EDWARD FRANKO ARTISTIC DIRECTOR TRYPTYCH CONCERT AND OPERA

Brampton, Ontario born Edward Franko has distinguished himself as one of Canada's most energetic and experienced stage directors. His career has also included stints as producer, artistic director, educator, actor and lyric tenor. Mr. Franko has been hailed for his vivid imagination and his unique interpretations of theatre, traditional and contemporary opera and musical theatre. He has developed a large operatic directing repertoire while working with Opera Anonymous, TrypTych, Opera York, Opera Mississauga, and many others. His innovative stagings have included successful productions of Menotti's The Consul, Menotti's The Medium, Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress; Puccini's Il Tabarro, Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte and Puccini's La Boheme.

Mr. Franko has been instrumental in the formation and development of such groups as Songstar Productions, Opera Anonymous (where he acted as chairman of the board, managing director and production director) and TrypTych, a group he co-founded along with William Shookhoff and Lenard Whiting. With TrypTych, he has directed Poulenc's La Voix Humaine, Mihalovici's operatic version of Krapp's Last Tape, and Weisgall's operatic version of The Stranger. As well, he has directed the play Krapp Last's Tape by Samuel Beckett and the play The Stranger by August Strindberg. Mr. Franko directed and performed in Mahagonny Songspiel for Tryptych. He also acted as staging consultant for Beethoven’s Fidelio and the Canadian premiere of Hugo Wolf’s only opera, Der Corregidor. He directed many Orion House productions including Golden Moments in Opera and Music for the Soul. Mr. Franko also directed Opera Anonymous' English language world premiere of Joseph Quesnel's Lucas et Cecile at the Glenn Gould Studio which garnered rave reviews. Most recently, he has directed the Canadian Premiere of Frid's The Diary of Anne Frank to critical acclaim.
Most recently, he made his successful European directorial debut with his original production of Frid's The Diary of Anne Frank at the Three Rings Festival in Prague, Czech Republic. As well, he stage directed Britten's The Beggar's Opera as part of the inaugural Summer Opera School in Chichester, Great Britain.

One of Mr. Franko's latest projects has been the Toronto International Chamber Music Festival, which made its debut in the summer of 2003, returned in 2004 and 2006.. As producer, director and performer, he, along with his partners Lenard Whiting and William Shookhoff, have laid the groundwork for an annual music event of international stature.

Active as an opera educator, Mr. Franko has worked with The Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto (Rodelinda, Magic Flute); Creative Artist's Productions (Cosi Fan Tutte, The Impresario, Orpheus in the Underworld, Old Maid and the Thief ); Opera Anonymous (Abduction from the Seraglio) and JHS Opera (Il Trittico, Lucia di Lamermoor). Until recently he was on staff with Pro Voce Vocal Studio's opera workshop where he directed Gianni Schicchi, In a Garden, Hin und Zuruck, Old Maid and the Thief, Suor Angelica and The Medium.

He regularly acts as stage director for Yoriko and Her Shooting Stars in Ottawa, a programme aimed at educating youth about opera, and that has featured the esteemed Stuart Hamilton as narrator. As well, he has acted as the original Artistic Director of Bytown Opera Works (Ottawa, Ontario). With TrypTych, he has helped develop its workshop division and has stage directed Rigoletto, The Tales of Hoffman, The Most Happy Fella, The Boys from Syracuse, A Kurt Weill Kabaret, Send in the Sondheim, Little Women and many others.

As a professional tenor, Mr. Franko has many oratorio and opera roles to his credit. In oratorio, he has been heard in Messiah, Mozart's Requiem, Elgar's Coronation Ode, Haydn's St. Cecilia Mass and many others. His operatic roles include Lensky in Eugene Onegin, Charles Darwin in The Leviathan Hook, Charlie in Weill's Mahagonny Songspiel and the lead fowl in Doolittle's Charlie the Chicken. He has made many cabaret appearances in shows including Another Opening, Another Show, Life is a Cabaret, Heart Songs, Heart and Soulstice, Brush up Your Tenor, Holly Jolly Christmas Cabaret and many others. He has performed with the Canadian Opera Company, Opera Ontario, Opera York, Opera Anonymous, Maritime Concert Opera and many others. He is also a founding member of Quartetto di Voce, a vocal ensemble dedicated to the art of the small vocal ensemble. He also sings regulary at Church of the Holy Family in Toronto, as part of a professional quartet that specializes in Gregorian Chant and Renaissance Polyphony.

LENARD WHITING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR ENSEMBLE TRYPTYCH CHAMBER CHOIR

Kenora, Ontario born, LENARD WHITING has sung professionally for the past two decades. Over the course of his distinguished career he has worked with the Canadian Opera Company, Opera in Concert, Vancouver Opera Company, Toronto Operetta Theatre, Summer Opera Lyric Theatre, Opera Anonymous, Opera York, Maritime Concert Opera in Nova Scotia and Opera Mississauga.
His many oratorio performances include Bach’s St. Matthew and St. John Passion, Weihnachts Oratorium and Magnificat, Britten’s St. Nicholas, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Handel’s Messiah and Ode on the Death of Queen Elizabeth, Haydn’s Creation and various Masses, Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang and Elijah, Mozart’s Requiem, Masses and Vespers, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria and Vaughan Williams' Hodie and Serenade to Music.

Among his memorable appearances were an evening celebrating English composers, most notably Benjamin Britten, at an Opera Anonymous/Tryptych Productions performance in Toronto, and at a highly successful presentation of Sir Edward Elgar's Dream of Gerontius, one of the greatest choral works to come from a British composer since Purcell, brought to Toronto audiences by the Pax Christi Chorale with Lenard singing the part of Gerontius.
Equally at ease with lieder recitals, particularly with his interpretation of Franz Schubert's Die Winterreise and Schumann's Dichterliebe, Lenard represented Canada at a four-continent-wide Chamber Music Festival, Lebensstürme, which had a most successful inauguration in May 2001 in Austria and which immediately resulted in an invitation for Lenard to participate again in 2002 in Austria, Australia, Canada, and Japan.

Lenard's repertoire includes Bruckner's Mass in F minor, recitals in Eastbourne, Chichester and Portsmouth, England, the Festival in Austria, and a concert series with Princess Caroline Murat of Monaco, performances at Place des Artes, Montreal. In July 2002 Lenard was a featured soloist in a gala concert presented to Pope John Paul II during his visit to Toronto. Most recently he performed in the Toronto International Chamber Music Festival, where, among other things, he sang the Canadian premiere of Andrew Ager's Campfire in the Sun song cycle. Lenard recently made his Nova Scotia debut at the inaugural concert and consequent concerts with the newly-formed Maritime Concert Opera, in a programme of opera arias and duets performed in Liverpool, Lunenburg and Halifax to very enthusiastic audiences! Consequent performances have included Cavalleria Rusticana, and working with Opera Nova Scotia. Recent performances have included performing the role of Evangelist in both Bach's St. Matthew and St. John Passions including performances in March 2006 at St. James' Cathedral Toronto with members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Choirs of St. James' Cathedral, University of Toronto at Scarborough Concert Choir and Ensemble TrypTych Chamber Choir in the dual roles as Evangelist and Conductor. This past October Lenard participated in the International Bach Symposium in the Conducting Masterclasses under the esteemed direction of Maestro Helmuth Rilling.

Lenard was born in Kenora, Ontario, and educated at the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto. He lives in Toronto where he is also active as a conductor, music educator (both privately and with the University of Toronto), Co-founder/producer of TrypTych Productions, "Canada's Advocates of the Vocal Arts", and church organist and choir director at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Toronto. Lenard enthusiastically shares his passion of music with all with whom he comes in contact.

WILLIAM SHOOKHOFF ARTISTIC DIRECTOR EMERITUSE TRYPTYCH C

WILLIAM SHOOKHOFF is a noted conductor, pianist and vocal coach throughout Canada and abroad. He has conducted Canadian orchestras from coast to coast, as well as in the Netherlands and China. He has served on the music faculties of the Universities of Toronto, Alberta, Wilfrid Laurier, as well as the Banff Centre for the Arts and the Johannesen Summer Institute of Music. He has been on the Music Staff of the Canadian, Netherlands, Edmonton, and Portland (Oregon) Opera Companies. Equally at home in Music Theatre, Mr Shookhoff was the Associate Conductor of the inaugural Canadian production of Les Miserables, and of the Canadian Tour and Toronto productions of Phantom of the Opera. He has been a guest Music Director with Neptune Theatre (Halifax), Persephone Theatre (Saskatoon), and Citadel Theatre (Edmonton). Recent guest appearances as opera coach and orchestra conductor have taken him to Chichester, England, Burgundy, France, Sieggraben, Austria; and Wuhan, China.He has also devoted his efforts to the development and presentation of the Massed Piano or Monster Concert, and has conducted such events at Carnegie Hall, New York; Massey Hall and Nathan Philips Square, Toronto; the White House, Washington, DC; and the Castel Sant’Angelo, Rome.

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TrypTych's Performances