Denise Simpson is currently working towards a Masters of Music in euphonium performance at the University of Toronto and has received a BMus and BEd in music education. During her undergraduate degree, Denise studied with euphonium player Robert Miller, and played in masterclasses for euphonium players Steven Mead and David Childs. Recently, Denise studied and performed in Rome, Italy, and taught at various music camps including the Durham Integrated Arts Camp and National Music Camp of Canada. Denise has played euphonium with the University of Toronto Wind Ensemble, Festival Winds Orchestra, Orchestra Toronto, Hannaford Youth Band, Weston Silver Band, and is currently playing baritone in the Hannaford Street Silver Band and euphonium in the newly formed Euba Tuba-Euphonium Quartet. Denise is presently residing in Toronto teaching euphonium, and working with Anita McAlister in the Hannaford Youth Program.
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Lyric soprano Jennifer Taverner, noted as possessing a voice of “rare natural beauty and freshness”, is recognized for her instinctive musicality and excellent stage presence. Recent and upcoming engagements include Rose in Weill’s Street Scene for VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert, Messiah with the Grand Philharmonic Choir, the contemporary opera Airline Icarus (Brian Current) with Soundstreams, a Gilbert & Sullivan Evening for the Niagara Symphony, Bach’s Mass in B minor with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Fauré Requiem and Messiah with the Bach Elgar Choir, and an appearance with the Off Centre Salon. Past highlights include the role of Fiordiligi in a touring production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte with Jeunesses Musicales du Canada, as well as performances with the Ontario Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bach Elgar Choir, the Toronto Classical Singers, and the Larkin Singers. An accomplished concert soloist, Ms. Taverner won the 2010 Royal Conservatory Orchestra’s Concerto Competition, singing Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, and performed the same work with the Royal Conservatory Orchestra in Koerner Hall, under the baton of Johannes Debus of the Canadian Opera Company. In 2012 she was a semi-finalist in both the Montreal International Music Competition, and the New York Oratorio Society Lyndon Woodside Solo Competition. Past concert engagements have included Handel’s Messiah with The Elmer Iseler Singers; Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem with The Larkin Singers and The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir; and Elliot Carter’s A Mirror on Which to Dwell with the Royal Conservatory New Music Ensemble. Further operatic credits include Female Chorus in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia (Opera on the Avalon), Noémie in Massenet’s Cendrillon (Glenn Gould School), Angel/Witch in the world premiere of R. Murray Schafer’s The Children’s Crusade (Soundstreams/Luminato), and Laurette in Bizet’s Le Docteur Miracle (Glenn Gould School). Ms. Taverner has held two consecutive vocal fellowships at the prestigious Tanglewood Music Center. Performances there included Gyorgy Kurtag’s Scenes from a Novel for soprano and chamber ensemble, excerpts from Gluck’s Iphigenie en Tauride with mezzo-soprano Susan Graham and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Stravinsky’s Les Noces led by Maestro Charles Dutoit. Other summer studies include the Art of Song program at the Toronto Summer Music Festival, where she worked with Elly Ameling and Julius Drake, and the Highlands Opera Studio where she performed the roles of Ellen Orford, Governess, and Helena in scenes from Benjamin Britten’s operas, directed by tenor Richard Margison. Ms. Taverner is a grant recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts, and has been named a laureate of Les Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques. She earned her Bachelor of Music at Wilfrid Laurier University, and completed the Artist Diploma program at the Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School.
I live in the Toronto west end with my ladies, wife Rohina and daughter Dahlia.
Amy completed an Arts degree at Wilfrid Laurier University majoring in Psychology with a minor in Religion and Culture. While at Laurier she began showcasing as a singer-songwriter at local open mics, and now works professionally as a folk-pop musician. She has played at festivals such as SummerFolk (Owen Sound), NXNE (Toronto), Canadian Music Week (Toronto), and the Beaches Jazz Festival (Toronto), and has also toured across Canada as both a solo artist, as well as the front woman to the band “The Humble Divines”. In 2014 she was mentored by Amanda Walther of folk duo “Dala” and has played alongside musicians such as Fred Penner, Laura Smith, and Nathan Rogers. Amy released her first studio album “Call Me the Wind” in 2013, which was produced by Dalton Tennant (Drake), and now lives in Calgary, Alberta.
As well as being a founding member of I FURIOSI Baroque Ensemble, baroque cellist and viola da gambist Felix Deak showcases his career as a freelance musician with orchestras and chamber ensembles, including Toronto’s Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Les Voix Humaines and Opera Atelier.
