Directories

Mervon Mehta is the executive director of performing arts at the Royal Conservatory. The RCM’s Koerner Hall is entering its fifth season of programming and has announced an 81-concert season encompassing piano, vocal and string recitals, chamber and orchestral concerts, jazz, pop, world music and even a little dance. 

1. What are we interrupting (i.e. what music-related activity are we taking you away from to write this)?

Budget meetings…there is no music this week!

2. What, if anything, are you most looking forward to as an audience member between now and September 7?

Bettye Lavette and Mavis Staples at TD Jazz.

3. How about as a music maker/player?

Deep, uninterrupted listening sessions.

4. What are you already preparing for musically beyond the summer? And (how) do your summer plans tie in with these longer term plans?

I am always exploring new artists, new composition, new genres. Lots of that will be done in the car during road trips. 

Twitter: @mervon

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Felix plays cello, gamba, and hopefully soon, timpani in and around the early music scene. He is also an itinerant music instructor in the TDSB and teaches the joy of cello and bass performance to young kids in grades 5 to 12.

1. What are we interrupting (i.e. what music-related activity are we taking you away from to write this)? 

You are interrupting an hour of prepping for my upcoming rehearsal week with Les Voix Humaines (Friday, June 7). I'll be there all next week rehearsing with the gamba ladies (Susie Napper, Margaret Little and Mélisande Corriveau) for three different programs to perform this month and beyond. I play the tenor viol in that consort. I love ending a piece on the third.

2. What, if anything, are you most looking forward to as an audience member between now and September 7? 

I have nothing planned thus far except for the Macklemore show at Echo Beach in August.

3. How about as a music maker/player?

First, on June 23, I'm set to play a program of Lupo and (Dowland's) Lachrimae in the Montreal Early Music Festival, organized by the amazing Susie Napper. The festival runs from June 21 to 23 and is held in various unusual (and some usual) venues in and around the Old Montreal neighbourhood. Then on June 28, I return to Quebec and present our Summertime program with Les Voix Humaines alongside Suzie Leblanc in Trois-Rivières.

Later in mid-July, from the 15th to the 26th, I will be teaching at one of my favourite TDSB (Toronto District School Board) assignments! Downtown Summer Strings is a long running two-week summer camp for kids in the TDSB held at (the air-conditioned) Lord Lansdowne school at College and Spadina. Very fun camp Monday to Friday from 8:30am to 12 noon at a nominal cost. 

August 15, I'm back in Montreal rehearsing and performing a program called “Beatles Baroque” with Mélisande Corriveau at the helm. We have our concert at the Orford Festival.

4. What are you already preparing for musically beyond the summer? And (how) do your summer plans tie in with these longer term plans?

I FURIOSI begins the season on October 12 at our new home venue...Windermere United in Bloor West village. Theme and guest to be confirmed. The remaining three concert dates are January 11, March 21 and May17, 2014. More details to come!

Probably the most exciting project I have been coming up with musically would be my November tour in Poland with Les Voix Humaines!!! We have a few concerts of a few programs in Poznan, among other cities. After the performances in the first two weeks, we (Les Voix Humaines) will present the Summertime program here in Toronto, venue TBD, on November 21. November 23 finds us in the Sault (Saint Marie), November 24 in Brantford, November 28 in Rimouski and finally December 1 in Hudson, QC.

Then rounding up the calendar year with another fantastic week of Tafelmusik's Messiah!!!! I hope to be asked to join the timpani section for the Hallelujah chorus encore this year. Fingers crossed....ahem Lvars! :)

Jamie Thompson is a member of the flute faculty of the Royal Conservatory, and is a founding member of The Junction Trio. Combining classical music with urban exploration, Jamie celebrates space with sound on his blog, Urban Flute Project.

1. What are we interrupting (i.e. what music-related activity are we taking you away from to write this)?

Just this week (Friday, May 31), along with members of The Junction Trio, we wrapped up our fourth season of Post-Industrial concerts at the fabulous St. Anne's Church in Toronto's west end. We had a huge turnout for our “Rave with Ravel” concert, an all-French program that culminated in Ravel's exquisite Introduction and Allegro, a septet for harp, flute, clarinet and string quartet. These St. Anne's concerts are causing quite a stir, as the trio has moved in a decidedly collaborative, multi-disciplinary direction, featuring as many as 15 performers including liquid light projectionists and movement artists from Toronto's Plastique Animée Ensemble. It's been a full season, with nine different programs presented both at St. Anne's and the Arts & Letters Club, so I'm ready for a break!

2. What, if anything, are you most looking forward to as an audience member between now and September 7? 

Well, I'm about to head off for a full-on week of teaching at the TDSB's Music by the Lake camp, and, having taught there for a couple of years now, I'm really looking forward to some amazing performances by students and faculty alike in that wonderful, rustic setting. MBTL makes for a wonderful gateway to summer, I find!

3. How about as a music maker/player?

I have a few ideas simmering along, both solo as well as with The Junction Trio. Immediately upon my return from music camp, I will be collaborating in a vocal performance at Toronto's Heliconian Hall with the Cabbagetown Classical Youth Choir, and with my trio, we will be re-mounting a recent program, “Exploring the Acoustic World of The Group of Seven,” as part of ASK, an annual arts festival up in King City. In addition, I will be attending the first ever Canadian Flute Convention as both a presenter and performer. Having had the wonderful opportunity to teach in Switzerland this past year, I'm hoping that some of my stealth recording might include a visit to Europe's largest underground lake, a couple hours from Geneva.

4. What are you already preparing for musically beyond the summer? And (how) do your summer plans tie in with these longer term plans?

The RCM makes a great home base, and I find that in the summer there's a different rhythm to lessons and everything is just a little more laid back. For the fall, there's season five to map out for our Post-Industrial series. And I'm excited to be re-launching my Urban Flute Project site in the coming weeks, so I'm really looking forward to posting a wealth of stories about the musical adventures I've been having as an urban explorer here in Toronto and abroad!

WEBSITE

urbanfluteproject.com

Soprano Mireille Asselin, a recent graduate of the Canadian Opera Company's Ensemble Studio Program, has been deemed “Superb” by the Los Angeles Times and praised by Opera Canada for her “vivacious stage presence.”

1. What are we interrupting (i.e. what music-related activity are we taking you away from to write this)?

Currently (Tuesday, May 28) I'm in the midst of packing for what will essentially be ten months on the road – yes, this is as daunting as it sounds! And in between suitcases I'm fitting in as much score study for my summer projects as possible, which includes Charpentier's La descente d'Orphée aux enfers and Verdi's Falstaff.

2. What, if anything, are you most looking forward to as an audience member between now and September 7?

I am most looking forward to my all-access pass to the Boston Early Music Festival, which runs from June 9 to 16. In between rehearsals for our own production, I'll be able to experience concerts given by the world's leading baroque musicians and also take in an amazing variety of programs curated by the BEMF Fringe festival, featuring a lot of young artists and new exciting groups. I can't wait to catch some sort of harpsichord recital at midnight in a downtown Boston church!

3. How about as a music maker/player?

I will be an artist at the Wolf Trap Opera Company this summer after my time in Boston, and my first project there will be to sing in a recital with the legendary pianist Steven Blier – he's come up with a fascinating program called “Wonders to Wander To,” and I can't wait to collaborate on some interesting repertoire (and in some languages I've never worked in before!) with this man who has been an idol of mine for quite some time. If ever you're in NYC, you should try to catch a performance in his series “New York Festival of Song.” You'll never think of recitals the same way again.

4. What are you already preparing for musically beyond the summer? And (how) do your summer plans tie in with these longer term plans?

One always has to be two steps ahead of upcoming work, preparing for the next gig when you're in the midst of the current one. This summer for me is no different! I'm presently plotting my repertoire choices for the Wigmore International Song Competition, which will be in August and September 2013 in London. I'm also tackling a difficult score that I'll have the chance to record this fall (more details to be released about that soon!) and I'm starting to take a look at the new English libretto that I need to prepare for my first ever contract at the Metropolitan Opera, where I'll be covering Adele in Die Fledermaus next season. Lots of balls in the air right now – but luckily I'll be in places equipped with incredible staff and facilities to help me with all of this over the coming months.

WEBSITE

mireilleasselin.com

TWITTER

@MireilleSoprano

FACEBOOK

Mireille Asselin, Soprano