Ensemble Vivant

Led by renowned pianist Catherine Wilson, the musicians of Ensemble Vivant are world class performers with a rare artistry of exceptional depth, sensitivity and musicality; their highly imaginative original programming, which thrills audiences around the world, can not be heard anywhere else.

www.ensemblevivant.com

Judy Loman

Harpist

Toronto Symphony principal harpist Judy Loman enjoys an international reputation as performer and pedagogue. She is widely regarded as the world's finest harpist. Ms. Loman has previously recorded Schafer's The Crown o f Ariadne, Theseus (with The Orford String Quartet) and harp concerto (with Andrew Davis conducting The Toronto Symphony).

Ms. Loman is also a faculty member at the Royal Conservatory of Music, in Toronto. You can visit their site at: www.rcmusic.ca

Wendy Humphreys

Soprano

Originally a professional harpist trained at the Royal Manchester College of Music, Edmonton-born Wendy Humphreys is celebrated above all for her vocal gifts.

The unusual flexibility and communicative power of her voice serve her equally well in baroque, classical and contemporary music. Her recording of R. Murray Schafer's Theseus with Judy Loman and the Orford Quartet was nominated for a 1993 Juno Award. Wendy performs with orchestras from coast to coast, and in solo recitals often accompanies herself on the Celtic harp.

Daniel Lichti

Bass-baritone

Mr. Lichti was born in Stratford, Ontario and currently resides on a farm just down the road from where he grew up. He has firmly established himself internationally as a concert-oratorio singer known for his warm, rich and versatile voice. His career as a noted interpreter of the repertoire of J.S.Bach has taken him to various centres world-wide, and includes performances at some of the most-revered Bach Festivals including the Bethlehem Bach Festival, Oregon Bach Festival and Carmel Bach Festival. Dramatic oratorio performances in works by Haydn, Brahms, Handel and Bach are another hallmark of his activities.He is in demand in North America for concert and oratorio repertoire, and his recent collaboration with pianist Janina Fialkowskahas expanded his recital activities to annual tours with upcoming recording projects for Schubert, Schumann, Wolf and Brahms lieder.

Daniel Lichti has emerged as one of this generation's most gifted Lieder interpreters. His recording for the DORIAN label, "Songs of Hugo Wolf" was selected as critic's choice (best of the quarter) by Gramophone magazine and nominated for a Canadian JUNO award. Mr. Lichti's recitals of Schubert's Winterreise and Schwanengesang have been broadcast on the CBC and PBS radio networks. Praised also for his commanding performances of the Bach repertoire, he appears regularly with the Bethlehem and New England Bach Festivals as well as the festivals of Carmel, California and Eugene, Oregon.

His discography includes two recordings with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, also on DORIAN and The Gift of Messiah on OPENING DAY, a Bach recording with the Polish Radio Chamber Orchestra. European tours include Bach's Mass in B Minor and Mahler's Song of A Wayfarer with the Canadian Chamber Ensemble.

Mr. Lichti has been featured guest soloist with such internationally renowned conductors as Sir Charles Mackerras, John Nelson, Robert Shaw, Helmuth Rilling, Bruno Weil and Nicholas McGegan and been soloist with leading orchestras in North America and Europe.

Schwanengesang and Selected Lieder is the first in a series of Lieder releases featuring Daniel Lichti on Opening Day Recordings.

Stuart Laughton

Trumpet

Stuart Laughton was a founding member of Canadian Brass before attending Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music. Upon graduation he was invited by Rudolf Serkin to The Marlboro Festival, Vermont, and was appointed solo trumpet of La Scala, Milan, by Claudio Abbado. He has appeared with varied orchestras such as the Toronto Symphony.

He rejoined Canadian Brass in 2004 and is also member of folk blues group Pork Belly Futures.

Janina Fialkowska

Pianist

Canadian-born Janina Fialkowska has been recognized world-wide as one of the leading pianists of her generation for her exceptional artistry. She appears regularly as guest soloist with leading orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, the Israel Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota and Philadelphia Orchestras and the symphony orchestras of Pittsburgh, Montreal, Toronto as well as all the major London orchestras - all to unreserved acclaim.

Her recitals in the major music centers of North America and Europe have been equally lauded. Ms. Fialkowska's collaboration with Daniel Lichti includes tours of Schubert, Brahms, Beethoven and Schumann and represent a rare opportunity to hear this gifted artist turn her talents to the intimate, yet equally demanding repertoire of German Lieder. She has won special recognition for concerto premieres by Franz Liszt (Op. Posthumous) Libby Larsen and Sir Andrzej Panufnik (American premiere).

Born in Montreal to a Canadian mother and a Polish father, Janina Fialkowska began piano studies at the age of five. She entered the Ecole de Musique Vincent d'Indy, Montreal and studied privately in Paris. After pursuing advanced studies at New York's Juilliard School of Music, Janina Fialkowska was a top prize winner at the First International Arthur Rubinstein Master Piano Competition in Israel. It was Rubinstein himself who brought the music of Szymanowski to her attention.

In 1992, the CBC produced a sixty-minute television documentary, "The World of Janina Fialkowska," that aired to great acclaim throughout Canada. This program was awarded a Special Jury Prize at the 1992 San Francisco International Film Festival.

Janina Fialkowska's discography includes works by Chopin (RCA), Liszt, Moszkowski, Chopin and Peter Paul Koprowski (CBC SM5000) and Schubert's Schwanengesang, with bass-baritone Daniel Lichti, for Opening Day Recordings (ODR 9302).

Read more about Janina at Piano Six

More > | Janina's Opening Day page | janinafialkowska.com |

Andrew Burashko

Pianist

Andrew Burashko made his debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra under Andrew Davis and has since established himself as one of Canada's most sought-after soloists. Acclaimed for his lyricism, precision and powerful musical intelligence, Burashko's recent performances have included appearancesin every major Canadian city as well as in New York, Los Angeles, Budapest, Copenhagen, Washington and Paris. Born in Moscow into a family of musicians, Andrew Burashko began his studies with Marina Geringas at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto.

He went on to study with Kum Sing Lee in Vancouver, Leon Fleisher and Marek Jablonski in Toronto and Bella Davidovich in New York. He has developed a reputation for innovative programming through his performances of Schnittke, Ligeti, Cage and Schulhoff alongside works from the classical, romantic and early twentieth-century eras. Since 1990 Andrew Burashko has collaborated with acclaimed modern dancer Peggy Baker in Music for Piano and Solo Dancer, a contempo- rary reworking of the traditional piano recital format. This is the first in a series of Andrew Burashko recordings on the Opening Day label. A concerto disc (Shostakovitch/Schnittke) is in preparation.

"Burashko plays with fervor and refinement" The New York Times (review of Prokofiev Sixth Sonata)

"Andrezo Burashko savors the develop- ment of musical statements as much as the statements themselves. Everything con- nects, everything matters...indeed, by the end he had drawn us into the delicate tex- tures and colors of the work completely." The Los Angeles Times

"Non suelement le programme était-il particulièrement bien pensé, mais le jeu était bien construit, basé sur une technique extremement solide, des interprêtations respirant la musique sans la moindre once de maniérisme." Le Droit, Ottawa

Trio Lyra

Erica Goodman, Harp

Mark Childs, Violin

Suzanne Shulman, Flute

Trio Lyra has performed extensively in Canada and the U.S and has expanded the repertoire of this unique instrumental combination by commissioning works from leading Canadian composers.

Renowned solo harpist ERICA GOODMAN received her training at Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music and at Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music, performing as concerto soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra while still a student. She made her Lincoln Center solo debut with Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra. Erica Goodman and flutist Robert Aitken performed recitals in Japan in 1995 at the personal invitation of composer Toru Takemitsu. Ms. Goodman's solo recordings are available on the BIS, Marquis and CBC labels. She won a prestigious Canadian JUNO award (1995) for the BIS release Erica Goodman Plays Canadian Harp Music.

A graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music, MARK CHILDS studied violin with Jascha Brodsky, viola with Max Aronoff and chamber music with Joseph Gingold and members of the Curtis, Juilliard, Cleveland and Guarneri Quartets. Well-known to Canadian audiences for his tenure as principal violist of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Pittsburgh native has toured South America as Principal Viola of the McGill Chamber Orchestra, New Zealand with the McMaster String Quartet and Europe as Principal Viola of the Chamber Players of Toronto. In past seasons he has been a member of the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia, The American Society of Ancient Instruments and the Atlanta Symphony.

One of Canada's outstanding instrumentalists, SUZANNE SHULMAN graduated from the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. She has earned critical acclaim for solo recitals in New York's Carnegie Hall, London's Wigmore Hall and Warsaw's Chopin Institute. A concerto soloist with Canadian and international orchestras, Ms. Shulman was a frequent guest artist with the Orford String Quartet and also with the late Glenn Gould, with whom she collaborated on a variety of recording projects (now available on the Sony Classical label). She has premiered works by Jean Coulthard, Srul Irving Glick, Christos Hatzis and Timothy Sullivan. A frequent recital partner of JUNO award-winning pianist Valerie Tryon, Ms. Shulman is a core member of the Festival of the Sound Ensemble and is the flute soloist on all six Classical Kids releases.

More > | Trio Lyra Homepage |