Jon Kimura Parker is a Canadian pianist.
Thomas Bernard Heppner is a Canadian tenor and broadcaster, now retired from singing, who specialized in opera and other classical works for voice.
Nikolai Sergeevich Korndorf was a Russian and Canadian composer and conductor. He was prolific both in Moscow, Russia, and in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
In Canada, classical music includes a range of musical styles rooted in the traditions of Western or European classical music that European settlers brought to the country from the 17th century and onwards. As well, it includes musical styles brought by other ethnic communities from the 19th century and onwards, such as Indian classical music and Chinese classical music. Since Canada's emergence as a nation in 1867, the country has produced its own composers, musicians and ensembles. As well, it has developed a music infrastructure that includes training institutions, conservatories, performance halls, and a public radio broadcaster, CBC, which programs a moderate amount of Classical music. There is a high level of public interest in classical music and education.
Louis Quilico, was a Canadian opera singer. One of the leading dramatic baritones of his day, he was an ideal interpreter of the great Italian and French composers, especially Giuseppe Verdi. He was often referred to as "Mr Rigoletto" in reference to the Verdi opera. During his 45-year-long career he shared performing credits with opera's greatest stars. He spent 25 consecutive years at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. After his retirement from the stage in 1998 he continued to perform and record, most often with his second wife, pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico,, with whom he made four CDs. The couple also toured together extensively in concerts until Quilico's death in 2000. Quilico received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts, in November 1999 for his lifetime contribution to classical music.
Boris Brott, was a Canadian conductor and motivational speaker. He was one of the most internationally recognized Canadian conductors, having conducted on stages around the world, including Carnegie Hall, La Scala,and Covent Garden. He was known for his innovative methods of introducing classical music to new audiences. Over his career, he commissioned, performed, and recorded a wide variety of Canadian works for orchestra.
Karina Gauvin is a Canadian soprano who has made several recordings and is especially recognised for her interpretation of Baroque music. Opera News stated that, "Gauvin knows how to rivet an audience in opera and concert. She has been a queen of Baroque opera for years. Her personality is big enough to dominate her elaborate wigs and costumes, and her soprano voice is like a clear, refreshing and inexhaustible spring that darts and sparkles around any ornamental obstacle in its way."
John Harvey Wyre was a U.S.-born Canadian percussionist, composer, and music educator. He worked as percussionist with a number of important orchestras in North America, notably serving for many years as the principal timpanist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He was a founding member of the percussion ensemble Nexus, with which he performed for over 30 years. He was also Artistic Director of World Drums with whom he organized and directed performances at several major international events. His music compositions have been performed by ensembles throughout the world, including the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the CBC Radio Orchestra, and the Japan Philharmonic among others.
John Estacio is a contemporary Canadian composer of opera, orchestral and choral music.
Louis Boyd Neel O.C. was an English, and later Canadian conductor and academic. He was Dean of the Royal Conservatory of Music at the University of Toronto. Neel founded and conducted chamber orchestras, and contributed to the revival of interest in baroque music and in the 19th and 20th Century string orchestra repertoire.
John Relyea is a Canadian-American operatic bass.
Michael Best is an American operatic tenor and voice teacher. A native of North Carolina, he was a solo artist at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, singing 297 performances in 17 seasons. He currently teaches voice at Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts.
Victor Albert Davies is a Canadian composer, pianist, and conductor, best known for his opera Transit of Venus and The Mennonite Piano Concerto.
Leslie Holmes was a Canadian baritone and voice teacher. Holmes was born in Lesser Slave Lake in 1901. He was a celebrated singer in oratorios, concerts, and recitals in Canada and England from the 1920s-1950s. He appeared as a soloist with several notable music ensembles during his career, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Orchestra, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He was also a soloist at the Montreal Festivals.
Peter Butterfield is a Canadian conductor and classical tenor. In 2003 he founded the VancouverVoices and since 2009 he has been the director of the Victoria Philharmonic Choir. As a singer he has performed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America; working primarily as a concert singer since the early 1980s. He has also appeared on radio and television programs in Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
John Oliver is a Canadian composer, guitarist, and conductor. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community, his music has been performed throughout North America, Europe, and China. In a 1989 article in The Music Scene, Oliver stated that he intended his music "to make sense without falling back on traditional models".
Simon Nicolas Streatfeild was a British-Canadian violist, conductor and teacher.
Donald Munro Bell is a Canadian bass-baritone and vocal pedagogue. For over four decades he actively performed in concerts and operas internationally. He retired from performance in 1994. As a vocal pedagogue he has researched and published studies on vocal acoustics and laryngeal function. He is the founder of the Vocal Arts Acoustical Research Group at the University of Calgary, where he currently serves on the voice faculty.
George James Lambert was an English baritone and voice teacher who was primarily active in Canada.
Riki Turofsky is a Canadian concert and opera soprano, broadcaster, and video producer. She has sung leading roles with opera companies in Canada, the United States, and Europe, and has performed on the concert stage with major ensembles throughout North America. In 1978 she expanded her career into broadcasting as a host for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program Summer Festival. She has since appeared as a host on numerous programs for the CBC and the CTV Television Network. She also owns and operates the company Riki Productions which produces arts related programing for Canadian television.
