LAMENTATIONS Player Bios
Eileen Beaudette - Eileen has been active in Kingston's musical community for over 45 years. Having retired as Principal Viola of the Kingston Symphony in 2018, she continues to play with the KSO as well as with Melos Choir & Period Instruments, The Cantabile Choirs and the newly-formed Kingston Baroque Consort. She's a founding member of Triola Trio and Quartessence...a string quartet, both groups continue to perform and entertain audiences throughout Eastern Ontario. As an educator, Eileen has taught at Queen's University as an adjunct lecturer of viola and chamber music. She's an alumni of The National Youth Orchestra of Canada, L'Orchestre des jeunes du Québec, The Banff School of Fine Arts, The Conservatoire de Montréal and Queen's University. Eileen loves sewing, gardening, music arranging, travelling and since retirement, has discovered many new joys - quilting, hiking and wilderness camping. Most precious of all is time spent with family and her fun-loving, rambunctious grandkids!
Michael Capon is active in Kingston Ontario as a performer, conductor,
composer, and teacher, and serves as Music Director at St James Anglican
Church. In addition to his long career as a church musician, he has
performed solo and collaboratively; acted, music directed, and composed
music and lyrics for theatrical productions; directed community choirs
and orchestras; taught organ and music theory students; and adjudicated
at music festivals and competitions. His compositions have been
published by the RCCO and Augsburg Fortress. As one of its founding
members, Michael plays harpsichord and serves on the Executive for the
Kingston Baroque Consort. He also accompanies and plays harpsichord for
the Melos Choir and Period Instruments ensemble. Michael served on the
Anglican Church task force that assembled “Sing a New Creation”, the new
supplement to the “Common Praise” hymn book.
Michael wrote the music and lyrics to the musical comedy SURELY,
SHERLOCK, which was a sellout hit at the 2023 Theatre Kingston Fringe
Festival, and MADELINE: the Musical, which was performed in the Kingston Grand Theatre in October 2023. He also composed the music for the musical comedy THE WITCH AND THE GLITCH, which was performed in the Bottle Tree Studio Series in February 2024, and the Domino Theatre’s 2025 production of Shakespeare's AS YOU LIKE IT.
Gisèle Dalbec-Szczesniak is the violin/viola instructor at Queen’s DAN School of Drama and Music and a founding member of the Isabel Quartet. Retired after 29 years as Concertmaster of the Kingston Symphony, Gisèle is enjoying freelancing in and outside of Kingston. She formed a duo with the late pianist, Michel Szczesniak and has recorded for CBC and on CD, Bow and Ivory. Gisèle is described as ‘having the perfect combination of exquisite musicality and technical mastery.’ Before coming to Kingston, she played with the Winnipeg Symphony and Chamber Orchestra as well as various New Music organizations. Gisèle is a graduate of the Universities of Toronto and Yale. She dabbles in Baroque music with ensembles KBC and Melos, and loves to share music with a wide range of audiences as a member of TRIOLA, a string trio. She is retiring from the DAN School after 25 years of teaching.
Jennifer Day completed a BA in Music at Queen's University in 2012 and studied trumpet with Dan Tremblay (Queen's University) and Paul Sanvidotti (Toronto). She has performed with Orchestra Kingston, Fredericton Symphony Orchestra, various musical theatre productions in Kingston and Fredericton (Oliver!, Three Penny Opera, Sweet Charity, Sweeney Todd, Hunchback of Notre Dame, and more), Queen's Symphony Orchestra, Queen's Wind Ensemble, and Queen's Trumpet Ensemble, Queen's Brass Quintet, and has also enjoyed playing trumpet with organ at various church services. In the last year she has performed on her Baroque trumpet with Melos and Kingston Baroque Consort. She has also enjoyed singing with choirs at Christ Church Cathedral (Fredericton) and St. James' Anglican Church (Kingston). Jenn completed a PhD in Geological Engineering in 2016 and is currently an Associate Professor at Queen's University.
Andrew Dicker is an active musician and teacher in Kingston. He is a member of The Kingston Symphony, The Kingston Baroque Consort, The Melos Baroque Orchestra, concertmaster of Orchestra Kingston, and violinist of The Kingston Piano Trio.
Through his teaching, Andrew shares his expertise to students of all ages and proficiency levels. He works as the violin coach with the Kingston Youth Orchestra, leads sectionals with Orchestra Kingston, and coaches amatuer chamber groups. He received his Master of Music from Boston University and his Bachelor of Music from the University of Toronto.
Lisa Draper - Born and raised in Ottawa, Lisa began her violin studies there at the age of 6. She later moved to London, Ontario where she earned her Bachelor of Music at Western University. In 1992, Lisa moved to Kingston, Ontario, where she earned her Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University. Over the years she has played in various orchestral and chamber groups including the London Concert Players Orchestra, Quinte Symphony, Peterborough Symphony, Northumberland Symphony, Ottawa Symphony, Melos Baroque Orchestra, The Kingston Baroque Consort, and the Kingston Symphony. In addition to orchestral playing, Lisa has performed in many musicals both in Kingston and at the 1000 Islands Playhouse, and has played a variety of engagements with and is a founding member of “The Limestone Trio”. Lisa also maintains a busy private violin studio at her home in Kingston.
P. Jill Frick - A lifelong choral singer and musician in her native New Brunswick, later in Alberta and Toronto, Jill joined Melos as a soprano in 2015. She enjoys singing in small vocal ensembles, especially Renaissance polyphony. Inspired to continue developing her recorder skills, she studied first with cherished Melos alumna, Heather Schreiner. Since 2021, she has been a student of Montreal-based recorder player and multi-instrumentalist, Annette Bauer. In 2023, Jill was awarded an American Recorder Society scholarship for study at the Amherst Early Music Festival in Allentown, PA. She performed her first solo recorder recital in April 2025, accompanied by Hamilton-based keyboardist, Erika Reiman. Jill serves on Melos Board of Directors; she is past Chair and Vice-Chair; and she helps creatively with Melos' social media and publicity (editing), as needed.
Jeff Hamacher - Since 2005, Jeff Hamacher has been active in and around Kingston both as a busy private music teacher and as a freelance musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist and singer who, in addition to his roles as cellist, viola da gambist, and choral bass with Melos, is a member of Kingston Baroque Consort, the Kingston Symphony, the Limestone Trio, and the Kingston Piano Trio. He has performed as instrumentalist to accompany the Kingston Choral Society, Cantabile Choirs, the Isabel Voices, and the Kingston Chamber Choir. His playing has been featured on recordings for a variety of artists and projects, including three Melos releases. Jeff’s credits in music theatre include playing cello in pit bands for various productions at the Thousand Islands Playhouse and appearing on stage as an actor-musician in four productions of Once - The Musical. He rounds out his employment activities with music preparation tasks such as arranging and transcribing, having also served as orchestra librarian for the Kingston Symphony between 2012 and 2014.
Daphne Kennedy is a 2016 BMus graduate of Queen's University where she studied cello under the guidance of Wolf Tormann. Passionate about music education and travelling, she then moved to England where she spent five years continuing her cello studies and teaching music to youth across the UK. Solo cello performance highlights include performing at St. Martin-In-The-Fields at Trafalgar Square for the 150th Canada Day celebrations in 2017 to feature Canadian female composers. During her time abroad she found huge enjoyment working with several choral societies that led her to perform in some of the most recognizable churches and cathedrals throughout England, France, Spain, Malta and Germany. Dedicated to music education, her experiences teaching music to adolescents at the Red Balloon Learner Centre in Cambridge reinforced her belief in the transformative power of music and community. Upon her return to Canada in 2020, Daphne resumed her work with Sistema Kingston as a Lower Strings Teaching Artist and joined Kingston Community Strings as section lead. She has been a guest cellist with Kingston Choral Society, Kingston's Melos Choir & Period Instruments and is featured on their Voces Feminarum recording. Today, Daphne is a third year carpenter's apprentice while actively maintaining her passion for music performance and education in the Kingston area as a Sistema Kingston Teaching Artist. She looks forward to starting her new position as General Manager of The Kingston Youth Orchestra and new director of Kingston A-Strings and Kingston Youth Strings in Fall 2025.
Walter Kipp is a retired doctor, but also a past Church organist and oboist in Germany, and now a dedicated amateur oboist, living in Picton, ON. In Melos’ historic Magnificats program he is engaged as one of Melos’ community students and guest performers, playing second Oboe (D’Amore) in J.S. Bach’s Magnificat. Walter says it is a thrilling opportunity for him to perform in concert with Melos Choir & Period Instruments, with Melos’ esteemed guests on period brass and winds. In June of 2021 Walter acquired a Baroque Oboe, which is very challenging to play, requiring different techniques from the modern Oboe on which he was trained. Wolfgang Kube, a respected German maker of Baroque Oboes made both of his instruments and teaches him online. As a lover of J.S. Bach’s music, Walter has played modern Oboe in Kingston’s Bach Marathon for 7 years. He greatly enjoys chances, like this, to play with dedicated Baroque players, performing at A415. Walter enjoys the plaintive and sweet tonal qualities of the Baroque Oboe so much, that he has requisitioned the making by Kube of a Baroque oboe that will play at A440. This will give Walter the ability to perform with musicians who do not have period instruments, while maintaining the period qualities of the Oboe’s sound and avoiding awkward key transpositions.
Katie Legere plays recorder, dulcian, racket and bassoons both modern and baroque. She has degrees from Queen’s and the University of Toronto in music, education, computing and science and has attended Oberlin Early Music, Amherst Early Music and Tafelmusik Summer Baroque Institute. Katie also teaches in the Dan School of Drama and Music and has played bassoon in the Kingston Symphony since 1993. When not practicing and performing, Katie enjoys oil painting, sewing and raising chickens.
Julia McFarlane - Equally at home as a performer and educator, Julia McFarlane has been the principal second violinist of the Kingston Symphony since 2014 and is on faculty at the Canta Arya School for Strings. She is also a member of the Isabel String Quartet, the quartet in residence of Queens University’s Dan School of Music. Julia has been teaching for over 30 years and has been a guest clinician at numerous workshops and music festivals. Julia began violin at age five and went on to earn degrees from McGill University and the Peabody Institute of Music. Before moving back to her hometown of Kingston, Julia was the principal second violinist of the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra and was a co-director of Saskatoon chamber orchestra Prairie Virtuosi She also held the position of concertmaster of the NYCO Symphony Orchestra for 10 years.Equally at home as a performer and educator, Julia McFarlane has been the principal second violinist of the Kingston Symphony since 2014 and is on faculty at the Canta Arya School for Strings. She is also a member of the Isabel String Quartet, the quartet in residence of Queens University’s Dan School of Music. Julia has been teaching for over 30 years and has been a guest clinician at numerous workshops and music festivals. Julia began violin at age five and went on to earn degrees from McGill University and the Peabody Institute of Music. Before moving back to her hometown of Kingston, Julia was the principal second violinist of the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra and was a co-director of Saskatoon chamber orchestra Prairie Virtuosi She also held the position of concertmaster of the NYCO Symphony Orchestra for 10 years.
Brent Nuevo is an organist, pianist, and baritone based in Kingston. He serves as Organist and Director of Music at St. Mary’s Cathedral, where he leads the Cathedral choir and music program. He holds a degree in Piano from Queen’s University, where his studies cultivated versatility across genres, with particular interest in German Baroque and Romantic repertoire for piano, and French Baroque and Romantic for organ. Brent performs regularly with Melos and The Isabel Voices and treasures the rare and rewarding experience of ensemble music-making—something seldom afforded to organists. As a vocalist, he is comfortable in many styles but feels most at home in the luminous textures of Renaissance polyphony.
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Lorenzo Sivilotti is a conductor, trombonist, and chorister from Kingston and can often be spotted crisscrossing the city on his bicycle. A graduate of Queen’s University, he holds degrees in both Music and Biochemistry. His lifelong and varied involvement in the Kingston musical scene spans nearly every genre from early European art music to Broadway and jazz. Recent highlights include Music Directing shows with Blue Canoe Productions and Queen’s Musical Theatre and Assistant Conducting the Kingston Youth Orchestra for the last two years.
In addition to his work with Melos Choir & Period Instruments, he is currently Principal Trombone with Orchestra Kingston and a member of both the Limestone Jazz Collective and the Isabel Voices (formerly the Kingston Chamber Choir). This is his conducting debut with Melos, with whom he has previously performed as a sackbut player and chorister.
Margaret Walker - Margaret is an ethno/musicologist trained in piano, Indian classical kathak dance, and percussion, and currently Professor of music history and culture at the DAN School of Drama and Music at Queen’s University in Kingston. A graduate of the Toronto Royal Conservatory Professional School (now the Glenn Gould School), she also holds a doctorate in ethnomusicology from University of Toronto. She conducted fieldwork in India in the early 2000s, where she studied kathak dance and tabla drumming, and her book India’s Kathak Dance in Historical Perspective was published in 2014. She has participated in two international research teams exploring global music history and her current work takes questions of global and decolonized music history into the classroom in a cluster of interrelated projects on curriculum and pedagogy. Margaret joined Melos Choir & Period Instruments in 2022, playing medieval and Arabic hand drums and other percussion. She is an emergent medieval harpist and also has been part of Kings DON Taiko Japanese drum ensemble since 2018.