JUSTIN LAPIERRE & BEN WALLACE PRESENT
JUSTIN
LAPIERRE
THE GATHERERS
An
oratorio
jan dismas
zelenka
MISERERE
In C MINOR
ZWV 57
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KITCHENER AFTERNOON
Saturday, May 31 - 3:00 PM
St. John The Evangelist Anglican Church
23 Water St N, Kitchener, ON N2H 5A4
KITCHENER EVENING
Saturday, May 31 - 7:30 PM
St. John The Evangelist Anglican Church
23 Water St N, Kitchener, ON N2H 5A4
GUELPH
Sunday, June 1 - 3:00 PM
Dublin Street United Church
68 Suffolk St W, Guelph, ON N1H 2J2
We are proud to announce the world premiere of Justin Lapierre’s new choral work, The Gatherers, presented by over 30 young, local musicians. Skillfully interweaving two narratives through a blend of old and contemporary musical styles, The Gatherers explores the intrinsic connection of humans and communities to the environment. Paired with Justin’s new work is Zelenka’s Miserere in C minor, an impassioned cry for mercy in a time of unrest.
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Cassandra Amorim
Cassandra Amorim, soprano, is a Canadian artist of Portuguese and Romanian heritage, praised for her voice of “power and precision.” This season, she made her debut with Voicebox: Opera in Concert as Magda in Puccini’s La Rondine. This spring, she will attend the Bel Canto Academy at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance under the mentorship of Rachelle Jonck, and in the summer of 2025, she will continue her training at the Institute for Young Dramatic Voices.
Cassandra was the soprano soloist for Justin Lapierre’s One Thousand Shields of Gold, Stabat Mater, and Messe de Ste. Anne. In 2024, she returned to the Summer Opera Lyric Theatre to perform Mimì in Puccini’s La Bohème. Other recent credits include the Countess in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro with the Vienna–Tel Aviv Vocal Connection in Romania, and Miss Jessel in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, marking her debut with Grand River Opera. Other roles include Hélène in Hindemith’s Hin und Zurück, Mrs. Jenks in Copland’s The Tender Land, Madame Lidoine in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, and Madame Defarge in Arthur Benjamin’s A Tale of Two Cities.
Also an accomplished violinist, Cassandra served as principal violinist of the Kitchener-Waterloo Youth Orchestra. She is a graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Toronto’s Opera School.
Grace Ronan
Grace Ronan completed her BMus in Voice Performance at Laurier in 2024 and is currently working towards her MMus in Opera at the University of Toronto. In October, Grace received second prize in the finals for the Norcop Prize in Song at UofT. This summer she is looking forward to performing the role of Widow in The Handmaid’s Tale at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Recent performance highlights include Dorabella in Così fan tutte (UofT Opera), Queen Arete in Castaway (UofT Opera), the Witch in Into the Woods (Opera Laurier), Meg March in Little Women (Opera Laurier), and Flora in La traviata (Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony). Grace was honoured to be the alto soloist in the premiere of Justin Lapierre’s Messe de Ste Anne and One Thousand Shields of Gold and she is very excited about this year’s premiere! She is always grateful to perform alongside this group of talented musicians and friends.
Autumn Debassige
Autumn Debassige is a singer of First Nations heritage with a “rich and expressive” voice, whose performances have been described as ‘lovely and stylish…wonderful, varied and consistently engaging.’
A versatile freelance soloist, Autumn has been featured by Spiritus Ensemble, Guelph Chamber Choir, The Cellar Singers, Symphony in the Barn, and by the Elora Festival in the inaugural roster of their Vocal Academy. She has appeared on stage at Niagara’s former Oh Canada Eh Dinner Theatre and performed in Windsor Symphony Orchestra’s Wild, Wild West and Fiddlin’ Around concerts. Most recently, Autumn was alto soloist for the world premiere of Justin Lapierre’s One Thousand Shields of Gold; for J.S. Bach’s Cantata 23 Du wharer Gott, performed by the professional Parish Choir of St. John’s Elora; for The Cellar Singers’ performances of Messiah, H.M.S. Pinafore and Duruflé Requiem; and for Symphony in the Barn’s Messiah Amongst the Cows.
Autumn is an active recitalist who has participated in the new Art of Lied Mastercourse offered by Daniel Lichti and Laetitia Bougnol, and has sung in concert series at St. John’s (Elora), Yorkminster Park and St. James’ Cathedral (Toronto), First United Church (Waterloo), St. Andrew’s and St. John’s (Kitchener), Copperlight (Stratford), St. Paul’s Cathedral (London) and St. James’ Anglican Church (Orillia).
Solo work aside, Autumn teaches voice at Uptown School of Music (Waterloo) and sings alto in KW’s Spiritus Ensemble as well as in the professional Parish Choir at St. John’s, Elora. She is a graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University’s Faculty of Music (BMus, Hons. Theory 2016), having studied voice with Leslie Fagan and piano with Dr. Joe Ferretti; she is an alumna of The Ontario Youth Choir (2017); and she holds an Advanced Diploma in Music Theatre Performance from St. Clair College (2019).
Autumn is currently under the tutelage of Dr. Elizabeth Lepock, with occasional coaching from Daniel Lichti.
Xander Bechard
Xander Bechard is a performer and private voice instructor at Whole Tone Music based in Kitchener-Waterloo. An alumnus of Wilfrid Laurier University (BMus ’23), they studied privately with Kimberly Barber for four years. They have participated as a tenor soloist in the three previous choral works by Justin Lapierre: Messe de Ste. Anne, Stabat Mater and One Thousand Shields of Gold. He has also premiered various other works, having played the role of Brayden in the new musical Why I Said Goodbye by Maia Coates and singing the role of Guard in the new opera Cells of Wind by Anna Höstman. Other notable credits include Emcee in Cabaret, Nicely-Nicely Johnson in Guys & Dolls (KWMP), Narrator in Into the Woods, and Laurie in Mark Adamo’s Little Women (Opera Laurier). A frequent concert singer, Xander enjoys every opportunity to perform in different community settings, having sung in the February Pinch Cabaret Variety Show as well as singing two duo concerts with Ben Wallace at the W. Ross Macdonald School for the Blind. Most recently, they could be seen working backstage as assistant director on the Opera Laurier production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro directed by Mabel Wonnacott. Xander is a member of the trio “Chatham’s Three Tenors” with two concerts scheduled for September in Kincardine and Chatham. This year Xander is slated to portray Papa Ogre/Little Pig in Shrek the Musical with Drayton Entertainment.
STRINGS
Violin I Kai Rousseau
Violin II Kaitlynn Cook
Viola Jaedon Daly
Cello Philip Spence
Double Bass Ian Whitman
WINDS & CONTINUO
Flute Rachel Roe-Wu
Bassoon Taran Massey-Singh
Oboe Katrina Keeler
Oboe Jason Dechen Fan
Harpsichord Justin Lapierre
SOPRANOS
Danielle Aprile
Darielle Chomyn-Davison
Julia Gwyn
Cathleen Leone
Jacquelyn Morley
Sydney O'Brien
Kenzie Spoltore
ALTOS
Kaitlyn Bergbusch
Delaney Dam
Autumn Debassige
Simone Lemieux
Grace Ronan
Caroline Schmidt
Lindsay Scott
TENORS
Wil Ainsbury
Xander Bechard
Jerome Chang
Quade Nielsen
BASSES
Drew Aarssen
Daniel Cockayne
Victor Fan
Roland Kessler
Connor King
Evan Rueb
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Justin Lapierre
Justin Lapierre has studied composition with influential Canadian composers such as Joanne Bender, Glenn Buhr, Linda Catlin-Smith, Cameron McKittrick, Iman Habibi, and Christos Hatzis. He has also studied piano with Amber Morphy, and both piano and harpsichord with Leslie De'Ath.
Justin holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition from Wilfrid Laurier University and a Master of Music degree in Composition from the University of Toronto. Justin’s works have been programmed by many notable ensembles including the Canadian Chamber Choir, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the DaCapo Chamber Choir, and the Menno Singers.
Ben Wallace
Ben Wallace is a “versatile and vocally powerful” (Opera Canada) baritone, conductor, pianist, and teacher. He completed his MMus degree at the University of Toronto this year and will be joining the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio this August. Ben was a winner of the 2025 Toronto Mozart Vocal Competition, recipient of the Laurier Alumni Gold Medal, and a winner of the Laurier Concerto Competition. Recent operatic highlights include Guglielmo in Così fan tutte (UofT Opera), Figaro in The Barber of Seville (Highlands Opera Studio), Prospero in Tempest Songbook (UofT Opera), Pandolfe in Cendrillon (UofT Opera), Billy Bigelow in Carousel (Cambridge Symphony/P&P), Le Dancaïre/Moralès in Carmen (SOLO), John Brooke in Little Women (Opera Laurier), and Barone Douphol/Dottore Grenvil in La traviata (KW Symphony). Last summer, Ben travelled to the Banff Centre to workshop a new opera by Ian Cusson and Royce Vavrek. Later in June, he will be playing Top in Toronto City Opera’s production of The Tender Land. On the concert stage, Ben has performed as the baritone soloist for Messiah, the Requiems of Fauré, Duruflé, and Brahms, Bach’s Ascension Oratorio, and various Bach cantatas with organizations including the Grand Philharmonic Choir, Grand River Chorus, Symphony in the Barn, Arcady Ensemble, the Guelph Male Choir, Chor Amica, and Spiritus Ensemble. Ben has served as the music director for productions of Cabaret, Matilda, Legally Blonde (Royal City Musical Productions), Company, The Last Five Years, In View: The Lyrics of Gord Downie (Downtown Theatre Project), and 13 the Musical (Guelph Little Theatre). Ben is honoured to be conducting the fourth annual Lapierre premiere with this incredible group of musicians!