The 15th Annual Margaret Abbott Memorial English Art Song Competition

The Classical Voice department offers four annual Song Competitions for current students of the VCM to perform, compete, and receive feedback from renowned and respected adjudicators.

First and Second Prizes as well as Honourable Mentions are available to be awarded for each competition, and for the Annual Margaret Abbott Memorial English Art Song Competition up to $3,000 in scholarship funding is available to be awarded to participants in the Junior, Intermediate, and Senior A divisions. 

---

About the Margaret Abbott Memorial Scholarship

The Victoria Conservatory of Music Scholarship for the performance of English Language Art Song was established after Margaret Abbott’s death in 2003 to honour her memory and to perpetuate her high artistic standards. Soprano Margaret Abbott’s performances of concert oratorio and operatic repertoire from all the musical eras were acclaimed throughout Canada. She sang with the Victoria Symphony and the Victoria Choral Society. Her performances on CBC included solo roles in the CBC premieres of Britten’s operas Albert Herring and Peter Grimes. Her family was closely connected to the Victoria Conservatory of Music for many years. Her children, Norman, Vivienne and Jocelyn, were among the Conservatory’s first students.

---

15th annual Margaret Abbott Memorial English Art Song Competition

Please note: Entrance to this event in Alix Goolden Performance Hall is at 900 Johnson Street. Admission by Donation.

English Song Competition Programme

Junior & Intermediate 5:00pm

Senior A & B 6:30pm

Adjudicators

Sarah Fryer- Mezzo Soprano

Sarah Fryer has appeared on concert platforms throughout Europe and in Canada, the US, Mexico, and Singapore. She made her professional debut as mezzo soloist in Mozart’s Requiem Mass in Wells Cathedral, UK, at the age of sixteen. Career highlights include six years as a soloist at the Bayreuth Festival, and roles in opera productions in Nantes, Turin, Dublin, and at La Scala, Milan. Sarah has recorded for BBC and CBC radio, and for the Naxos and Nimbus record labels. She has been a soloist at many prestigious festivals including The Three Choirs Festival, Taormina Arte, and The Aldeburgh Festival. Concert highlights include Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Mahler’s Eighth Symphony with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, directed by Bramwell Tovey, Mozart’s Requiem with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, directed by David Hill, and R. Strauss’s opera Elektra (Dritte Magd) with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, directed by Kent Nagano.

In Canada, in addition to many performances with the Victoria and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, Sarah has performed as guest soloist with the Toronto Symphony, CBC Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic and Regina Symphony. She is an experienced recitalist and performed Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder accompanied by Bramwell Tovey at the Orpheum Theatre. Sarah has performed Elgar’s Sea Pictures and a new commission by British composer Francis Pott with the Philharmonia Orchestra at The Royal Festival Hall, London.

Timothy Vernon– Artistic Director at Pacific Opera Victoria

As founding Artistic Director of Pacific Opera, Timothy Vernon has nurtured the company’s growth and vitality through his musicianship, intellect, and passion. A welcome figure on the podiums of Canada’s most important orchestras and opera companies, Maestro Vernon has led many of Pacific Opera’s more than 120 productions since the company’s inception in 1979.

His enterprising artistic vision for Pacific Opera has included multiple Canadian stage premières, among them Strauss’ Daphne and Capriccio, Blitzstein’s Regina, Weber’s Der Freischütz, Montemezzi’s L’Amore dei tre re, Giannini’s The Taming of the Shrew, and Lee Hoiby’s The Tempest.

He conducted the world première of Mary’s Wedding (commissioned by Pacific Opera) and of Les Feluettes (co-commission and world première co-production with Pacific Opera and Opéra de Montréal), as well as hallmark productions of Wozzeck, The Cunning Little Vixen, and Das Rheingold.

He has conducted for Opéra de Montréal (Die Fledermaus), Opéra de Québec (Macbeth, The Barber of Seville), and Calgary Opera (Carmen, Eugene Onegin). He has appeared with every professional opera company and orchestra in Canada and is Conductor Laureate of Orchestra London.

Timothy has received the Order of Canada, Opera Canada’s Ruby Award, the Diamond Jubilee Medal, and Honorary degrees from Royal Roads and the University of Victoria. He continues to bring to Pacific Opera Victoria a unique vision that has engaged the community and made Pacific Opera a nationally recognized symbol of artistic excellence.

Piano

Alex Chen

Alex Chen is a collaborative pianist and vocal coach whose personal approach and intellectual curiosity bring fresh perspectives on a diverse body of musical works. In the words of mentor John Hess, he is “an immensely musical and sensitive player” with “a deeply inquisitive mind”.

Alex has an MMus from the University of Western Ontario in Collaborative Piano, an ARCT from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Piano Performance, and a BSc from the University of Guelph. He is currently on faculty at the Victoria Conservatory of Music in addition to working as a freelance pianist for students at the University of Victoria.

His experiences include work in art song recital, playing as an opera répétiteur, collaborating with choirs, and exploring the instrumental duo & chamber music canons. Distinguishing himself as a performer and researcher, Alex held a Canadian Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). His scholarship supported his work in art song recital programming. As the first phase of his research, he created and performed song cycles formulated from disparate works by Rachmaninov and Brahms. For his second phase, he delivered a stirring recital titled “Demons & Dichterliebe” that juxtaposed supernatural bewitchment and obsessive love.

Among his many projects, Alex has been involved as a pianist and coach with the Accademia Europea dell’Opera (an experience funded by a Create and Explore Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts), the Victoria Conservatory’s Collegium program, and the Western University Opera Workshop. These collaborations have culminated in performances of Le nozze di Figaro, Serse, and Die Zauberflöte. Moreover, Alex has worked with singers and ensembles on numerous other arias, opera scenes, and choral performances.

In his spare time, Alex enjoys singing the odd song, performing in the chorus for Pacific Opera Victoria, and going on hikes in search of birds.

---

Mark your calendar for upcoming voice competitions!

40th Annual German Lieder Competition

Wednesday, November 30 2022

16th Annual Italian and World Language Song Competition

Thursday, February 09 2023 (note this one is on a different day)

29th Annual French Art Song Competition “La mélodie française”

Wednesday, April 12 2023