Schulich School of Music and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra Academy
The Schulich School of Music at McGill University is now one of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra Academy’s collaborating organizations, joining founding participants The Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music. This unique program returns for its fourth year of three-week intensive training beginning on January 8, 2017. Selected student instrumentalists perform in the opening night of the COC’s production of Götterdämmerung with the COC Orchestra, give public performances featuring members of the COC Orchestra and COC opera singers, and take part in masterclasses and private sessions with singers, members of the COC artistic administration and visiting music staff. The first Schulich to participate in the program will be Artist Diploma student Jung Tsai, violin.
“Having the Schulich School of Music come on board marks an exciting evolution in the development of the Orchestra Academy,” says Nina Draganić, Director of the COC’s Ensemble Studio and Orchestra Academy. “It allows the COC to go beyond the borders of Toronto when connecting with student players.”
“We are so pleased to offer our students the opportunity to acquire professional experience at the highest level through the COC Orchestra Academy,” says Stéphane Lemelin, Chair of the Department of Performance at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University. “Working in a top-level opera house with leading singers under the mentorship of experienced instrumentalists from the COC Orchestra promises to be a transformative learning experience for the program’s participants. We are indeed grateful to the COC for this precious collaboration.”
Violinist Jung Tsai is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma with Schulich School of Music at McGill University. She received her Bachelor of Music from Mannes College in New York and a Master’s from DePaul School of Music in Chicago. In addition to solo performances, Tsai is an orchestral and chamber musician, and has played with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago from 2012 to 2014, serving as assistant concertmaster from 2012 to 2013. Tsai has been invited to perform at the Schleswig-Holstein and Britten-Pears music festivals and in 2015, her string quartet was invited to Festival de Música de Santa Catarina in Brazil. She is also the recipient of the 2015 Luminarts Fellowship in the string category.
