Voices for the Season

An evening of local music to celebrate the holidays featuring Island artists:

Mariko Osa Nicholson

Originally from Japan, Mariko  graduated from Theatre Performance Program at Holland College School of Performing Arts in 2017.

Prior to SOPA, Mariko began her training with 8 years of piano lessons as well as several years of voice lessons. Other Education includes Royal Conservatory of Music and training in Musical Theatre and Opera as a Soprano singer.

Recent experience includes being a member of Luminos Ensemble a professional choir group, singing in the Confederation Centre Choir as well as Trinity United Church Choir and as a Soloist.

This year, she performed for the Diversity Festival, which was broadcasted nationally and streamed in September. In 2018, Mariko sang at the Indian River Festival and has performed in her own Opera Recital “A Night at the Opera” in 2017.

Mariko will be accompanied by Jennifer Collins on piano.

Victor Cal Y Mayor

Born in Chiapas (Southern Mexico), Victor Cal y mayor received his early musical formation in traditional Mexican and Spanish music. Victor developed an outstanding fondness to orchestral music and opera works when exposed at home and church. In 2016, he joined the School of the Performing Arts at Holland College, Canada. The year of 2017 marked a milestone in his young career for he was hired to do recitals in Liege (Belgium), Maastricht (Netherlands) and Paris (France). His voice has been heard in Notre Dame Cathedral and Le Palais Garnier captivating an international audience.  

Luisa Guiza & Tom Gammons

Luisa Guiza has a passion for the ways we communicate. From her hometown of Villavicencio, Colombia to the chaotic capital city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, she has experienced a unique cross-section of South American life, and found guidance in listening intently to the people she has befriended along the way. In this way, Luisa found herself traveling here to PEI to study music at the School of Performing Arts.

Tom Gammons has experienced a very different style of life. But it was a similar passion that brought him from the the peaks of Montana, across the Canadian prairies, to this island. After studying together at SoPA, Luisa and Tom have begun exploring the songs that speak to them in the many languages of life.

Sara Campbell, Jennifer Cullen, Marlee Saulnier, Shannon Scales

Members of the Sirens, PEI’s Award Winning Women’s Choral Ensemble.

Sara Campbell

Sara comes from Truro, NS and grew up in Kensington, PEI. Her musical career began early with piano lessons and church choir. After taking voice lessons through high school Sara went on to graduate from St. Francis Xavier University with a B. A. Mus in Vocal Jazz. She then went to Toronto and completed a Masters of Sacred Music at the University of Toronto and Emmanuel College. There she studied Vocal performance with Lynn Blaser. She had the pleasure of learning conducting and choral techniques from Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt, Dr. Lori Dolloff, and Zimfira Poloz. Sara works as a Learning Manager in the School of Performing Arts at Holland College in Charlottetown. While not busy singing and teaching, she spends time at home with her husband Dave, and their son Ben.

Jennifer Cullen

Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Music from Wilfrid Laurier University, with a focus on voice and piano. She has performed vocally across North America, and Germany working with companies such as Banff Centre and Festival Ensemble of Stuttgart. Jennifer has worked with the Confederation Centre of the Arts since 2011 as a musician and musical director including the Young Company’s production of Feux Follets, the workshop of A Misfortune, and in the orchestra pit of Mamma Mia and Jesus Christ Superstar.  Jennifer was the alternate pianist for the 2019 season of Anne and Gilbert at the Guild. Jennifer was an instructor of voice and music for the Centre’s education program with Holland College and she had a private voice and piano studio for many years here in Charlottetown.  Jennifer was a founding member of Sirens, and although she took a break from singing with them to raise her little ones, she is delighted to be back for the 2020-2021 season.

Marlee Saulnier (she/her) 

Marlee is a saxophonist, vocalist and pianist hailing from Stellarton, Nova Scotia, and has called Charlottetown home for the past eight years. She holds a Bachelor of Music with Honours from Humber College in Toronto, Ontario. Marlee has had the opportunity to play and sing with numerous musical groups touring throughout Canada, the US and Mexico, including The Count and the Cuban Cocktail, Humber’s Latin Jazz Ensemble, Charlottetown-based world music group I and the Village, and Amy, Amy Amy – A Tribute to Amy Winehouse. Marlee is an ECMA and Music PEI Award winner for her work with Sirens and Paper Lions, and additionally performs with Luminos Ensemble, Lady Soul and as a sideman for various Island musicians. Marlee is also currently the Executive Director of the PEI Symphony Orchestra.  

Shannon Scales

Shannon Scales studied vocal performance at the University of Prince Edward Island under the direction of Sung Ha Shin Bouey; receiving her Bachelor of Music in 2010. Following her post-secondary education, Shannon moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she studied under Soprano, Lucy Hayes Davis. She is currently studying with renowned Trinidadian Soprano, Jeanine De Bique and is loving this deeper exploration of her sound. She has performed with award winning choirs, Halifax Camerata Singers and Xara Choral Theatre (where she was a featured soloist on their ECMA nominated album), as well as Opera Nova Scotia and the Symphony Nova Scotia Chorus. Throughout her professional career, she has been a featured soloist in works by Handel, Rossini, Dvorak, Jenkins, Gounod, and more. When she is not making music, you can find her on her yoga mat, or with a cup of tea in hand.

These talented performers will present beautiful songs, arias, duets and harmonies on the stage of the College of Piping Performing Arts Centre stage

Tickets: $35 plus taxes & fees

$10 from each ticket donated to the Boys & Girls Club of Summerside