Perri Lo | Calgary, Alberta
Perri Lo is a pianist and vocal coach, working in opera, chamber music, and dance. She is passionate about intertwining these art forms, coming from a formal opera repetiteur training and working with professional dance companies and schools since 2010. Since her role as apprentice coach with the Vancouver Opera’s Yulanda M. Faris Young Artist Program (‘18-19), Perri has music directed productions with Indie Opera West companies, of both traditional and contemporary repertoire. Most recently, she toured across B.C. with Vancouver Opera and Pacific Opera Victoria’s co-production of Flight of the Hummingbird, a new children’s opera about climate change. When she is not performing with singers and instrumentalists, Perri serves as B.C.’s Provincial Coordinator for Opera InReach, an artists’ collective providing accessible, innovative, and diverse opera education and mentorship for youths across Canada.
She is grateful to be creating and working on the unceded and ancestral homelands of xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Quartet
The work ‘Quartet’ is created and performed by four artists: Luka Kawabata (baritone), Perri Lo(piano), Kirsten Wicklund (co-choreographer and dancer), and Peter Smida (co-choreographer and dancer). Initially when deciding who to engage with this project, I wanted to choose singers and dancers that I have worked with in the past. It fits nicely that Luka and I have performed and worked together at Vancouver Opera and Opera In Reach, and both Kirsten and Peter have danced with Ballet BC while I was accompanying their ballet classes.
‘Quartet’ features two art songs, “Mondnacht” by Robert Schumann and “Le temps des lilas” by Ernest Chausson. With Luka and I performing live on stage, the dancers will share the space with their choreographed dance, reflecting the text and music of the songs. An unaccompanied, semi-improvised dance interlude provides space and a moment of reflection between the two songs.
Our goal is to create an equilateral work where every artist is listening, breathing, and reacting to each others’ artistic interpretations to the music on stage.
The Banff Centre and the Opera in the 21st Century gave me the encouragement and support to help create the project I have been dreaming of for years. This program brought a very unique group of participants together, combined with a thoughtful selection of guest speakers and artists. My perspective and values of opera in today's climate is forever changing, and I am grateful for this program to have contributed to my learning.
Perri Lo
