection concert, February 21, 1982Page 3 : Stephen Ralls and Bruce Ubukata, March 3, 1991

(photo by Joan Austen-Leigh)Page 6 : Greeting from Greta Kraus, Honorary Patron, January 31, 1997 Page 7 : Bruce Ubukata, Peter Pears and Stephen Ralls, The Red House, Aldeburgh,

1979 (photo by Rita Thomson)Page 16 : The Bachelors’ Party (Randolph Caldecott, c. 1880) Page 17 : Stephen Ralls and Bruce Ubukata, Aldeburgh beach, 1988

(photo by Nigel Luckhurst)Back cover: Bruce Ubukata and Stephen Ralls, Snape Maltings, 1977

(photo by Nigel Luckhurst)

Shortbread cookies from Carl Stryg at COACH HOUSE SHORTBREAD COMPANY 416.778.4207

Flowers by HAZEL’s 416.488.4878

February 21, 1982First concert, An Aldeburgh Anthology, Hart House

January 27, 1985Sunday Series inaugurated with Come into the Parlour, Maud, Walter Hall

May 22, 1987A Wagnerian Salon for the New York Wagner Society

January 31, 1988Premiere of first commissioned work, All Around the Circle by John Greer

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June 14, 1988Performance at the Aldeburgh Festival, England, Northern Lights

June 1992Tour of the UK, concerts in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, London and Aldeburgh

February 17, 1993Recital Series inaugurated, a Poulenc programme in the Glenn Gould Studio

January 16, 1994Greta’s Choice, a tribute to Greta Kraus, hosted by Lois Marshall

1995Release of Liebeslieder and Folksongs, our first CD

August 6, 1995First presentation in French, Mme Bizet, at the Festival Acadien, Caraquet, NB

1996Release of second CD, Benjamin Britten’s Canticles

January 31 – February 2, 1997Celebration of Schubert’s 200th birthday co-presented with CBC Radio Two

February 1, 1998A Celebration of Lois Marshall in memory of our Honorary Patron

January 29 and 31, 1999Celebration of Francis Poulenc’s centenary co-presented with CBC Radio Two

June 11, 19991st Greta Kraus Schubertiad, Glenn Gould Studio

December 4, 1999Young Artists Series (later Discovery Series) inaugurated, Walter Hall

2002Release of 2-CD album, The 20th Anniversary Collection

January 11 – 19, 200220th Anniversary celebrations, MacMillan Theatre, Walter Hall, Glenn Gould Studio

January, February, March, 2003Concerts on the 100th anniversary of the death of Hugo Wolf, Walter Hall, Glenn Gould Studio

November 2003Ontario tour of The Heart of the Matter for the 90th anniversary of Britten’s birth

2007Release of CD Schubert Among Friends

January 14, 2007Greta Kraus Centenary Schubertiad, Walter Hall

February 18, 2007Silver Jubilee Gala, The Anniversary Waltz, MacMillan Theatre

June 2007The first Bayfield Festival of Song

2008Release of CD Our Own Songs

November 30, 2008Parnassus on Elm Street for the centenary of the Arts & Letters Club, Walter Hall

October 24, 2010The Patrons’ Salon, co-hosted by Honorary Patrons Steuart Bedford, Christopher Newton and Catherine Robbin, Walter Hall

January 30, 2011A Shropshire Lad in Ontario, celebrating James Campbell McInnes’s premiere of Butterworth’s song-cycle A Shropshire Lad

November 27, 2011The Great Comet for Franz Liszt’s bicentenary, Walter Hall

February 19, 201230th Anniversary Gala, Koerner Hall

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THE ALDEBURGH CONNECTION CONCERT SOCIETY

FOUNDING PATRON: Sir Peter Pears

HONORARY PATRONS:Steuart Bedford, Christopher Newton, C.M., Catherine Robbin, O.C.

EMERITUS DIRECTORS:Carol Anderson, R.L.T.Baillie (President), Christopher Bunting,Rosemary Dover, Michael Gough (President), John Lawson, Maja Lutkins,James MacDougall, James Norcop, Iain Scott, Janet Stubbs, Françoise Sutton

BOARD OF DIRECTORS:Patsy Anderson (Chair), Alice Adelkind, Suzanne Bradshaw, C.M.,Sally Holton, Christopher Kelly, Che Anne Loewen, Justin Young

Coming events:

Two concerts remain in our Sunday Series in Walter Hall. On March 18, this season’s Greta Kraus Schubertiad, Schubert and the Esterházys, will tell the story of the composer’s connections with an aristocratic family of talented amateur musicians. The concert, generously sponsored through the RBC Foundation’s Emerging Artists Program, features soprano LESLIE ANN BRADLEY, mezzo ERICA IRIS HUANG, tenor GRAHAM THOMSON and baritone GEOFFREY SIRETT. Our Toronto season ends on April 29 with an English idyll: A Country House Weekend, with soprano LUCIA CESARONI, mezzo KRISZTINA SZABÓ and baritone PETER BARRETT. Tickets are available from our box office: 416.735.7982 - or through our website, www.aldeburghconnection.org.

The sixth annual Bayfield Festival of Song will run from June 1 to June 10 in the historic Town Hall of the beautiful village on Lake Huron. Featured artists will include ADRIANNE PIECZONKA, LAURA TUCKER, VIRGINIA HATFIELD, MEGAN LATHAM, GEOFFREY SIRETT and many others. Full details will be posted on the website, www.bayfieldfestival.org.

Copies of our CDs are available through our website:www.aldeburghconnection.org

Box office revenues cover only a portion of our operating budget; grants, corporate funding and individual donations are needed for the balance. Please consider joining one of our supporting categories: Benefactor ($1,000 or more), Champion ($500 or more), Patron ($200 or more), Supporter ($100 or more) and Friend ($50 or more). Donations may be made by cheque, VISA or MasterCard, and may be made in instalments. You will receive information about our activities and all donations will be acknowledged by a receipt for income tax purposes. Donors may act as sponsors for a concert, an artist or a special commission. Suggestions for corporate sponsorship are also very welcome.

Your support is vital to the continuation of our concerts! Please reach us at416.735.7982 or through our website: www.aldeburghconnection.org

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Benefactors

Alice & Alan AdelkindKen & Carol AndersonPatsy & Jamie AndersonRichard J. BalfourSuzanne & James BradshawDavid BroadhurstEarlaine CollinsNinalee CraigJean EdwardsChristena GayFrances & Peter HoggMichiel HornSally Holton & Stephen IrelandLorraine KaakeAnthony & Patricia KeithChristopher KellyHans KlugeJohn LawsonChe Ann LoewenJames & Connie MacDougallJoanne MazzoleniDr Hugh McLeanRoger MooreRosalind MorrowSue MortimerJames NorcopSasha Olsson & Tony FylesPeter PartridgeCatherine RobbinPatricia & David StoneFrançoise SuttonVirginia TennyVincent TovellDiana TremainJustin Young

Champions

Peter Armour & Patty BoakeMichael & Anne GoughDoreen HallWilliam KeithRosabel LevittReg & Sheila LewisPatti & Richard SchabasPaul Schabas & Alison GirlingDr Ralph & June ShawM. L. & Nancy E. Tyrwhitt DrakeDorothy WheelerSue White

Patrons

Daphne BeauroyEleanor BurtonJohn CaldwellBarbara ChartersBrenda DaviesEric & Elsie EtchenMary FinlayLes & Marion GreenDianne HendersonPeter & Verity HobbsDonald & Susan JohnstonDouglas & Dorothy JoycePatricia LaksJoyce LewisMary & Joe LiebermannJean McNabJane MillgateSteve MunroEve NashJohn & Deanne OrrClare & Mary PaceEzra & Ann SchabasIain & Barbara ScottDonald SmithJane & Stephen SmithJudith & Burton TaitKaren TeasdaleA.A.L.Wright

THE ALDEBURGH CONNECTION is supported by a large group of individuals, including the following, whom we gratefully acknowledge (donations received up to February 1, 2012):

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Supporters

Ursula AmosJean Ashworth-BartleCornelia BainesKathleen Bruce-RobertsonVreni & Marc DucommonGreig DunnJoan & John DunnFrank & Jennifer FlowerPriscilla FreemanNora GoldNancy GrahamLarry & Susanne GreerElizabeth GrevilleJohn GuestRosalie HattMary HeatherLinda & Michael HutcheonPauline KingstonDiane LawfordMuriel LessmannTeresa LiemJudith MacLachlanRuth MankeDorothea MansonLois McDonald Edith Patterson MorrowTina OrtonJune PinkneyWilliam RobertsonDesmond ScottRosemary SewellJennifer & John SnellPenelope SullivanAnne TownsendCarol VerityElizabeth WalkerDavid WeissMargaret WhittakerNora WilsonSusan Wilson

Friends

Ted & Barbara BaxterBarry ChapmanRoberta CloughWilliam Crisell Janette Doupe Eileen EdwardsGwen Egan Ruth FarnworthTim FourieJohn GardnerDonald GutteridgeMary HainsworthPatricia LeighJames & Laurie MackayAnne MurdockHilary NichollsJean & Ian NicholsIsolde Pleasants-FaulknerJean PodolskyFred SchaefferHilde SchulzJoan & Leonard SpeedBeverley TomkinsAlli VahiNancy WahlrothPhilip WebsterDorothy WheelerEleanor Wright

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About the Performers

Colin Ainsworth, tenor, has established a flourishing career with his exceptional singing and diverse repertoire. This season, Mr. Ainsworth returned to Vancouver Opera for West Side Story and to Calgary Opera for Moby Dick. Later, he appears with Opera Atelier in Lully’s Armide and in concert with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the Mercury Baroque in Houston. Mr. Ainsworth’s many roles include the title roles in Orphée et Euridice, Pygmalion, Castor et Pollux, Roberto Devereux and Albert Herring, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi, Fenton in Falstaff, Tonio in La Fille du régiment, Nadir in Les Pêcheurs de perles, Pylades in Iphigénie en Tauride, Renaud in Lully’s Armide, Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress, and Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He also appeared in Rufus Wainwright’s Prima Donna at Sadler’s Wells in London and at the Luminato Festival. His growing discography includes Vivaldi’s La Griselda (Naxos), Castor et Pollux (Naxos), Schubert Among Friends (Marquis Classics) and the premiere recording of Derek Holman’s The Heart Mislaid which was included on the Aldeburgh Connection’s Our Own Songs (Marquis Classics).

Benjamin Butterfield has fulfilled recent engagements which included the role of Frère Massée in Messiaen’s St. François d’Assise with Kent Nagano and the Montreal Symphony, as well as Tamino in The Magic Flute with the Toronto Symphony under Bernard Labadie. Highlights for an exciting 2011/12 season include debuts with the Seattle, Oregon and Eugene Symphonies. Mr. Butterfield recently visited the Bethlehem Bach Festival for the Charpentier Midnight Mass. He also returned to the Victoria Symphony for a New Year’s Eve gala and to Taipei with the Taiwan National Choir for Puccini’s Messa di Gloria under Agnes Grossmann. He will be featured in the world premiere of Christopher Butterfield’s Contes pour enfants pas sages, with Continuum Contemporary Music in Toronto. Of his more than twenty-five recordings, the Britten Serenade (CBC/ Streatfeild), Canticles (Marquis/Aldeburgh Connection), Everlasting Light (CBC/ Adams) and Messiah Choruses (CBC/ Taurins) have been recognized by the Canadian Juno Awards while his recording of Psalm 80 by Roussel (Timpani/Tovey) won a Diapason and Classica award in France. Benjamin Butterfield is Head of Voice for the School of Music at the University of Victoria in British Columbia.

Michael Colvin, Irish-Canadian tenor, has appeared to critical acclaim on opera and concert stages throughout Canada, the USA, UK and Europe. His 2011/12 season will be highlighted by featured roles in important German repertoire. For Pacific Opera Victoria he sings the Steersman in Der fliegende Holländer, Narroboth in Salome for Manitoba Opera, Beethoven for the Richard Eaton Singers of Edmonton and Mahler for the Louisville Orchestra. He returns to David Alden’s production for English National Opera of Peter Grimes, singing Bob Boles, on tour to Oviedo, Spain, and will later appear in the ENO productions of Madama Butterfly (Goro) and a brand new production of Billy Budd. Last season, Michael was at English National Opera as Flute in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and with the Canadian Opera Company. Concert engagements include Mozart’s Requiem for Chicago’s Grant Park Festival and Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Messiah and The Christmas Oratorio with Nicholas McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Vancouver Symphony. Born in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, and raised in Toronto, Canada, Michael began his musical studies at St. Michael’s Choir School in Toronto and returned to music after attaining his Bachelor of Science in Immunology from the University of Toronto.

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Tyler Duncan enjoys international renown for bringing consummate musicianship, vocal beauty and interpretive insight to recital, concert and, increasingly, operatic literature. In spring 2010 he had his debut at the American Spoleto Festival in the role of Friendly in the 18th-century ballad opera Flora, and returned the next season to perform the role of the Speaker in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. He has sung Dandini in Rossini’s Cenerentola with Pacific Opera Victoria, Demetrius in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Princeton Festival, roles in Lully’s Armide with Houston’s Mercury Baroque and Purcell’s The Fairy Queen and King Arthur with Early Music Vancouver. For the Boston Early Music Festival Mr. Duncan will be performing the title role in Graupner’s Antiochus und Stratonica. Recently released on the CPO label is his Boston Early Music Festival recording of the title role of John Blow’s Venus and Adonis. Forthcoming recordings are Bach’s St. John Passion with Portland Baroque under Monica Huggett and a DVD recording of Handel’s Messiah with the Montreal Symphony under Kent Nagano with CBC television, showing aspects of him as an exceptional oratorio and recital singer, in which fields he performs a remarkable range of repertoire.

Gerald Finley has become one of the leading singers and dramatic interpreters of his generation. In opera, Mr Finley has sung all the major baritone roles of Mozart. His Don Giovanni has been seen in New York, London, Paris, Salzburg, Munich, Rome, Vienna, Prague, Tel Aviv, Budapest and Glyndebourne, recently released on DVD. As the Count in Le nozze di Figaro, his appearances include the Royal Opera Covent Garden, Salzburg Festival, Paris and Amsterdam. At the New York Met his roles include Don Giovanni, Golaud and Marcello. His major success in 2011 was his debut performances as Hans Sachs at the Glyndebourne Festival. Critical successes also include Eugene Onegin and Golaud at Covent Garden, Iago in Otello with Sir Colin Davis and the LSO, and the title role in Guillaume Tell with Accademia di Santa Cecilia and Antonio Pappano. In contemporary opera, Mr Finley has excelled in creating leading roles, most notably Howard K. Stern in Turnage’s Anna Nicole at Covent Garden and J. Robert Oppenheimer in John Adam’s Doctor Atomic, as Harry Heegan in Mark Anthony Turnage’s The Silver Tassie at ENO, and Jaufré Rudel in Kaija Saariaho’s L’Amour de loin for the much-acclaimed premieres in Santa Fe, Paris and Helsinki. Concert appearances this season include works by Sibelius and Walton with the BBC Symphony, Janacek with the Berlin Philharmonic, Harbison’s 5th Symphony with the Boston Symphony, and Mozart Requiem and Missa Solemnis with the Concertgebouw Orchestra. In recital, he performs at the Wigmore Hall, the Schubertiade and New York’s Alice Tully Hall, as well as Vienna’s Musikverein and Madrid’s Teatro della Zarzuela. Mr Finley’s recent CD releases devoted to songs of Barber and Ives, “Dichterliebe and other Heine settings” by Schumann and “Songs by Ravel”, all in continuing partnership with Julius Drake on the Hyperion label, have been critically acclaimed, including the 2011 Gramophone Award in the solo vocal category for “Songs and Proverbs of William Blake” by Benjamin Britten. His CD “Songs of Travel” with pianist Stephen Ralls received a 1998 Juno award.

Gillian Keith has emerged as one of Canada’s leading lyric sopranos. Current and recent appearances include Philine in Thomas’s Mignon (Buxton Festival)‚ Tytania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (English National Opera)‚ St Matthew Passion (Handel and Haydn Society‚ Boston)‚ Messiah and Silete Venti with the Sixteen in Hong Kong and New Zealand and “Glorious Bach” and Zelenka with Tafelmusik. A past winner of the prestigious Kathleen Ferrier Award‚ she made her Royal Opera‚ Covent Garden debut as Zerbinetta in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos and has gone on to repeat the role with great success at Ópera de Oviedo and Welsh National Opera. Other operatic appearances include Nannetta in Falstaff and Pretty Polly in Birtwistle’s Punch and Judy‚ both for ENO. She has sung Tiny in Britten’s Paul Bunyan for the Bregenz Festival‚ Ginevra in Handel’s Ariodante in Halle‚ the Woodbird in Scottish Opera’s Siegfried and Poppea in Basel and in Boston. Recordings include Handel’s Gloria with Gardiner for Philips and several Bach Cantatas as part of his Bach Pilgrimage on Soli Deo Gloria. Her recital discs include “Debussy: Early Songs” for Deux-Elles and Schubert Lieder with fellow Canadian Gerald Finley on Marquis‚ as well as “Gillian Keith – bei Strauss”, an all Strauss programme with pianist Simon Lepper.

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Shannon Mercer’s season began in her hometown of Ottawa with JUNO partners Ensemble Caprice in a concert performance of their highly acclaimed recording collaboration “Salsa Baroque” which blends the music of Latin America and Spain of the 17th and 18th centuries. She appeared in Montréal in October to celebrate the grand opening of the Bourgie Concert Hall in Montreal’s Musée des beaux-arts and in January once again with Ensemble Caprice for the Magnificats by both J.S. Bach and Arvo Pärt. Engagements in the US include Handel’s Messiah with Mercury Baroque in Houston and early Handel cantatas with Tragicomedia conducted by Stephen Stubbs in Boston and New York. Other appearances include Bach cantatas with Early Music Vancouver and two concerts at Toronto’s Koerner Hall: Elgar’s The Kingdom with the Pax Christi Chorale and Poulenc’s Gloria with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Particularly praised for her performances of contemporary music, Shannon reprised her role in Ana Sokolovic’s Svadba (The Wedding) for The Queen of Puddings Music Theatre at Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre and debuted in John Beckwith’s opera Crazy to Kill at the Enwave Theatre, also in Toronto. Her award-winning discography includes “O Viva Rosa” (Analekta), one of the first recordings entirely devoted to Francesca Caccini which critics across the world have praised.

Christopher Newton, actor, writer and director, is the Artistic Director Emeritus of the Shaw Festival. He was the founding Artistic Director of Theatre Calgary and in the seventies the Artistic Director of the Vancouver Playhouse. As an actor, one of his fondest memories is of Noël Coward’s Private Lives which he performed (with Fiona Reid) in the early eighties. Since that time, Mr Newton has become recognized worldwide as one of the leading directors of both Shaw and Coward. He was a participant in the Coward Centenary Conference at Birmingham University in England and has been asked to direct Shaw in various parts of the world. Recent projects include John Bull’s Other Island (2010) and Heartbreak House (2011) at the Shaw Festival. This coming spring, he will direct Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing at the Stratford Festival. He is a Member of the Order of Canada, and the Aldeburgh Connection is proud to number him among its Honorary Patrons. Nathalie Paulin has established herself internationally as an interpretative artist of the first rank. Winner of a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Opera Performance, she has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Jane Glover, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Roger Norrington, Andrew Parrott, Richard Bradshaw and Bernard Labadie, both on the concert platform and in opera. Reviewing from Chicago, John van Rhein noted that “Paulin in particular is a real find; her rich, agile voice possesses great depth and allure, her manner radiates sensuous charm.” Ms. Paulin debuted for L’Opéra de Montréal as Mélisande and for Chicago Opera Theater as Galatea in Acis and Galatea, returning there for the title role in Semele. She has also been heard as Constance in Dialogues des Carmélites for Calgary Opera, Zerlina in Don Giovanni for L’Opéra de Québec, and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro for Cincinnati Opera. Ms. Paulin’s current season includes her debut for Ireland’s Wexford Festival as La Baronne in Thomas’s La Cour de Célimène, Handel’s Hercules for Tafelmusik, Hetu’s Les Clartés de la nuit for the National Arts Centre Orchestra, St Matthew Passion and Bach cantatas for the Calgary Philharmonic, Marzelline in Fidelio for Edmonton Opera, the title role in Rodelinda for Houston’s Mercury Baroque and Carmina burana for the Québec Symphony.

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Susan Platts brings a uniquely rich and wide-ranging voice to concert and recital repertoire for alto and mezzo-soprano. She is particularly esteemed for her interpretations of the Mahler symphonies and song cycles. She has performed at Teatro alla Scala, Teatro di San Carlo, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center and with the major North American symphonies. She has collaborated with conductors including Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Marin Alsop, Sir Andrew Davis, Christoph Eschenbach, Jane Glover, Eliahu Inbal, Bernard Labadie, Kent Nagano, Sir Roger Norrington, Peter Oundjian, Itzhak Perlman and many others. Ms Platts has appeared on distinguished art-song series, including twice for both the Vocal Arts Society at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and Ladies Morning Musical Club in Montreal, both the Frick Collection and Lincoln Center “Art of the Song” series in New York City, and many times with the Aldeburgh Connection. In May of 2004, as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, world-renowned soprano Jessye Norman chose Ms Platts as her protégée from 26 international candidates, and has continued to mentor her ever since. Ms Platts has recorded several discs of music by Mahler and Brahms. Her first solo disc of songs by Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann and Brahms on the ATMA label enjoyed considerable critical acclaim.

Brett Polegato’s artistic sensibility has earned him the highest praise from audiences and critics. He appears regularly on the world’s most distinguished stages, including those of Lincoln Center, La Scala, the Concertgebouw, the Opéra National de Paris, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, the Teatro Real, Roy Thomson Hall, the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall, and can be heard as soloist in the Grammy Awards’ Best Classical Recording of 2003 - Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony (Telarc) with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Robert Spano. At the start of this season, he returned to Russia to star in a new production of Così fan tutte at the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre with conductor, Teodor Currentzis. This winter, he appeared with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra for performances and a recording of Handel’s Messiah. In January, he sang Starbuck opposite the Ahab of Ben Heppner in Jake Heggie’s new opera, Moby Dick, for Calgary Opera and in the spring, he makes his debut with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Andris Nelsons singing Kurwenal in concert performances of Tristan und Isolde in Birmingham and Paris. After concerts in Montreal and Winnipeg, he concludes the season with performances of Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with the Seattle Opera.

Stephen Ralls began his musical career in England, with the English Opera Group where he was selected as chief répétiteur for Britten’s last opera, Death in Venice. This led to recital appearances with Sir Peter Pears at the Aldeburgh Festival and on the BBC, and to Mr Ralls’s joining 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. 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 October 2010, he and Bruce Ubukata were joint recipients of an Opera Canada “Ruby” Award for their work in opera and with young Canadian singers.

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Erika Raum has developed a following here in her native country and internationally. Playing professionally since the age of twelve, Ms. Raum quickly rose through the ranks by taking first place at the 1992 Joseph Szigeti International Violin Competition in Budapest. She has returned to Europe on many occasions to perform as guest artist with orchestras. Both a recitalist and chamber musician, some of her recent international highlights include the Festival Pablo Casals in Prades France, Beethoven Festival in Warsaw and the Seattle Chamber Music Festival. In the 2011/12 season, highlights include a performance with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra as part of the New Music Festival as well as concerto performances throughout Ontario. She is a member of the ARC Ensemble (Artists of The Royal Conservatory), with two CDs on the RCA Red Seal label. Erika is currently completing a disc of the complete violin and piano works of Krystof Penderecki with pianist Lydia Wong.

Catherine Robbin, one of Canada’s best known mezzo-sopranos, earned an international reputation during her 30-year career as a performing and recording artist. Noted especially for her interpretation of Baroque and Romantic repertoire, she appeared with leading conductors and orchestras in recital, concert and opera performances across Canada, the United States, Britain and Europe. Her discography features more than 30 CDs ranging from Vivaldi and Pergolesi cantatas, the songs of C.P.E. Bach and the masses of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, to Mozart and Handel operas and songs of Schumann, Mahler, Duparc and Ravel. Her honours include a Juno Award, Gramophone Record of the Year, Grand Prix de Disque and a Grammy nomination. She joined the faculty in York University’s Music Department in 2002 and retired from her public performance career the following year to dedicate herself full-time to teaching. She is an Honorary Patron of the Aldeburgh Connection, and in the most recent honours list was named an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Lauren Segal - the only Canadian chosen to participate in the inaugural Salzburg Festival Young Artist Project - is an alumna of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio. The company featured her as Mercedes in Carmen and she has also been heard with the company as Siébel in Faust and Aljeja in Janácek’s From the House of the Dead. Ms Segal has performed in Calgary Opera’s production of Allan Bell’s Turtle Wakes as part of their Emerging Artist Program and the role of Sesto in La clemenza di Tito at the Orford Arts Festival. Recent engagements have included Dorabella in Così fan tutte for Pacific Opera Victoria, Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus for Opera Hamilton and Messiah for the Grand Philharmonic Choir and the Bach Elgar Choir. She has appeared at the Westben Festival, with the Aldeburgh Connection in Bayfield and at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. In the summer of 2011, she sang the title role in Bizet’s Carmen for the Brott Festival as well as an Opera Gala evening. Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia marked her return to Opera Hamilton and she looks forward to Nicklausse in the COC’s production of The Tales of Hoffmann. 2012 started out in Bari, Italy, where she covered the role of Carmen in a production conducted by Lorin Maazel.

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Krisztina Szabó has become highly sought after in both North America and Europe as an artist of supreme musicianship and stagecraft. She made highly successful debuts in Chicago as Ottavia in L’incoronazione di Poppea and at Lincoln Center in Così fan tutte at the Mostly Mozart Festival where she was praised in the New York Times for being “clear, strong, stately and an endearingly vulnerable Dorabella.” The 2011/12 season includes reengagements with Chicago’s Music of the Baroque, under Jane Glover, in Bach’s B Minor Mass, with Canadian Opera Company as Le Pèlerin in Saariaho’s L’Amour de loin and her debut with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as soloist in Messiah. In 2010/11 she sang Sesto in La clemenza di Tito with Vancouver Opera, Dido in Dido and Aeneas with Music of the Baroque Orchestra and Chorus, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro with Stadttheater Klagenfurt and appeared as featured soloist in a concert of contemporary song at the Cervantino Festival (Mexico). Ms Szabó has appeared on CBC television in concert with the Canadian Opera Company, on film she can be seen as Zerlina with Dmitri Hvorostovsky in Don Giovanni Revealed: Leporello’s Revenge, and she can be heard as the voice of Leanne in the new opera movie Burnt Toast. She will be a featured artist in upcoming CD releases with Talisker Players and with Musica Leopolis.

Giles Tomkins has become one of Canada’s leading young singers, widely recognized for his vocal virtuosity and lyricism in a range of repertoire. Performances in the UK include King Arthur (Purcell) at the Aldeburgh Festival, Colline in a touring production of Puccini’s La Bohème with Scottish Opera and the European premiere of Queen of Puddings Music Theatre’s production of The Midnight Court at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Recent roles include Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte at Tanglewood (conducted by James Levine) and Don Basilio in Il barbiere de Siviglia (Scottish Opera) directed by Sir Thomas Allen. Giles began his busy 2010/11 season at the Cervantino Festival in Mexico, in a Soundstreams Canada concert with renowned Mexican percussion ensemble Tambuco, followed by Messiah with Elmer Iseler Singers and Hamilton’s Bach Elgar Choir. Returning to Pacific Opera Victoria, as Colline in La Bohème, Mr. Tomkins also sang Dr. Grenvil in Vancouver Opera’s production of La Traviata (Jonathan Miller, director) and debuted with Vancouver Bach Choir in Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust. Giles looks forward to debuts with Symphony Nova Scotia (The Dublin Messiah) and Windsor Symphony Orchestra. In March, Mr. Tomkins sings the title role in Verdi’s Oberto with Opera in Concert.

Bruce Ubukata has established a reputation as one of Canada’s leading accompanists, working with singers such as Mary Lou Fallis in her successful one-woman shows. He has appeared in recital with mezzo Catherine Robbin across Canada and in France and has toured BC with Robbin and soprano Donna Brown. He had a long association with the Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus, has worked with the Toronto Symphony and the Canadian Opera Company, as well as for many years at the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh, England. He is also a noted organist (holding posts for many years at Toronto’s Grace-Church-on-the-Hill and the church of St. Simon the Apostle) 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. In October 2010, he was a joint recipient, with Stephen Ralls, of an Opera Canada “Ruby” Award for their work in opera and with young Canadian singers.

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Monica Whicher’s performances are distinguished by style and musical elegance combined with an intuitive theatrical sense. Last season, she debuted with Houston’s Mercury Baroque as Asprano in Vivaldi’s Montezuma, its premiere in North America. She released “Lullabies and Carols for Christmas” with harpist Judy Loman for Naxos as well as two CD boxed sets featuring the art songs of Lysenko and Stepovyi, part of the Ukrainian Art Song Project. In addition to her residency at the Colours of Music Festival, her recitals included Lysenko at Toronto’s Koerner Hall, return engagements with the Talisker Players and the Aldeburgh Connection, the University of Toronto’s Faculty Artists Series with soprano Nathalie Paulin, the Ottawa Chamber Festival, the Leith Festival and the Indian River Festival. With Toronto’s Bach Consort, she performed Handel’s Silete venti under the baton of Harry Bickett. The current season includes concerts with Orchestra London, Thunder Bay Symphony, Toronto’s Art of Time Ensemble, Symphony Nova Scotia and Ottawa’s Thirteen Strings in repertoire ranging from opera to Villa Lobos to Fauré and Bach. Winner of the George London Award, Ms. Whicher was nominated for a Juno for “Singing Somers Theatre (Centrediscs) as well as two Dora Mavor Moore awards (Le nozze di Figaro and Dido and Aeneas). Her acclaimed Mérope can be seen in the EuroArts DVD of Lully’s Persée.

Lawrence Wiliford is in high demand in concert, opera, and recital repertoire ranging from works by Monteverdi to contemporary composers. He has been recognized in particular for his interpretation of Bach and other composers of the Baroque period. A dedicated recitalist, Mr. Wiliford also champions English and North American art song, a passion that has led to engagements across North America and at the Aldeburgh Festival in England. He has recorded on the ATMA and NAXOS labels and released his debut solo recording “Divine Musick: the late works for tenor and harp” by Benjamin Britten in 2010. Highlights from the 2011/12 season include engagements with Opera Atelier and Columbus Opera as Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. He returned to the Toronto Symphony for performances of Handel’s Messiah under Nicholas Kraemer and debuted with Music of the Baroque in Chicago where he performed Bach’s Mass in B Minor under Jane Glover. Other performances include the Evangelist in Bach’s Matthäus Passion with the Calgary Philharmonic and at the Baldwin-Wallace Bach Festival and Handel’s Messiah with the Grand Philharmonic Choir. In addition to his performing schedule, Mr Wiliford is the co-artistic director of the Canadian Art Song Project.

Diana Leblanc, Reader 1996 • Peggy Lee, Cello 1986 • Matthew Leigh, Baritone 1999 • James

Levesque, Tenor 2000 • Daniel Lichti, Baritone 1993 • Marilyn Lightstone, Reader 1994 • Janice

Lindskoog, Harp 1989 • Che Anne Loewen, Piano 2002 • Judy Loman, Harp 1996 • Peter Longworth,

Piano 1999 • Andrea Ludwig, Mezzo 2000 • Jeremy Ludwig, Baritone 2008 • Adam Luther, Tenor

2005 • Barry MacGregor, Reader 1991 • Jane MacKenzie, Soprano 1983 • Doug MacNaughton,

Baritone 2001 • Linda Maguire, Mezzo 1990 • Christina Mahler, Cello 1996 • Catherine Marchant,

Soprano 2009 • Lois Marsh, Soprano 1982 • Lois Marshall, Reader 1994 • Diego Matamoros, Reader

2000 • Carolyn Maule, Piano 1997 • Michael McBride, Tenor 2004 • Lorna McDonald, Soprano 2002

• Peter McGillivray, Baritone 2001 • Allyson McHardy, Mezzo 2008 • Siphiwe McKenzie, Soprano

1995 • James McLean, Tenor 1982 • Eve-Rachel McLeod, Soprano 2001 • Kevin McMillan, Baritone

1988 • Lynn McMurtry, Mezzo 2009 • Anne McWatt, Mezzo 1989 • Shannon Mercer, Soprano 2003

• Jim Mezon, Reader 1989 • Deborah Milsom, Mezzo 1988 • Ann Monoyios, Soprano 1993 • Ileana

Montalbetti, Soprano 2006 • Carl Morey, Reader 1986 • Frank Mutya, Tenor 2009 • Jason Nedecky,

Baritone 2004 • Daniel Neff, Baritone 1982 • Christopher Newton, Reader 1987 • Brian Nickel,

Baritone 1991 • Wendy Nielsen, Soprano 1993 • Geoff Nuttall, Violin 1986 • Erik Oland, Baritone

1989 • Raymond O’Neill, Reader 2009 • Patricia Parr, Piano 1997 • Julien Patenaude, Baritone

2002 • Nathalie Paulin, Soprano 2000 • Mark Pedrotti, Baritone 1987 • Penderecki String Quartet

1997 • Nicholas Pennell, Reader 1992 • Douglas Perry, Viola 1998 • Jennifer Phipps, Reader 1996

• Adrianne Pieczonka, Soprano 1988 • Stephen Pierre, Clarinet 1999 • Susan Platts, Mezzo 1998 •

Brett Polegato, Baritone 1991 • David Pomeroy, Tenor 1996 • Maria Popescu, Mezzo 1991 • Calvin

Powell, Baritone 2005 • Gabrielle Prata, Mezzo 1988 • Sharon Prater, Cello 1999 • Kathleen Promane,

Mezzo 2007 • Laura Pudwell, Mezzo 2005 • Stephen Ralls, Piano 1982 • Glynis Ratcliffe, Soprano

2003 • Fiona Reid, Reader 1992 • Gary Relyea, Baritone 1989 • Normand Richard, Baritone 1995 •

Catherine Robbin, Mezzo 1982 • Stephen Roberts, Baritone 1985 • Gerald Robinson, Bassoon 1999 •

Theresa Lee Ryan, Soprano 1983 • Katarzyna Sadej, Mezzo 2008 • Charlene Santoni, Soprano 2006

• Michael Schade, Tenor 1989 • Bruce Schaef, Baritone 1986 • Clare Scholtz, Oboe 1999 • Lauren

Segal, Mezzo 2008 • Seka Rat Nadi, Gamelan Ensemble 2007 • Claire de Sévigné, Soprano 2010 • Eric

Shaw, Tenor 1999 • Barry Shiffman, Violin 2011 • Geoffrey Sirett, Baritone 2010 • Stephen Sitarski,

Violin 1989 • Colleen Skull, Mezzo 2000 • James Somerville, Horn 1997 • Giovanni Spanu, Baritone

2009 • Daniel Stainton, Tenor 1986 • Sarah Steeves, Cello 2007 • Maghan Stewart, Soprano 2000 •

Robert Stewart, Baritone 2001 • Jean Stilwell, Mezzo 1993 • Jessica Strong, Soprano 2010 • Janet

Stubbs, Mezzo 1984 • Jennie Such, Soprano 2004 • Krisztina Szabó, Mezzo 2003 • Marcia Swanston,

Mezzo 1985 • Eve Tang, Viola 2007 • Daniel Taylor, Countertenor 1994 • Katerina Tchoubar,

Soprano 1999 • Andrew Tees, Baritone 2000 • John Tessier, Tenor 2001 • Graham Thomson, Tenor

2011 • Peter Tiefenbach, Piano 2010 • Giles Tomkins, Baritone 2001 • Donna Trifunovich, Soprano

1985 • Kate Trotter, Reader 1988 • Laura Tucker, Mezzo 2008 • Elizabeth Turnbull, Mezzo 1992

• University Of Toronto Opera Chorus 2002 • Bruce Ubukata, Piano 1982 • Joaquin Valdepeñas,

Clarinet 1992 • Suzanne Vanstone, Mezzo 1986 • Lise Vaugeois, Horn 1990 • Victoria Scholars

1997 • Vilma Indra Vitols, Mezzo 1997 • Erin Wall, Soprano 2011 • Bradley Walton, Lute 1987 •

James Westman, Baritone 1995 • Scott Wevers, Horn 2003 • Laura Whalen, Soprano 1998 • Monica

Whicher, Soprano 1989 • Katherine Whyte, Soprano 2001 • Paul Widner, Cello 1989 • Thomas

Wiebe, Cello 2000 • Lawrence Wiliford, Tenor 2004 • Alexa Wilks, Violin 2007 • Aviva Wilks, Soprano

2008 • Paul Williamson, Tenor 2008 • Mark Wilson, Baritone 1986 • The Yellow River Ensemble

2010 • Jillian Yemen, Mezzo 2004 • David Young, Double-Bass 1997 • Monica Zerbe, Mezzo 1986