Recently there have emerged new Canadian classical music artists. We have selected three of them to discuss about in this article: David John Pike, Edith Wiens and Louise Bessette.
David John Pike is a baritone, born in Canada, who has a diverse repertoire that covers oratorio, opera, early music, symphonic, and commissioned works. In his native country, across Europe and in the UK, David John Pike has worked with important ensembles such as, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Schweizerkammerchor and London Philharmonic, and under the guidance of Christophers, Marriner, Jurowski, Rattle, Mehta, Dutoit and Zinman. Nowadays he has an increasing reputation as a concert soloist and as an operatic.
Edith Wiens is a Canadian soprano, one of the classical music artists who have a versatile, beautiful voice and assured musicality. She has managed to own a wide repertoire, ranging from baroque music to contemporary music. During her career she has collaborated with the most famous orchestras and conductors in the world. She collaborated with the following London, New York, Munich, Berlin and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras; the London Philharmonia; Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Toronto and Montreal Symphonies; the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields; Cleveland and Dresden Staatskapelle Orchestras; Orchestre National de France and Orchestre de Paris, under conductors such as: Charles Dutoit, Sir Colin Davis, Daniel Barenboim, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Neville Marriner, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Kurt Masur and Wolfgang Sawallisch.
Born in Montreal, Louise Bessette is another of the new classical music artists. She is an elegant and at the same time exciting concert pianist, standing out as one of the pre-eminent artists of classical music of our times. Her extensive repertoire combined with the impeccable delivery have led to her appreciation, winning many of the most prestigious honors, among which he mention: the First Prize at the Eckhardt-Gramatté Canadian Music Competition in 1981, the First Prize and the Special Prize for Piano at the International Gaudeamus Competition held in Rotterdam in 1989, and the First Prize at the Concours International de Musique Contemporaine held in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, in 1986.
At the age of 5, Louise Bessette began studying piano. She won her first 5 prizes from the Montreal Conservatory, for chamber music in 1979 and piano in 1980 (under the direction of Georges Savaria and Raoul Sosa). She perfected her skills in New York, under the direction of Eugene List, and after that she went to Paris, where she studied under the guidance of Jay Gottlieb, Dominique Merlet, Claude Helffer and Yvonne Loriod.
