BY KATHRYN-JANE HAZEL
It was a perceptive and enthusiastic music teacher at school who set soprano soloist Jane Long on her path towards an international singing career.
Long, 34, who grew up in Nanaimo, was a student at Queen Margaret’s School in Duncan when her teacher, Cynthia Maynard, saw the potential in her and offered to give her singing lessons outside of school hours.
“I haven’t stopped since,” said Long, who is one of the four soloists from the Vancouver Chamber Choir who will be performing with Malaspina Choir in ‘Mozart Requiem and More’ on Nov. 13 at 2:30 pm at St. Andrew’s United Church, 311 Fitzwilliam St.
She is excited about coming back to Nanaimo to perform with the Malaspina Choir and singing the Mozart Requiem is something she really enjoys.
“[It] is truly a magnificent piece of music,” she said. “It is full of recognizable themes that get stuck in your head, in a good way.”
Long used to be a member of the Vancouver Bach Choir and took singing lessons from Patricia Plumley, who is the artistic director of A Cappella Plus and the Vancouver Island Symphony Symphonic Choir in Nanaimo.
Long went on to get a master of music from the University of British Columbia, where her instructors were important musical influences and fostered her love of early music.
“They encouraged me to be involved in early music ensembles where I was able to do chamber music with instrumentalists, which I love. I was won over because I found the early music community to be so warm and collaborative,” she said.
After UBC, Long studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, U.K. After returning to North America, where she now lives in Washington State with her husband and three children, she began singing with several professional ensembles in the U.S. In Canada, she sings with Early Music, Arkora and Musica Intima in Vancouver as well as Victoria Baroque and the Victoria Symphony.
Tickets for the concert in Nanaimo are $25 for adults, $10 for youths under 25 and free for children under 12 and are available at the Port Theatre box office. For more information, visit www.malaspinachoir.com.
editor@nanaimobulletin.com
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