News and Friends We've Lost

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PLEASE NOTE: As of Spring 2009 Alumni news is now being moved to the Faculty's news page.


NEWS

Thomas Goerz (Diploma In Operatic Performance 1982) recently scored his first Metropolitan Opera contract as cover for Sulpice in La Fille du Regiment. The Met has re-engaged Thomas as the Sulpice cover for 2010. Recent noteworthy role debuts include Leporello in Don Giovanni with Opera Ontario, Basilio in Barber of Seville with Edmonton Opera, and Owen Hart in Dead Man Walking with Calgary Opera - all to critical acclaim.
 
Thomas performed the role of Don Estoban in the rarely heard Der Zwerg by Zemlinsky at New York's Bard Festival. He is currently singing Quince in A Midsummer Night's Dream (he has also sung the role of Bottom under the direction of the late Colin Graham), and Benoit/Alcindoro in La Boheme with the Canadian Opera Company. Before that he made his Wexford Festival debut as Tovey in The Mines of Sulphur by Richard Rodney Bennett. In addition, this spring he performed the role of the Father in the operatic premiere of Ines by Canadian composer and Faculty of Music alumnus James Rolfe (Mus Bac 1983, MMus 1984), produced by the Queen of Puddings. [added 31 March 2009]

Faculty member and alumnus Dr. Wallace Halladay (Mus Bac Performance 2000) recently made his solo debut in front of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. The Globe and Mail called him "phenomenal" and said that "[his] saxophone playing is so riveting on its own that not much can compete against it." The concerto was Babbitt by composer-in-residence with the VSO and Faculty of Music alumni Scott Good (MMus 1998), and was originally written for Wallace in 2006, commissioned by the Esprit Orchestra. [added 25 March 2009]

Eve Rachel McLeod (BMus 2004, Diploma In Operatic Performance 2005) recently sang with the Kitchener Opera with tenor Richard Margison to excellent review. The Kitchener Record called her "a wonderful pleasure" with "expressive range and ample talent". In 2009 she will be featured on a recording of the opera Polly by Samuel Arnold to be released on the Naxos label. Her upcoming roles include The Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute and Pousette in Manon, both with Opera Lyra. [added 25 March 2009]

Dorothy Lawson (Mus Bac cello performance 1979) as part of the quartet Ethel, performed at the Alice Tully Hall Opening Nights Festival at Lincoln Center on March 3, 2009 prior to the New Music Concert featuring Steve Reich & Musicians, Bang on a Can All Stars, and Alarm Will Sound. Ethel continues to perform across the globe, including their TruckStop project, a tour of community-based residencies featuring collaboration and workshops with local musicians from all musical backgrounds. [added 25 March 2009]

Bill Brennan (Mus Bac 1985) has recently released his second full-length disc of original piano compositions, Solo Piano 2. The CD has nominated for an 2008 East Coast Music Award for Instrumental Album of the Year, and also received the 2008 Music NL Instrumental Album of the Year Award. Named the 2006 Artist of the Year by the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council, Brennan has appeared on more than 90 recordings to date.

He has recorded with the Heillig Manouevre, Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan and Vuja De. He appears on CDs by Juno-nominated Teresa Doyle, ambient-pop-rocker Andy Stochansky, guitarist Kevin Breit, torch folksinger Andrea Koziol, fellow Newfoundlanders Sandy Morris, Patrick Boyle and Barry Canning, and performed on film soundtracks for Antwone Fisher, directed by Denzel Washington and Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm. He has backed up such greats as Cab Calloway, Placido Domingo and Dizzy Gillespie, and has performed with the National Ballet, the Canadian Opera Company, and was a recently soloist with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra. Brennan has written music for television (including CBC’s The Nature of Things), radio, film, theatre and dance. [added 16 March 2008]




Tenor Joey Niceforo (Diploma In Operatic Performance 2005; picture below) released the CD Forte as part of the classical crossover trio Destino this past summer. They have done extensive touring in the past year and have many dates scheduled for 2009. They will be performing at Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto on 28 March 2009. [added 27 February 2009]




Dr. David Ogborn (Phd 2006, Composition) has been appointed to the position of Assistant Professor at McMaster University in the Department of Communication Studies. David has created significant work in soundscape composition and has recently been named president of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community. He has also conducted extensive research on the music of Luigi Nono and spent the third year of his doctoral studies in Venice researching in the Nono Archives. David currently teaches at the University of Regina. [added 27 February 2009]

Dr. Jennifer Haywood (PhD 2005) was recently granted tenure at Ithaca College in New York. Dr. Haywood joined the Department of Music Education in 2000. [added 20 February 2009]

Christina Britton Conroy née Christina Czukor (Mus Bac 1974) has recently published her first novel One Man's Music, (now in its second pressing) a story of young soprano's obsession with a symphonic composer. Please click here to view a trailer of the novel. [added 12 February 2009]




Pianist and singer Ainsley McNeaney (BMus 2003) recently released her "orchestral-pop" debut album True Story Orchestra on Pet Lion Records to great review. She wrote, arranged, and produced all the songs, most of which feature a minimum of twenty different instruments. [added January 2009]


 

Hilary Everett Apfelstadt  (Mus Bac 1974) was recently appointed Associate Director of the School of Music at the Ohio State University where she also serves as Director of Choral Activities.  In June, the Ohio Choral Directors Association (OCDA) presented her with the Distinguished Service Award for outstanding contributions to choral music.  She is completing the second year of her term as national president of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), the only Canadian to have held that office!  In July 2008, she conducted the Ohio State University Chorale as part of a massed chorus at the Lucerne International Choral Festival in Switzerland, and in June 2009, will conduct a Haydn and Handel Festival in Vienna and Prague. [added January 2009]

Duo Solose (Jane Solose (Mus Bac 1976), Associate Professor of Piano and Chair of the Keyboard Division at the Conservatory of Music and Dance, University of Missouri-Kansas City, and Kathleen Solose, Associate Professor of Piano at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada) were invited to perform in October, 2008 in St. Petersburg, Russia at the Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatoire's eighth annual International Conservatoire Week Festival. They played to enthusiastic audiences at Sheremetev Palace and in Glazunov Hall at the Conservatoire, where Rachmaninov and other prominent composers were once students. Their repertoire included Rachmaninov's Fantasy (Suite no. 1) Op. 5, Stravinsky's Petrushka for one piano, 4 hands, and the Capriccio for Two Pianos, Op. 3 by Canadian composer Michael Conway Baker. [added 10 December 2008]

Naomi Oliphant (Mus Bac Piano Performance, 1975, Mus M Performance and Literature 1976) has just released a CD on the Centaur Record label with tenor, Daniel Weeks. The CD entitled Women of Firsts presents arts songs by the first important Twentieth Century women composers from the Czech Republic, Poland, the United States, and France. The photo below was taken during their second European recital tour in 2008 at the Brno Conservatory in the Czech Republic. They were also aired several times this year on Radio 4 Amsterdam. Naomi continues as Associate Dean and Keyboard Area Coordinator of the University of Louisville School of Music. She has just been appointed Vice-Chair of the University of Michigan School of Music's Alumni Society's Board of Governors. [added 12 December 2008]


Naomi Oliphant and Daniel Weeks



Alex Kidston (BMus 1991, MMus 1992) has been living and working in London (UK) since 1997 as a freelance tuba player, brass instructor, and concert promoter. He currently holds the posts of Music Coordinator at the National Portrait Gallery (London) and tuba / euphonium instructor in the Junior department of Trinity College of Music as well as being on trial for the Principal Tuba position with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (Glasgow). [added 29 October 2008]

Soprano Barbara Hannigan (BMus 1993, MMus 1998, Vocal Performance with Mary Morrison) completed the 2007/08 season with performances of Webern works with the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. A frequent guest of the orchestra, she will return in the coming seasons to sing the title role in Stravinsky's Le Rossignol (conducted by Pierre Boulez), and Ligeti's Mysteries of the Macabre (conducted by Sir Simon Rattle). In summer 2008 she gave the world premiere performances of the opera Passion by Pascal Dusapin, at the Festival Aix en Provence. Touring of the production begins in September. Her autumn season began at the Luzerne Festival with Maurizio Pollini's Progetto Pollini, performing works of Luigi Nono, followed by a recital in Milan with pianist Reinbert de Leeuw. She is featured on the recently released CD of music by Luca Francesconi, with Paris' Ensemble Intercontemporain conducted by Susanna Malkki on the Kairos label. In October 2008 she will perform Ligeti's Mysteries of the Macabre at the opening night gala performance of the LA Philharmonic, conducted by Esa Pekka Salonen. [added 17 September 2008]

On June 10, 2008 Shannon Butcher (Mus Ed 1999) released her debut solo vocal jazz CD Words We Both Could Say.  The album features fellow U of T alumni Ross MacIntyre and Mark McLean. [added 09 September 2008]

Ross Harwell (BMUS 1995) has recently set up a private audiology clinic (Hear Toronto) in Toronto where, among other things, he works with musicians and the prevention of hearing loss. [added 26 June 2008]

Elizabeth Volpé Bligh (Mus Bac 1975) will be a panelist at the American Harp Society Conference in Dearborn, Michigan in June 2008 and will be teaching at Pacific Harp Institute at Bastyr University in Kenmore, Washington in July 2008. [added 04 June 2008]

Yolanda Di Paolo (ArtD 1953) was honoured in February 2008 by the Italian Canadian Foundation of Manitoba, who presented her with an Outstanding Achievement Certificate in recognition of her ongoing efforts in presenting and promoting operatic music in Manitoba. [added 29 May 2008]
 
Frank Horvat (BMUS 1997) released a CD earlier this year of his solo piano compositions, titled I’ll Be Good. [added 29 May 2008]
 
Bernie Andrews, (BMUS 1972) currently a professor at the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa received the Ontario Music Educators Association (OMEA) Award of Commendation for his outstanding contribution to music education at the Trillium ’07 conference at Deerhurst Inn in Huntsville. The award was presented to Bernie by two former students, Tabitha Vailliant and Danna Van Zealand, both now secondary school arts department heads. They outlined his contribution to the development of musical programs in Ontario, his cross-Canada research projects in the arts, and his national and international publications. In his acceptance, Bernie pointed out that it is essential that we continually advocate for the arts within the school curriculum and renew our efforts to enrich our students’ lives and celebrate their accomplishments through music. [added 29 May 2008]
 
Elizabeth Janzen (BMUS 2001) was in New York City this past year, continuing in The Academy – a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute, a performance and education fellowship, as it entered its second pilot phase. Elizabeth was selected as a member of the first class of fellows. [added 29 May 2008]
 
Vincea McClelland (BMUS 1980) released a CD this past fall, Classique, featuring the best in guitar music from Spain and the Americas. [added 29 May 2008]
 
Dr. David W. Roe (BMUS 1964) a retired music educator, composer, author, trombonist, and publisher, was the winner in the professional composer category of the Amadeus Choir Christmas Carol and Chanukah Song Writing Competition for his choral work Chanukah for SATB choir, soloists, and piano. The Amadeus Choir premiered the work under the direction of Lydia Adams at their December 14, 2007 concert at the Yorkminster Park Baptist Church in Toronto. [added 29 May 2008]

Juno-award-winning Jazz pianist and composer David Braid (BMUS 1998) will be touring across Canada in the next few months with three of his ensembles. [added 28 May 2008]

Constance Novis (BMUS 1983) will be making her Lincoln Center debut in the Rose Theater on 5 & 7 June 2008. Ms Novis will sing the soprano part in Stravinsky’s Les Noces with The Michael Clark Dance Company. Constance has already performed in Les Noces with The Michael Clark Dance Company to great acclaim in concerts at the Barbican Centre in London. [added 28 May 2008]


Friends We've Lost

James Guthro (BMUS 1951) passed away peacefully on Tuesday, November 11, 2008, in his 86th year. Born in Nova Scotia, Jim was raised in Hamilton where he began to play the trumpet in his teens. A World War II Veteran, Jim served for four years in the R.C.A.F. and then studied music at the University of Toronto where he produced campus shows. After a brief stint of teaching at Forest Hill Collegiate, Jim began a 30-year career as an award-winning CBC television planning and production director of public affairs and entertainment shows including Front Page Challenge, Close-up and Canadian Timex Jazz. Once retired, Jim took up the trumpet with passion. He played, conducted, and arranged music with the East York Symphony, the Encore Symphonic Concert Band and with countless other gigs at clubs, hospitals, and schools. [added 17 November 2008]

David John Malysh (BMUS 1990) passed away August 16, 2007 at the age of 40. His parents have established a scholarship in his name at the Faculty of Music. David was a teacher with the York Region School Board. He played with the University of Toronto Jazz Band. [added 29 May 2008]

Michael Evans (BMUS 1972, MA 1973) passed away peacefully on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at Toronto Western Hospital, at the age of 65. Loving partner and lifetime friend, of 33 years of Faris Shammas. Mr. Evans was the Head Coach and Conductor at the University of Toronto Opera Division. [added 01 May 2008]

Melvin Berman (1929 – 2008) The University of Toronto Faculty of Music mourns the passing of longtime faculty Melvin Berman. Born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1929, Melvin Berman studied oboe with Clement Lenom and Harold Gomberg. He served as principal oboe with the CJRT Orchestra (Toronto Philharmonic), the MSO, the orchestras of the NFB and the CBC, several US orchestras, and, beginning in 1975, the COC. A founder of the Baroque Trio of Montreal and the Pro Arte Woodwind Quintet, Berman became a member of the Toronto Woodwind Quintet in 1971. He was a woodwind teacher at the University of Hartford in 1950, the CMM 1956-70, McGill University 1956-64, and a faculty member of the NYO 1969-79. In 1971 he began teaching at the University of Toronto, and in 1988 he was made head of woodwinds. [added 04 April 2008]