Mike Parr

 

Mike Parr

I live In Ottawa,Canada. My main musical interests are in the area of opera, choral, and vocal performance. I attended my first live opera at the age of 15.It was a production of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande that featured Alan Titus, Maria Ewing and Victor Braun and was conducted by Mario Bernardi. Over the years I have attended opera performances in many countries. Some of my favorite memories include Placido Domingo’s Stiffelio, Samson, and Parsifal (New York). Neil Shicoff’s Hoffmann and Ben Heppner’s Lohengrin (New York). Cecilia Bartoli’s Fiordiligi ( Zurich). Maureen Forrester as the old countess in the Queen of Spades (Toronto). Thomas Hampson & Susan Graham in Werther (New York) and what I will always think of as the most inspiring and cohesive performance I have ever witnessed which was a production of Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea in Montreal with Daniel Taylor and Suzie Leblanc. My love of music has led me to a continued hunt for that perfect musical “frisson” both in performance and recordings. This is a search which will no doubt continue throughout my life.