Timothy Vernon Music Director

Orchestra London’s Music Director and Principal Conductor Maestro Timothy Vernon is a familiar figure on the podiums of Canada’s most important orchestras and opera companies. As Artistic Director of Pacific Opera Victoria Maestro Vernon has led over forty of its fifty productions including the first staged Canadian presentations of L’Amore Dei Tre Re and Weber’s Der Freischutz. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Madama Butterfly, Il Trovatore and the world premiere of Erewhon by Moore and Applebaum are just a few of the many accomplishments by Maestro Vernon.  For a complete biography on Maestro Vernon, click here.

Brian Jackson Principal Pops Conductor

Brian Jackson holds a Master of Arts in Music Theory, History and Composition from Oxford University. He began his conducting career after immigrating to Canada in 1968, becoming the country's youngest Music Director when he led the Peterborough Symphony.  Maestro Jackson has since been Music Director of the International Symphony, the Kingston Symphony and Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor to Orchestra London Canada. 

Jackson is currently the Principal Pops Conductor for Orchestra London Canada, the Victoria Symphony and the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony.  An expert in choral music, he has been Music Director of the Victoria and Kingston Choral Societies. London Pro Musica won the CBC Choir of the Year Award under his leadership. Jackson also conducts opera, ballet, educational and young peoples' concerts. He has taught at Lakefield College School and lectured at Trent, Western, Concordia, McGill and Queen's Universities. He is the only Canadian conductor who plays and directs concertos from the keyboard. 

This season celebrates Maestro Jackson's 29th year with Orchestra London Canada. 

St�phane Potvin  Conductor in Residence and Chorus Master

St�phane Potvin, a native of Qu�bec, began his conducting journey in the early 1980's. After a few years of private studies, he moved to Montr�al where he continued his conducting studies and directed a number of ensembles, most notably the McGill Chamber Singers as assistant conductor. He and his groups were invited on several occasions to perform on television for CBC.

Since his arrival in Hamilton in 1995, Potvin's conducting career has taken him across Canada, the United States and Europe. His work with his groups garnered him considerable attention from the press. He has made a memorable impression on the local and international music community and has established himself as an accomplished conductor. Striving to perfect his art, he has studied choral and orchestral conducting with teachers such as Frieder Bernius, Gustav Meyer, Otto-Werner Muller, Jorma Panula, Fred Stoltzfus and Timothy Vernon.

Mr. Potvin is currently Music Director of the Brampton Festival Singers and of the Oakville Chamber Orchestra, as well, Artistic Director of the Hamilton Camerata Chamber Orchestra, percussionist and guest conductor for Symphony Hamilton.

Jeff Christmas

Jeff Christmas is a London-based composer, arranger, conductor, drummer, percussionist and trumpeter. He studied at York University, the University of Western Ontario and Berklee College of Music, Boston, where he majored in Film Scoring and Composition.              

Jeff has an extensive background in many aspects of the music profession, including performance, direction and instruction. He has performed with several symphony orchestras across Canada and the United States, and has appeared artists such as Denny Doherty, The Rankin Sisters, Ashley McIsaac, J.P. Cormier, Michael Burgess, and Lenny Graf.  He recently conducted a Southwestern Ontario tour with Roger Hodgson (Supertramp).

In November 2004 he was musical director/arranger for the Opening of the MTS Center in Winnipeg where he conducted the WSO and guest artists Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, Tom Cochrane and Chantal Kreviazuk. 

His musical theatre experience includes productions throughout Ontario at the Grand Theatre in London, Huron Country Playhouse, and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. He has also spent numerous hours in the studio as a session player, producer, and conductor in Boston and throughout Ontario.         

Jeff's original compositions for a wide variety of ensembles are in demand internationally.  His music for the Opening Ceremonies of the Canada Games premiered on national television in the summer of 2001.  His most recent commissions include Bluewater Portrait for solo oboe and orchestra, and Canadian Voyage, a five-movement suite for french horn and orchestra.

David Fallis

In recent seasons Mr. Fallis has made his debut with the Windsor Symphony and Symphony Nova Scotia conducting the Mozart Requiem, and he led Symphony New Brunswick in Handel's Watermusic.

Artistic Director of the Toronto Consort and conductor of the Toronto Chamber Choir, Fallis has conducted Canada's leading orchestras specializing in Baroque and Classical repertoire, including Tafelmusik and the Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montréal.

Kenneth Hsieh

The winner of the 2005 Heinz Unger Prize Award in conducting, Ken is currently the Conductor-in-Residence/Assistant Conductor of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Remaining dedicated to promoting young artists; Ken is also the Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra. This orchestra provides opportunities for young professional musicians to perform and work with local artists in professional settings. Ken has also been a guest conductor with orchestras in Europe, Finland, Taiwan, Canada, and Japan.

Jeanne Lamon

Violinist Jeanne Lamon has devoted herself to the performance of Baroque and Classical music on period instruments since 1972, both as a soloist and, since 1981, as musical director of the Canadian-based chamber orchestra Tafelmusik. Critics in Europe and North America have recognized Lamon both for her virtuosity and her strong musical leadership, which has brought Tafelmusik international recognition as one of the best ensembles in its field. Her solo recordings of Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Bach Violin Concertos with Tafelmusik have been widely praised.

Ms. Lamon has received numerous awards. Recent honours include the Prix Alliance from the Alliance Fran�aise, and the 1997 M. Joan Chalmers Award for Artistic Direction. In 1994 she received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from York University, and in 1999 she was awarded the prestigious Molson Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts. In 2000 Ms. Lamon was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in recognition of her exceptional achievements as Music Director of Tafelmusik.

Ms. Lamon regularly guest directs symphony orchestras across Canada. Recent engagements include the Vancouver Symphony, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic and Symphony Nova Scotia. Ms. Lamon teaches at the University of Toronto and at the Royal Conservatory of Music.

David Martin

In the course of his career, David Martin has been a trombonist with the Montreal Symphony and Orchestra London Canada. Since he began conducting he has led orchestras in London, Calgary, Edmonton, Kitchener, Windsor and Thunder Bay. In past seasons, he arranged and conducted the Orchestra London Pops show "Glenn, Tommy, and Jack" - a salute to the great trombonists and band leaders of the Swing Era. Dave is a busy freelance trombonist who dearly loves to play jazz. He lives in Montreal with his trombone-playing wife Vivian, and his two lively children, Erica and Travis.

Giuseppe Pietraroia

Rooted in ten years of studies in saxophone, Giuseppe Pietraroia's formal training in music culminated in 1992, when he received a Master's degree in orchestral conducting from McGill University, as a student of Timothy Vernon. From 1997 to 1999 Mr. Pietraroia was Music Director of the West Island Youth Symphony Orchestra in Montreal, and was appointed Visiting Assistant Professor for the 1999-00 academic year at Plattsburgh State University in New York. In 1999 and 2000, Giuseppe was the resident conductor of the Montreal International Music Camp, and during 2000 - 01 he was the Staff Conductor of the McGill University Symphony Orchestra.

In 2001 Giuseppe conducted the world premiere of Eyes on the Mountain, an opera by Christopher Donison. Giuseppe has appeared as a guest with Orchestra London as well as the Lachine Music Festival in Montreal. He is currently Conductor-in-Residence with both Pacific Opera and the Victoria Symphony.

Mr. Streatfeild has conducted for many of the world's foremost artists, including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Alicia de Larrocha, Maureen Forrester, Emil Gilels, Itzhak Perlman, Mstislav Rostropovich, Renata Scotto, Henryk Szeryng, Paul Tortelier and Pinchas Zukerman. He was awarded the medal of the Canadian Music Council in recognition of his services to Canadian music and his support of Canadian artists. Recently, he recorded with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra a disk of music by Benjamin Britten for CBC records--which was nominated for a Juno Award--and a collection of Gerald Finzi's works.

Alain Trudel

For almost 20 years, since the age of 19, Alain Trudel has been known as one of the most remarkable solo trombonists in the world. He has performed with over 100 orchestras and in festivals from Tasmania to the Arctic Circle, from Tokyo and Hong Kong to Mexico, New York, Paris and Warsaw.

Over the past few years Trudel has also established himself as a singularly exciting orchestral conductor. He is equally at home with top professional orchestras as he is with student formations and as much a master of the Classical and Romantic repertoire as of the Avant-Garde and Jazz.

Trudel has been invited, and re-invited, to conduct by many orchestras and musical training programs including the Toronto Symphony, the Orchestra Metropolitain du  Grand Montr�al,  the CBC Vancouver Orchestra, the Victoria Symphony, the Windsor Symphony, Orchestra London, the Banff Centre, the Scotia Festival, the Glenn Gould School,  the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, the Saskatoon Symphony, the Brass Band of Battlecreek, the Tokyo Metropolitan Chamber  Orchestra, the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong and the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Guatemala  in an all Beethoven program at the Bravissimo festival in Guatemala City.

In 2004, Trudel was named Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, leading rehearsals, developing programming, holding auditions, and conducting the orchestra. 

His recordings as conductor include a Naxos release of classical trombone concerti with the Northern Sinfonia (with Trudel also as trombone soloist) and on Warner Classics with the Sanctuary Strings on The Heart has its Reasons.

Mitchell Tyler, a London resident, is an Honours Bachelor of Music (Theory and Composition) graduate of the University of Western Ontario and has been a professional musician since 1987. As a freelance electric and upright bassist he has done everything from theatre and symphony work to session and club dates.

As a long-time member of the Jeans 'n Classics Band, Mitchell has worked with many orchestras in Canada as well as in the United States. He has shared the stage with Lawrence Gownan (Styx), Rik Emmett (Triumph), Alan Frew (Glass Tiger), Brian Vollmer (Helix), Kenny McLean (Platinum Blonde) as well as Amy Skye, Rich Little, Joan Rivers, Mickey Rooney and Donald O'Connor. Recent theatre work includes Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat with Huron County Playhouse and Little Shop of Horrors, My Way and Jazzabela at the Grand Theatre.

Mitchell also operates a small print music publishing business and is kept busy working as an arranger and music copyist. He has conducted the Jeans 'n Classics Orchestra on a number of occasions and most recently conducted the International Symphony Orchestra of Sarnia/Port Huron in an evening of The Music of Elvis.