Artist Bios.

From left: Emily Grieve, Faye Stollery, Clint Hagel

Emily Grieve is originally from Cranbrook, B.C. She attended the University of Lethbridge where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Piano Performance. After pursuing some graduate work in musicology, Grieve continued her performance studies with David Tutt at the Alberta College Conservatory of Music. Her love of German Lied and vocal repertoire led her to work as a collaborative pianist at the University of Alberta and Alberta College. Grieve has participated as a pianist in the Opera Nuova summer intensive program, and has taken part in many public masterclasses, recitals, and festivals. Teaching has been an important part of Grieve's musical activities since she started giving lessons as an advanced piano student in her home town. She is currently on faculty at Alberta College Conservatory of Music where she teaches students of all ages. Grieve's enthusiasm for music history allows her to provide students with information about different styles and composers. She also enjoys reading and writing poetry, and has been a proud member of the Edmonton Stroll of Poets for the past year.

Faye Stollery is a local performer, creator, graduate of the University of Alberta Drama Honours Program, certified yoga and meditation instructor, vocalist, and One-Yellow-Labbit. By day she works at the Conservatory of Music at MacEwan University where she runs Confidence Building and Stage Presence workshops. She is most recently known for her character, Lucille, in Something Raunchy (Happy Accident Clown Collective) and in Prussian Blue (Fool’s Cold Cabaret). Select performances include Little Women (Rutherford House), Paula & Strom(Nextfest), Sweet Pea & Dumpy in Coming (Faemie Productions), The Flood (Mischief & Mayhem Theatre), One Hundred Days of Sunlight (Nextfest) & A Midsummer Night’s Dream (U of A). Select directing: Urban Tales 12 (NLT), Vin Oh (New Works), and Children of a Lesser God (U of A).

Clint Hagel received his Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Saskatchewan, where he studied under Chris Kelly.  Clint taught voice in both Saskatoon and North Battleford before moving to Edmonton in the fall of 2007.  In January 2008 he was invited to join the Voice Faculty of the Alberta College Conservatory of Music, MacEwan University Edmonton. Clint has sung with the University of Saskatchewan Greystone Singers as a Section Leader, the University of Saskatchewan Music Theatre Ensemble, as a touring member of the Saskatoon Opera Association’s Opera in the Schools Campaign, and the Winnipeg and Edmonton International Fringe Festivals in partnership with Ron Long as IL DUO.  Clint’s community involvement includes directing a Children’s Choir, directing a Children’s Music Theatre Ensemble, Directing a Women's Choir, leading sectional workshops for school music productions, and providing piano accompaniment for various musical endeavours. Clint is active as a performer and an adjudicator.

Composer and pianist, Jesse Plessis 

Pianist and composer Jesse Plessis obtained a Master of Music degree (Performance and Literature) in 2013 from Brandon University where he studied piano with Megumi Masaki and composition with Patrick Carrabre. His Bachelor of Music degree is from the University of Lethbridge where he studied piano with Deanna Oye and composition with Arlan Schultz and Rolf Boon. He is currently the artistic director of the Centric Festival, Lethbridge, Alberta's summer classical music festival.

Plessis has been awarded prizes both in piano and composition, and has performed as a guest artist with several ensembles including the Musaeus String Quartet, members of the Land’s End Chamber Ensemble, and the International Piano Ensemble.

He has had the opportunity to give the Canadian premieres of works by Marcel Bergmann, Kaija Saariaho, John Corigliano, Nico Muhly, and Kjartan Olafsson. Recent performances include those with New West Theatre, at the Casalmaggiore Festival in Italy, the Dark Music Days Festival in Iceland, and at the Banff Centre.

A sometime conductor, Plessis has directed performances with the Brandon University New Music Ensemble, the Brandon University Orchestra, and several musical theatre productions.

Jesse Plessis shares some words on his WW1 song cycle, My Company:

The song cycle "My Company" was written for a baritone singer Aaron Bartholomew, who is currently active in the Calgary area and is one of the best friends I've ever had. He lived the first thirteen years of his life in Portsmouth, England, which I think gave him a cultural predisposition to be interested in Naval and Military history. When I first made the suggestion to write a work for the two of us to perform together he was immediately enthused about the idea but it took us some time (a year or so by my memory) to find a suitable text. Ever the scholar, it was Aaron who brought an anthology of World War I poetry back to our dormitory one Autumn afternoon, and we both agreed straight away that the Herbert Read set was the strongest in the anthology and would lend itself well to a musical setting.

What I found most affecting about Read's poetry set was the combination of abject bleakness (which one would expect from much war-time art) and the fraternity and humility born out of those most dire environs - the trenches.