PRESS RELEASE

20th ANNIVERSARY CONCERTFEATURING AN INTERNATIONAL AWARD WINNING CAST

OCTOBER 25th 7.30PM at CENTRAL UNITED CHURCH, STRATFORD

2014 marks the 20th anniversary of continuous programming by Music & Opera Appreciation Inc. As part of

the celebrations for this anniversary year we are presenting a Gala Concert featuring Daniel Taylor,

(countertenor)- 2014 Grammy award winner, Suzie LeBlanc (soprano) -2014 ECM award winner, Martha

Henry (actor)- 2014 Stratford Festival Legacy Award winner and the baroque orchestra of the Theatre of

Early Music. These artists have performed internationally and all have won prestigious awards in 2014, and

they will present excerpts from the operas of Handel and Monteverdi’s Coronation of Poppea.

Daniel Taylor is one of the most sought-after countertenors in the world and has made more than 100

recordings. He is now recognized as "Canada’s superstar countertenor" and "Canada’s most prolific recording

artist" (CBC Radio). Daniel’s debut at the Glyndebourne Festival was in Peter Sellar's staging of Handel’s

Theodora followed by Jonathan Miller’s production of Handel’s Rodelinda. He took the title role in Gluck’s

Orfeo at the Edinburgh Festival and his North American operatic debut was in Handel’s Cesare at the

Metropolitan Opera. At the Teatro Colon he performed Handel’s Opera Rinaldo. Daniel appeared in the World

Premiere of Robert Lepage's production of Ades' The Tempest at the Met. Daniel's latest recording was the

new recital disc "Come Again, Sweet Love" on Sony. His recent conducting debuts included his appearance

with the Kammerchor Stuttgart as well as being the first guest conductor in the history of The Tallis Scholars.

The University of Toronto recently appointed Daniel Taylor to the position of Head of Early Music and

Professor of Voice in the Faculty of Music. His most recent recording, Angel Heart, with actor Jeremy Irons won a

Grammy award. Daniel was a recipient of the Jubillee Medal in 2013.

Suzie LeBlanc is an Internationally renowned Acadian soprano, who has established an extraordinary career

specializing in Baroque and Classical repertoire and exploring and recording a substantial amount of

unpublished material while living in Europe. She has worked with many of the world’s leading early music

ensembles in concert and opera performances as well as on film and on disc. Concerts have taken her to

Festivals all over the world including the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), the Wigmore Hall and the

Konzerthaus in Vienna. On the opera stage, she has performed for De Nederlandse Opera, Festival de Beaune,

Opéra de Montréal, the Boston Early Music Festival, Tanglewood, Festival Vancouver and Early Music

Vancouver. Her contribution to Acadian culture has produced CDs La Mer Jolie and Tout passe and the

documentary Suzie LeBlanc: A Musical Quest, directed by Donald Winkler. Her performances of Early Music

have earned her honorary doctorates from King’s College University in Halifax and Mount Allison University

in New-Brunswick. Suzie LeBlanc is artistic director of Le Nouvel Opéra, which is ensemble-in-residence at

the Montreal Conservatory and she is co-artisic director of the Elizabeth Bishop Centenary Festival in Nova

Scotia. Suzie latest CD, ‘I am in Need of Music’ won the East Coast Music Award for the best classical disc of

2014.

Martha Henry is one of Canada's most sought after actors and has a long association with the Stratford

Shakespeare Festival and with Canadian regional theatres. This was Martha’s 40th season at the Stratford

Festival where she directed Mother Courage and her Children and performed Lady Bountiful in The Beaux'

Stratagem. In 2007 Martha was appointed Director of the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre

Training at the Festival. Since her auspicious debut at Stratford as Miranda in The Tempest in 1962, she has

played most of Shakespeare's major women, while her important non-Shakespearean roles at Stratford have

included Sister Jeanne in The Devils, Mrs. Proctor in The Crucible, Olga in The Three Sisters, and Martha in

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? She has directed Timothy Findley's Elizabeth Rex, Richard III, Of Mice and

Men and Chekhov's The Three Sisters. Her many honors include, the Toronto Drama Bench Award

for Outstanding Contribution to Canadian Theatre (1989), the Governor Generals Award for

Lifetime Achievement in the Performing Arts (1996), Order of Canada (member 1981,

promoted to companion 1990) and the Order of Ontario (1994). She has received honorary

degrees from the University of Toronto, York University, University of Guelph, Lawrence

University (Wisconsin), University of Windsor and the University of Western Ontario.

In June, the Stratford Festival announced that the 2014 Legacy Award Gala would celebrate the extraordinary

impact Martha Henry has had on the Festival during four decades as an actor and director.

The Orchestra of the Theatre of Early Music record exclusively for Sony Classical Masterworks. It is an

ensemble of some of the world’s finest musicians, sharing a particular passion for early music. By using only period

instruments, original scores, judicious performance practices and appropriate vocal styling, the TEM seeks to

preserve the musical integrity of ancient masterpieces. Their distinctive style, coupled with its artistic director

Daniel Taylor’s expertise and enthusiasm, leads to captivating readings of magnificent but often neglected works. In

various combinations, leading international musicians in the field perform on the platform provided by the Theatre

of Early Music in concerts conducted by Daniel Taylor in its regular series in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, on

tours around the world and on recordings. The orchestra of TEM appears in some 30 concerts every year, recently

having performed on stages in France, Argentina, Brazil, England and China.

They have released a dozen CDs so far and their best-selling debut disc on the Sony label entitled The

Voice of Bach was praised in Gramophone Magazine as “serious music-making of the highest order”. The

disc received five stars from both BBC Music Magazine and Classic Music CD, was featured on BBC’s

“Desert Island Discs” and received acclaim worldwide including reviews from the Times (London), the

Globe and Mail (Toronto), the New York Times, the Guardian (London) and La Scena Musicale

(Montreal).

Music & Opera is delighted to bring so many eminent artists to one stage. We feel that this extraordinary

concert will be a feast for the ears and the perfect celebration of our 20 years of bringing music and

opera to this community. It is likely that this concert will sell out so get your tickets early. Tickets are $45

for adults or $20 for students and can be purchased at Fanfare Books, Ticketwindow 519-957-2640 / 1-

877-700-3130 or www.ticketwindow.ca or by sending a stamped self addressed envelope to Music &

Opera Appreciation, Box 2528, St. Marys N4X 1A3. Sponsored by