Edith Wiens Voice Masterclasses

Order of Canada soprano presents masterclasses at Faculty of Music

TORONTO ’Äì The Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto presents renowned soprano Edith Wiens in masterclasses with students of voice and opera. On Monday, March 23 and Tuesday, March 24, the soprano will coach students singing opera, oratorio, and Lieder repertoire. Other stops on Wiens' 2009 teaching tour include masterclasses at Juilliard and the Royal College of Music in London.

*Edith Wiens was born in Saskatoon and educated at Oberlin, making her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1981. As a soprano in the concert field, Wiens has performed with such conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Colin Davis, Charles Dutoit, Sir Neville Marriner, and Sir Georg Solti, and appeared at many major music festivals. She has sung with many major London and North American orchestras, as well as the Israeli Philharmonic, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, and the Dresden State Orchestra. In Canada Wiens has sung with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony, the Calgary Philharmonic, the CBC Vancouver Orchestra, and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

Highlights of Wiens' busy recording career include Bach cantatas and the St. Matthew Passion with conductor Helmuth Rilling, multiple recordings of Mozart's Mass in C Minor, numerous discs of German song, and the album Ae Fond Kiss with CBC Records.

In recital, Wiens favoured works by Brahms, Schubert, Schumann, and Strauss, but her repertoire extended to Gershwin, Stephen Foster, and North American folksongs. She made her Toronto recital debut in 1994, a year in which she also gave masterclasses at the University of Toronto. She was inducted into the Order of Canada in 2000.

Monday, March 23, 12:10 pm, Walter Hall, and
Tuesday, March 24, 12:10 - 2:30pm, Geiger Torel Room
Edward Johnson Building, University of Toronto, 80 Queens Park. Free admission.

*with materials from www.edithwiens.com and the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada