What do irate roommates, frustrated parents, and sweet lullabies all have in common? The desire for sleep! Forest Lullabies examines sleep from many angles whether it's a soothing song or an angry protest against those preventing sleep. The program primarily features art song and opera from the 19th and 20th centuries including a set of songs by the underappreciated 19th century composer, Peter Cornelius.
This concert will be presented by soprano Corey Linforth, mezzo soprano Laura Pudwell, and pianist/organist Peter Nikiforuk.
Laura Pudwell
Grammy–nominated Laura Pudwell has a well-established international profile, with recent engagements in Paris, Salzburg, London, Houston, Boston and Vienna. She has sung with many leading orchestras and opera companies, including Tafelmusik, Les Violons du Roi, the Boston Early Music Festival, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Calgary Opera, Vancouver Opera, Opera Atelier, Symphony Nova Scotia and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. Her range of repertoire is immense, ranging from Hildegard of Bingen, through a recording of Dido and the Sorceress in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas under Hervé Niquet, to Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, and evenings of Stephen Sondheim and Cole Porter.
Corey Linforth
Corey Linforth holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Waterloo where she majored in music. Since graduating, she has performed as a soloist with the The Annex Singers, The Talisker Players, Spiritus Ensemble, Guelph Chamber Choir, with University of Waterloo Chamber Choir, and the University of Waterloo’s University Choir among others. Corey has attended a number of summer programs including Early Music Vancouver – The Compleat Singer (Canada), the Tallis Scholars’ Summer Schools (England), and Triora Musica – Early Opera Course (Italy). From 2014 to 2020, she was the music director at St. Andrew's Hespeler Presbyterian Church.
In 2019, Corey moved away from classical music to perform alternative folk music under the stage name Coraline James. She has released three singles and her debut EP, In the River. She recently attended Canada's Music Incubator and is currently in Misfit Management's Artist Evolution program. She is preparing for the release of her second EP, Brambles, in May 2025 thanks to the support of the Ontario Arts Council and the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund.
More recently, Corey has embraced both musical worlds and is performing both classical and alt folk regularly. In her free time, she likes to read, garden, and hangout with her chickens.
Peter Nikiforuk
Peter Nikiforuk holds a Bachelor of Music (BMus) from the University of Toronto, as well as a Master of Music (MM), Master of Musical Arts (MMA) and Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) from Yale University. He also holds an Advanced Course Diploma from the Royal Academy of Music in London, England.
He is an active as a piano teacher, workshop clinician and editor and examiner for the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) and the Royal Canadian College of Organists.
Active as both an organist and choral conductor, he conducted Menno Singers in Kitchener-Waterloo for 19 seasons from 1998-2017. He was the director of music at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Kitchener from 1989-2022.
As a soloist he performs regularly in Waterloo Region and further afield. Most recently, Peter performed as a member of the Northbroek Organ Academy in the Netherlands in June 2018 and July 2022.
