The beautifully ornate, wedding-cake style Sharon Temple will provide an appropriate backdrop for a solo recital by soprano Stefanie True, a York Fine Arts alumna, on Sunday, May 16, at 2pm. The recital, Love in Spring, will take place at the Sharon Temple national historic site, located at 18974 Leslie Street in the picturesque village of Sharon, just north of Newmarket at the north end of Hwy 404.
Right: Stefanie True
True’s concert will feature art songs by Hugo Wolf, Gabriel Faure, John Fleming, Francis Poulenc and W.A. Mozart, plus three arias from George Frideric Handel’s Acis and Galatea, with piano accompaniment by York contract faculty member Raisa Nakhmanovich.
Admission to the concert is $18, students & seniors $15. For further information and tickets, call 905-478-2389.
About Stefanie True
Stefanie True graduated from York in 2003 with a BFA in music. For three years, she was a student of internationally renowned Canadian mezzo, York Professor Catherine Robbin (right), in the classical vocal performance program. Upon graduating last spring, she successfully competed with 800 other singers from around the world for a spot in the prestigious Britten-Pears Young Artist Program in Aldeburgh, England.
True currently sings professionally with the celebrated Elmer Iseler Singers, a 20-voice chamber choir led by Lydia Adams (left), recognized as one of Canada’s leading ensembles. She has just returned from a tour of British Columbia with the choir that included performances in Vancouver, Victoria, Saltspring Island, Kelowna and Penticton. The tour will be followed by the choir’s 25th anniversary celebration concert in Toronto on May 14.
This summer, True will be appearing with the Elmer Iseler Singers at the Festival of the Sound, which is likewise marking its 25th anniversary in Parry Sound on the shores of Georgian Bay. The festival will take place July 16 to August 8.
After that, this talented young artist is heading off to Germany to join the Bach Festival Ensemble. A 60-voice choir selected by international audition, the ensemble will spend several weeks rehearsing near Lake Konstanz before taking the stage at the Bach Festival in Stuttgart under the baton of Helmuth Rilling, one of the world’s leading choral conductors.
About the Sharon Temple
In the 1820s, a small idealistic community called The Temple of the Children of Peace, led by charismatic religious leader David Willson, fashioned a dramatic architectural testament to its vision. The Temple of the Children of Peace at Sharon (Sharon Temple, left) is now a national historic site. Its grounds encompass a dozen historic buildings in a park-like setting.