Katisha strikes!

I can die happy. Katisha has been a life-long goal of mine, and I had so much fun playing her with the Victoria Gilbert and Sullivan Society.

The Mikado

I am thrilled to be part of a new production of The Mikado with the Victoria Gilbert and Sullivan Society. I am playing Katisha in this re-imagined, culturally sensitive, GORGEOUS production. We're having a blast, and I am looking forward to opening night!

Click here for a review by Nexus Newspaper: http://www.nexusnewspaper.com/2018/11/07/locals-take-on-reimagined-version-of-classic-opera/?fbclid=IwAR3c24YlPeg2cEMxE7Zpwb7rm-ljU9qL69MABawudkdkG5Z-Wr2TPvG59o8

Rachmaninov Vespers

It was my pleasure to perform the alto solo in the Rachmaninov Vespers with the Victoria Philharmonic Choir in May at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Victoria. What a bucket-list item!

Adjudicating

I was very honoured to be asked to adjudicate the French Song Competition at the Victoria Conservatory of Music on Valentine's Day.  It was a splendid evening of artfully presented mélodie française.  Congratulations to all of the competitors, and especially to the prize winners.

Music students go to the Symphony

The primary students have been preparing for their trip to the Victoria Symphony by learning about the pieces we'll hear performed.  We've been doing listening exercises, learning folk dances from the countries represented, learning about orchestral instruments, and practicing audience etiquette.  We're all looking forward to this exciting experience!

SMUS Primary Christmas Concert and all-school assembly

My first Christmas Concert is done and dusted!  It was a lovely evening with performances from each primary class, introductions from two Grade 2 MCs, and a grand finale.  I accompanied on harp and guitar, and the incomparable Jane Edler-Davis accompanied on piano.  The day after the concert the Kindergarten classes had the chance to perform for the older students at the all-school assembly.  A highlight was definitely the Twelve Days of Christmas, in which each grade "sang" their verse at the top of their voices!

Closing a door and opening a window

I said goodbye to TCS in June, and got ready for my new adventure - teaching music at my old school, St. Michaels University School in Victoria.  It was a bittersweet goodbye, and the Chapel Choir gave me a grand send-off.  I will miss these singers, and wish them all the best!

Fundraising for The Mill

It's been a few months since I've posted, so I've got some updates!  My most recent performing activities have been facilitated by my friend Mitch Cox.  He is the piano teacher at TCS, choral director of the Northumberland Choir, and musical director at the Bridge Street United Church in Belleville, among other things.  He and his wife Candace are opening up a new performing venue in Castleton, which is named The Mill at Piper Creek Arts and Heritage Centre.

In support of this exciting project, I have performed at a few fundraising events in the past few months.  The first was a St. Patrick's Day Ceilidh at the town hall in Castleton, in which I played and sang "Oh Danny Boy" and "Down by the Sally Gardens" with the harp.  On April 29 their Starlight Dinner and Silent Auction was held Victoria Hall in Cobourg, where I sang the Habanera from Carmen, "Tonight" from West Side Story with tenor Fabian Arciniegas, and "Down by the Sally Gardens".  These were both enjoyable events, which I was honoured to be a part of.

Mitch also had me perform at Bridge Street United Church in Belleville as a guest soloist for their Mother's Day service.  I performed "Geistliches Wiegenlied" by Brahms, and "Let the Bright Seraphim" by Handel.  Talk about vocal range! #zwischenfachlife

TCS Carol Services

The Christmas season is in full swing, and I am very much looking forward to our two Carol Services at TCS, on Saturday Dec 17 and Sunday Dec 18 at 4pm.  In addition to the traditional 9 lessons and carols, I will be ringing the handbells as the audience processes in, and performing the Alto solo in "Oh Thou that Tellest Good Tidings to Zion" from the Messiah with the TCS chapel choir.  This is my favourite musical event of the year, and I'm so excited!

Invitation from TCS website:
https://www.tcs.on.ca/2016-11-15/join-us-91st-carol-services?utm_source=Parents%27+Newsletter&utm_campaign=64d13491cc-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_11_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4c6c27e783-64d13491cc-169914773

Guest Soloist with Vocalese Choir in Brighton

I am very excited to be appearing as one of the guest soloists with the Vocalese Choir at Trinity-St. Andrews United Church in Brighton ON on Sunday December 11, along with tenor Fabiàn Arciniegas.  We will each be performing arias and art songs, as well as some popular duets.  The choir will be performing seasonal favourites as well.  Please come!

Guest Soloist with TCS Bell Choir in Peterborough

The TCS Bell Choir will be giving a benefit concert this Wednesday evening at the Sacred Heart Church in Peterborough.  I'll be playing the Bb6, B6, and C7 bells, and I'll also be singing "O Holy Night" as a guest soloist.  If you've never heard a bell choir, you should!

Conducting Amazing Grace at TCS

I've just conducted my first piece in public, while singing the solo!  All conducting will be a breeze from now on :D  Check out this video of the Trinity College School Chapel Choir singing a great arrangement of Amazing Grace!

Brahms Requiem

Now that the school year is over and my PGDE is complete, I finally have time to do some singing again!  Upon my first weekend back at home in Victoria, my mom and I went to the "Moss street paint-in", and ran into Hilary Coupland, who was recruiting musicians for her 70th Birthday celebration concert, which is to be a performance of the Brahms Requiem.  Hilary is a venerable force in the Victoria music scene, and she and my mom have sung together for years.  Neither mom nor I had previously sung the Brahms, and it's on both of our "bucket lists", so we excitedly jumped at the opportunity.  My sister Liz and her boyfriend Stuart decided to join us too.  Stuart has blown everyone away with his gorgeous, trained baritone.  He's now the unofficial "baritone solo understudy".
It's all coming together now, and the performance is this Wednesday, August 17 at 8pm, at the Alix Goolden Hall.  Here's a picture of us in rehearsal.

Burns Night in Edinburgh

It has been a loooong time since I've posted.  And this post is a month late.  I'm terrible.

Anyhoo, I'm living in Edinburgh, and doing my teacher training at Moray House School at the University of Edinburgh.  I had high hopes of immersing myself in the musical community here, but studies and work have prevented me from accepting my offer of a place in the Edinburgh Festival Chorus.  However, I did get the chance to revisit my celtic repertoire this January, during the annual celebrations of Robert Burns, the Scottish bard.  The school where I work does an annual Burns Supper, complete with haggis, poetry recitations, and ceilidh dancing.  Another standard part of the celebrations is singing Burns songs.  Knowing my musical history, they asked me to contribute a performance.  I don't have my harp with me in Scotland, but luckily the school owns one, so I was able to accompany myself, just like the old days on the Victoria causeway.  For the occasion I learned "Ye Banks and Braes o' Bonny Doon", which I first heard years ago on Kathleen Ferrier's iconic album "Blow the Wind Southerly".  I was very glad to finally have an excuse to learn this song, as I've always thought the soaring melody has the potential to really show off the voice.  I was asked to reprise my performance a few weeks later at the Junior School's Scottish Week assembly, at which time I also sang "My luv's like a red, red rose", which has been in my repertoire for years.  The first time I heard that song was on an episode of "Road to Avonlea", which was one of my favourite Canadian TV shows as a child. 

I have been missing singing and playing the harp since arriving in Edinburgh, so this was a lovely chance for me to set some time aside for practicing! 

Verdi Requiem with VPC

I am thrilled to be performing one of my "bucket list" items, the Verdi Requiem, with the Victoria Philharmonic Choir on Sunday, May 24, at 2:30 at UVic's Farquhar Auditorium.

I have been enjoying singing with the VPC since arriving back in Victoria in January.  We did Bach's St. John Passion at Easter (see above picture - can you spot me?), and now we're ending the season with a bang (literally....I'm talking bass drum).

I was lucky enough to attend an iconic performance of the Verdi Requiem under Riccardo Muti at the Musikverein in Vienna in October, and I'm thrilled to now have the chance to be an active participant in this epic work!

Barbe-Bleue video with Harnoncourt

I just ran across the YouTube video of our complete production of Barbe-Bleue from the Styriarte Festival in Graz in 2013!  See if you can spot me!!

 My solo starts from about 2:02:00 :D

Concert de Classe

Here we are - the singers and pianists of the "Séminaire d'art lyrique" in our final concert de classe in November.  We presented an evening of mélodie française - from Gounod to Beydts.  I sang "Banalités" by Poulenc with my good friend Jonathan Nemtanu at the piano.  Can you spot me?  It was to be my last performance at Université de Montréal.  Au revoir, mes amis!

Allerheiligen in Wien

This post is shamefully late; I should have posted at the beginning of November.  Apologies.

Here's a blurb about a quick trip to Vienna to audition for the Konzertvereinigung der Wiener Staasoper (the chorus of the Salzburg Festival).  It was a mad-dash...I received the invitation to audition on a Tuesday, and the next Tuesday I was on the plane!  I ran into Maestro Timothy Vernon on the plane from Toronto to Vienna...what a coincidence!  

I auditioned the same afternoon I arrived in Vienna, having been up for 36 hours in a dehydrating airplane.  Oh the joys of international auditions.

When I arrived at the Staatsoper for my audition, I looked around for a place to warm-up (of course there was none and I was was relegated to a bathroom).  After an hour of waiting outside the room I was supposed to be auditioning, with no one in sight, I finally asked a stage-hand if the audition room had been moved.  He said that yes indeed, they had.  (Great - thanks for telling me.) 

 So off I went to the other side of the building, and sure enough, there they were.

I checked in, and guess what - I was not even on their audition list!  (cue heart-attack - I had flown thousands of kilometres and spent piles of money for this audition).

Thankfully (or unthankfully), the Austrians are pretty relaxed, and they were able to fit me in.  So I chatted with some other singers I knew from Uni and the Stephansdom Choir and waited for my turn.

I arrived in the audition room, and was told that they hadn't received the e-mail I sent confirming that I would indeed be participating in the auditions.  Well, that explains it.  (I later discovered that they had received it, but had not "processed" it).

The audition went swimmingly, and I skipped off to meet my friend Nora at the Theater an der Wien, where we watched a production of "Idomeneo" that a few of my friends were performing in.

Then I had a few days to spend with friends and enjoy Vienna.

This is Sara-Bigna and I at the Musikverein in Vienna, witnessing the genius of Ricardo Muti conducting the Verdi Requiem.  Sara-Bigna surprised me with 2nd row seats on my last evening before leaving Vienna.  Talk about surround-sound!

Here's Sara-Bigna and I at the Zentral Friedhof, paying our respects to Schubert on Allerheiligen (All Saint's Day).  

The good news is that the audition was successful, and I did get offered a position in the Chorus of "Fidelio" at the Salzburg Festival.  But after reviewing the fine-print of my contract and crunching some numbers, I discovered that it wasn't going to be financially feasible to commit my summer to this project - especially since I was going to have to pay my own travel and accommodation expenses.  Again, the joys of international performing life :S

I've got the laughs on my side!

photo by Martin Lohoff

I am very happy to once again be performing Marcellina with my colleagues from the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Wien, this time in Münster with the EinKlang Philharmonie für Alle!  

Arndt Zinkant from the Westfälische Nachrichten reviewed our performance, and mentioned me: "Kathryn Humphries hat die Lacher auf ihrer Seite, sie gibt Marcellina als Wuchtbrumme mit Leoparden-Kragen". 

Here is the whole review:

file:///Users/kathrynhumphries/Downloads/1733834-EinKlang-praesentiert-Mozarts-Figaro-Mit-Wortwitz-und-Seitenhieben.html

la belle province once more

It's back to the land of smoked meat to finish my D.Mus at Université de Montréal!  It's going to be a busy year, with two recitals, my thesis defence, and a few courses to finish up...but I'm ready!!  I'm also excited to continue teaching harp and voice students :D
On y va!!