Soprano Allison Cecilia Arends is a graduate of Calgary Opera's Emerging Artist Program, and received her Masters of Music at the University of Toronto Opera School and her Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance at the University of Victoria. Her various teachers and mentors have included W. Stephen Smith, Mary Morrison, Timothy Noble, Wendy Nielsen, Selena James, Alexandra Browning, Diana Woolrich, and Norma Bertsch.
Allison has taught private voice and theory for almost 20 years and takes a great deal of joy in imparting her musical knowledge to students from various musical backgrounds of all age groups. Her students have been accepted into many prestigious programs, including the Royal Northern College of Music, the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, the University of Western Ontario, Wilfred Laurier University, York University, the Randolph Academy for the Arts, the Etobicoke School for the Arts, Cardinal Carter School for the Arts, Claude Watson Secondary Arts Program, Acting Upstage, the Stratford summer training program, Cowtown Opera Summer Academy, Long Reach Opera Workshop, Ontario's Provincial Choir, the Canadian Children's Opera Chorus, Shoestring Opera, and the Toronto Children's Bach Choir. Professionally, her students have been engaged by the Stratford Festival, Netflix, the Thursford touring ensemble in the U.K, and various orchestras, opera and musical theatre companies, and touring ensembles. She also enjoys working with artists from various singing traditions and has worked with sing/songwriters to hone their craft, as well as a member of the well-known Canadian folk/rock band, The Strumbellas. She has conducted public masterclasses, educational workshops, and vocal/choral clinics for the music department at the University of Mississippi, Opera Atelier, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, the Royal Canadian College of Organists, the Saskatchewan Music Festival, the British Columbia Provincial Music Festival, Ryerson Oakham House Choir, the Grand Prairie Registered Music Teachers' Association, the voice studio of Diana Woolrich in Regina, the Regina Conservatory of Music, and the Edna Manley Music College in Kingston, Jamaica. She has adjudicated on various occasions for the Saskatchewan Music Festival Association, as well as the British Columbia Provincial Music Festival, the National Association of Teachers of Singing's Ontario auditions, Yip Music Festival, and festivals throughout Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Ontario, and British Columbia. She is a member of the Ontario Registered Music Teachers' Association, the Canadian Music Festival Adjudicators' Association, and holds the position of Urban Teacher Liaison for the Ontario Chapter of National Association of Teachers of Singing. Allison was formerly a member of the voice faculty at St. Michael's Choir School and Timothy Eaton Memorial's choir school. A Royal Conservatory of Music Certified Teacher, Allison is also a member of the College of Examiners.
Active as a performer, she has been engaged by the Southern Ontario Lyric Opera, Opera York, Tapestry New Opera, Soundstreams, the Aldeburgh Connection, Toronto Summer Music, Winnipeg's Women's Musical Club, Saskatoon Opera, the Arts and Letters Club, Chorus Niagara, Pax Christi Chorale, Toronto Concert Orchestra, Toronto Philharmonia, Toronto Classical Singers, Calgary Civic Symphony, Regina Symphony Orchestra, Tallis Choir, Regina Musical Club, and Regina Philharmonic Chorus, among others, for solo opera and concert appearances. Internationally, Allison has toured with the Brahms Symphonie Orchester throughout Germany and China, and has sung with the Bachakademie (Germany), the Aldeburgh Festival (England), the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy, the International Vocal Arts Institute (Israel), and the Franz Schubert-Institut (Austria).
Ms. Baron began her stage career performing with the Canadian Opera Company following her training at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and the University of Toronto's Opera Department. After transitioning to Music Theatre, she went on to star in both musicals and plays in theatres across Canada, the United States, London's West End and on Broadway.
Ms. Baron has played leading roles in both musicals and plays. Her dramatic roles include Honey in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Grand Theatre, London), Celia in As You Like It (Stratford Festival), and Janet in the original production of Waiting For the Parade (Alberta Theatre Projects).
Some of her favourite musical roles include Sarah in Guys and Dolls (Stratford Festival), Amalia in She Loves Me (Grand Theatre, London), Lady Audley in Lady Audley's Secret (Shaw Festival) and Jenny in Company (CanStage, Toronto).
The successful meeting of Ms. Baron and Gilbert and Sullivan began at the Stratford Festival with leading roles in The Mikado, The Gondoliers and Iolanthe. These productions were filmed and televised on C.B.C. and HBO.
She reprised her role as Yum-Yum in The Mikado on tour in Canada, the United States, the Old Vic in London, England and on Broadway.
As an educator, Ms. Baron was the Head of the Vocal Discipline for the Music Theatre Performance Program at Sheridan College for 15 years.
Currently, she adjudicates Music Theatre in Festivals across Canada, conducts Music Theatre Performance Workshops and Master Classes and works with theatre artists in her Toronto studio.
Rudin Lengo's piano playing has been described as "profound, imaginative and exceptionally communicative". As a soloist, he has performed Liszt's Piano Concerto No.2 with the Georgian Bay Symphony conducted by François Koh and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No.3 with the Kindred Spirits Orchestra and maestro Kristian Alexander. Other engagements include performances with the University of Toronto Symphony and Choir, Hart House Orchestra, West Coast Symphony, Deep River Symphony, Toruń Symphony, Greater Toronto Philharmonic, Royal Conservatory Orchestra and Orchestra London.
Mr. Lengo has traveled and performed across Canada and the United States, and has also appeared in concert halls in Poland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Albania, North
Macedonia and the Netherlands.
He has been the recipient of over 50 awards and scholarships for his musical and academic accomplishments. After completing a Bachelor's Degree in Piano Performance at Western University on a National Scholarship, Mr. Lengo received his Master's Degree from the Manhattan School of Music on a President's Award and completed an Artist Diploma at the Glenn Gould School on a prestigious Ihnatowycz Emerging Artist Scholarship.
Winner of the DMA Competition at the University of Toronto, the Glenn Gould School Concerto Competition, the 5th Knigge Music Competition and the TD Elora Competition, he was also the 2nd prize winner at the 40th William C. Byrd International Competition and winner of the Mary Winston Smail Memorial Award for Best Pianist at the WAMSO Minnesota Competition.
A recipient of a Performance Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Simmonds
Graduate Fellowship, and the John and Barbara Vivash Scholarship in Piano Performance, Mr. Lengo studied with Enrico Elisi and Jamie Parker at the University of Toronto.
He maintains a piano teaching studio in Toronto and is also a senior examiner with the Royal Conservatory. Rudin Lengo is an active adjudicator in provincial as well as national and international festivals and competitions.
M.A. in Piano Pedagogy, University of Ottawa, Ontario
B.G.S./B.Ed. (early years music), Brandon University, Manitoba
ARCT (Piano Pedagogy/Performance), Royal Conservatory of Music
Kimberley Sundell has been instructing students of all levels for 30 years in piano, rudiments, history, harmony and pedagogy. Her students consistently win awards at festivals, successfully complete scholarship and university entrance auditions and have been invited to perform at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in NYC.
As a teen, Kimberley started studies with Dr. Joan Miller, and continued with her into university. She completed her ARCT diplomas with Caron Whitlaw-Hiebert. During this time, she participated in master classes for Dr. Judy Kehler-Siebert, Dr. Laura Loewen, Michael Oike, Eric Lussier, and Harold Lugsdin.
Kimberley completed a M.A. in Piano Pedagogy through the Piano Pedagogy Research Laboratory at the University of Ottawa. She has presented her thesis research at conferences for CFMTA, MTNA and NCKP.
She has conducted masterclasses for the Canadian Music Showcase, 10 000 Hours and Steinway Gallery in Ottawa and served as a judge for the Crescendo International Music Competition.
Kimberley is a member of the Royal Conservatory of Music College of Examiners as a piano examiner and presiding examiner for trainees. She is also on the Board of Directors of the Honens International Piano Competition as co chair of the Education and Community Outreach portfolios.
Stella Claire ter Hart was born in Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada, on January 31, 1960. She is directly descended from the composer/violinist, Tomaso Vitali. At age 17, she was the first winner of the University of Regina Concerto Competition. Her teachers include Bill Moore, Lyell Gustin, Robin Harrison, Marilyn Engle, and Jane Schudel. Her composition and theory degrees were overseen by Dr. Anthony Dawson and John Beckwith at the Toronto Conservatory of Music. At present, she is the only individual in Canada to have received all four degrees from the Toronto Conservatory of Music: Teachers, Performers,
Composition, and Theory.
Ms. ter Hart has taught music in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Ontario, and New Brunswick. She is a much sought after music festival adjudicator, having adjudicated festivals in Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. As a composer, Ms. ter Hart has works published in the United States and Canada and her awardwinning
compositions have been performed in countries around the world. She is a member of the International Association of Women Composers (IAWM), the Association of Canadian Women Composers, (ACWC), is a member of the board of the ACNMP (Alliance of Canadian New Music Projects), the Canadian Choral Society, the Canadian Music Centre (CMC) and SOCAN.
Visit her website at: www.stellaterhart.com