Chalk Talk Concert: Hearing Beethoven

ABOUT

Christopher Cameron enjoyed a successful career as a professional opera singer, retiring in 2009 after 33 years with the Canadian Opera Company. A number of years ago he began a new career as a freelance writer and editor. His first book, a memoir of his singing years, Dr. Bartolo’s Umbrella and Other Tales from my Surprising Operatic Life (Seraphim Editions), was published in 2017. In June of that year, Christopher and his wife Karen moved to the banks of the Trent River in Campbellford. His book of humorous fiction, Thorneside Stories: A Mix of Sun and Cloud (Iguana Books), was published in September 2022. Christopher brings his passion for the arts and his respect for the beauty and power of the written word to his editing and feature-writing portfolio at Watershed magazine. In 2022, his one-act play Nail Polish was premiered at the Northumberland Festival of the Arts. He has written for and performed at Westben Centre for Connection and Creativity through Music, including the popular Chocolate Voices, which he co-wrote and presented with Warkworth chocolatier Angela Roest. For three years he was co-host and sound editor for Word on the Hills on Northumberland 89.7 FM. In what’s left of his spare time, he enjoys playing bass and singing with the trio What Fun! Christopher continues to marvel at his luck, doing what he loves in beautiful Northumberland County. 

Kcenia Koutorjevski has been singing and playing piano from a young age, taking extracurricular lessons since age 8. In 2019, she received her ARCT in piano performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music, after which she pursued her Bachelor of Music at Western University (graduated 2023). She made her operatic debut as Ruggiero in Handel’s Alicina in 2021 with UWOpera, and has been in love with the art form since. She enjoyed performing a handful of roles in the past couple years, including The Mother in The Consul (Opera NUOVA, 2022); Meg Page in Falstaff (Western University Opera, 2023); and the title role of Julius Caesar (SOLT, 2023). She was the recipient of the London Opera Guild Scholarship award in 2021 and the Adrianne Pieczonka Award for Vocal Excellence in 2022. Currently, Kcenia studies at the University of Toronto’s intensive opera program where she will receive her Master’s Degree in Opera in Spring 2025. Recently, she appeared as The Sage in UofT student-composed Lysistrata and as Mme. de la Haltière in UofT’s Spring 2024 production of Cendrillon. Kcenia hopes to expand her musicianship and spread her love for music with audiences, and is extremely grateful to her mentors and family for supporting her dreams!

Brian Finley currently enjoys a multi-faceted career as a pianist, composer, director and impresario. As a pianist, he has performed with orchestras from Dallas to Calgary, and at venues including Wigmore Hall (London), and the Glenn Gould Studio (Toronto). He has collaborated with some of Canada’s top singers including Adrianne Pieczonka and Gerald Finley (his cousin). Having been heard on CBC, CFMX, KING-FM in the US and on Soviet Television, his recordings include his own Preludes to Canada and Intimacies for solo piano, three with life-partner, soprano Donna Bennett, and world premiere recordings of his Requiem for a Millennium (1999) and his opera-musical Rapunzel (2005). Brian’s compositions include music for piano, voice, choral ensembles and orchestras. For the stage, he has written and produced several full-length opera-musicals including SAMSON (2001), Rapunzel (2005), The Selfish Giant (2010) and an opera based on his own original story The Pencil Salesman (2016) inspired and commissioned by Dr. Agnes M. Herzberg. As a director he has staged fully staged productions of Jesus Christ Superstar, The Sound of Music, The Magic Ornament and his own works including Requiem for a Millennium, Westben Christmas Carol and others. Together with Donna, Brian co-founded the Westben Arts Festival Theatre near Campbellford, Ontario in 1999, serving ever since as the organization’s Artistic & Managing Director. He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002, and together with Donna, was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2017 for their work with Westben.

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