2023 Recipients

In June 2023, I had the opportunity of travelling back to beautiful Aldeburgh — a small seaside village on the coast of England famous for its fish and chips, rolling fields, and (perhaps above all else) being the hometown of Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears. With their Red House now converted into a series of archives dedicated to their shared legacy and the foundation they leave behind, Aldeburgh is also a short countryside drive from Snape Maltings, the maltings facility that Britten and Pears purchased with the aim of converting it into both a world-class concert hall and a training facility for young musicians, thus creating the Britten Pears Young Artist Program. Their endeavour succeeded and has stood the test of time, providing a home for world-class classical-music initiatives including the Aldeburgh Music Festival, Summer at Snape, and the year-long projects associated with Britten Pears Arts and its subsequent young-artist training program.

Sydney Baedke performing with David Palmer in the Jubilee Hall

Throughout 2022/23, I have been fortunate enough to be a member of this young-artist cohort, first performing in The Rape of Lucretia at Snape Maltings and at London’s Royal Opera House in November, followed by my return for the Aldeburgh Music Festival’s Britten Song Trail. This short course on Britten Song involved group and individual study on all things Britten Song, culminating in a series of pop-up concerts throughout Aldeburgh that highlighted different facets of Britten’s compositional output. My pop-up concert, shared with a mezzo-soprano, violinist, violist, and collaborative pianist, consisted of duets and ensembles from Britten’s early years and was titled Duo Discoveries. After public masterclasses and private coachings with baritone Roderick Williams and Dame Ann Murray on the repertoire, I performed Britten’s Two Ballads for Two Voices and Sagesse from his Quatre chansons françaises (composed at the age of only 14!), and had the distinct honour of participating in the first public performance of Britten’s Variations on a French Carol for soprano, mezzo, violin, viola, and piano. This short program (repeated four consecutive times as part of the pop-up recital rotation) was held in the historic Jubilee Hall, the community theatre in Aldeburgh where many of Britten’s iconic works were premiered. Being able to share in the tradition of premiering a Britten composition in this space is especially humbling and is a memory I will treasure for the rest of my career in music.

Aldeburgh has served as an artistic oasis for me over the course of the last year; so to be able to return and dedicate myself to Britten Song this June was a joy-filled way to kick off my summer and contributed greatly to my ongoing artistic growth. I’m so thankful to the Art Song Foundation of Canada for providing me with financial resources to assist with the travel costs associated with this project and for the work they do to support Canadian artists in the early stages of their careers. The generosity of this foundation contributes to the ongoing legacy of excellence in Canadian musicians, both abroad and close to home. Thank you, ASFC!!

I have just returned from an inspiring week participating in the Oxford International Song Festival’s Mastercourse and am deeply grateful to the Art Song Foundation of Canada for making my studies there possible.

I travelled to Oxford with my duo partner, Luke Lally Maguire, and together we had the opportunity of participating in two masterclasses per day, one taught by the lead tutor Wolfgang Holzmair and the other led by one of the guest tutors: Anna Tillbrook, Graham Johnson, Anne Le Bozec, and Jan Philip Schulze.

At the end of the week, we performed in a lovely recital alongside the other Mastercourse students in the historic Holywell Music Room, which is renowned as the oldest purpose-built music room in Europe. My participation in the course included tickets to all of the recitals programmed during the festival, and I had the good fortune to attend many of them and learn through observing some of Europe’s top singers and pianists.

Bridget Esler working with Graham Johnson

The week proved to be a wonderful retreat from the busyness of London and a perfect opportunity to focus intensively on a package of brand-new repertoire that Luke and I hope to use in recitals and competitions over the coming year.

The tutors each delivered specialized and highly valuable expertise. Anne Le Bozec brought a fine touch to the Poulenc songs we performed for her, sharing crucial ideas about the French style and providing background information on the poet that I hadn’t discovered anywhere else in my research. Graham Johnson was incredibly informative, as always, on the two Schubert songs we brought to him — songs on which he has written extensively. Wolfgang Holzmair’s concept of the ‘time accent’ is something that will inform my singing for a long time to come. These are just a few highlights of my learning!

Being immersed in the Oxford Song environment, which is so abuzz with musical talent, creative programming, and an enthusiastic, informed audience, has completely energized me! I have returned full of ideas for concert programs, excited to dive deeper in my repertoire, and emboldened to make bolder musical choices. I am very grateful for my time there.

2023 Oxford International Summer Festival particpants

Thanks to the support of the Art Song Foundation of Canada, I had the incredible opportunity of participating in the 2023 Oxford International Song Festival’s Mastercourse, which was taught by lead tutor Wolfgang Holzmair, alongside guest tutors Graham Johnson, Jan Philip Schulze, Anne Le Bozec, and Anna Tilbrook.

My song partner, baritone Olivier Bergeron, and I got the true Oxford experience as we were welcomed into this incredibly warm and cozy house, with the kindest hosts we could ask for. We then got to meet all the other participants in the Mastercourse, who were all very inspiring and humble. Every singer and every pianist — from Canada, USA, UK, Spain, Malaysia, Indonesia, Italy, and France — brought something unique to the table.

Chloé Dumoulin with baritone Olivier Bergeron

The whole week was spent practising, participating in private and public masterclasses, and listening to our colleagues, but most importantly, eating great food and watching the world’s greatest art song and lieder artists perform right there in Oxford.

In addition to the already impressive line-up of teachers we worked with, all the participants had sessions with Artistic Director Sholto Kynoch regarding the art of programming, as well as private lessons to work on repertoire. We even got to see manuscripts at the Bodleian Library’s Weston Library, where we took a look at Schumann and Schubert’s handwriting!

The week culminated with our concert, which took place at the Holywell Music Room, a hall with an incredible Steinway and wonderful acoustics. Everyone performed amazingly well and it was a true joy to share this moment with each other.

All in all, I am grateful to have been able to take part in this eye-opening Mastercourse and to have the opportunity to discover the beautiful city of Oxford!

Where does one begin? That is always the question in circumstances such as this. At the time of writing this piece, I reflect deeply on the value that comes with the gift of opportunity. The right opportunity can serve as a key to new possibilities. Likewise, as a young artist in the realm of piano accompaniment (collaborative piano for my North American colleagues), few support structures exist that aim to grant young pianists various opportunities to explore curiosities, to learn, and to grow, with the potential to lead to various pathways for a brighter future.

That said, I have had the distinct privilege of being supported by the Art Song Foundation of Canada, an organization that provides necessary support for young singers and pianists in the field of art song, supporting and funding various valuable learning opportunities that present themselves for young artists.

I was first granted a bursary in 2018, giving me the opportunity to travel to Austria to attend, for the second time, the Franz Schubert Institut in Baden bei Wien, Austria. This program undoubtedly changed the trajectory of my life. I can say decisively that, without my experiences in Baden over two summers, my life would not have been nearly as enriching, joyous, and full as it is today. The support I received in 2018 ultimately led to the opportunity for a brighter future than I thought life had in store for me. More can be read about my experiences that summer in the Art Song Foundation of Canada’s superbly documented archive.

The Art Song Foundation of Canada most recently supported my endeavours to attend the first module of the Académie Orsay-Royaumont in France. This one-of-a-kind program offers only four duos the opportunity to be immersed in an enriching experience at the Fondation Royaumont, to learn from master teachers for four modules spaced throughout the year, and to engage, hands-on, with some of the greatest works of art the world has to offer.

The Fondation Royaumont is a former monastery that is now used to host all sorts of events, workshops, musical seminars, training programs, and so much more, especially for us young artists. The beautiful spaces, the seclusion in the countryside, and the generosity of the staff all contribute to an experience that is tailored to each musician. The meals are fantastic, three times a day, often with a team of chefs preparing each meal and each course.

During the summer module, my recital partner and I had the distinct pleasure of working with Matthew Rose and Brian Zeger, both excellent artists, teachers, and generous human beings. For the duration of our time at Royaumont, we spend a lot of time with the master teachers in a way that feels much less like a master/student relationship and much more like a mentorship. Each day consists of several hours of rehearsals and coachings, all culminating in a musical performance at the end of the module for locals who are regulars at the abbey.

There is ample spare time, which can be used to absorb what has been worked on in the day, exchange ideas with colleagues, take in the surroundings, practise, have many coffees, and so on. By all means, the experience sounds like a luxury, and it is. At the same time, it is incredibly intensive and that should not be left unmentioned.

In addition, there is a partnership with the Musée d’Orsay, where we spent whole days at the museum in total privacy to engage with some of the world’s finest works of art. Orsay has a team of specialists who are there to guide us as artists in our senses and with historical information to all of the works in the entire museum. It is an immense privilege that we can interact with the works directly and cultivate personal relationships with any number of masterworks in an intimate setting — relationships that will be lifelong. As musicians, we guide others in how to listen in the most subtle of ways. In this setting, it was incredible to trust the staff to help us not only to see but to feel, smell, hear, and taste the works. This led to some incredibly raw and emotional experiences for me personally. I felt in touch with my sensuality in such a deep and raw manner that I was literally brought to my knees at one point in front of Monet’s Les Glacons.

Part of the partnership between Orsay and Royaumont entails that, during each module (except for the introductory summer module), we, as artists, curate a short program to be performed in front of any works of art of our choice. The point is to present the music, poetry, and our performance as part of the whole experience for the public. These “musical promenades” are not advertised to the public; so there is a bit of an effect, similar to that of a flash mob. These performances are repeated several times over a few hours, hopefully giving more dimension and meaning to the public’s experience. They also serve as a reminder that one’s experience with art is a living, ephemeral phenomenon, not just an artifact.

The longer I live and the more I experience life, the more I realize the importance of the bigger picture. What I am interested in reaches beyond practical matters that only really serve as tools for expression, i.e., technique. My focus in current times is mostly on the depths of what it means to be human.

This first module came during the most difficult months of my life. Months before, I had landed a major contract that would have secured my future indefinitely. Ultimately, in the last seconds, I lost the contract for immigration reasons beyond everyone’s control. It was hard to receive that rejection as well as several other important rejections all at the same time. Then I was facing a very serious medical situation that had put me in and out of hospital for months, not knowing if this was going to be a life-long process. This, and the medications, were incredibly taxing on my body and my mind. Other personal issues included the cancer diagnosis of a dear friend and a life-changing diagnosis in my nuclear family, as well as the logistical challenges of trying to figure out a transition from the UK to Germany. It was a lot to take. Then, just a week before coming to France, at the peak of burnout, I nearly drowned in a lake near my hometown in Saskatchewan. Several days later, I found myself on a plane from Saskatoon to Paris to attend the first module of the Académie Orsay-Royaumont.

This program can be whatever the artist desires it to be. If one is in search of very specific technical or musical goals, the program will fulfill that. If one is in pursuit of exploring various musicological, artistic, and literary curiosities, likewise the program has everything one needs. In my case, what I needed was something much deeper. I needed sanctuary. I needed support. I needed art, music, and poetry. I needed space and quiet to begin the process of healing and understanding. I am grateful to have had that time, space, and support for that stage of my journey. My time in the first module at Royaumont gave me the opportunity not only to mend my soul, but to cultivate deeper understanding and meaning in my life.

One cannot overstate the value for an artist of being able to retreat and address matters that perhaps are easily forgotten in the hustle-bustle of a city. I believe that what we do as artists is, above all, a spiritual practice. Music, poetry, and art are the rocks that ground me in the most trying of times. Therefore, to have the freedom to go back to the heart of the matter means to have the freedom to find greater truth, understanding, and anchoring.

In the months following, I can see the immediate value of this time. My journeys have taught me the value of the motto “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger”. This, in tandem with another cliché, “time heals all wounds”, couldn’t be truer in my case. This time to be immersed in such a caring, supportive, and stimulating environment set me on track for peak anti-fragility. About half a year on, I am feeling impeccably strong. I feel deeply grounded in my craft, more than ever before. I feel physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually in a place of heightened enlightenment. On the concert platform, I feel a consistent amount of release and ease with my musical partners. Beyond this, I feel strongly rooted in the “why” of what I do and can feel the difference it makes in my daily life.

In closing, I want to express my gratitude to the Art Song Foundation of Canada for their continuing support of young Canadian artists. One thought that has always lingered in my mind is, “What if?” This seemingly innocent question has led to some of the most enriching rabbit holes and experiences of my life. It also implies an investment in the proverbial tomorrow.  What inspires me is the same curiosity that permeates the essence of the Art Song Foundation of Canada. The desire to support young artists and to grant them the gift of opportunity holds so much more power and potential than appears at first glance. In some cases, it holds the power to have a ripple effect, not only changing the lives and trajectories of young artists, but also of everyone they come in contact with. All I can hope for is that I can continue this tradition of making a difference in the world and in the lives around me. The time in Royaumont this past summer helped to repair and strengthen this desire, for which I am grateful to the Art Song Foundation of Canada.

Having a great affinity for German language, I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in the Franz-Schubert-Institut for five weeks in Baden, Austria, over the 2023 summer. Each participant performed a total of 27 German art songs in open masterclasses for world-renowned collaborative pianists and singers such as Helmut Deutsch, Julius Drake, Robert Holl, and Elly Ameling, who turned 90 years old this year and is still a peppy and energetic woman! Each master brought his or her own profound approach to the German Lied and encouraged us students to heavily prioritize the poetry with utmost meaning, as artists have a duty to deliver a strong message to the audience.

Naubert in performance at the FSI.

Along with these masterclasses, we had daily one-on-one lessons with Austrian actors and diction coaches to work on poetry declamation, as well as voice and musical coachings to help us prepare our pieces for the public masterclasses. There was definitely a strong sense of community within the institute. Both the teachers and the participants were very positive and supportive of one another. Sunday’s social activities, such as hiking, seeing beautiful landscapes, and visiting neighbouring cities, were included in the program.

I am very grateful to the Art Song Foundation of Canada for having helped me financially with this extraordinary project.

For a developing art song performer and coach, progress is often hard to define. However, this summer, my experience at the Franz-Schubert-Institut facilitated so much growth in the depth of my knowledge and passion for Lieder that I feel I have a completely new relationship with the art form. I have noticed eight specific ways in which my thinking has been enriched.

First, I interacted with some of the greatest minds dedicated to Lieder in the world. We spent 15 hours in masterclass with eight different masters whose names I have been hearing since my interest in art song began. Elly Ameling, Julius Drake, Helmut Deutsch, and Robert Holl are among the artists who, to me, have reached the pinnacle of communicative ability in this discipline. I also worked with scholars such as Richard Stokes and Natasha Loges, whose writings I encounter almost every day as I research the pieces I’m working on, and coaches of diction, music, and poetry like Michael McMahon and Gabriel Jacoby. I feel that, from my interactions with these artists, I have gained a wide repertoire of approaches to song.

Christopher Knopp (L) with Robert Holl

Second, I was inspired by the talent and dedication of my colleagues. It was extremely enriching to engage in discussions about text and song, to sight-read, and to recite poetry with other people on the same path as myself. I believe that something very special happens when passionate people working on the same problems are willing to bare their thoughts to one another.

Third, my familiarity with the repertoire was greatly expanded. I now feel I have a serious understanding of the Italienisches Liederbuch and the Mörike Lieder of Wolf, all of the important song cycles of Robert Schumann, the Goethe songs of Schubert, the Mignon Lieder by various composers, the early songs of Schoenberg and Berg, and the folk songs of Brahms. In addition, I am now familiar with many poets about whom I knew little before the course, and my appreciation for their importance, both in how they shaped world history and in how central their role is to art song, has increased tremendously.

Fourth, my experience of poetry is qualitatively different. I was given new tools for interpretation and recitation, and grew to become intimately familiar with the styles and trends of the art form. I now realize that the text of an art song should be seen as the whole cause for the work, and that the true meaning of the piece can only be communicated when one has a real interest in the value of the poetry that inspired it.

Fifth, I realized the value of dedicating a long period of time to enriching my knowledge of a specific branch of music. Since I started my university career in 2015, I have been working as a coach and collaborative pianist, as well as competing in solo piano competitions. However, working as a collaborator and teacher while studying often necessitated prioritization and compromise, and I rarely felt that I had the time to devote to deepening a specific focus for an extended period. After having finally done so this summer, I plan to incorporate more similar periods into my life of my own volition, so that I can continue to experience this type of growth.

Sixth, I was given an invaluable chance to work intensely with my duo partner, Jing. We have competed together in competitions and prepared recital programs together, but this month when we had only each other to work with, and only our shared repertoire to practise, deepened our understanding of each other in a way that I did not expect. I feel now that we have something unique to say together that is greater than the sum of its parts, and I am incredibly excited to share that with our future audiences.

Seventh, I was extremely grateful to experience the appreciation for classical music that our audiences exhibited. The best way I can explain it is that I felt no need to justify our art form. I have often felt that, to the average person, dedication to poetry and music seems superfluous and indulgent. Why would you study the music of dead Europeans instead of trying to progress the efforts of science? It was an incredible feeling to perform in Baden and realize that the audiences both understood the texts that we were sharing and knew how meaningful they were, without our having to explain. This attitude is one that I intend to carry with me.

Finally, I was struck by the occasional performances that transcended ‘talent’. During one of the first masterclasses, one of my young colleagues performed Schubert’s Nacht und Träume, and I was so struck by the beauty and sincerity of his performance that I lost the critical lens through which I normally listen. This summer, I experienced on several occasions this kind of collaborative enjoyment of a performance that was extremely precious to me. This culminated in a performance that Jing and I gave of Wolf’s Ganymed in which I felt free from the pressure to impress and out-perform my colleagues, and my only goal was to show the audience how wonderful the poetry was and to touch them meaningfully through our art.

I am extremely grateful for the bursary that I received from the Art Song Foundation of Canada, which significantly relieved the pressure of the high tuition, flight, and living costs associated with going to Europe for more than a month and studying at the Schubert Institute. I hope that my report conveys how enriching this experience was for me and provides motivation to those with the ability to do so to continue acting as catalysts for musical growth in young Canadian musicians.

I am thrilled to report that, last night, I performed at the beautiful final concert of the Barcelona Festival of Song (BFOS). This program, though only two weeks long, has been filled with academic learning and performing repertoire not typically taught at our Canadian music institutions.

Dr. Patricia Caicedo — soprano, musicologist, doctor, and many more brilliant accomplishments — is the mastermind behind this program. She developed it to fulfill her mission: decolonizing the art song world. A typical day consisted of lectures (on historical content that related to the musical region of the day), diction coaching, a masterclass, lunch break, a second masterclass, and attending a concert to hear wonderful international artists who participated in BFOS. Every day, we rotated between regions: Latin America and Brazil, Catalunya, Spain. This meant that we were immersed in the proper context and background to help us deliver the most authentic and well-informed performances of their repertoire at our final student concerts. Some examples included the importance of understanding the independence movement in Catalunya, the importance of Indigenous music and its influence in Latin American music, and the deconstruction of the division between Art Song, Folk Music, and Popular Song constructs.

Mia Robles in performance in Barcelona

Additionally, we received intense coaching on several languages and their numerous regional differences, including Spanish as it is spoken in different Latin American countries, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish as it is spoken in Iberia, and Catalán, the language of Catalunya. These coaching sessions were presented to us using both IPA and masterclasses with native speakers of each language who were familiar with these languages when singing, such as the wonderful Brazilian opera singer, Flavio Mello.

I leave this program with a full heart. I have longed to channel my Peruvian culture through song, and I finally feel that I have found a community that sees who I am and that our music is just as valuable as the music of the Western canon. I am excited to bring this beautiful repertoire back to Canada with me and to continue to push against the current to encourage the inclusion of non-Eurocentric classical music in our curriculum. I learned why this music has been looked down upon by many institutions and how important it is to decolonize the mind. It should no longer be acceptable to discredit the intense skill and emotional knowledge it takes to perform this repertoire successfully. There is real beauty to be found in this music. It requires feelings, different and challenging techniques, and listening to the voices of communities that continue to be ignored. I sincerely thank the ASFC for supporting this journey.

I had a wonderful time at the Ukrainian Art Song Institute’s 2023 Summer Program. The faculty there are truly among the best in Canada and they were a joy to work with. The program ran from Monday to Sunday; unfortunately, I tested positive for COVID on the Saturday (the day before the final concert). However, while I was unable to perform in the final concert, I still felt fulfilled from having five days of lessons and workshops, learning from the incredible faculty there as well as the other participants.

Ian Bannerman (C) in rehearsal

Thank you to the Art Song Foundation of Canada for helping me to participate in this program. It gave me knowledge and insight into Ukrainian music, which I will absolutely apply, working with the bustling Ukrainian music community in my home town of Edmonton. It also helped to develop further my artistic abilities as an interpreter of art song and will influence how I teach art song to the 25 to 30 voice students I will work with as a teacher this year.