TORONTO – January 8, 2018 – FAWN Chamber Creative welcomes two new artists to its team: Darren Creech (Producer and Resident Pianist) and Aaron Durand (Operations Manager and Resident Performer). Both new additions to the FAWN Team will be integral to the company’s continued artistic and organizational growth – a great way to start off a new year. Their first public performance as part of FAWN will be on January 21, 2018 at The Smiling Buddha in a sneak peek of the group’s newest collaboration that brings together modular synth artist Acote, dancer Mary-Dora Bloch-Hansen and various members of the FAWN Team. Learn more about the event on the Facebook event page.
About Darren (Producer & Resident Pianist):
“Becoming a part of FAWN’s team feels like a natural fit for me – not only do I get to work with a phenomenal team of artists and administrators, but creating within a multidisciplinary company echoes my own pursuits and performances as a multidisciplinary solo artist.”
An innovative artist, queer classical pianist Darren Creech “shows his belief in a new potential for the classical concert stage” (CBC Music), and his playing has been heralded as “full of ease, very convincing” (Yannick Nézet-Séguin). Engaging his audience through an immersive combination of queer theatre, captivating costumes, and glittery hair, he was the Keynote Performer at McGill University’s Music Graduate Symposium and was awarded the Best Artist Prize at Toronto’s queer art festival Nuit Rose. His unique solo performances have been described as “both unexpected and unforgettable” (Throbbing Rose Collective) and “tour-de-forces, propelled by a powerful narrative” (Musical Toronto).
An advocate of contemporary music, Darren frequently collaborates with innovative composers, having premièred works by Sarah Kirkland Snider, Wally Gunn and Norbert Palej, and was a guest artist at the Toronto Creative Music Lab. He gave the world-première performance and recording of James O’Callaghan’s JUNO-nominated “Isomorphia,” and toured it across the country with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.
In addition to his work as a performer, Darren is in demand as a panelist and workshop presenter to all ages, regularly sharing his experience and perspectives of carving his own path in the classical music world and centring identity in the creation of an artistic practice. Having grown up in Senegal, West Africa, Darren draws on his cross-cultural background to inform his unconventional approach to the stage. He holds piano performance degrees from Université de Montréal and Wilfrid Laurier University, and currently lives in Toronto. darrencreech.com
About Aaron (Operations Manager & Resident Performer):
“I’m very excited to be collaborating with FAWN. Any chance to work with such talented and genuine people would be welcomed with open arms! But for me, there’s more to it than that. Socially, we are now entering an unusually rocky territory where technology allows for an unprecedented awareness of societal problems. Ones that have been until now explained away or swept under the rug. As the number of affected voices being heard rises, so must art directly reflect and engage with the issues we all face. I believe in what this collective has to say, and I believe in how they want to say it, and I believe it necessary.”
Baritone Aaron Paul Durand hails from 100 Mile House, British Columbia, and developed his skills while pursuing a Masters degree in Music at the University of British Columbia. Having presented opera, art song, and musical theatre across Canada, China, and the Czech Republic, he has become widely known for his easygoing nature, “beautiful, fluid baritone” (Globe & Mail), and “sense of the comical and the ludicrous” (Calgary Herald).
As a member of Vancouver Opera’s Yulanda M. Faris program from 2012-2014, Aaron performed numerous roles with VO, including Schaunard (La Bohème), Samuel (The Pirates of Penzance), Speaker (The Magic Flute), Sid (Albert Herring), and Masetto (Don Giovanni). Simultaneously, he was committed to building a reputation as an independent artist, performing music both classic and contemporary across the Lower Mainland, with highlights including Silvio (I Pagliacci) with Burnaby Lyric Opera, and workshopping exciting new music by local composer David MacIntyre. He is also grateful to have performed the role of Javan in When the Sun Comes Out, Leslie Uyeda’s deeply important work, for the Vancouver Queer Arts Festival.
Now living in Toronto, Aaron participates in the thriving indie opera community while continuing to build his career abroad. From the “guileless and loveable” (Opera Going Toronto) Masetto in Against the Grain Theatre’s #UncleJohn, a visionary re-imagining of Don Giovanni, to ensemble singing in Tapestry Opera’s Dora award sweeping hit, The Rocking Horse Winner, Aaron firmly believes in the power of contemporary opera. aarondurandbaritone.com
About Darren (Producer & Resident Pianist):
“Becoming a part of FAWN’s team feels like a natural fit for me – not only do I get to work with a phenomenal team of artists and administrators, but creating within a multidisciplinary company echoes my own pursuits and performances as a multidisciplinary solo artist.”
An innovative artist, queer classical pianist Darren Creech “shows his belief in a new potential for the classical concert stage” (CBC Music), and his playing has been heralded as “full of ease, very convincing” (Yannick Nézet-Séguin). Engaging his audience through an immersive combination of queer theatre, captivating costumes, and glittery hair, he was the Keynote Performer at McGill University’s Music Graduate Symposium and was awarded the Best Artist Prize at Toronto’s queer art festival Nuit Rose. His unique solo performances have been described as “both unexpected and unforgettable” (Throbbing Rose Collective) and “tour-de-forces, propelled by a powerful narrative” (Musical Toronto).
An advocate of contemporary music, Darren frequently collaborates with innovative composers, having premièred works by Sarah Kirkland Snider, Wally Gunn and Norbert Palej, and was a guest artist at the Toronto Creative Music Lab. He gave the world-première performance and recording of James O’Callaghan’s JUNO-nominated “Isomorphia,” and toured it across the country with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.
In addition to his work as a performer, Darren is in demand as a panelist and workshop presenter to all ages, regularly sharing his experience and perspectives of carving his own path in the classical music world and centring identity in the creation of an artistic practice. Having grown up in Senegal, West Africa, Darren draws on his cross-cultural background to inform his unconventional approach to the stage. He holds piano performance degrees from Université de Montréal and Wilfrid Laurier University, and currently lives in Toronto. darrencreech.com
About Aaron (Operations Manager & Resident Performer):
“I’m very excited to be collaborating with FAWN. Any chance to work with such talented and genuine people would be welcomed with open arms! But for me, there’s more to it than that. Socially, we are now entering an unusually rocky territory where technology allows for an unprecedented awareness of societal problems. Ones that have been until now explained away or swept under the rug. As the number of affected voices being heard rises, so must art directly reflect and engage with the issues we all face. I believe in what this collective has to say, and I believe in how they want to say it, and I believe it necessary.”
Baritone Aaron Paul Durand hails from 100 Mile House, British Columbia, and developed his skills while pursuing a Masters degree in Music at the University of British Columbia. Having presented opera, art song, and musical theatre across Canada, China, and the Czech Republic, he has become widely known for his easygoing nature, “beautiful, fluid baritone” (Globe & Mail), and “sense of the comical and the ludicrous” (Calgary Herald).
As a member of Vancouver Opera’s Yulanda M. Faris program from 2012-2014, Aaron performed numerous roles with VO, including Schaunard (La Bohème), Samuel (The Pirates of Penzance), Speaker (The Magic Flute), Sid (Albert Herring), and Masetto (Don Giovanni). Simultaneously, he was committed to building a reputation as an independent artist, performing music both classic and contemporary across the Lower Mainland, with highlights including Silvio (I Pagliacci) with Burnaby Lyric Opera, and workshopping exciting new music by local composer David MacIntyre. He is also grateful to have performed the role of Javan in When the Sun Comes Out, Leslie Uyeda’s deeply important work, for the Vancouver Queer Arts Festival.
Now living in Toronto, Aaron participates in the thriving indie opera community while continuing to build his career abroad. From the “guileless and loveable” (Opera Going Toronto) Masetto in Against the Grain Theatre’s #UncleJohn, a visionary re-imagining of Don Giovanni, to ensemble singing in Tapestry Opera’s Dora award sweeping hit, The Rocking Horse Winner, Aaron firmly believes in the power of contemporary opera. aarondurandbaritone.com