Christ Church Cathedral
Songs from the Mayflower with Ménestrel
Artists: Janelle Lucik, soprano & violin; Kerry Bursey, tenor & lute
Pre-concert Chat: TBD
Runtime: approximately 60 minutes
Ménestrel is a Canadian early music duo mixing ancient repertoire with Canadian oral folk traditions. Their sound is grounded in historical practice, yet their sensibility is disarmingly modern, shaped by the emotional clarity and immediacy of folk and popular styles. This concert features a beautiful programme of folksongs collected by Helen Creighton, Canada’s ‘First Lady of Folklore,’ who was responsible for amassing over 4,000 songs from across the Canadian Maritimes. Come hear music from the traditions that were present in Canada in the 17th and early 18th centuries, songs like “The Sea Captain”, “Fear a Bhata”, “She’s like the Swallow” and the Quebec traditional “À la Claire Fontaine” – a musical snapshot of the melodies and rhythms emblematic of Eastern Canada.
SELECTIONS FROM THE PROGRAMME:
(subject to change)
Come all ye old Comrades – traditional, Creighton Collection
The Sea Captain – traditional, Newfoundland folksong
Fear a Bhata – traditional, Creighton Collection
Ye Rambling Boys of Pleasure – traditional, Creighton Collection
The Blackbird – traditional, Creighton Collection
She’s like the Swallow – traditional, Newfoundland folksong
When I was in my Prime – traditional, Creighton Collection
À la Claire Fontaine – traditional, Quebec
Lochaber – traditional
Plains of Waterloo – traditional, Creighton Collection
Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood – traditional
Janelle Lucyk, soprano & violin
Janelle Lucyk is a leader among an emerging generation of Canadian artists specializing in old music and historically informed performance, taking ideas from conception to the stage. Janelle is Mécénat Musica’s 2025 Vocal Discovery of the Year. She has given concerts in all of Canada’s thirteen provinces and territories.
Janelle is the artistic director of Ménestrel, a Canadian early music ensemble combining ancient repertoire with research into Canada’s oral folk traditions. She is director of the series ArtChoral, featuring the professional vocal quartet in residence at Montreal’s iconic Art Deco concert hall Le 9e’s Grande Salle, which reopened in 2024 after a $15 million restoration. Following mentor and arts champion Barbara Butler, Janelle is Artistic and Administrative Director of Musique Royale (est. 1985), a music presenter based in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia which enriches historic spaces through the sharing of world class early music, and much more. Programming includes over seventy concerts throughout the year in venues across the spectacular maritime province.
Janelle was invited by legendary organist Xaver Varnus to perform two sold out performances in Hungary, including at the spectacular Bartók National Concert Hall in Budapest. She has had the good fortune of working as a soloist under five-time Grammy winner Paul Halley on many unforgettable concerts including Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 and Selva Morale e Spirituale and multiple Bach Passions.
Janelle graduated in 2014 with distinction from the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles in Belgium and completed her Masters in Management at Durham University in the UK, where she was awarded the Best Soloist by Music Durham, and Best Female Soloist by her peers. While in Europe, she formed Voces Desuper, an ensemble performing regularly in the magnificent Cathédrale de Saints-Michel-et-Gudule, and especially at the Te Deum ceremony for the King and Queen of Belgium.
Janelle is ever grateful to the Canada Council of the Arts, the Federal Department of Canadian Heritage, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Mécénat Musica, Arts Nova Scotia and Brent Rinaldi for their support.
Kerry Bursey, tenor & lute
Kerry Bursey is a Montréal-born Canadian tenor and plucked-string instrumentalist active on the international stage. A standout figure within Canada’s early music scene, he is praised for his “voice made of dreamy troubadouresque sweetness” (Ôlyrix), described as a “clear, ringing, pure-voiced tenor” (Early Music America), and lauded as a “complete artist” (La Scena Musicale). Equally sought after as a lutenist and guitarist, he is particularly recognized for his mastery of self-accompaniment, moving fluidly between Renaissance lute song, baroque arias, and folk traditions.
Kerry maintains a richly varied career as both singer and instrumentalist, performing repertoire that spans oratorio, one-per-part polyphony, continuo playing, and solo song. He has appeared as a soloist at major international venues and festivals including the Southbank Centre, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Ruhrtriennale, Park Avenue Armory, Manchester International Festival, Bregenzer Festspiele, and Holland Festival, with performances extending across Europe, America, and Asia.
He tours internationally with his ensemble Ménestrel, co-founded with soprano Janelle Lucyk. The ensemble explores both written and oral traditions, bridging historical repertoire with folk practices. In 2024, Ménestrel completed an exceptional pan-Canadian tour encompassing all provinces and territories. Kerry is also a member of Les Barocudas, the baroque group led by violinist Marie Nadeau-Tremblay. He was part of her latest album, Obsession, which has been awarded album of the year prize at the Prix Opus in the Early Music category, as well as a JUNO nomination for best classical album in the soloist category.
Beyond the classical world, Kerry is active as a session musician and creative collaborator across genres, from popular music to film and video games. He has composed and performed soundtracks for film and has notably contributed as a singer and instrumentalist to several entries in the Assassin’s Creed series.
Kerry holds a master’s degree in classical guitar from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and is a laureate of the 2012 Grand Prix de Guitare de Montréal.
