When the SSO embarked on the plans to do an auditioned chorus, we called Duff Warkentin – it was clear that he was the man for the job. He’s become Saskatchewan’s go-to guy for a Messiah chorus! Choral rehearsals have been filled not only with Duff’s musicianship, but his wonderful stories of meeting people like Ben Heppner and the legendary Robert Shaw.
Culture builds community! A strong believer in this truism, Duff Warkentin has had a significant and varied career as a choral singer, conductor, clinician, and adjudicator. His first intensive experience as a choral singer came when he was a student at Rosthern Junior College. Here he also had the opportunity to conduct the choir in the absence of their regular conductor. His post-secondary studies include degrees from Canadian Mennonite Bible College in Winnipeg, University of Waterloo, and the University of Regina. He has served as Music Director at Rosthern Junior College, taught and conducted choirs for several years at the University of Saskatchewan, served as Choral Artist in Residence in the Battlefords and Rosthern, was the conductor of the Saskatoon Chamber Singers, conducted a number of church choirs, and is the founding conductor of the Station Singers of Rosthern. He is grateful for the opportunity to conduct Handel’s magnificent oratorio.
The SSO is thrilled to have Lisa Hornung return to our Messiah performances – always a crowd favourite, her performances of Messiah show a true dedication and commitment to Handel’s beautiful music.
Honoured as one of the University of Saskatchewan’s Arts and Science Alumni of Influence, Saskatchewan born mezzo-soprano, Lisa Hornung 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”. Most often heard in Handel’s Messiah, Ms. Hornung’s orchestral performances also include Beethoven’s Mass in C major, Mozart’s Requiem, Coronation Mass and Vesperae solennes de Confessore, Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, the Durufle Requiem, Ruth Watson-Henderson’s From Darkness to Light, Verdi’s Requiem, Bach’s Magnificat and Christmas Oratorio, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Vaughn William’s Magnificat, The May Queen by Bennett and the Alto Rhapsody by Brahms.
In addition to her oratorio and orchestral work Ms. Hornung enjoys an active recital career with recent performances including works by Brahms, Schumann, Marx, Debussy and Handel as well as Christmas, Spiritual and Folk repertoire. She has toured the United States and Europe as a soloist and ensemble member with the American Spiritual Ensemble, a group of professional singers dedicated to the preservation and performance of Negro Spirituals. Very excited about the talents of composer Paul Suchan, Lisa was delighted to record his full nuptial mass entitled May, and to have premiered the role of May Bartram in his opera The Beast in the Jungle.
After completing a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance at the University of Saskatchewan under the tutelage of Professor Dorothy Howard, Ms. Hornung went on to further her studies at the Institute of Vocal Arts in Chiari, Italy. This was followed by an intensive study time at the University of Illinois with Richard Best. More recently she completed a year of study with the support of the Saskatchewan Arts Board, enabling her to spend time travelling to work with Mr. Nico Castel, Dr. Everett McCorvey, Dr. Cliff Jackson, Dr. Bill Cooper, Professor Micheal McMahon, Professor Tedrin Lindsey and Mr. Richard Best.
In accordance with her belief that every child deserves the opportunity to sing, Lisa runs a non-audition community youth choir and often collaborates with elementary and high school musical endeavours. She also enjoys lending a hand when the local drama club, Battlefords Community Players, is in need of musical direction. Ms. Hornung has gained a deeper appreciation and love of choral arts through her continued work as vocal coach for the Cantilon and Belle Canto choral programs, directed by Heather Johnson.
Well known as a teacher, adjudicator, clinician and choral coach, Lisa lives in North Battleford, Saskatchewan with her husband John and their twins James and Larissa.
Hear Lisa live with our Messiah December 12th and 13th.
For our third debut of the season we’re thrilled to welcome a voice that audiences need to hear more of!
Baritone Matthew Pauls, praised for his poise and magnificent singing (Opera Canada), is in his fourth year of a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Vocal Performance at the University of Western Ontario. He made his operatic debut with Saskatoon Opera as Marullo in Verdi’s Rigoletto. Other stage credits include, Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, the Speaker and 2nd Armoured Man in Die Zauberflöte, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus, Don Inigo Gomez in L’Heure Espagnole, the Mysterious Man in Sondheim’s Into the Woods, Frank Maurant in Street Scene, and Masetto in Don Giovanni, which he performed with UWOpera and La Musica Lirica in Italy.
On the concert stage, Matthew has performed numerous works such as Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Handel’s Alexander’s Feast and Messiah, Haydn’s Creation, Mozart’s Requiem and Vesperae solennes de confessore, Fauré’s Requiem, Grieg’s Four Psalms, J. S. Bach’s cantata Gottes Zeit is die allerbeste Zeit (BWV 106), and Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem and Five Mystical Songs.
Matthew has been delighted to perform with ensembles such as the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional del Paraguay, Windsor Symphony, Canadian Chamber Choir, Pro Coro Canada, Winnipeg Singers, Guelph Chamber Choir, Windsor Classic Chorale, and the Windsor Symphony Chorus.
In addition to performing, Matthew also maintains a small voice studio in London, Ontario.
At 22, tenor Spencer McKnight has only been singing for a few years – but he’s really made use of those 5 years.
At age 17 he started singing when a friend of his at school wanted to do a musical theatre duet at festival – though his family wasn’t a musical one, he had spent a lot of time listening to recordings, so it seemed like a good idea to see how lessons would go. As time went on he began studying with mezzo soprano Lisa Hornung, and over time he left his Political Studies degree to pursue music.
In 2013 Spencer won the Saskatoon Kinsmen Competition, and took home top awards at the Provincial Music Festival Finals. In the summer of 2013 he traveled to Ontario to represent Saskatchewan at the National Music Finals – the only male singing in the competition, and one of the youngest, he took home the Jan Simmons Award for Art Song for a performance of a song cycle by Catalan composer Fredric Mompou.
Spencer is presently studying at the University of Toronto with vocal pedagogue Mark Daboll, and was recently featured as the soloist for the University of Toronto’s Men’s Chorus December concert. And in the last few years he’s had the opportunity to work with the who’s who of the voice world: Tracy Dahl, Judith Forst, Mary Lou Fallis, Laurence Ewashko, Robert MacLaren, Laura Loewen, Elizabeth McDonald, Elizabeth Turnbull, Monica Whitcher, and Bonnie Cutsforth Huber.
His voice is fresh and brassy and exciting – and it is a pleasure to present him as our second debut of the season.
Canadian-American soprano Chelsea Mahan is making an impression on the independent music scene with her transparency of character in unconventional performance spaces. These intimate performances include the roles of Monica in The Medium and Laurette in Bizet’s comedy Le Docteur Miracle with Stu and Jess Productions in Montreal. Having recently completed her Masters of Music at McGill University studying with renowned Canadian soprano Joanne Kolomyjec, Ms. Mahan is currently balancing engagements in and around Montreal and her home province of Saskatchewan.
As a prize-winning competitor, her achievements include first prize in the 65th Young Artist Series Western Concert tour in conjunction with the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers’ Association. Through the CFMTA, Ms. Mahan collaborated with pianist Kathleen Lohrenz Gable, in recital, to tour the cities of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Ms. Mahan also won first prize in the prestigious Gordon Wallis Opera Competition (2012), which included professional engagements with both the Saskatoon and Regina Symphony Orchestras. Most recently, Ms. Mahan was named a finalist in the Concorso Internazionale per Giovani Cantanti Lirici in Riva del Garda, Italy.
On the operatic stage, Ms. Mahan has traveled throughout Canada performing various roles such as Ida (Die Fledermaus) and Soeur Constance (Dialogues des Carmelites) with Opera NUOVA, and Helena in Halifax Summer Opera Workshop’s production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In Montreal, she was seen as Casilda in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers with the McGill Savoy Society and Erste Dame (Die Zauberflöte) and Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) with Opera McGill. Comfortable on stage, as well as in a studio setting, Ms. Mahan has just finished recording excerpts from Lucia di Lammermoore for an upcoming Canadian short film by David Uloth.
Singing the soprano soloist of Messiah with the Saskatoon and Regina Symphony Orchestras and covering it for the McGill Chamber Orchestra marked Ms. Mahan’s professional debut in 2013. She will return to her hometown of Saskatoon this December for another Messiah.
Ms. Mahan has recently been appointed a Laureate of Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques (2014) and over the next year will be traveling to Europe for various competitions with their generous support.
Music lovers look forward to the holiday season in a unique way – maybe it’s the anticipation of hearing their favourite Christmas carol, or the joy that comes with the crop of new Christmas albums out there.
This year we wanted to do something really meaningful for our Christmas performances – so we asked ourselves how Saskatoon’s orchestra can best celebrate the holidays – and the answer was clear. Build community.
Orchestras, including ours, have always played an important role in a city’s holiday traditions. And there’s no better time in the season to remember that making music is about coming together. It’s more than just tradition. In fact it’s more than just music, it’s become a part of what makes a city’s cultural identity.
So over the course of the next two weeks Maestro Sawa and Saskatoon’s finest musicians build some community right there on stage. The Lastiwka Orthodox Choir has never performed with the SSO, and the renowned Pavlychenko Folklorique Ensemble will join the orchestra for the first time as well. It’s hard to believe that the orchestra hasn’t performed with these groups as each are ambassadors of the city’s culture. Not to mention that the exploration of Saskatchewan’s rich Ukrainian traditions is the perfect way for us to explore how a symphony orchestra can be relevant in a modern context.
It is crucial to the future of a music community that the music performed have a clear reason for being programmed – gone are the days when people go to concerts just because the concert is on. There are so many incredible events going on each and every day in Saskatoon, so it’s even more important for the orchestra to give the audience experiences that meet their musical needs.
So with that goal, how then do you make Handel’s Messiah more relevant to a modern audience? How can we make a 300 year old piece of music resonate deeper for us?
Earlier this fall we began auditions for our first symphonic chorus – the result has been quite exciting. A choir that brings together passionate singers of all ages, backgrounds, and from all across the province – performers who are exploring the notes of Herr Handel and the texts of Carl Jennens in a new way. They are a totally new group. They’ve never worked together before, in fact until the first rehearsal many of them had never met. And rehearsals are intense, so there’s not a lot of time to mingle. But they’ve bonded.
There is countless studies that show that people who make music together, especially choirs, create a unique unspoken connection – they quite literally build community.
It’s no longer enough to just make music – your smart phone can do that now. Being an orchestra in the prairies is about going back to what made the prairies great. People coming together in the face of adversity, usually in winter, and building a community.
Your December is completely packed with events and parties and way too many things on the to-do list – but you need to make time to come to these concerts. Do it to relax. Do it to have a personal check-in during a crazy time of year. Do it to get inspired for the holidays. Do it to build your community.
