Layla Claire, 23, grew up in Penticton, B.C. where she attended the Penticton Academy of Music, studying with Helga Tucker.  She received a B.Mus in 2004 and will complete an M.Mus in 2005 from the University of Montréal.  A former student of Rosemarie Landry, Layla has been studying with Catherine Sévigny. Layla has participated in masterclasses with John Norris, Shirley Verrett, Roger Vignoles, Paul Stewart, Michael McMahon, and Mark Pedrotti.

Her summer activities have included UBC’s summer vocal workshop (1999) and the Banff Centre for the Arts â€"Song in Collaboration” Summer Program with Edith Wiens and Iain Burnside (2002).  In 2005 she attended the International Vocal Arts Institute in Montréal on scholarship.  She has twice received the George Cedric-Ferguson Scholarship from the University of Montréal, as well as a scholarship for her Master’s program, and has received many other scholarships and awards including four from the BC Arts Council.

Winner of many BC provincial festival awards, Layla was a semi-finalist in the 2000 Jeunesses Musicales Voice Competition. She also won the 2003 CBC Concours Jeunes Artistes (with a broadcast on la Chaine-culturelle), was a national finalist representing Quebec in the 2002 Canadian Music Competition, and was named â€"Most Promising Performer” by NATS-Montréal in 2000 & 2002.  Layla was First Prize winner of the 2005 Eckhardt-Gramatté Music Competition, which included an additional prize: the Jean A. Chalmers Award of the Canadian Opera Volunteer Committee.  She also received the City of Brandon Prize for the best performance of the new work annually commissioned by the E-gré Competiiton.

She has sung the roles of Gianetta (L’elisir d’amore), â€"Soprano Soloist” in Purcell’s Fairy Queen, Tytania (Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream), Electra (Idomeneo), and Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi) with l’Atelier d’opera at the University of Montréal, most recently performing Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) in February 2005.  Layla has performed frequently in concert works by Orff, Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Purcell, Monteverdi and Gounod, and presented recitals in both Banff & Montréal.  In addition to a nationwide tour this fall as the E-gré Competition winner, she will perform Britten’s Les Illuminations with the Montréal Chamber Orchestra in March 2006.

Adam Johnson, pianist / conductor

Adam Johnson was raised in Hinton, Alberta, and discovered a passion for music at age 16.  He completed his B.Mus at the University of Alberta with Stéphane Lemelin, and also holds a Masters and an Artist Diploma from the University of Montréal, where he studied with Marc Durand and Jean Saulnier.  Other teachers have included André Laplante, Anton Kuerti, Angela Cheng, and Kevin Fitzgerald, with studies at the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Orford Arts Centre, and Calgary’s Morningside Music Bridge. In summer 2005, Adam returned to the Banff Centre on the Marek Jablonski scholarship to study with Julian Martin of the Juilliard School.  He has participated in masterclasses with Sergei Babayan, Gil Kalish, Dang Tai Son, cellist Janos Starker, and many others.

Adam has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Montréal, Edmonton, Calgary, and rural Alberta, and has been broadcast on CBC Radio.  A frequent participant in benefit concerts, he has raised over $5000 for Habitat for Humanity.  Adam has an avid interest in orchestral conducting and made his début in 2001. He has been rehearsal conductor for the Edmonton Youth Orchestra, assistant conductor of the University of Alberta Symphony Orchestra, and this past summer conducted the Banff Festival Orchestra with piano soloist Donna Lee.

A member of the award-winning University of Alberta Madrigal Singers, Adam also played tuba in the UofA Concert Band. He taught Harmony at the University of Montréal for two years, and is currently a Doctoral candidate there, studying with Durand and Saulnier.