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Artists: Infusion Baroque, Mike Fan, actor
Infusion Baroque invites you to investigate the real-life murder of violinist-composer Jean-Marie Leclair, found stabbed to death in his home in Paris on October 23, 1764. Despite a thorough investigation and a plethora of suspects, no one was ever charged with the crime. Was it the composer’s estranged wife? A jealous colleague? Or something more sinister? Learn the details of the original investigation while enjoying a sumptuous program of music by the slain composer, and get to the bottom of Who Killed Leclair!
PROGRAMME
All works composed by Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764)
Deuxième Récréation de musique, Op. 8
Ouverture
Minuets
Trio sonata No. 3 in D-minor, Op. 4
Aria Allegro ma poco
Largo Sarabanda
Trio sonata in G minor, Op. 13 No. 3
Adagio
Allegro
Sonata No. 6 in C minor for violin and basso continuo, Op. 5
Allegro ma non tropo
Deuxième Récréation de musique, Op. 8
Chaconne
Tambourin
PROGRAMME NOTES
To read the programme notes and for more clues, click here.
Infusion Baroque
Infusion Baroque draws new audiences to early music through a truly captivating concert experience, deftly combining seasoned musicianship with theatrical elements. Playing music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries on historical instruments, the four women of Infusion Baroque enthrall audiences across North America with their creative and interactive programming.
Infusion Baroque’s performances have been described as “dynamic and alive” (Early Music America) with “polish, energy, and finely-honed style… merrily breaking established traditions” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). Winners of the Grand Prize and Audience Prize at the 2014 Early Music America Baroque Performance Competition, the ensemble charms audiences with its dynamic programs such as “Who Killed Leclair?” (an interactive murder mystery soirée based on the unsolved murder of the famous musician); “Rebels and Rivalries” (featuring scandalous stories from the lives of great composers); and “Son of a Bach!” (narrating the multigenerational saga of the famous musical family).
Infusion Baroque has released two recordings with the Canadian label Leaf Music to critical acclaim. The ensemble’s latest album, a world-premiere recording of quintets by Georg Anton Kreüsser, was nominated for an Opus Prize by the Conseil Québecois de la musique. According to Fanfare, “the playing of these musicians … is superb. They play with a liveliness and unforced energy that seems to grow naturally out of the music… combining spontaneity and abandon with technical perfection.” The ensemble’s debut recording of trio sonatas by C.P.E. Bach was described as “real baroque … gripping and full of character” (Radio-Canada).
Since 2017, Infusion Baroque has been exploring the lives of historical women performers through The Virtuosa Project. Fascinated by the great number of women who made their mark as musical performers despite considerable barriers and stigma, Infusion Baroque devoted an entire concert season in 2018-19 to exploring their lives and music. The ensemble also produced a web series which tells the story of four female musicians of the past, and is looking forward to producing a CD recording and documentary on this exciting topic to be released in 2021.
Infusion Baroque has appeared with major early music presenters across North America including the San Francisco Early Music Society, Early Music Now (Milwaukee), Columbus Early Music, Houston Early Music, and Indianapolis Early Music. In addition to its annual Montreal season, Infusion Baroque performs regularly in the greater Montreal area and has appeared in the Montreal Baroque Festival, Concerts Lachine, and with the Montreal Arts Council on Tour.
Mike Fan, actor
Mike joined CAEA (Canadian Actors’ Equity Association) as a Pacific Opera Victoria 2021-2022 Young Artist in their Civic Engagement Quartet, filming a gender-bending digital recital Tā (她 / 他) as well appearances and performances online and in the Victoria community. Mike’s versatile performances include opera, art song and concert, musical theatre, plays, and short film for organizations including Infusion Baroque, La Scena Musicale Magazine, Opéra McGill, Opera Laurier, YES Montréal, Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestras, Rainbow Reels Queer and Trans Film Festival, Guelph and tri-Pride, Concerti Fulmini, McGill’s Queer History Month, FUSE Art and Vera Causa Opera at Le Monument National, Tampere and Newcastle Conservatories, St. Mary’s Cathedral Sydney, Dalhousie Arts Centre, Winchester Street Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Trinity St. Paul’s, Hunter College, Centre St. Jax, and Kin Experience with. Mike’s training includes the Rossini Opera Festival’s Accademia Alberto Zedda, Canadian Opera Company Youth Opera Labs, Dr. Michael Warren’s Toronto and NYC Voice Intensives, Opera for All, Opera NUOVA, and Halifax Summer Opera.
Beginning as a baritone, Mike has performed the roles of Massenet’s Pandolfe (Cendrillon), Copland’s Top (The Tender Land), Rossini’s Don Alvaro (Il viaggio a Reims), Bizet’s Moralès (Carmen), Weill’s Henry Davis (Street Scene), Offenbach’s Schlémil (Les contes d’Hoffmann), and Heggie’s Fred (Again) as well as scenes as Rorem’s Mr. Webb (Our Town), Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Conte Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Gounod’s Valentin (Faust) and Mercutio (Roméo et Juliette), and Tchaikovsky’s Robert (Iolanta). As a tenor, Mike has performed the roles of Bizet’s Dancaïro and Don José (Carmen), Verdi’s Conte Ivrea (Il giorno di Regno), Britten’s Prologue (The Turn of the Screw), Rimsky’s Korsakov’s Indian Guest (Sadko), Livingston’s John (The Yellow Wallpaper), as well as scenes as Tchaikovsky’s Lensky (Eugene Onegin), Léhar’s Prince Sou-Chong (The Land of Smiles), Verdi’s Duca di Mantua (Rigoletto), Saint-Saën’s and Händel’s Samson (Samson and Delilah), and Mozart’s Tamino (The Magic Flute). Additionally, Mike created world premières of roles in operas by Miller, Hajdinjak, and Langan. Theatre and musical theatre roles include Shakespeare’s Malvolio (Twelfth Night), Theseus (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and Mercutio (Romeo and Juliet); Wilde’s Merriman (The Importance of Being Earnest); Sheridan’s Snake, Careless, and William (The School of Scandal); Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Lord Pinkleton and Jean-Michel (Cinderella); Sondheim’s Fredrik (A Little Night Music) and Paul (Company); and Bernstein’s Riff (West Side Story). Fluent in seven languages, Mike crosses disciplines as an arts and community leader most recently as PGSS Equity & Diversity Commissioner and McGill’s Queer Alumni Association (MQAA) and BIPOC Graduate Network co-founder.
Mike also enjoys surprising audiences as drag persona Tanya Smania (she) whose repertoire includes the title roles of Cilèa’s Adriana Lecouvreur, Bizet’s Carmen, Händel’s Agrippina as well as Tchaikovsky’s Tatiana (Eugene Onegin), Weill’s Rose (Street Scene), Puccini’s Mimì (La bohème), and Mozart’s Zerlina (Don Giovanni). Mike’s many concert and recital highlights include “Chez Pauline Viardot”, a SSHRC-funded recital in drag commemorating woman composer Pauline Viardot-García’s 2021 bicentennial; “Leaving Home”, showcasing immigrant composers and poets; and “Mom & Me”, a rare genderbent presentation of Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -Leben alongside Poulenc and Rachmaninov.
As Artistic Director of the ground-breaking company Opéra Queens, Mike aims to present classical vocal music in drag, gender-bent, and queerified while spotlighting IBPOC voices and living composers. Opéra Queens recently received a $50,000 Canada Council for the Arts Digital Now grant and currently unites artists across Ontario, Québec, and the US. Opéra Queens productions include “Drama Queens” including a commission for Morgan-Paige Melbourne for an Overture to Adriana Lecouvreur alongside Saint-Saëns, Purcell, Cilèa, Viardot-García, and Händel as well as “Latin Night”, featuring the Canadian and live première of Steven Sérpa and Zac Kline’s “these wings are meant to fly” alongside Bizet and Spanish women composers Malibran-García, Viardot-García, and von Martinez.
Mike has been an invited panelist for Teesri Duniya Theatre’s “Artist United Against Racism: Everybody Can Fight Racism”. Mike opened the 2021 From the Voice Of “Community in Conversation” series and has appeared on radio with CKUT 90.3 FM Montréal and CKWR 98.5 FM Kitchener-Waterloo.
Mike holds a Masters (MMus) in Opera and Voice Performance from McGill’s Schulich School of Music on full fellowship, 3 ARCT diplomas in Voice, Piano, and Speech Arts and Drama Performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music, and two Honours Bachelors from the University of Guelph in Biomedical Science (BScH, with Distinction) and from Sir Wilfrid Laurier University in Voice Performance (HBMus, with High Distinction) with minors in German and Italian studies. Mike is currently based at vibrant Toronto’s Harbourfront where they continue to enjoy work on and beyond the opera and theatre stage as an educator, poet, host, and pianist, holding executive positions with both the NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) Chapters of Ontario Montréal.
