Synesthesia

Upon leaving the family farm outside London, Ontario where her family has lived since the 1820s, Julie Ludwig attended Western University where she earned a Bachelor’s in music history and a Master’s in voice performance. From there she went on to join Calgary Opera’s emerging artist program and has performed with the Aldeburgh Festival, the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy, Jeunesses Musicales du Canada, the Banff Centre, and Opera 5.

As a concert soloist, she has performed with such organizations as the Bach Elgar Choir, the Windsor Symphony, the Calgary Civic Symphony, and the HPO's What Next Festival.

When not singing, teaching singing, or being climbed on by her small children, Julie can either be found with her nose in a book or watching the Great British Bake Off.

An active recitalist and art song devotee, mezzo-soprano Veronika Anissimova was heard in Marilyn Horne's 2018 The Song Continues masterclass series at Carnegie Hall, and looks forward to being an Art of Song Fellow with the Toronto Summer Music Festival. She has been a concert soloist with the Toronto Consort, the Toronto Concert Orchestra, the Hart House Orchestra, the Toronto Lyric Opera Centre, UofT Schola Cantorum, the Peterborough Singers, and the American
Bach Soloists Academy, among others.

As a fun coincidence, in her spare time Veronika enjoys illustrating scenes from her favourite songs and song cycles in watercolour. She's elated to now reverse that process, and sing about painting.

Ethan Lacey loves languages. Duolingo is a severe threat to his time management, but he gets by. Weary of family finding excuses to leave the room when linguistics came up in conversation, this self-acknowledged language nerd found an outlet for his fixation in art song and opera.

Originally from Collingwood Ontario, he attended Mohawk College receiving a blended education in jazz and classical piano performance, followed by a Bachelor’s in piano performance, and Master’s in collaborative piano at Western University. During his time at Western, he was the musical director of the Little London Opera Company for its productions of Dido and Aeneas (2017), A Hand of Bridge (2017), and Don Giovanni (2018). He frequently performs with baroque ensembles such as Kammerchor London as harpsichordist and organist. He currently works throughout the GTA as a vocal coach, ballet répétiteur, and freelance accompanist, but during this pandemic he mostly just reads his face off.