Events

~ Igor Saika and Jason Stanford present the inaugural concert of the Borderlands Ensemble. The concert will feature a showcase of exciting Canadian recording artists: fiddler and singer Miranda Mulholland (member of Great Lake Swimmers, Belle Starr, and Harrow Fair) with special guest, bass player Joe Phillips; and local singer/songwriter Marty Kolls and her band. Both groups will be augmented and accompanied on stage by the Borderlands Ensemble, a hybrid group of string and wind players, featuring original arrangements by composers Igor Saika and Jason Stanford. This will be a unique one-night-only event that cannot be missed!

~ Classically trained on violin and in voice, Miranda Mulholland is a versatile performer and in high demand as a fiddler and singer covering a wide range of styles. Her debut full length solo album, Whipping Boy, was released in May 2014 to critical acclaim. It became the flagship of her own record label, Roaring Girl Records which at just over two years old is quickly gaining a reputation as a home for diverse and excellent artists.

Currently she is a member of Great Lake Swimmers and Belle Starr and the newly minted Harrow Fair, a duo with Andrew Penner of Sunparlour Players. She makes select appearances in the violin show, ‘Bowfire’ and has sung and played fiddle with Jim Cuddy, Steven Page, Calexico, Joel Plaskett, Rose Cousins, Alan Doyle, Raine Maida, Dan Mangan, John Borra, The Rattlesnake Choir and Justin Rutledge, among others. Not limited to band performances, Miranda has appeared in various theatre productions including the Dora winning productions of ‘Parfumerie’ and ‘Spoon River’ with Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto.

~ Singer-songwriter Marty Kolls brings the energy of her east coast upbringing, classical music training, and life-long experience on the stage to every one of her performances. She mesmerizes her audience with her voice, melody and presence, with songs that speak of living life from the heart. “Marty Kolls is a revelation,” says the London Free Press’ Arts Editor, James Reaney.

Marty released her first full length album entitled ‘This Life’ in 2014 to a standing room only audience at one of Canada’s top rated and intimate music venues, Aeolian Hall. This performance was an experience for all who attended and awaited for the arrival of this much anticipated album including her friend and producer Simon Larochette of Sugar Shack Studios.

Continuing to make music in a number of bands, including well known cover-grass band Kevin’s Bacon Train, Marty has found a home and community of strong musicians and friends. Now sharing the stage with acts like Sarah Harmer, Dan Mangan and Whitehorse, she continues to love and take pleasure in the good fortune that is ‘This Life’. www.martykolls.com

Born and raised in Toronto, Joe Phillips started studying classical guitar at age 9 at the University Settlement House Music School. He attended Oakwood Collegiate, and after some time playing the clarinet, he discovered the double bass. Time spent playing in various blues bars, Irish pubs and booze cans and four years studying with renowned classical virtuoso Joel Quarrington have led to a busy and diverse career. When not playing principal bass in Orchestra London Canada, Joe can be found making music with artists as varied as The Art of Time Ensemble, Via Salzburg Chamber Orchestra, Group of 27 Chamber Orchestra, cabaret siren Patricia O’Callaghan, songwriters Jenny Whiteley, Sarah Slean, Ruth Moody, the Wailin’ Jennys, Corin Raymond and Rita Chiarelli, jazz bassist/cellist/composer Andrew Downing, banjoist Jayme Stone, Canadian fiddlers Pierre Schryer and Shane Cook and Irish flute and whistle virtuoso Nuala Kennedy. Joe has performed with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Les Violons du Roy, I Musici de Montréal, Tafelmusik and the Festival of the Sound and is an annual participant in the Sweetwater Music weekend in Owen Sound, Ontario.

~ The brain-child of composers Igor Saika and Jason Stanford, the Borderlands Ensemble is an eclectic, hybrid, mini-orchestra, designed to excel in virtually any style of instrumental music, whether it be classical, jazz, popular, folk, cabaret, or even the avant-garde. The main function of the Borderlands Ensemble is to collaborate with a wide range of artists, to create exciting combinations and explore new musical possibilities.

~ Igor Saika wears many musical hats: he is a composer, arranger, conductor, pianist, cellist, accompanist, and educator. He has worked extensively in theatre as a music director, and has composed for video games and animations, but his main passion is collaborating with other artists; he has done musical arranging work with groups like Arkells, Terra Lightfoot, the National Academy Orchestra, and the 2015 Juno Awards.

A native of London Ontario, he has returned to live here after many years away, and he is excited to share new musical explorations and collaborations with London audiences.

~ Jason Stanford’s oeuvre includes a wide range of instrumental and electro-acoustic music compositions, ranging from works for solo instruments and chamber ensembles to a number of pieces for orchestra. Jason’s music has been performed across Canada, the US, and Europe including a piece for large orchestra which was performed in 2013 to an audience of two-thousand in Die Musikverein, in Vienna, Austria. On the other side of the Atlantic, his percussion Quartet ‘Awakening Fire’ has enjoyed over a dozen performances by the TorQ Percussion Quartet.

Jason holds a doctorate in music composition from The University of Toronto and a bachelor’s and master’s degree in music composition from Western University (née The University of Western Ontario), where he has been a professor in the Faculty of Music since 2012. Jason has a deep appreciation for popular music of all styles, and is keenly interested in undertaking creative projects that provide an opportunity for the coalescence of popular and classical music traditions.