Music & Charcuterie

Program

Hope Carol* Emma Theresa Verdonk Text by Christina Rossetti
Shore Kip Johnson Text: Traditional
Songs of the Heart* Benjamin Gabbay Texts by Benjamin Gabbay
- I. little bird
- II. rain
- III. architect heart
When roses cease to bloom, dear Ronald Beckett Text by Emily Dickinson
Back to me Darren Xu Text by Darren Xu
To see the world in a grain of sand Ronald Beckett Text by William Blake
Nine Poems of William Blake (selected movements) Ronald Beckett Texts by William Blake
- V. The Poison Tree
- III. Holy Thursday
Sleep brings no joy to me* Ronald Beckett Texts by Emily Brontë
- I. Sleep brings no joy to me
- II. Love and friendship
- III. Was it with the fields of green
- IV. How still, how happy!
- V. Hope
The Seasons (selected movements) Ronald Beckett Texts by Emily Dickinson
- II. Spring
- III. Summer
- IV. Autumn
Reflections Ronald Beckett Texts by Emily Brontë
- I. Fall, leaves, fall
- II. The sun has set (1)
- III. The sun has set (2)
To a Stranger David Archibald Text by Walt Whitman
The evening sun Ronald Beckett Text by Emily Brontë

* Denotes premiere

Featuring

Ronald Beckett

Artistic director & conductor

Ronald Beckett has had numerous compositions performed by ensembles throughout Ontario. He has written three operas that constitute a trilogy: Ruth, John, and I Am…. that have been given fully staged performances by Arcady and Queens Student Opera. Ruth, due largely to its length (72 minutes) and facility of staging, has received some twenty performances since its premiere in 1996. Ron’s catalogue of compositions includes a number of additional large-scale works for orchestra or orchestra and chorus and an abundance of chamber music and pieces for piano and organ. Since 2008, he has written a great number of songs and music for youth, specifically for the Arcady Youth Singers.

Ron is the founding director of Arcady, an organization established in order to encourage outstanding young musicians by providing them a bridge between their student and professional performing careers. Most of Arcady’s work is in two areas: period performances of early music repertoire and the works of Ronald Beckett. The ensemble offers 20 to 30 programs ranging from small ensemble to full choral-orchestral performances in Ontario each year. Arcady has released three CD recordings on the Crescendo label: A Baroque Messiah (1999), Welcome Yule! (2001), and Ruth (2007). Welcome Yule! is a collection of original Christmas compositions and Beckett arrangements. Ron also arranged and conducted Ruby Productions’ CD entitled Peace on Earth (2000). In 2002, Phoenix Records released the CD A Beckett Miscellany – a sampling of Ron’s instrumental music performed by The Essex Winds and Arcady.

A Summa Cum Laude graduate from McMaster University in History and Theory, Ronald Beckett is an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Music (Piano Performance), and also holds a Master of Music degree in composition from the University of Western Ontario. In recognition of his outstanding contributions to music and community, he was inducted into the McMaster Alumni Gallery in 2004.

Ron is a member of SOCAN, the Canadian League of Composers and the Canadian Music Centre. His works are frequently heard on classical radio in North America and Europe.

Visit Ron’s website for more information: www.ronaldbeckettmusic.com

Michaela Chiste

Soprano

Michaela Chiste is a young soprano hailing from Okotoks, Alberta. Originally trained as a stage actor, she spent most of her life studying the dramatic arts and musical theatre before crossing over to the world of classical singing. She completed her Bachelor of Music at the University of Alberta in 2017, under the tutelage of John Tessier. She has performed as a concert soloist and recitalist both internationally and across Canada, and has premiered several pieces, including The Dream, a cantata for soprano and pianoforte (Muskins, 2016), La jugement (Langan, 2019), and Songs of Fracture (Beckett, 2019), which was set to her own poetry. Michaela received praise for her 2019 portrayal of Mimì in Puccini’s La bohème with Mercury Opera. Opera Canada described her performance as “a fine balance of fragility and hopefulness”. Her other roles include Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Principal (.Gabriel), Giannetta (L’elisir d’amore), Frasquita (Carmen), Emmie (Albert Herring), Mimi (City Workers in Love), The Dormouse (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland), Jennie Hildebrand (Street Scene), Gustave (Pomme d’Api ), and The Boy (Der Jasager). Michaela is an alumna of Arcady’s Emerging Artist Program and former roster singer for Cowtown Opera. michaelachiste.com

Belle Cao

Soprano

Belle Cao is an emerging soprano soloist based in Toronto. Her previous stage credits include Lisette in La Rondine (VOICEBOX: Opera in Concert), Giulietta di Kelbar in Un Giorno di Regno (VOICEBOX: OIC), and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni (SOLT 2023). She was fortunate enough to travel to Italy for the 2022 Lunigiana International Music Festival Competition, where she won the voice category. She has been a featured soloist with the Guelph Chamber Choir and Arcady Ensemble in Handel’s Messiah. She trains with Dr. Charlene Pauls and currently sings with Orpheus Choir of Toronto. Belle is also a practicing family physician and surgical assistant in the GTA.

Janelle Hutton

Mezzo-soprano

Janelle Hutten grew up with the music of Bach and Handel playing in her family’s home and has had a lifelong connection with music. She desires to share it with others and especially enjoys performing oratorio, opera, and chamber music. She is a proud graduate of the master’s program in early music voice performance at McGill University, where she studied with Dominique Labelle. Janelle is the recipient of the Mary McLaughlin Memorial Prize, given yearly to a Schulich student with an interest in Early Music.
In addition to her training as a singer, Janelle holds a master’s degree and an undergraduate degree in piano performance from the University of Western Ontario, where she studied with Leslie Kinton and Stéphan Sylvestre. She has worked as a vocal coach and opera repetiteur and has extensive piano teaching experience. Complementing her music training, Janelle holds a bachelor’s degree in social work from Lakehead University and has substantial experience working in law enforcement. She is the grateful recipient of a prestigious Canada Graduate Scholarship through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), which funded her project to bring concerts to people with justice involvement. Janelle is passionate about music’s capacity to heal and bring communities together and is dedicated to continuing this work.

Benjamin Gabbay

Pianist & composer

Composer and pianist Benjamin Gabbay holds both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s of Music in Composition from the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, where he is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Composition under Prof. Norbert Palej. He also holds an ARCT in piano performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Benjamin’s compositions have received recognition by Toronto’s St. James Cathedral (for i thank you God for most this amazing day, one of two winners of the cathedral’s 2018-2019 composition competition), the Ruth Watson Henderson Choral Competition (honourable mention, 2017, for Lux Aeterna), and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (featured in Explore the Score 2024 for his symphonic poem The Garden of Earthly Delights). His works have been described by conductors and composers as filling a demand in the Canadian choral scene for compositionally and technically adventurous choral music that still follows in a tradition with mainstream appeal. Through U of T, he has been the recipient of several scholarships and awards, including the Faculty of Music Graduating Award (2023), the Lothar Klein Memorial Fellowship (2020), and the Lobodowsky Choral Scholarship (2018).

Since 2022, he has been an Associate Composer with Arcady, with whom he regularly presents and premieres works for choir, solo voice, and chamber ensemble.