- 2018 Bios
- Aaron James
- Alison Riseley-Clark
- Andrew Adair
- Brenda Leach
- David Briggs
- Eric Hanbury
- Eugenio Fagiani
- Gordon Mansell
- Hanne Becker21
- Ian Grundy
- Imre Olah
- John Laing w/ Janet Obermeyer (Soprano) and Sophie Lanthier (Flute)
- Loreto Aramendi
- Mark Himmelman
- Matthew Whitfield
- Nicholas Wanstall
- Rich Spotts
- Ryan Jackson
- Sarah Svendsen
- Simon Walker
- Stefani Bedin
- Thomas Fitches
- Wayne Carroll w/ Samuel Bisson
- Zoe Kai Wai Lei
2018 Bios
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Gordon D. Mansell - Executive Producer & Artistic Director Gordon Mansell is Music Director, Choir Director, Composer and Titular Organist at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Toronto, Canada. He is also Executive Producer and Artistic Director of ORGANIX CONCERTS, an on-going year over year international organ festival series established in 2005. In 2017, ORGANIX CONCERTS was recipient of the national Royal Canadian College of Organists Award of Excellence for its part in creating greater awareness of organ repertoire and organ performance. Mr. Mansell has performed with fellow organists David Briggs, Patricia Wright and Thomas Fitches in the 2015 documentary “Beating Heart” produced by Scott Deathe. Mr. Mansell is the Ontario dealer for Allen Organ Company, the world’s largest and most respected builder of digital classical and theatre organs. |
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Born in Toronto, Aaron James is an organist and musicologist currently based in Rochester, NY. An alumnus of the Eastman School of Music, he graduated in 2016 with both a PhD degree in musicology and a DMA degree in organ, along with the Performer’s Certificate in organ. He was the 2011 winner of the National Organ Playing Competition of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, and has won numerous other prizes and scholarships for his organ playing, including first prizes in the Florence and Stanley Osborne Organ Competition and the Howard Fairclough Organ Competition; he was also a finalist in the 2012 Franz Schmidt International Organ Competition (Kitzbühel, Austria). |
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Alison Riseley-Clark, a native of New Zealand, travelled to Canada in 1981 to complete a Masters Degree in Organ Performance at McGill University (Montreal). She won the New Zealand Organ Competition when she was 18, and while studying in Montreal she travelled to Chartres (France), Bruges (Belgium), Manchester (England), and Ann Arbor, (Michigan) to play in more Competitions. Alison has also performed for Radio New Zealand, and Radio Canada (Montreal). |
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Andrew Adair is Director of Music and Organist at Toronto’s historic Church of St. Mary Magdalene. He previously served as Associate Director of Music at St. James’s Cathedral, Toronto, and as Assistant Organist at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene. At St. James’s Cathedral he contributed regularly to the recital series, playing well over 100 programmes. Andrew studied at the University of Toronto with University Organist John Tuttle, and has additionally received tuition from a number of international sources. |
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Concert Organist and Conductor, Brenda Lynne Leach, has performed throughout the USA, Europe, Israel, and Russia. She has appeared as an organ recitalist at world-class venues including Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Westminster Cathedral in London, Moscow Cathedral in Russia, St. George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem, and Riga Dom in Latvia to name a few. |
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David Briggs is an internationally renowned organist whose performances are acclaimed for their musicality, virtuosity, and ability to excite and engage audiences of all ages. Consistently ranked as one of the finest organists of his generation, David’s extensive repertoire spans five centuries. |
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Born in Windsor, Ontario, Eric received his early education in England. When the whole family returned to Canada in 1964 he started organ lessons with Dr. Charles Peaker at St. Paul’s Bloor Street. He attended the University of Toronto and continued organ studies with Douglas Bodle and John Tuttle. Eric had a thirty-three year career as a Toronto high school teacher of Music (Band, Keyboard and Vocal), and English. |
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As an affirmed international concert organist he performs in Europe, Belarus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Russia, Syria, United Kingdom, Canada and the USA on the most important instruments. He is invited to hold masterclasses (both in Interpretation and Improvisation) and lectures for several top-class music institutions around Europe and North America as the Cambridge University Organ Scholar’s Forum (UK) and the RCCO, Toronto (CDN). He is also invited to serve as juror in international competitions. |
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Hanné Becker is an organist, composer and soprano with a passion for sacred music, finding herself particularly drawn to the stylus fantasticus style of organ playing, as well as the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. She recently graduated from the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Basel, Switzerland) with a Master of Arts in Performance. She studied organ with Prof. Wolfgang Zerer (Hamburg), composition with Prof. Johannes Menke and harpsichord / basso continuo with Andrea Scherer. In September 2017 she will begin a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Organ Performance degree in the studio of Kevin Komisaruk at the University of Toronto. |
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Ian Grundy, conductor, organist and harpsichordist received his early musical education at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. A student of Canada’s pre-eminent organ pedagogue Douglas Bodle from the age of twelve, he was appointed Organ Scholar of Trinity College Chapel in the mid-70’s. |
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Imre Olah was born in Hungary, where he studied music in Budapest, specializing in organ performance. His studies later involved specialization in choral music and choral direction. Since moving to Canada in 1989, Imre has served as music director and organist at many Churches. He has been part of the musical life in the city, presenting organ recitals and accompanying choirs and soloists. |
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John Laing with Janet Obermeyer (Soprano) and Sophie Lanthier (Flute) John Laing, conductor, composer, organist and pianist, was born in London, U.K. He began to play the piano and compose at a very young age, and he became a treble chorister in the choir of King’s College, Cambridge under Sir David Willcocks. At the age of twenty he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. Soprano, JANET OBERMEYER, holds a Bachelor of Music degree in opera and oratorio from the Eastman School of Music. Radiating grace and charm she performs with the finest chamber ensembles and orchestras across Canada, in the United States and in Europe. Oakville flautist Sophie Lanthier is an active performer of chamber, solo, and orchestral music throughout the Greater Toronto Area and the Golden Horseshoe. She is currently a member of several chamber ensembles based in Toronto, including a flute-piano-cello trio, Trio Marzo, and a flute-viola-harp trio, Trio Alima. |
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Ms. Aramendi started her studies at the Conservatoire of San Sebastian where she obtained higher degrees in piano, harpsichord, organ and chamber music with Loreto F. Imaz, Esther Mendiburu and Cristina Navajas. She studied organ at the National Regional Conservatoire of Bayonne with Bernadette Carrau and Esteban Landart, receiving the Gold Medal and the First Prize upon completing the Advanced Degree course. |
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Mark D. Himmelman (b. 1978), a native of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Mark Himmelman began playing the organ at the young age of seven years and by age eight had played his first church service. At age eleven Mark began studies in piano and organ under David Zwicker. His teachers have also included Allen Wayte, F. Alan Ressor and John Vandertuin. Mark holds a bachelor’s degree in music performance from the University of Prince Edward Island. |
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Considered ‘one of Canada’s most gifted musicians’ (Saugeen Times), Matthew is a Toronto-based keyboardist and writer who presents outside-the-box concerts and performance-based art. An advocate of Contemporary and New Music, he frequently performs avant-garde repertoire from the 20th and 21st Centuries, including works by Ligeti, Cage, and Glass. |
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Nicholas Wanstall is a first-year student at the University of Toronto, pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance and studying with John Tuttle. Nicholasbegan studying music at the age of four taking piano lessons with his grandmother who remained his primary teacher until recently. At the age of 13 he attended St. Michael’s Choir School where he developed a passion for choral music. |
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Organist Richard Spotts, a native of Bucks County, Pennsylvania and a graduate of Westminster Choir College in Princeton, has set out to perform and educate the public of this seminal work, with the ultimate goal of performing the complete fifteen-hour cycle in a recital series over a period of ten days. Mr. Spotts has given recitals at cathedrals, universities, and parishes throughout the United States and Canada and is writing a book on the subject. |
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Acclaimed organist and choral director Ryan Jackson was appointed William S. Perper Director of Music and Fine Arts Ministries at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in 2012, following an international search. Ryan is the founding director of the professional FAPC Chamber Choir, as well as the FAPC Community Choir, an ensemble open to all members of the church community. In 2013, Ryan established FAPC’s annual concert series, which features a diverse program of four choral concerts and three organ recitals each season. |
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Past laureate of the Royal Canadian College of Organist’s (RCCO) National Organ Playing Competition, organist Sarah Svendsen is a recent graduate of the Yale School of Music and co-founder of/performer in Organized Crime Duo. Sarah specializes in the performance of Canadian organ works and most recently (2014) performed the English debut of the work “Voices” by Canadian/Scottish composer, Eric Robertson. |
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Simon Walker is Director of Music at St. Jude’s Anglican Church, Oakville. In addition he is Assistant Conductor of Oakville Choral Society, and Artistic Director of the Oakville ’Celebration of the Arts’ Concert Series. He is also in regular demand freelance as an accompanist, teacher and conductor. |
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Stefani Bedin is a solo and collaborative performer, liturgical musician and pedagogue, active in her hometown of Toronto. In September 2017, Stefani began her pursuit of the Master of Music Degree in Organ Performance at the University of Toronto, where she also obtained the Bachelor of Music Degree in Music History and Theory (Honours) and a Minor in Historical Keyboard. She studies organ under the tutelage of Dr. Kevin Komisaruk. |
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Thomas Fitches received his training in Oshawa, Toronto and Croydon, England, at the Royal School of Church Music. His teachers have been George Rapley, Alan Reesor and Douglas Bodle. From 1965 to 1973 he was the Assistant Organist at the Anglican Church of St. Simon the Apostle in Toronto. During this time, he became familiar with the tonal aspect of pipe organ building. He has voiced many instruments in the Toronto area (including St. James’ Cathedral) for Alan T. Jackson of Casavant Freres. |
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Wayne Carroll w/ Samuel Bisson Wayne Carroll was born in London Ontario. Since accepting his first position as organist, at age fifteen, he has maintained a high profile musical career in Southern Ontario for over forty five years. Originally from Ottawa, cellist Samuel Bisson is quickly distinguishing himself in Canada as a versatile soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. Currently based in Toronto, he performs frequently in the GTA and has performed and toured across Canada, the US, Austria and China. |
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Zoe Kai Wai Lei is a first-year student of the Master of Music programme in organ performance under the tutelage of Professor Kevin Komisaruk at the University of Toronto. She was awarded the ATCL in organ performance with distinction in 2017.She recently completed undergraduate studies in Music Education and organ in the Department of Music of the Hong Kong Baptist University, under the tutelage of Kin Yu Wong, having previously studied organ with Wai Chung Wong and as a participant in numerous masterclasses. |