the artists

Mary Bennet

Mary Bennet's love of music is evident in the soulfulness of her voice. "Ethereal", "angelic", and "pure" are words often heard used to describe her singing. Mary has performed at music festivals in Ontario and British Columbia, and at the renowned Bluebird Cafe in Nashville. Along the way, she has been the opening guest for Valdy, David Francey, Tiller's Folley, and has shared the stage with Russell deCarle, among others. She also regularly contributes harmony vocals for various recording projects by fellow artists, and shares her gift of song every week with residents at a local homeless shelter. Mary plays guitar and piano, and recently took up the banjo. She delights in the richness of singing in two or three part harmony. Always keenly interested in co-creating and performing with others, Mary is excited to be part of Essentia.

Laura Bird

Orangeville songstress Laura Bird draws inspiration from a mosaic of early folk roots and bluegrass music and old jazz standards. Writing with a painter's eye for lush images, her songs are compassionate and heartfelt. Audiences from house concerts to festival stages embrace Laura's warm stage presence, finely honed guitar work, and distinctive, sultry voice. Performing since 1990, Laura has released two critically acclaimed albums (Dreamwalker, 2000; The Water In Between, 2008) and is presently working on her third. She has served on both the OCFF and ArtsCan Circle Board of Directors; co-founded the Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award, and co-founded the Headwaters Acoustic Music Society in Orangeville, serving the final 2 years as Artistic Director of the Live! At the Opera House concert series. Laura currently wears her "graphic designer hat" with the Blue Skies Festival. website

Tricia Brubacher

Tricia Brubacher just wants to sing. "Her voice, tender and sweet, yet crystal clear and precise, distinctly delivers her natural sounding, touching melodies and harmonies..." writes Gary 17 of Toronto Moon Magazine. Accompanying herself on guitar and ukulele, Tricia writes and sings beautiful melodies and poetic lyrics influenced by years of singing along to Broadway musicals, Tori Amos, and the Wailin' Jennys. This Elmira native has opened for both David Ross MacDonald and Peter Katz, and participated in songwriting workshops with Ian Tamblyn and Lynn Miles. Her first EP, Crimson, was recorded with James Gordon and released in October 2011. Tricia also performs with her trio Callisto, known for their spine-tingling three-part harmonies. She is thrilled to be included in the lineup at Blues Skies Music Festival in August 2012. website

Mary Bugyra

Mary Bugyra's musical life began with playing the clarinet in her high school band, and learning piano at home.
Fast forward to the 1980s, when a group of community-minded friends came together and formed a choir for the purpose
of performing at hospitals, nursing homes, and the like during the Christmas season. Mary was designated as the choir
director, and has never looked back. This experience prompted Mary's journey into studying voice, singing in numerous
choirs, and learning to conduct. Along the way, she developed a longing to experience the deeper meanings and purpose
of music, beyond entertainment, beyond reading notes from a sheet of paper. Mary brings this longing - and her many years
of choir experience - to Essentia.

Jessica Bundy

Jessica Bundy's voice is arresting in its unaffected beauty and rich musicality. The daughter of a concert pianist, Jess has music in her bones. School and extra-curricular choirs nurtured her love of singing, while the gift of a second-hand guitar in her teens jump-started her on the songwriting path. But it wasn't until after the accidental death of Jessica's beloved younger sister that the deep reserve of musical creativity she'd always known was there began to surface. While studying for her Master's in Sociology at York U, Jessica had an epiphany; she felt the irrefutable call to a creative life, one in which music would play a large part. She can now be heard regularly performing her songs to enthralled southern Ontario audiences. Jessica plans to record her debut EP in 2012. website

Aviva Chernick

Says Tom Allen of Canada’s National Broadcaster: “Aviva Chernick is a fearless musical adventurer." The lead singer of Juno-nominated ensemble "Jaffa Road," Aviva's ongoing projects include Adjuntaremos, a reimagining of the Balkan Ladino repertoire with partners Eric Stein (Beyond the Pale), Drew Jurecka (Jill Barber) and Joel Schwartz (Great Lake Swimmers), and La Mer, a collaboration with Juno-nominated singer Maryem Tollar, in which the singers share their combined repertoires in Hebrew, Arabic, French and Ladino. Aviva is presently recording her first album of original Jewish devotional music with a superb world music ensemble. She is also a cantorial soloist, leading prayer at congregations in and around Toronto, and travels to congregations around North America as a guest teacher and facilitator of her "Freeing the Voice" workshops. website

Clela Errington

Passionate, reflective, and soulful, Clela Errington's blend of folk, jazz, and world music evokes a captivating warmth and intimacy. She is a performer on festival stages, in folk clubs, and at house concerts throughout Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes. A classic late bloomer, Clela produced her first of three albums at the age of 43. As an artist, she is inspired by the beauty and power of the natural world, particularly the geography of her childhood home in the Thousand Islands region of the St Lawrence River. Clela's harmonica composition Lace Curtains was awarded a "Best Instrumental" Honourable Mention in the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals "Songs from The Heart" competition in 2007. Clela currently works and records in Toronto with drummer John Adames (Prairie Oyster), exploring African, Caribbean and Asian rhythms. website

Marianne Girard

My life is a true ebb and flow. I appear with gifts of song, and seemingly disappear again to replenish the creative well. For over four decades, I've plied my trade as a singer, songwriter, and musician in the Canadian and American music industries. I've been fascinated by traveling people and drifters since I was a child. I am gypsy by blood, so it seems natural that I chose the life of a troubadour. I've raised two amazing daughters, sung backup for every artist you've never heard of, and done TV and radio commercials too numerous to mention. I've recorded three albums of my own. The latest, Pirate Days, landed me a Canadian Folk Music Awards nomination for "Best Contemporary Singer." Now I seek my original intention of grace and beauty in song, a deeper experience of music, of my voice, and of community. I believe I have found this in Essentia. website

Eve Goldberg

Eve Goldberg sings music that draws honey from the rock of life. A compelling writer and interpreter, Eve's watercolour voice and solid guitar style has made her a favourite with audiences across Canada and the U.S. Her performances are intimate and relaxed, moving effortlessly from folk classics to original gems. She has been performing since 1990, bringing her trademark mixture of folk, blues, country, bluegrass, and jazz to venues across Canada and the U.S., in venues ranging from small house concerts to the prestigious Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Along the way she's earned the respect of legendary musicians like Peggy Seeger, Geoff Muldaur, and Penny Lang. She has released three CDs to widespread acclaim: Ever Brightening Day, Crossing the Water, and her latest, A Kinder Season. website

Wendi Hunter

Wendi Hunter's voice is filled with the pure joy of singing. Clear, lyrical, and expressive, every phrase holds a story. Singing almost before she could talk, Wendi came late to songwriting. Her first original song, a lament for her late daughter called
Long Road Back, was short-listed by judges in the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals "Songs from the Heart" contest. Never much of a shouter but feeling the need to protest, Wendi found her voice for social comment through songwriting. She's had the privilege of creating three studio albums (How Can I Keep From Singing, Second Wind, and Still Survivin'). Reveling in shared music and the power of many voices, Wendi's strong belief is that music is a gift she has been given, and one that must be shared. It's her hope that in so doing, she'll be spreading some joy at the same time. website

Jane Lewis

Guelph singer-songwriter Jane Lewis is a strong believer in the power of music and singing to bring people together. She founded the All Together Now workshop series in Guelph, and leads workshops on "the Joy of Singing," finding your voice, singing harmony and more. She also co-leads regular community singalongs with her partner, Sam Turton. Jane is a published author, and she harbours a deep fascination for words and poetry. Her mastery of language shines through in her songwriting, as evidenced on her debut EP. "Both musically and lyrically sophisticated, it's an impressive debut," said Barry Hammond of Penguin Eggs magazine. A full CD is in the plans...among other musical and creative projects like Essentia! Jane performs her original material in a duo with Sam Turton, and also performs and records harmony vocals for other artists. website

Anne Lindsay

Anne Lindsay has played on hundreds of recordings and is a featured performer with the Jim Cuddy Band, Blue Rodeo and John McDermott. She was the resident fiddler for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the stage production of The Lord of the Rings. Equally talented as a composer, singer-songwriter, producer, and arranger, Anne has three award winning CDs of her own.
A track from her most recent CD, Hurry On Home, won the 2011 OCFF Songs From The Heart Instrumental Award; this CD also garnered Anne a nomination for Instrumental Solo Artist of the Year at the 2011 Canadian Folk Music Awards. Her previous two CDs, Eavesdropping (2001) and News from Up the Street (2007) have garnered numerous awards including Solo Instrumentalist and Producer of the Year (Canadian Folk Music Awards 2007), and Jazz Violinist of the Year (National Jazz Awards 2007). website

Taivi Lobu

Taivi Lobu's musical style, grounded in classical traditions, is tempered and shaped by immersion in the folk and rock boom of the '60s and '70s. From holding living room concerts as an enthusiastic three year old, Taivi moved on to more mature musical pursuits in the Danforth coffee houses of the 1980s. She has written for choruses, performed with an Indonesian gamelan orchestra, and sung at the Bluebird Café and by the Malecon in Havana. After years of devotion to social causes, Taivi has returned to playing and songwriting. She's shared performances with such folk greats as Garth Hudson, Michelle Shocked, and James Keelaghan. Continually seeking to surround herself with musical excellence, Taivi offers songs that are multi-faceted gems reflecting erudition, longing, and community.

Nancy Martin

Two passions have interwoven throughout Nancy Martin's life: movement and music. Her love of "music that stirs the soul" led to early studies in violin and voice, singing in community, school, and church choirs, and later on, study of the cello. Nancy has performed in vocal and instrumental chamber ensembles, and she sang and recorded with Toronto's Modern Renaissance Quartet in the soprano role. She is currently a member of the Toronto Chamber Choir, whose mandate is to shed new light on early sacred choral works. Though Nancy's major focus has been in the classical genre, she has been known to get down and boogie when good world/folk/indie/pop music moves the bones. Nancy currently has a private practice in rehabilitative Pilates, with a special interest in re-alignment and re-balancing for singers, instrumentalists, and mature bodies. website

Rosemary Phelan (Founder & Creative Director)

Rosemary Phelan has run the musical gamut, from calling dances in the hills of northern Vermont to warbling Mozart in the halls of the Royal Conservatory; from wailing blues in dusty border towns to whispering lullabies for patients in pain. Somewhere beyond the barn and the recital hall, the pub and the sickroom, she found the music of her heart. The grace and losses encountered during a tumultuous, nomadic childhood, time spent eking out a hard-won living in the bush, and her years as a community nurse in the urban core live in Rosemary's songs. She sincerely hopes the goodness she unearthed at the root of it all can be found there, too. To learn more about Rosemary's music, honours, and various projects, please visit her website, where you can also read her blog about surviving serious illness, Hardscrabble and Wild Honey. website

Grainne Ryan

Every once in a while the stars align, and the right mixture of talent, dedication, and ambition combine to create a perfect storm of art and passion. Those who are fortunate enough to be in its path will be swept away to find new meaning in the love of music. Enter Grainne, a singer/songwriter from Southern Ontario who is the eye of one of these rare storms; a blend of soul, heartfelt lyrical style and a voice that can be at once destructive and nurturing, sorrowful and filled with hope. Her critically acclaimed second album, Looking for Sunshine, was released in 2011. From Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK, to Detroit, Toronto and beyond, the album received outstanding reviews from those keen ears that know where to find graceful gems in a music industry continually bombarded with repetitive, formulaic songwriting. website

Tannis Slimmon

Raised on a farm north of Oak Lake, Manitoba, Tannis Slimmon grew up surrounded by three generations of musicians. She sang around the piano, in choirs, at school, and for weddings and funerals. She relocated to Guelph, Ontario, in 1980 and began to shape a professional career singing, songwriting, recording, and touring locally and internationally (including eleven years with the critically acclaimed trio The Bird Sisters). Her solo career was launched with the release of Oak Lake, followed by the award winning Lucky Blue, a rich offering of songs and artwork influenced by travels to Mali, West Africa, and Cuba. Tannis was named "Contemporary Vocalist of the Year" by the Canadian Folk Music Awards in 2008, and has contributed harmony vocals on over 75 albums for fellow musicians, including Willie P. Bennett, Valdy, and the Rheostatics. website

Emilyn Stam (Prinicpal Accompanist;)

No matter what the context, the sound is clearly her own. Whether it be her emotive and sensitive solo piano improvisations, her odd-metered, jazz-tinted, chamber-folk arrangements, or her groovy contribution to the traditional music world as pianist and fiddler, Emilyn Stam's innovative and genuine touch will earn a special place in your listening library. Violinist Anne Lindsay writes, "Emilyn is an astoundingly gifted improviser. This is a skill that requires not only a high degree of musicianship, but also openness and a creative spark that in Emilyn's case knows no bounds." In addition to her debut solo album, Holding Time, Emilyn has recorded with Canadian fiddle icon Oliver Schroer, has recently released albums with bands Beneath the Ice and Eh?!, and can be found on numerous recordings with musicians from across Canada. website

Katherine Wheatley

Katherine Wheatley is a critically acclaimed Canadian singer/songwriter who performs over 100 shows a year at acoustic venues across Canada and the U.S. In addition to touring solo, she is a member of the band Betty and The Bobs, is one half of the duo Wendell and Wheat, plays guitar in Wendell Ferguson's Smoking Section, and performs with various trios and in numerous tributes to other artists. Katherine spends considerable time writing and recording songs with youth in inner cities, remote First Nation Communities, and small towns from the Ohio River to Sioux Lookout. Through her Youthsongs program, she has produced twenty-two school CDs since 2006. She is valued for her genuine caring and special intuition for connecting with all age groups. website