We welcome Adam back for his second performance of Handel’s Messiah with the SSO!
Canadian baritone Adam Harris has been described as an intuitively musical and distinctively dramatic young performer.
He has most recently been engaged with Calgary Opera, performing the role of Barrington in the world premiere of Ghost Opera, Guy Cotter in the Canadian premiere of Everest and as Gregorio in Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette. Further credits include Ceprano in Rigoletto with Calgary Opera, Falke in Die Fledermaus at Koerner Hall, the Baritone in Kopernikus at the Banff Centre, Moralès in Carmen with the Mississauga Symphony, Marcello in La Bohème with Opera Kelowna, Argenio in Imeneo, Pluto in Orphée aux Enfers, Mr. Gobineau in The Medium, Masetto in Don Giovanni, Curly in Oklahoma! and The Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe.
At home both in Operatic and Concert work, Adam has performed Handel’s Messiah with the Saskatoon Symphony, Fauré’s Requiem, Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols and Five Mystical Songs with the Lyrica Chamber Choir, as well as Carmina Burana with the Indian River Festival and George Butterworth’s Six Songs from a Shropshire Lad alongside the University of Toronto Orchestra under the baton of conductor Uri Mayer.
Adam has appeared alongside Toronto based “Collectif” in their original production of “Fête” at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre and in “The Happenstancers” concert series, performing “Neuf Historiettes” by Jean Francaix (1912-1997).
Mr. Harris holds his MA from the University of Toronto Opera Division and and a Bachelor’s degree from Western University.
Having performed across Western Canada, the United States, and Europe, Lisa is always happy to be close to home with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra. And so are we! Lisa has long been a favourite of SSO audiences for her emotionally deep performances of Messiah.
She has been acclaimed for performances in repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary composers; her voice has been called rich and powerful and her stage presence has inspired audiences and musicians alike.
After completing a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance at the University of Saskatchewan (Professor Dorothy Howard), Lisa went on to further her studies at the Institute of Vocal Arts in Chiari, Italy. This was followed by an intensive study time at Southern Illinois University (Mr. Richard Best). Later she completed a year of study, with the support of the Saskatchewan Arts Board, working with Mr. Nico Castel, Dr. Everett McCorvey, Dr. Cliff Jackson, Dr. Bill Cooper, Professor Micheal McMahon, Professor Tedrin Lindsey, and Mr. Richard Best.
Lisa believes that every child deserves the opportunity to sing, and runs a non-audition Community Youth Choir that provides this place. For several years she directed the Meota Men’s Choir, a non-audition men’s choir that was very active in the Battlefords and surrounding area. Lisa has gained a deeper appreciation and love of choral arts through her continued work as vocal coach for Cantilon and Belle Canto, professional touring choirs based in Edmonton, Alberta, under the direction Heather Johnson.
Lisa is the founder and director of Summer School for the Solo Voice, a week long study and performance opportunity for singers, choral conductors, accompanists and voice teachers of all ages and abilities. Growing from a local to a national, and now, international program, SSSV celebrated its 20th Anniversary in July, 2017.
In October of 2017, Lisa was presented with the Saskatchewan Music Educators Association’s Outstanding Achievement Award. She has also been bestowed as one of the University of Saskatchewan’s Arts and Science Alumni of Influence.
Lisa lives in North Battleford with her husband John.
If you missed it the first time in 2016, here is your chance to see Danika’s exhilarating performance in Handel’s Messiah.
As a performer
Danika is known for her versatility and dramatic sensitivity. Recent graduate of the Canadian Opera Company‘s ensemble program, her roles include Musetta (La Bohéme), Adina (L’elisir d’amore), Rosina (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Dalinda (Ariodante), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Lady with a Hand Mirror (Postcard from Morocco), Coloratura (Kopernikus), Monica (The Medium), Woglinde (Götterdämmerung) and Zdenka (Arabella).
Danika has had the opportunity to work with some of the finest orchestras in Canada, including the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, the Regina Symphony Orchestra, the Elora Festival Orchestra, Pax Christi Chorale, and the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Concert repertoire includes Faure’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, Mozart’s Requiem and Coronation Mass, Orff’s Carmina Burana and R. Strauss’ Op. 27, Vier Lieder. Danika’s finesse in competition has earned her first prize in the FCMF National Music Festival in 2011, first prize in the University of Toronto Concerto Competition in 2014/15, first prize in the 2016/17 Christina and Louis Quilico Awards, and a test recording with Deutsche Grammophon in the Stella Maris vocal competition in 2018.
As a composer
Danika’s work is inspired by her love of poetry and drama, and her unique perspective as a storyteller. Having started her musical education in piano at age 6, she earned a grade 9 level certificate through the Royal Conservatory of Music in 2005. She began composing seriously in 2014, and finds herself at home in art song and opera composition.
In 2016, she premiered her first song cycle, based on Lorna Crozier‘s infamous poetry cycle The Sex Lives of Vegetables with the Canadian Art Song Project, and she has since had her works performed in the Canadian Opera Company’s noon concert series, and at the National Sawdust with Bard University. She will make her compositional debut in Europe in November 2019, as part of a touring concert series featuring soprano Elisabeth Hetherington.
Her first opera is an interpretation of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, and Danika looks forward to collaborating with Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra on a workshop of the piece. Selections from the opera debuted in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre in 2018.
From 2018-19, Danika has been finishing her first collection of songs: 20 pieces based on poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay, Tekahionwake (E. Pauline Johnson) and Lorna Crozier. The songbook, entitled First Fig Songbook after Millay’s poem “First Fig”, will be performed as part of the University of Toronto’s Vocalis concert series by master and doctorate students in February 2020. This songbook was generously funded by the Saskatchewan Arts Board, and would not exist without their support!
As a visual artist
Danika has been greatly inspired by the musical works in her life. First exploring this connection in Collectìf‘s Cauchemars, Danika added hand-drawn projections and an original horror narrative to Poulenc’s Fiançailles pour rire (check out a preview here). In the summer of 2019, for the Toronto Summer Music Festival, Danika created an original depiction of the Greek legend of Daphne and Apollo that was projection during her own performance of George Crumb’s Apparition (check out a preview here).
While finishing #FirstFigSongbook, Danika was an artist-in-residence at The Drake Devonshire. There, inspired by the vibrancy of the space, and Edna St. Vincent’s poetic cycle “A Few Figs from Thistles”, her artistic inspiration resulted in a series of original, vibrantly colourful figs. Each fig is an homage to the ever-valuable fruits of our labours, the mysteries that we create in what we keep hidden, the explosiveness that comes from opening up and exposing those secrets. Juicy, no? 😉
Tenor Spencer McKnight has been described as “one of the finest tenor voices” in Canada.
This year’s performance of Handel’s Messiah sees tenor Spencer McKnight back on stage with the SSO. Returning audiences will know to watch for what vocal heights he will reach this time!
Spencer has garnered much attention both in concert and in competition over the course of the last six years, including multiple awards at a national level, and the 2018 winner of the Gordon C. Wallis Opera Competition. Though still early in his career, Spencer has had the opportunity to sing a wealth of oratorio repertoire, and recent engagements include the Regina Symphony Orchestra, Regina Philharmonic Choir, and Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra.
In 2017 and 2018, Spencer toured with a recital program entitled Songs of the Great War. An artistic project many years in the making, the recital featured songs, both popular and art, from the World War One era, including the Canadian premieres of two songs by composer William Dennis Browne. In 2020 Spencer is presenting two new recital programs, including a celebration of Beethoven’s 250th anniversary and a concert dedicated to the songs of Ireland.
Spencer made his international opera debut in Vicenza, Italy this past summer as Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. He was hailed as having a “clear timbre”. In March of 2020 he returns to the SSO stage again for the North American premiere of Rebecca Dale’s Materna Requiem – the perform .
As a special treat for Messiah, Spencer gets to stand alongisde and even sing with his past teacher and mentor Lisa Hornung – this year the two have the duet “O Death Where is Thy Sting”, so it will be an extra special moment for them!
His voice is fresh and brassy with stratospheric high notes and perfectly suited for Handel’s glorious tenor arias.
Messiah time is almost here! We love putting together and performing Handel’s Messiah each year. If it were possible we would fit everyone from Saskatoon’s large choral community on stage with us for one amazing choir. Since there isn’t nearly enough room up front (and scheduling rehearsals would be a nightmare) we have the Sing-Along Messiah the afternoon after the Messiah performance. Choral professionals and enthusiasts alike join in singing beloved Messiah choruses as one huge choir.
Always wondered about the Sing-Along but you’ve never taken the leap? Have no fear! Here are some answers to the frequently asked Messiah Sing-Along questions.
Where and when is the Sing-Along?
The Sing-Along is Saturday, December 16th at 2:30 pm in Knox United Church. This is the same location for the Friday night performance. Doors open at 1:45 pm so come early to get your seat (and perhaps do a warmup or two)!
How do I get tickets?
Tickets are available online and at the door. Tickets are $25. Our #25Below is in effect at the door! ($15 for anyone 25 and under with ID at the ticket table).
Do I have to sing?
No! We do not force everyone to sing. If you want to come enjoy our soloists, and an incredibly large choir, come watch and listen.
Where do the singers sit?
We divide the main floor into sections (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass) so you can sit with your voice type (your people!). This way it is easier for those sight reading or experiencing their first Sing-Along. Confidence in numbers!
How do I know when to sing?
Our Saskatoon Symphony Chorus Conductor Duff Warkentin will be there to lead the charge! Keep your eyes on the baton as there are changes in tempi. All sing-along portions are bolded in the program with page numbers.
Can I sing the soloist parts?
We invite you to sing along with our Saskatoon Symphony Chorus. Our soloists will be there for the recits and arias. In this relaxed setting, they might try out a few new ornaments! So sit back, relax, and enjoy their exceptional voices.
What if I don’t have a Messiah score?
Not to worry. We have several copies (at least 80) that we lend out for the performance. Please make sure to return them after the sing-along as they belong to the University of Saskatchewan Music Department and the SSO!
Have you ever been listening to Handel’s Messiah and thought “wait, is that Joy to the World?”
Well no, you’re not hearing Joy to the World, but you’re not completely wrong.
Joy to the World is considered to be the single most published Christmas song/hymn – its been recorded and performed by every choir, orchestra, soloists, jazz trio, pop artist, and even a rap group or two. It’s one of those songs that everyone knows. But who wrote it?
English hymn writer Isaac Watts wrote the words to Joy to the World in 1719 – by that point he was already noted for his work as a hymnist. Watts’ words for the Christmas anthem eventually became paired with a few musical settings, but one stuck.
The music’s origins are unclear. The name “Antioch” is generally used for the tune. It is often attributed to George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) on the grounds of a ‘chance resemblance’ to choruses in the oratorio Messiah (premiered 1742), not least because a theme of the refrain (And heaven and nature sing…) appears similar to the orchestral opening and accompaniment of the recitative Comfort ye. Likewise, the first four notes seem to match the beginning of the choruses Lift up your heads and Glory to God from the same oratorio. However, there is no autographed score by Handel and no currently known documentary evidence to suggest that Handel wrote it, so ‘Antioch’ remains, at best, a skillful collection of borrowings from Handel.
Other hymnals credit the tune to Lowell Mason (1792–1872), who introduced it to America (US) in 1836 as ‘arranged from Handel’. But, in 1986, John Wilson showed that ‘Joy to the World’ was first published in two English collections, one firmly dated 1833. Being three years earlier, this is thought to exclude Lowell Mason from being the composer, but his original attribution remains a likely cause of the often-stated link to Handel.
Part of our exciting celebration on December 7th will be telling of A Child’s Christmas in Wales.
The popular prose of Dylan Thomas‘ recollection of Christmases past were made famous by Caedmon Records in 1952 as being one of the earliest commercial audiobooks, with Thomas’ own voice telling the story. The reminiscent lines were a last minute addition to the LP that opened the general market for audio recorded books. This time it will be Dr. Garry Gable returning to help us bring the tales to life.
Selected excerpts of these childhood stories are further imagined with Gary Fry‘s orchestrations.
Fry’s version was commissioned not as long ago back in 2003 for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. You will be able to hear the familiar tunes “Good King Wenceslas” and an exuberant Celtic version of “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” sung by the returning choirs – University Chorus (James Hawn) and University of Saskatchewan Greystone Singers (Dr. Jennifer Lang)!
There may, or may not be some sleigh riding going on later in the concert, too… But you will just have to come to find out!
With holiday preparations in full swing, the SSO would love to give you some Christmas cheer on Saturday, December 7th! Our cocnert Christmas with the SSO will feature many guests with the orchestra, including two very special people…
Dean McNeill – trumpet
He should look familiar!
Dean McNeill has been with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra for over 20 years, and it is our pleasure feature him in this concert.
Our local trumpet player and composer is a Full Professor at the University of Saskatchewan, directing the University of Saskatchewan Jazz Ensemble, the Saskatoon Jazz Orchestra, and leading the Saskatoon Jazz Society’s Jazz Workshop program. He has received the University of Saskatchewan Department of Music’s Dwaine Nelson Teaching Award for his past administrative service as Department Head in 2004-2009, and a Special Recognition Award from the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival for his contributions to jazz in Saskatchewan. You can hear his stellar playing on the album O Music as soloist with the composition Kalla which won the 2012 Western Canadian Music Award for Classical Composition of the Year.
As a Yamaha artist, Dean has performed as a guest artist with the National Youth Band of Canada, as well as with professional ensembles such as the Winnipeg, Edmonton, Vancouver Jazz Orchestras and the Calgary Creative Arts Ensemble. He has performed alongside the likes of Kenny Wheeler, Pat LaBarbera, Michael Cain, Hugh Fraser, Tom Banks, Brad Turner, Kelly Jefferson, David Braid, Bob Mintzer, Denzal Sinclaire, PJ Perry, Ingrid Jensen, Jon Balantyne, Campbell Ryga and many others.
You can hear more of him on his two albums Prairie Fire: Large Jazz Ensemble Music of Dean McNeill and Mélange: New Music For Trumpet and Piano, and most recently composed repertoire on Complete Rebirth of the Cool.
Elly Thorn – vocalist
Performing artist Elly Thorn was raised in the small Saskatchewan community of Saltcoats. Typical of rural life, Elly took music lessons as a way to fill the long, hot prairie summer and cold winter days that keep you stuck indoors. She began her musical career touring with Saskatchewan Express, as well as the Canadian Heritage Society’s Spirit of a Nation.
Elly studied at the Canadian College of Performing Arts in Victoria, B.C, performed aboard Norwegian Cruise Lines, has acted in TV series like Rabbit Fall and Corner Gas, and appeared in stage adaptations of Evita and Toon Town with Saskatoon’s Persephone Theatre.
With the performance on December 7th as Elly’s debut with the SSO, we will welcome her original compositions and hope to share her excitement with the audience as she lives through this songwriter’s dream. You will even have the opportunity to take home her newest album of Christmas music, releasing the night of the concert!
Spoiler – one of the songs that will be featured that evening will be “There’s a Heaven”, and will be great reminder to cherish all the good family moments that you can:
I wrote is this song almost four years ago, two days after I heard about a young family whose lives were taken in a car accident. The tragedy shook me to the core because we also had little ones of similar ages. We were in the midst of putting away Christmas for the year, feeling that excitement and love as the festive season once again comes to a close when I heard the news. I felt broken and shaky, without even knowing who they were. We are all so connected, even more than we realize – we feel each others pain, energy, joys and brokenness… but we heal together too. I am a great believer that music heals.
Check out this recent tribute of Elly’s to what can often be a very “busy” time of year.
On November 16th, the SSO will see the return of the Saskatoon Youth Orchestra alongside them onstage. It has been nine months since these forces have last joined, playing the Roman Carnival Overture by Hector Berlioz in February. This time, it will be the Slavonic Dances of Antonín Dvořák that will open the evening. There will be more than 60 additional musicians combining with the SSO to bring this music to life.
Within their identity statement, the Saskatoon Youth Orchestra say that they strive to allow its participants to grow as community members and create lifelong friendships. This is clearly realized in our Homecoming concert considering that all three of our guest artists have played in SYO!
William Rowson (our guest conductor) was in the youth orchestra during the last Side-by-Side concert featuring the same Slavonic Dances in January of 1993! He was a member of the SYO violin section throughout the 1990-1993 seasons, starting as one of the youngest members at the time. He vividly remembers walking into the rehearsal room when they were beginning to play a piece he composed himself, being swept up in the soundscape:
Our piccolo player practicing the sleigh ride tune from Prokofiev’s Troika […] I was very nervous and excited. I saw everyone looking through my parts that my Mom and I had stayed up all night preparing. When ever I hear a piccolo play that tune […] I’m instantly brought back to that moment of being so nervous and excited to hear an orchestra play something I had written.
William says he would often bring borrowed scores home to study, so that he was able to better hear all the parts come to life in the group rehearsals each week.
Whether I knew it or not at the time, it was these formative years that really helped shape my life and career.
He was in the SSO’s violin section in the 2001-2002 season, overlapping with Carissa’s time in the orchestra, as well!
On Tuesday, November 12th, William will be at the McNally Music Talk at 7:00pm.
Carissa Klopoushak, like William, has been with us before as a member of SYO (1996-2000), SSO (1998-2006 as our Principle Violin II for the latter 3 seasons), and as a guest artist (in March of 2017). Her fondest memories of her earlier years with the SYO were of the Rosthern retreats, a tour to Langley, and the Banff International Festival of Youth Orchestras (BIFYO) in 1998. She also participated in the Side-by-Side performances during these years, with the first in April of 1996:
My first side-by-side with the SYO and SSO was the most incredible – we played Mahler 1 and it was an absolute life-changing experience for me. I still love that piece so very much and have such fond memories of it.
It is no doubt these experiences helped her see her goal of becoming a professional musician see come closer into her grasp. You will find Carissa playing “like a rockstar” in this upcoming concert in Vivian Fung’s Violin Concerto, as indicated in the score! Following that, she will be leading a masterclass at the University of Saskatchewan for music students and members of the SYO. In the bit of downtime she will get, Carissa hopes to see as much family and friends as possible, getting to places such as Hearth and Museo – but also practicing her orchestra music for NACO’s concert next week!
Ryan Cole, in addition to being in SYO for the 2004-2005 season, was an extra with the SSO in 2009. He was seated beside our Principle trumpet player, Terry Heckman, for the infamous Symphonie fantastique by Hector Berlioz.
I recall trying to read the part while Terry played, and having no idea how he was doing it. I remember trying to stay focused on my part while being amazed at how effortlessly he played such a difficult solo. This comes to mind because I recently got to perform this exact part for the first time here in Victoria, and I had very vivid flashbacks of this experience sitting beside Terry.
For this upcoming concert, Ryan will be showcased in Marcus Goddard’s Trumpet Concerto, a piece which was specially composed for him. While he is here, Ryan will also be making stops at the University of Saskatchewan for masterclasses, and to give a talk to music students detailing his path to becoming a professional orchestral musician. He will also make a few visits to high schools to a similar presentation to aspiring students. When it comes to food, Ryan is planning to make it to some key places in the city, namely Ayden for a special family supper, Hometown Diner so his expecting wife Kayleigh can have her requested chicken and waffles, and to Alexander’s for some traditional post-performance nachos!
Incomplete works are an inevitable feature of most composers’ catalogues. After all, they are no more likely than anyone else to receive specific advance notice of when they will reach their coda. In the case of some long-lived composers, the events seem to have occurred according to plan: Rossini, Verdi, Strauss, Sibelius, and Vaughan Williams, for example, had already shepherded their musical careers to fulfilling finishes, and gave the impression of having left this world satisfied that they had said what they needed to say. Others were cut off in mid-sentence, sometimes at the height of their powers, while engaged in the production of masterpieces: think of Mozart’s Requiem or Puccini’s Turandot.
Because Franz Schubert died young, at the age of 31, popular conception has sometimes fixed on the idea that his Unfinished Symphony was a casualty of this sort. Of course, it is possible that if Schubert had lived longer he might have gotten around to filling out his piece to the standard four movements that made up the typical symphony of his era. However, the fact is that he had put the score aside long before his death.
In the last decade of his life Schubert accumulated a sizable stack of incomplete large scale works, including several symphonic “torsos” and aborted sonatas. The Unfinished Symphony, which he wrote in 1822 (six years before he died), is the most superb of them all. In October of that year he sketched out three movements of the piece in piano score, and the following month he completed the orchestration of the first two movements plus a fragment of the ensuing, incomplete scherzo. There it ended.
Various theories have been proposed to explain why Schubert left the work in mid-stream. Some hypothesize that he did finish it, but that sections have been lost. Perhaps the B-minor entr’acte from Rosamunde was intended as the symphony’s finale, some speculate; it mirrors the symphony’s key and instrumentation exactly (even employing a third trombone, unusual in the orchestral line up at that time), and it appeared shortly after Schubert was working on the symphony. Others believe he abandoned the symphony because he felt he could not provide two final movements on the same high plane as the opening two. (This is doubtful, given the stream of profound, large-scale masterpieces — including his Great Symphony in C major, final three piano sonatas, and sublime chamber masterpieces — that would still issue from his pen.) The most credible explanation is that in late 1822, precisely when he would have moved on to the “missing” movements of the piece, Schubert was diagnosed with syphilis. The disease was incurable at the time, and the attendant treatments were as dreadful as they were ineffective. It seems possible that the news threw Schubert out of kilter vis-à-vis this piece, disrupting his creative concentration entirely.
In any case, the following year Schubert sent the manuscript to his friend Anselm Hüttenbrenner, who put it in a desk drawer, and there it languished for 40 years. After four decades, Hüttenbrenner liberated the manuscript from its dark, silent recess and presented it to the conductor and choral composer Johann von Herbeck, who oversaw its first performance, in Vienna in 1865, 43 years after it was written.
Even before Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony was premiered the piece had been known in theory if not in practice, since Hüttenbrenner had made mention of it in a biographical dictionary in 1836 and a Schubert biographer, Heinrich Kreissle von Hellborn, had picked up on its existence (via that source) in 1864. It was he who started a campaign to get Hüttenbrenner to release the work to the public — no mean achievement, since by then Hüttenbrenner had become all but a hermit, interested principally in abstract theological inquiries and in magnetism. Hellborn owed his success to a clever ploy. Claiming that he wanted to put on a concert of three great Viennese composers — Schubert, Franz Lachner, and Hüttenbrenner himself — he begged the last to show him some suitable works, and then wondered aloud if perhaps a previously unperformed piece by Schubert might not be found. Out of the drawer came the Unfinished. At its premiere, it shared the bill with an overture by Hüttenbrenner.
The influential Viennese music critic Eduard Hanslick, writing about the work’s premiere, said:
“With a few horn figurations and here and there a clarinet or oboe solo, Schubert achieves, with the most simple, basic orchestra, tonal effects which no refinement of Wagnerian instrumentation can capture.”
Hanslick carried out his role as an anti-Wagnerian with missionary zeal, and his swipe at the later master does come off as demeaning his point just a bit. Nonetheless, he was right about the sonic beauty of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony. It would be hard to think of an earlier symphony, including even those of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, in which the use of symphonic sound is so consistently evocative.
Lisa is the founder and director of 
As a composer
