Guest Artists

Christopher Dawes, organ

Christopher Dawes is a freelance musician and consultant currently based at Toronto's Church of St. George-the-Martyr and St. James' Anglican Church in Dundas.  Chris divides his professional time between freelance performing across a broad spectrum of the Toronto music scene, directorship (since the fall of 2004) of Canada's Summer Institute of Church Music, and the Organ Concerts and Academy at Stratford Summer Music, where he has been an Artistic Associate since its inception in 2000. He has given solo recitals and accompanied choral tours across North America and Europe, and has been broadcast on domestic and international radio services.  His work appears on over two dozen commercial CDs and has been showcased in Canada's greatest concert stages and organ lofts.  As well, Chris is faculty to graduate and undergraduate choral and instrumental conducting programs at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Music, accompanist to that school's MacMillan Singers, and a resident musician for Theatre Erindale, the professional performance wing of the Theatre and Drama Studies program offered jointly by the Sheridan Institute of Applied Arts and Technology and the University of Toronto, Mississauga. Following graduate work in the field of Musical Genre and Criticism, he presents papers at symposia and conferences across Canada and abroad, and through http://genreimplosion.ca. A passionate advocate for the organ, sacred music and his country's cultural life, Chris's musicianship freely crosses styles and eras, and manifests in imaginative, informed and inspired presentation of the familiar and the obscure, and in his love of history, places, people, and all that is unusual and inspirational in music. http://orgalt.com

Anne Thompson, flutist

Flutist Anne Thompson is a native of Peterborough Ontario and received her early musical education there before entering the Bachelor of Music program at the University of Western Ontario. While an undergraduate, she became a member of Orchestra London and later played with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra for several years before receiving a Canada Council grant for further study in the U.S. After a year of study with flutist Geoffrey Gilbert, she attended Yale University where she studied under Thomas Nyfenger and performed at the Norfolk Summer Music Festival. Upon receiving the degree of Master of Music Performance from Yale, she returned to Canada to join the Faculty of Music at the University of Western Ontario, where she still teaches.

Ms. Thompson lives in Toronto, where she is a busy free-lance artist. She has appeared regularly with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the National Ballet Orchestra, the Mississauga Philharmonic, Continuum New Music Ensemble, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, the Hamilton Philharmonic, the Talisker Players, the Winnipeg Ballet Orchestra and all of the Toronto theatre orchestras, and is a frequent performer on CBC Radio in chamber and orchestral settings.

With Continuum Contemporary Music, she performed on BBC and VPRO, the National Radio of Holland, during the group’s European tour in 2003, at the Montreal New Music Festival and in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre in 2007. Also in 2007, she traveled to Kalnus, Lithuania with Toronto’s Ergo Ensemble. In May 2008, she recorded David Felder’s Dionysiacs, for 5 Solo Flutes and Chamber Orchestra with the University of Buffalo's Slee Sinfonietta at Cleveland State Universityand in November, Continuum’s second European tour took the group to Holland for the Shift Festival and England for the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. In 2009, Continuum continued with the Toronto portion of the Shift Festival in February and April. In January 2010, Continuum  released their fourth CD, Raw: Chamber Music of James Rolfe and in February, returned to the Montreal New Music Festival.

Musica Viva Brass

The brass players this evening are all members of the re-known  London based brass group, Brassroots. Brassroots has had a long time collaboration with the Guelph Chamber Choir, having been guest artists on several concerts. They come to us tonight after just having celebrated the groups 25th anniversary.

Paul Stevenson, trumpet, is currently Head Of Music at A.B Lucas. S.S. in London. Paul is very busy as a freelance musician. He is a diverse performer who has played with artists such as Natalie Cole, Diana Krall and Roger Hogson of Supertramp. He is an avid hockey dad on weekends with his son Riley.

Julia Vaughn, trumpet, is currently Principal Trumpet with the Fanshawe Symphonic Concert Players, the Stratford Symphony Orchestra, and plays trumpet and flugel horn with Brassroots. She has played solo cornet and flugel horn with Intrada Brass and the London Citadel Band of the Salvation Army and has performed with Orchestra London, the International Symphony and Windsor Symphony.

Tony Snyder plays principal french horn in the Guelph Symphony, the Wellington Winds and is a member of Brassroots.  He has had solo appearances with these groups as well as with the Waterloo Chamber Players, the North Bay Symphony and the Northern Music Festival.

Dave Davidson, trombone, plays with Brassroots, Wellington Winds, Windjammers and enjoys an active freelance career as a studio and orchestral musician . Dave is currently Music Director of the Kitchener Musical Society Band and Assistant Director with New Horizons (Guelph) and has been Music Director for many shows with Royal City Music Productions, Inc.

Michael Medeiros, tuba, received his bachelor degree from the University of Toronto and a masters degree from the Eastman School of Music. He has performed with such groups as the Eastman Wind Ensemble, and the Hannaford Street Silver Band. He is currently the principal tuba of the Ontario Philharmonic and Brassroots.