Wilfrid Laurier University's Faculty of Music will host a gala event featuring Isabel Bayrakdarian, a four-time Juno Award-winning opera singer and Laurier honorary degree recipient, and the brilliant Penderecki String Quartet, Laurier's Quartet-in-Residence. The dinner and concert, which takes place May 14 at Lazaridis Hall on Laurier's Waterloo campus, will also launch the faculty's Making Space for Music fundraising campaign to renovate and expand the Faculty of Music facilities.
Isabel Bayrakdarian has sung regularly at all the major opera houses, including Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Canadian Opera Company, Los Angeles Opera, Salzburg Festival, London's Royal Opera House and Paris Opera. As an ever-active concertizer, she's also appeared with the premier orchestras of North America and Europe. She is currently on the Voice Faculty at University of California Santa Barbara, serving as associate professor. As well as performing at the gala, Bayrakdarian will be giving a VoiceLab masterclass for select Laurier Voice students.
"I'm thrilled to come back to Wilfrid Laurier University to perform with the wonderful Penderecki String Quartet, in support of the Making Space for Music campaign. Laurier holds a very special place in my heart, and I'm honoured to be part of its growth and exciting future."
The Penderecki String Quartet (PSQ), featuring Jeremy Bell, Katie Schlaikjer, Jerzy Kaplanek and Christine Vlajk, has been performing internationally for three decades and has been the Quartet-in-Residence at Laurier for 27 years. The PSQ performs a wide range of repertoire from "Haydn to Zappa" as well as premiering new works.
A portion of the ticket price to this one-of-a kind concert - this is the first time these two acts have performed together - will go towards the Music Faculty's Making Space for Music Campaign. The campaign will support the renovation and expansion of Laurier's current music building, transforming it into a vastly improved space for teaching, practising, rehearsing and performing. An exceptional new entranceway, lobby and practice rooms will allow increased opportunity for music students to develop their craft and the public to take part in Laurier's music programming, while creating a dramatic new gateway to Laurier's Waterloo campus along University Avenue.
