About

Musique Royale announces the great Canadian mezzo-soprano Allyson McHardy Friday February 13 at 4pm at the intimate listening venue of Cecilia’s Retreat. Allyson McHardy has performed at the Paris, Chicago and San Francisco Operas, and with conductors including Johannes Debus, Seiji Ozawa, and Trevor Pinnock. With the extraordinary pianist Carson Becke, she brings a seasonally appropriate program celebrating the joys and challenges of winter, showcasing a brand-new song cycle by Ottawa composer Robert Rival.

About The Artists

Allyson McHardy

Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a singer of enormous imagination and versatility”, Allyson McHardy has been celebrated for her rich, expressive voice and compelling artistry. She has performed with many of the world’s leading symphony orchestras, opera companies, and early music ensembles, including recent engagements with Sweden’s Drottningholms Slottsteater, Chicago’s Music of the Baroque, and l’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. This season, Allyson joins the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, the Grand Philharmonic Choir, the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, for repertoire including works by Handel, Dvorak, Mahler, and Bach.

Carson Becke

Born and raised in Ottawa, pianist Carson Becke has performed worldwide. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and at the University of Oxford, where he completed a doctorate in musicology. Carson is committed to creating structural changes to the classical music industry in response to climate change. He is enacting those ideas through his directorship of Collines-en-musique: it is the first classical concert series in Canada with a detailed Green Policy . Carson lives in Wakefield, Quebec, with his partner Madeline, their son Solomon, and their dogs Jerry and Neumann.

Program Details

Aaron Copland: Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson (selections)

Rebecca Clarke: Binnorie

Florence Price: Piano Sonata in E minor

Cecilia Livingston: Penelope

Robert Rival: Winter Songs