Composer, teacher and performer, Nicholas Fairbank was born and raised on Canada's west coast, and now lives and works in Victoria, BC. He divides his time between his various musical activities, and is often seen locally or further afield as a collaborative pianist, harpsichordist and organist, conductor, or singer (as the baritone in the vocal ensemble Hexaphone).
Mr. Fairbank is currently on the keyboard and theory faculties of the Victoria Conservatory of Music, is Artistic Director of Via Choralis chamber choir and conducts the VIVA Young Men's choir. He is also a member of the College of Examiners of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto, and represents the West Coast on the National Council of the Royal Canadian College of Organists.
After early studies in Vancouver (piano with Michael Longton, Robert Cooper & Audrey Mallinson, pipe organ with Suzanne Gibson & Patrick Wedd) he pursued advanced musical training in London, England and Paris, France, studying organ with Christopher Herrick, Richard Popplewell and Naji Hakim. He has earned Master's degrees from the Université de Paris (Musicology & French literature), the University of California at Santa Barbara (French language and pedagogy), and the University of Victoria (Composition), as well as Associateship diplomas from the Royal Conservatory of Music (gold medal winner for pipe organ, 1981), and the Royal Canadian College of Organists (Willan and Barker prizes 1998). His composition teachers have included Stephen Chatman and John Celona. He is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of SOCAN.
Mr. Fairbank's catalogue of compositions includes more than 40 works for voice, piano and organ solo, and for various choral and instrumental ensembles.
“Song of Ruth ... is carefully crafted in contrasting textures and ranges to bring out a wide variety of tone colours. This music displays Fairbank's fluency in twentieth-century French compositional and improvisational styles.”
“Variations on Kingsfold ... displays economy of material, directness of expression, and a wide contrast of affective moods, very often controlled through well thought-out textural contrasts ... ”
-William Renwick in Organ Canada, Sept. 2003.
“Victoria composer Nicholas Fairbank's recent piano works prove him to be a composer worth studying. His charming Vancouver Island Suite ... shows that he knows his forms and has a sense of fun. Toccata is a work to be reckoned with and requires an advanced technique as well as good interpretive skills. Ten Preludes contains an interesting mix of lush, very tonal and accessible music to technically and interpretively challenging 12-tone pieces.”
Born in Oxford, England, Matthew Larkin moved to Canada as a young boy and received his early musical training as a chorister at St. George’s Cathedral in Kingston, Ontario. He later studied with John Tuttle at the University of Toronto, and was Organ Scholar of Trinity College. He also attended the Royal College of Music, London, UK, where he was a student of Nicholas Danby. He began his professional career as a choral conductor in Victoria, BC, where he was appointed Organist and Choirmaster at the Church of St. John the Divine in 1988. He moved to Ottawa in 1995 to take up a similar position at St. Matthew’s Church. In the 2002-2003 academic year, he served as Director of the Choir of Men and Boys at St. James’ Cathedral, Toronto, and was appointed Organist and Director of Music at Christ Church Cathedral, Ottawa, in September 2003. While in Ottawa, he has served as Director of the Ottawa Opera Boys’ Choir, founding Director of Euphonia Chamber Choir and Director of the Anglican Chorale. In June 2005, he began duties as Director of the Ottawa Choral Society. Mr. Larkin also pursues a career as a recitalist, accompanist, composer and recording artist, and has appeared as soloist with many of Canada’s orchestras.
Recently appointed Music Director of the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene in Toronto, Stephanie Martin carries on the tradition of a cappella choral singing established by Healey Willan in the 1920’s. Artistic Director of Pax Christi Chorale since 1996, Martin has conducted many memorable performances with choir and orchestra, and has commissioned several new Canadian compositions. Highlights include Bach’s Saint John Passion; Handel’s Israel in Egypt; Brahms’ Requiem; Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Saint PaulGloria; Vaughan William’s Hodie and Dona Nobis Pacem, Britten’s Saint Nicolas and Elgar’s The Music Makers. Ms. Martin holds the distinction of being the first Canadian woman to conduct a full performance of Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius. In April 2007 she received an honourary membership in the Elgar Society, with a note from the British Chairman, Andrew Neill who said, “our congratulations and appreciation to Professor Martin for her contribution to the music of Elgar in this, the 150th anniversary year of his birth”.
Choral conductor, composer, harpsichordist and organist, she can be heard on the Naxos, Marquis and Dorian labels, as well as several self-produced recordings. Her love of historically informed performance was fostered over 15 years of activity with Arbor Oak Trio who performed hundreds of chamber music concerts and several fully staged dramatic works, including Arne’s rarely heard Love in a Village, and Gay’s Beggar’s Opera.
Ms. Martin holds degrees from the University of Toronto and Wilfrid Laurier University, and is an Associate of the Royal Canadian College of Organists. She is an Assistant Professor of music at York University, Toronto, in the Department of Music, Faculty of Fine Arts.
Allison Pippy
Born in Seaforth, Ontario, Allison Pippy began music studies with Edward Greenhalf in Windsor. Married life took her to military bases in Saskatoon, Trenton (Ontario) and Gimley (Manitoba) where she played organ and directed choirs at the chapels on the bases, often teaching piano to members of the military communities as well.
She met her second husband, Harold, in Ottawa where she became Music Director of Riverside United Church (1973-1981). In 1981 Allison and Harold moved to Vancouver Island, B.C., and Allison directed the Duncan Choral Society from 1981 to 1984. They then moved to Victoria where she was organist at several churches including Gordon United and St. Saviour's Anglican. She particularly enjoyed organizing and directing performances of the popular church cantatas: Maunder's “Olivet to Calvary”, Stainer's “Crucifixion”, and Handel's “Messiah”. She stepped down from St. Saviour's in 1997 and now enjoys her retirement in Victoria.
William Renwick is also an organist, composer, and choral director. He is an Associate of the American Guild of Organists and a Fellow of the Royal Canadian College of Organists. He has performed concerts and recitals throughout the region. In 1999 he served as co-chair of The Canadian Organ Festival in Hamilton. He is Music Director at Saint John the Evangelist Anglican Church in Hamilton, Ontario.
Jeryl Taylor received his initial organ training whilst a student at the Ontario School for the Blind in Brantford, Ontario. In 1966 he earned the Associateship diploma in pipe organ from the Royal Conservatory, subsequently entering the University of Toronto where in 1970 he earned a BMus degree in organ performance.
Further studies lead him to England (1970-1973) where he attended the Royal School of Church Music and earned the Fellowship diploma from the Royal College of Organists. He then held positions as church organist in England and subsequently in Vancouver, B.C. More recently he has concentrated on his career as a recital organist, and has toured Britain and Eastern Canada several times. His “Passacaglia for organ” was written in 1971 while studying at the RSCM, and the companion “Fugue” was added in 1985. The “Ayre on a Ground” is, in fact, one variation taken from the full “Passacaglia”.
Born in Brandon, Manitoba, John Vandertuin commenced his formal study in piano and music Braille in Brantford, ON and made his recital debut in Paris, France at age 14 while a student of Jean Langlais. He holds an Honours B.Mus. (gold medal) and an M.Mus. in organ performance from the University of Western Ontario, and a D.M.A. degree from the University of Michigan where he studied with Robert Glasgow. In 1982 he studied with Piet Kee at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam, and was twice invited to compete in the International Improvisation Competition in Haarlem, the second Canadian to be so honoured.
He is the recipient of a number of awards, including the Prix Conrad Letendre in Montreal (1979), first prize in Improvisation at the National Healey Willan Organ Competition (1980) and second prize in the San Anselmo (USA) Improvisation Competition (1987, 1989). At the 2004 national RCCO convention in Winnipeg, Dr. Vandertuin was awarded the degree of FRCCO (honoris causa).
Dr. Vandertuin has performed across Canada, in the USA, France and the Netherlands as well as at regional and national conventions of the RCCO. His playing has been broadcast on CBC radio and on Radio Canada. He has held the position of Organist at various churches and he is in demand as an organ consultant and music critic. His earlier organ compositions have been published by Concordia and by Darcey Press. Also available are a CD “Glory to His Holy Name” and an audio cassette “Christmas Classics”.
James Wright
James Wright has pursued a broad-ranging career as a composer, pianist, musicologist, and choral director. He is perhaps best known as a composer of choral music whose works have been commissioned, performed, and recorded by choirs across North America.
In 2002, James Wright completed a Ph.D. in music theory at McGill University, where his dissertation on Schoenberg and Wittgenstein was awarded the Governor General's Gold Medal, the first time in McGill's history that this distinction has been conferred upon a musicologist. He has studied with composers Barrie Cabena, Owen Underhill, Bengt Hambreaus, Brian Cherney, and Kelsey Jones, and theorists Bo Alphonce, Bryan Alegant, Albert Bregman, William Caplin, David Huron, and Janet Schmalfeldt. He has taught harmony, composition, choral arranging, 19th- and 20th-century music history, and post-tonal music theory and analysis at Wilfrid Laurier University, McGill University, the University of Ottawa, and Carleton University where he is a professor of music theory and composition in the School for Studies in Art and Culture. In 2006, his book Schoenberg, Wittgenstein, and the Vienna Circle, published by Verlag Peter Lang of Bern, Switzerland, won a Lewis Lockwood Prize awarded by the American Musicological Society for new books on musicological subjects. In 2007, the book was published in second edition.
James Wright has collaborated with a number of prominent Canadian authors and poets, including Sheree Fitch, Alan Cumyn, and Stephen Michael Berzensky. He is currently working on a musical, After Sylvia, in collaboraton with author Alan Cumyn. A number of his works involve the integration of music with poetry, dance, and visual art.
James Wright's music is also published by Warner-Chappell Music of Miami, Leslie Music of Oakville, and Songwright Music of Ottawa. He lives in Ottawa with his daughter, Jennifer, and their spaniel, Tess.