Sit in on these exams for pure pleasure

by Liselyn Adams,

Professor of Music

Concerts are being held in the Oscar Peterson Hall over the next two weeks that put students of the Diploma in Advanced Music Performance Studies at centre stage.

These students, most of them finishing their first year in the two-year Music program, are excellent performers who have chosen Concordia's diploma to perfect their skills. They have the "luxury" of many hours per day in the practice room, an intense, apprentice-like relationship with their principal teachers, and innovative seminars addressing all aspects of their development as performers.

The teachers who work closely with these students are active performers themselves.

Lauretta Altman is a pianist in demand both as a chamber musician and as a teacher, and who is able, in the words of one of her students, "to work miracles." She runs a music festival every summer in Alexandria, Ontario, performing with members of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and many other fine musicians.

Gregory Chaverdian performs frequently with I Musici de MontrŽal and came to teach at Concordia due to the strong urging and glowing recommen- dations of Eleonora and Yuli Turovsky. He is a teacher who inspires incredible dedication and technical fluency in his students, and their performances are well worth any detour it takes to come hear them.

Beverly McGuire and Valerie Kinslow are the voice teachers who are bringing some of this generation's fine singers up to their potential, and Claude Richard finds time in his busy performing career to guide violinists into the highly competitive world they will soon enter.

The recitals this spring will range from the fiery Evgenia Kirjner to the elegant Daniella Bernstein, the rich and captivating voice of mezzo-soprano Irene Feher, and the delightful soprano Danielle Pullen. Our two violinists, Chantal Parent and Marie-Anne Rozankovic, will treat us to an afternoon of refreshment. AndrŽ Belzil will bring the story of Babar the Elephant to life with Francis Poulenc's brilliant score, complete with narrator, Irina Syssoeva joins strength and beauty like an architect, and James Maybank will sit the entire audience down to Russian music in a French salon of the 1920s or so.

These are examinations for the students, but soothing voyages for the souls of the audience. If you need a break from your own exams and the stress of the end of the year, come sit down in the beautiful concert hall and see how music students can make even an exam into an unforgettable event.

The concerts are in the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall, on the Loyola Campus, and they are free. For a schedule, see below, at left.

Photo: Sophie O'Brien gets a lesson from Gregory Chaverdian.

Recital Dates 2000

Diploma in Advanced Music Performance Studies

Copyright 2000 Concordia's Thursday Report.