Season finale of Algoma Conservatory Concerts

NEWS RELEASE

ALGOMA CONSERVATORY

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Algoma Conservatory Concerts presents Classical Spectacular on Sunday, April 3, 7:30 p.m. at Kiwanis Community Theatre Centre.

This is the season finale of Algoma Conservatory Concerts and the re-subscription concert for the 2016/2017 season. 

It will feature four spectacular young artists, all former students at the Algoma Conservatory of Music and all former winners of the Sault Ste. Marie Music Festival’s Shield Competition.  

Tickets are available at the door or at the Station Mall Box Office, adults: $45; students: $15. 

There are complimentary tickets available at the door for anyone subscribing to the 2016/2017 season.

Following are resumes of the four artists:

Leah Dominy 

Leah studied with Glenn Flood and later with Dale Innes at the Algoma Conservatory.  She also received instruction with William Aide in preparation for her Associate exam at the Royal Conservatory of Music where she received first class honours.

Prior to completing her Master's of Music degree in Piano Performance at the New England Conservatory with Alexander Korsantia she was a student at the world renowned Toradze Piano Studio at Indiana University South Bend, studying with Alexander Toradze and assistant Ketevan Badridze where she completed a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance.

Leah has been successful in many competitions, placing 2nd at the 2011 Jefferson Symphony International Young Artists’ Competition (Colorado), 1st in the Undergraduate Piano category at the 2011 Indianapolis Matinee Musicale Collegiate Scholarship Competition, 1st at the Ontario Music Festival Association Provincial Finals, 1st in the Sault Symphony Young Artists’ Competition, 1st in the Kiwanis Shield Competition, and was prizewinner at both the Canadian Music Competition National Finals and at the Lennox International Young Artists’ Competition.
 
Performances include a performance of the “Emerson” movement of Charles Ives’ Concord Sonata in Boston’s Jordan Hall; as well as appearances with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra, the IUSB Philharmonic, the Sault Symphony Orchestra, the Park Ridge Civic Orchestra, and the Algoma Chamber Orchestra.

Leah was also a regular performer with the Toradze Studio from 2009-2013 and has attended and performed at the Orford Summer Music Academy, the International Keyboard Institute and Festival, the Gijon International Piano Festival, the International Holland Music Sessions, and the Banff Centre Piano Master Class.

Victoria Kathryn Jones

Victoria began instruction with Anya Mallinger at the Algoma Conservatory and also received coaching from Guy Traficante and Vanessa Mio. 

Victoria is currently on full scholarship at the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy which is part of the Royal Conservatory of Music  in Toronto where she studies with the renowned violinist Mayumi Seiler. 

In addition she attended the Interlochen School for the Arts, the Young Artists Program at the National Arts Center in Ottawa under the direction of Pinchas Zuckerman, the Morningside MusicBridge at the University of Calgary, the Ottawa Chamber Music Program with Elaine Klimasko and Jessica Lindback of the National Arts Center Orchestra and the Verbier Music Festival in Switzerland.  

She has won prizes at the Ontario Provincial Music Festival and was a 1st place winner at the National Canadian Music Competition in 2013 and 2014. 

Performances include the Mendelssohn and Bruch concerti with the Sault Symphony Orchestra, the Franck Sonata with Genie Chung at the Rising Stars Concert of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto; multiple showcase concerts and master classes at the Glenn Gould School; chamber music performances at The Young Artist Program in Ottawa; concertmaster for Danzon No. 2  by Arturo Marquez at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland and the Bach Double Concerto with Mayumi Seiler on City T.V. Toronto

Reilly Nelson, mezzo-soprano

Reilly was a student of Agnes McCarthy at the Algoma Conservatory. She is currently living in Cincinnati, Ohio pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at the University of Cincinnati's prestigious College-Conservatory of Music.

Along with working toward the completion of her Doctorate, Reilly has received her Masters of Music from the University of Cincinnati and Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music.

She is one of only a handful of young artists in North America to have been accepted as a Vocal Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival. 

At Tanglewood, she had the special opportunity to study with famous operatic performers such as Dawn Upshaw, Stephanie Blythe, Ann Sophie von Otter, and Phyllis Curtin. Reilly was also a featured soloist, performing with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra Cello Quartet.

Her operatic credits include the main stage role of Hansel in Englebert Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel," at the University of Cincinnati and the role of Cherubino in Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro" with the Janiec Opera Company in Brevard, NC.

This past year Reilly was a winner of the University of Cincinnati's Concerto Competition earning her a performance of Mahler's "Rückert Lieder" with the CCM Philharmonia. She also competed in New York as a semi-finalist in the Kurt Weill Foundation's Lotte Lenya Competition.

Laura Widgett - soprano

Laura was also a student of Agnes McCarthy at the Algoma Conservatory. She is quickly establishing herself as a rising young artist in the world of opera.

With a Bachelors degree in Voice Performance from the University of Toronto and a Masters Degree in Opera from the University of British Columbia, she has been taking to stages across Europe and North America performing title roles and singing in some of the worlds most established competitions.

“Watch out for this girl, she's going to be a star” - Ric Cluff CBC Morning Edition

Most recently, Widgett was the 2015 winner of the Western Canadian Region Metropolitan Opera Competition that was held in Vancouver, BC and went on to perform and represent Canada in Seattle, Washington.

She was the first recipient of the Guttman-Dales scholarship endowed by Vancouver Opera, Manitoba Opera, Edmonton Opera, and Calgary Opera and this spring received a “Rising Young Artist” award from Vancouver Opera. Most recent roles and concerts include: “Violetta” in Verdi's La Traviata (2015) "Countessa Almaviva" in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro (2015) "Marenka" in Smetena's The Bartered Bride (2014). 

Widgett also had the pleasure of performing "Musetta" in excerpts from Puccini's La Boheme and "Marguerite" in Gounod's Faustwith the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra at the Orpheum Theatre.

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