09:44 AM
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The Toronto debut performance of the all-women barbershop quartet, NEW TRICKS, featuring SUSAN ST JOHN, CAROL ANN TREITZ, KATHY HANNESON and LAURA PUDWELL. Their program RINDERCELLA is an irreverent retelling of the Cinderella story featuring four-part arrangements of tunes made famous by Queen, Whitney Houston, Simon and Garfunkel, Cyndy Lauper, and more. Though the barbershop quartet is traditionally an all-male vocal ensemble, all-women quartets like this Kitchener-based group have been popping up across North America, to broad acclaim.
Laura Pudwell describes her time spent singing with these colleagues as ‘some of the happiest music making of my life,’ so come and find out why. You won’t be sorry!
The women in NEW TRICKS, Kathy Hanneson (baritone), Laura Pudwell (bass), Susan St. John (tenor) and Carol Ann Treitz (lead) bring a combined 100+ years of performance experience to the stage. Blending their varied expertise in barbershop, theatre, opera and classical performance practice, they’ve joined together to celebrate the joy of vocal harmonies and their shared love of singing one-on-a-part music, chocolate and tea.
Carol Ann Treitz (lead) holds a music performance degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and spent most of her working life creating and performing cabaret-style shows that toured across Canada, singing as a member of The Elora Festival Singers, and teaching in her private studio. Carol lives in Waterloo and in her retirement has taken up excessive travelling, playing the ukulele and line dancing – not always at the same time.
Susan St. John (tenor) has been singing barbershop for almost 30 years and has performed with choruses and quartets at the local, national and international level. Her love of performing includes music theatre (KW Musical Productions, The Community Players of New Hamburg) and film work. Susan has launched three children, is blessed with 3 grandbabies, lives in Kitchener with her “radio guy” husband, Pat, and is currently completing her Doctor of Ministry.
Kathy Hanneson (baritone) was introduced to the barbershop style after graduating from the University of Guelph and was immediately hooked. Her love of the genre has included being a chorister, arranger, director and valued member of various choruses and quartets that have competed locally and internationally. A terror with a glue gun and sparkles, Kathy shares her life in Guelph with Ian and their attack cat, Jinx, and spends her spare time hanging out with a couple of adorable Icelandic horses.
Laura Pudwell (bass) comes from a musical family and started singing professionally while attending Trinity College at UofT. Her musical journey includes performing at Versailles, a career-long association with the Toronto Consort, numerous appearances with Opera Atelier, and a Grammy nomination. In addition to her flourishing voice studio, she continues to perform with various international organizations specializing in one-on-a-part Baroque and Renaissance music. While cheering on her two grown children, Laura lives in Kitchener with husband, Bryan, and the cutest dog ever, Frodo.