Gordon D. Mansell - Executive Producer, Artistic Director

Gordon Mansell, President and Artistic Director of Glionna Mansell Corporation is also the executive producer and artistic director of ORGANIX CONCERTS INC. In his many music industry roles, Gordon’s primary objectives are to introduce, to nurture and to grow a new audience of organ enthusiasts. Through multiple contact points and in programming dynamic rarely-heard repertoire for each ORGANIX concert, Gordon fosters a musical awakening that enables more and more people each year to discern and appreciate excellence in organ building, repertoire and performance. 

Read More...

William O’Meara - Co-founder

William O’Meara is one of the busiest accompanists and organist in and around Toronto. Bill co-founded ORGANIX in 2006 with Gordon Mansell and was directly involved in the planning and production of ORGANIX between 2006 and 2011. Bill is titular organist of St. Michael’s Cathedral and accompanist and organ teacher at St. Michael’s Choir School. ORGANIX continues to honour Bill as its co-founder.

Read More...

Jane Parker Smith – Organ

Jane Parker-Smith (UK) is internationally recognized by the critics and public alike for her musicianship, virtuosity, entertaining programmes and electrifying performances. An innate interpretative ability, prodigious technique and flair for tonal colour are the hallmarks that make Jane Parker-Smith one of the most sought-after organists in the world.

Her studies at the Royal College of Music in London were crowned with a number of prizes and scholarships for organ performance. She made her London debut at Westminster Cathedral at the age of twenty, and two years later made her first solo appearance at the BBC Promenade Concerts in the Royal Albert Hall. She has since performed in churches, cathedrals, concert halls and festivals throughout the world and will be presenting an exciting ORGANIX program.

Read More...

Karen Electra Christianson – Organ
 
Karen is a senior at the Episcopal Academy in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, and she studies organ with Alan Morrison, chair of the organ department at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Karen maintains an active international recital schedule and her original choral compositions have been performed in the US and abroad.

Read More...

Mariette Stephenson – Guitar

Mariette Stephenson is an emerging Canadian classical guitarist and has performed in numerous recitals as a soloist and chamber musician in Canada and Italy. Mariette has won numerous awards and recently premiered new works for flute and guitar by Canadian composers William Beauvais and Patrick Power and the Brazilian composer Jonatas Batista-Neto. Mariette has also adjudicated at guitar competitions including the Stratford Kiwanis Festival. This will be Mariette’s first appearance in ORGANIX and her performance will be in collaboration with organist Thomas Fithces.

Read More...

Mark Herman – Theatre Organ

This past summer, Mark became the youngest person ever to be named Organist of the Year by the American Theatre Organ Society. His concert career takes him regularly to theatre organ venues across the U.S., Australia and New Zealand performing an eclectic repertoire that often includes some of his own compositions. A professional in theatre arts management by day, Mark also manages to build websites and restore his 1939 Art Moderne home in his spare time.

Read More...

Organized Crime Duo – Organ

Organized Crime is an organ duo that grew from the friendship between Rachel Mahon and Sarah Svendsen. Rachel and Sarah are two brilliant young and emerging organists who have both performed in prior ORGANIX festivals and are back as a duo to display their energy and persuasive powers of communication.

Read More...

Ryan William Jackson – Organ

Ryan Jackson is a native of Bracebridge, Ontario, where he studied piano at an early age at seventeen, began his successful career studying the organ. Ryan is a multiple award winner of major North American competitions and was recently appointed Director of Music and Fine Arts Ministries at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, following an international search that considered over two hundred applicants. Ryan will be performing in ORGANIX for the second time.

Read More...

The Barney Cayouette Duo – Organ and Viola

Mélanie Barney and Tina Louise Cayouette from Montréal are multiple award winners and frequent duo performers. They captivate their audiences with consummate virtuosic skills and stage excitement presenting a wide range of repertoire from classics to film. Together, they will weave us into a musical world that is filled with colour, passion and mystery. In their first ORGANIX performance, they will intrigue us with their unique command of their music written and/or arranged for the organ and viola. 

Read More...

The Wong-Chen Duo – Organ and Violin

Chelsea Chen and Lewis Wong are among a very special group of rising stars in the performance of repertoire written for organ and violin. They have performed original commissioned works and transcriptions. They are widely acclaimed for their refreshing and creative performance. Organist Chelsea Chen and violinist Lewis Wong have performed in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Read More...

Thomas Fitches – Organ

Mr. Fitches is an outstanding organist with a wide experience in performance and tonal design. He has performed on CBC radio in the series “Organists in Recital” and, was a guest artist in the “Twilight Organ Series” at Roy Thomson Hall.  He has also appeared as organ accompanist with the Elora Festival Singers and performing with them on their Naxos recording The Choral Music of R. Vaughan Williams   Mr. Fitches is a past President of the Toronto Centre of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, and he is Organist and Conductor of the Chapel Choir at Massey College. Mr. Fitches has performed in ORGANIX several times and this occasion will be in collaboration with guitarist Mariette Stephenson.

Read More...

Dr. Wayne Carroll

Wayne Carroll is an active performer in and around Toronto and South Western Ontario. He is well known as a mentor to many emerging musicians. His second appearance in ORGANIX will also be in collaboration with emerging musicians: Samuel Bisson on Cello and Alexa Wilks on violin. Wayne is the Organist and Director of Music at Knox Presbyterian Church, St. Thomas, Ontario, a position he has held for thirty-five years.

Read More...

Samuel Bisson – Cello

Samuel performs frequently as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. He has performed with renowned Canadian piano trio, the Gryphon Trio and performs regularly as part of the Passport Duo with pianist, Nadia Boucher. Samuel currently holds the position of principal cellist with both the Kindred Spirits Orchestra in Markham, Ontario and the Sneak Peek Orchestra in Toronto. He has also appeared as principal and section cellist with Orchestre de la Francophonie Canadienne and the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra and has played under the direction of Timothy Vernon, Pinchas Zukerman and Jean-Philippe Tremblay. Samuel has collaborated in previous ORGANIX festivals with appearances in ORGANIX 10 and in the ORGANIX Festival Orchestra in 2012 under the direction of Philip Sarabura. In ORGANIX 13 Samuel will be performing with Wayne Carroll and Alexa Wilks for the trio’s second ORGANIX appearance.

Read More...

Alexa Wilks – Violin

Alexa Wilks has performed several world premiere works with the Sneak Peak Orchestra in Toronto. She is in the doctoral program at University of Toronto Faculty of Music and while studying, Alexa is also an active performer and member of Mayumi Seiler’s celebrated chamber ensemble Via Salzburg and the Esprit Orchestra. Alexa is an emerging talent in contemporary music and has also been a collaborator in ORGANX having performed in 2010 with the same musicians she is working with in ORGANIX 13: Dr. Wayne Carroll and Cellist Samuel Bisson. 

Read More...