Durham's Random Notes

BIOGRAPHY FOR YOUNG SINGERS’ Random Notes
March 2011

The Young Singers is a dynamic community children's choral program founded and directed by Anna Lynn Murphy, and accompanied by Lois Craig. This program provides young people the opportunity to combine the discipline of learning with the joy of singing, and the art of performing. Over the past nineteen years, the organization has flourished as it has empowered hundreds of children throughout the Durham Region, by fostering their creativity through music and leadership.

The Young Singers’ program includes three treble choirs for ages six to fifteen, and a youth mixed choir for teenagers called RANDOM NOTES. These talented singers have performed at the Ontario Vocal Festival, and were awarded gold medal status at the National Musicfest. Their appearances include Hamilton Place with the North Metro Chorus and the General Motors Centre in Oshawa as the opening act for the Beatles Tribute Show. They have also enjoyed collaborating with their colleague Robert Pilon of “Phantom of the Opera” fame, appearing as guest artists with him throughout the GTA. They have released their third CD “Stand Together, Sing Forever”.

In addition to local concerts, festival appearances as well as corporate and charitable events, these award winning singers have become known as the choral ambassadors for the Durham Region. Young Singers have traveled to England, the Maritimes, British Columbia, and throughout Ontario. In 2009, Young Singers took the stage of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville at the Crossroads Children’s Choir Festival. They have sung the national anthems for the Toronto Blue Jays & Toronto Argonauts and were featured performers at the Millennium Celebrations on Parliament Hill.

The Young Singers have taken the stage of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" with Donny Osmond, and appeared in the outdoor production of Murray Schafer's highly acclaimed "Enchanted Forest".

Representing a current membership of over 100 Young Singers, the RANDOM NOTES are delighted to share their joy of music in celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Oshawa Whitby Kiwanis Music Festival.

For further information please visit our website www.youngsingers.ca or call 905:686-9821.

VIP cocktail HORS D'OEUVRES menu

I have peeked... here is the menu.

Mini Bite Sized Cheese balls- seasoned cheddar and cream cheese rolled
in assorted spices and seeds

Crab Rangoon- seasoned crab and cream cheese mixed together and deep fried in wonton wraps. Served with sweet and sour sauce

Tuna Tartare with Lemon and Tarragon. -Served on multi grain flat bread- fresh finely diced tuna with diced cucumber, onion and chive. Seasoned
with fresh lemon juice and tarragon

Smoked salmon and dill Tartlets- smoked salmon, dill and cream cheese filled tarts
Sausage and Tomato Turnovers- Italian sausage, veggie and tomato stuffed puff pastry

Smoked Muscovy Duck Imperial Rolls- thinly sliced smoked duck,Julianne red onion, red pepper, carrot, mango and basil rolled in rice paper. Served with ho sin sauce for dipping

Basil Scented Savory Cookies- a purée of basil and garlic lightly spread on puff pastry rolled and baked

Tuxedo Strawberries- fresh whole strawberries dipped in white and dark chocolate

Assorted Petits Fours- Bite Size Desserts

WIN 2 CONCERT TICKETS

Be the first person to call 905 242 4853
and you WIN 2 FREE CONCERT TICKETS.

This expires at 10:30 pm March 15th.

Good luck!

Ticket Sales

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Tickets are out there and available for purchase.
Contact me..Melanie at 905 242 4853 or email fundraisingconcerts@gmail.com
Tickets are also available at Wilson n Lee's Music Store in downtown Oshawa.

VIP - Cocktail and Concert $50 per person or $85 per couple
CONCERT ONLY - $30

Special Group rates are also available.

Sandra Tucker - Soprano

Possessing a voice that has been described as “meltingly lyrical”, Sandra Tucker received a Bachelor of Music and a Diploma in Opera from Wilfrid Laurier University under the direction of Victor Martens. She then went on to study with acclaimed soprano, Edith Wiens, at the Hochschule für Musik in Augsburg,Germany, for which she was the recipient of a generous Canada Council for the Arts Grant for Emerging Professional Artists and the York Celebration of the Arts Professional Artist Bursary. While in Germany she received an Artists Diploma and a Post Graduate Certifi cate and had the opportunity to work with such greats as Brigitte Fassbaender, Rudolph Jansen,Rudolph Piernay, Sara Walker, Sena Jurinac, James Wagner, Margaret Baker-Genovesi, and Ian Burnside..

Her opera credits include Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Carolina in Il Matrimonio Segreto, Manon in Manon Lescaut, both the Countess and Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Anna Maurrant in Street Scene, Laetitia in The Old Maid and the Thief, as well as major roles in Die Zauberflöte, Hansel and Gretel.

Her concert credits include appearances with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Orchestra London, the Barrie-Huronia Symphony, The Penderecki String Quartet, the Augsburg Orchestra, Dvorak‘s TeDeum and Rutter‘s Mass of the Children with the Cellar Singers, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with Guelph Chamber Choir, Elijah with both the Menno Singers and the London Philharmonic Choir, Messiah at the Basilika in Ulm, Germany as well as with the Mennonite Mass Choir and as a soloist in the European Musik Festival at the Bach-Akademie in Stuttgart where she sang Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis under the baton of Sir Helmuth Rilling.

She has sung at the home of Glazunov for the heads of the Russian Embassy in Munich and has been invited to represent Canada at the International Festival of the Conservatories in St. Petersburg.

Her upcoming engagements include the role of Pamina in Mozart’s Magic Flute with Opera Kitchener, Richard Strauss‘s Vier Letzte Lieder with the Wellington Winds, and Rutter‘s Mass of the Children with the Grand River Chorus. Sandra is also a 2007 Laureate of “Les Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques.

Ms.Tucker is represented by Gossage Artists Management, and can be reached through nancy@gossageartists.com

Baritone Andrew Tees

An Alumnus of the Canadian Opera Company's Ensemble studio, Andrew Tees'
"beautiful ringing baritone and "formidable stage presence" have made him one of
Canada’s busiest baritones. This season marks Andrew's return the Canadian
Opera Company’s stage to reprise his role as the Marquis D'Aubigny in La
Traviata, as well as the Mill Hand in Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtstensk.
A favorite with Opera York, he sings the title role in their production of Le Nozze
di Figaro. He was asked back by Maritime Concert Opera to sing Germont in La Traviata. His oratorio demandsinclude a debut with Toronto Mendelssohn Choir in Arvo Pärt's Passio. He sings Mozart's Requiem for both theOakville Symphony and the Northumberland Symphony. He is back for the second year with Guelph Symphony
for Handel's Messiah, which he will also perform in his return to the Oshawa Symphony. In the spring Andrew sings Vaughn Williams Five Mystical Songs and Brahms’ Deutsche Requiem for the Toronto Choral Society. Herevisits the Toronto Philharmonia for an evening of Gilbert and Sullivan.

Last season, the handsome baritone won rave reviews for both Peter in Humperdink's Hansel and Gretel as well as the title role in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi for Opera York. As Marcello for Maritime Concert Opera's
La Boheme he proved a natural for the role. He emerged as an ideal interpreter of Mendelssohn with his moving interpretations of St. Paul for Toronto's Pax Christi Chorale as well as a robust Elijah for Northumberland
Symphony. For the Valley Festival Singers he was heard in Haydn's Missa in Tempore Belli. While for Hamilton's Bach Elgar Choir he sang Maurice Duruflé's Requiem. He wowed crowds for the Oakville Symphony and the Toronto Symphonietta in their respective Pops series. He sang recitals for London's Serenata Series as
well as Nova Scotia's prestigious Three Churches Series.

In 04-05 Andrew’s highlights included a critically acclaimed return to the role of Escamillo in Carmen
for Opera York. His Marcello, also for Opera York’s La Boheme had the critics raving about his “rich ringing
baritone”. He brought down the house as Figaro in Maritime Concert Opera’s Barber of Seville. He debuted with Hamilton’s Theatre Aquarius in a production of Rodgers and Hammerstein with Hart. Andrew returned to the Windsor Symphony to sing an evening of Broadway standards. His oratorio engagements included Brahms’ Ein
Deutsche Requiem with the Oakville Symphony, Vaughn Williams’ haunting Fantasia on Christmas Carols with the Northumberland Symphony.

Since leaving the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio Andrew has performed across Canada, Europe and the United States. He has garnered strong reviews for his rich robust baritone in roles such as
Mozart’s Figaro, for both Opera Ontario and Pacific Opera, Rossini’s Figaro for Opera York’s Barber of Seville. He has appeared with Edmonton Opera as Silvio in I Pagliacci. He revisited the role of Sonora with Vancouver
Opera in Puccini’s Fanciulla del West, a role he first performed with the Canadian Opera Company. Escamillo in Bizet’s Carmen was his first role for Manitoba Opera. He made a swashbuckling Pirate King in Cleveland
Opera’s Pirates of Penzance. For the C.O.C. he has sung many roles including “a riveting, complex portrayal” of Tarquinius in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia, a role he reprised in Amsterdam for Opera Centrum, Donald in Britten’s
Billy Budd, Marquis D’Obigny in La Traviata, Fiorello in the Barber of Seville, and a Madrigalist in Henze’s Venus and Adonis, a role he repeated for the Dutch Radio Orchestra at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. As an
understudy with the COC he covered Don Giovanni. Billy Budd, Rossini’s Figaro, Marcello (La Boheme) Belcore (L’Elisir d’Amor) and Festus in Randolph Peter’s Golden Ass. Andrew’s film credits include John Smithson in Film Fours production of True Blue. The native Montrealer is also a three-time Canadian Champion rower.
Andrew Tees
Baritone