Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #80! http://www.organduo.lt/podcast Today's guest is an organist and singer from Canada, Thomas Leslie. He is the Executive Director of the Canadian International Organ Competition, a member of the Board of Directors of Casavant Frères, and holds a Colleague Diploma from the Royal Canadian College of Organists. ​Thomas is a graduate of Wilfrid Laurer and McGill Universities, where he studied both voice and organ. He recently completed an executive MBA program at the Université Paris-Dauphine, one of France’s most prestigious research and higher education institutions. Originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Thomas has a beautiful tenor voice and maintains an active career as a singer performing throughout Canada and the United States. ​ Recent performance highlights include Handel’s Messiah and the Magic Flute with the Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil, Handel’s Dixit Dominus, Mozart’s Credomesse and Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the St. Lambert Choral Society, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Berkshire Choral Festival, music of Nico Muhly at the River-to-River Festival in New York City, J.S. Bach’s Cantata Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott in Kitchener, Ontario and Mozart’s Requiem with the Orchestre symphonique de L’Estuaire. ​ Other operatic performances include Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Harry Somers’ Louis Riel, Strauss’ Die Fledermaus and Bernstein’s Candide. Thomas has been heard as a panelist on CBC Radio’s Opera Quiz and was featured on the Bravo Network documentary series The Classical Now. In this conversation Thomas and I talk about the Canadian International Organ Competition (CIOC) which is an organization devoted to the promotion of organ music in Quebec and Canada through discovery activities for the general public, concerts, and an annual festival in Montréal in October. Its Competition, directed by the eminent Canadian organist John Grew every three years, ranks among the most prestigious competitions in the world, with prizes totaling over $100,000. Past Laureates are David Baskeyfield (UK, 2014), Christian Lane (USA, 2011) and Frédéric Champion (France, 2008). ​Enjoy and share your comments below. ​ And don't forget to help spread the word about the SOP Podcast by sharing it with your organist friends. Thanks for caring. Related link: http://​www.ciocm.org ​