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The Canadian conductor, Howard Dyck, was born in the province of Manitoba, and took his basic musical training in Canada and the USA. With the assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts and the German Academic Exchange, he took advanced studies in Choral, Orchestral and Opera conducting at the Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie in Detmold, Germany as well as the Internationale Bachacademie in Stuttgart with Prof. Helmuth Rilling.
Howard Dyck is currently Conductor and Artistic Director of the Kitchener Waterloo Philharmonic Choir and Chamber Singers as well as the Consort Caritatis Choir and Orchestra. His conducting career has taken him to ten countries on three continents. He has appeared as guest conductor with many choir and orchestras in Canada and abroad, including the Arnold Schoenberg Chor of Vienna, Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra & Obretenov Choir (Bulgaria), Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra London Canada, Kitchener Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, Polish Radio Chamber Orchestra, Schwabisch Gmund Philharmonie, the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, the Kunming Symphony Orchestra (China), the State Symphony Orchestra of St. Petersburg (Russia), the Virtuosi di Praga and the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra.
For 1999, Howard Dyck has been appointed Artistic Director (Classical Music) of the International Festival of the Arts, to be held in Kunming, Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China. In the summer of 1996, Consort Caritatis, led by Maestro Dyck, toured Central and Eastern Europe and in 1998 were invited to return, performing the Messa Da Requeim by Verdi and Haydn's Die Schopfung in Olomouc, Prague, Budapest and Vienna. Howard Dyck and Consort Caritatis have been invited to perform L.v. Beethoven's Missa Solemnis in the Salzburg Cathedral during the 2000 Salzburg Festival. His operatic experience includes La Vie Parisienne at the Stratford Festival and Cosi Fan Tutte in Winnipeg. In addition, he has conducted many concerts of opera, operetta and Broadway musical excerpts.
Soloists of international distinction who have performed under Howard Dyck's direction include: Russell Braun, Measha Brueggergosman, Phillip Ens, Manon Feubel, Maureen Forrester, Paul Frey, Karina Gauvin, Ben Heppner, Heidi Klassen, Daniel Lichti, Linda Maguire, Richard Margison, Chris Merritt, Mark Pedrotti, Susan Platts, Gary Relyea, Catherine Robbin, Michael Schade, Henreitte Schellenberg, Laura Whalen, and Edith Wiens.
Howard Dyck is the conductor of the all-Canadian 1995 recording of George Frideric Handel's Messiah (Sony Classical) as well as a new recording of Verdi's Messa Da Requiem featuring Consort Caritatis and Virtuosi di Praga. Other recordings with Consort Caritatis and various Canadian and European orchestras, under his direction include: J.S. Bach's Missa Brevis in g (BWV 235), Haydn's Creation, L.v. Beethoven's Missa Solemnis (EMI), Johannes Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem, Willan's Requiem (EMI [release pending]. Under his direction, both Consort Caritatis and the Kitchener Waterloo Philharmonic Choir have been featured in numerous CBC broadcasts, most recently in the Canadian premiere of Franz Schmidt's Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln.
An experienced music pedagogue, Howard Dyck is often invited to appear as clinician, adjudicator and guest conductor. Howard Dyck is also well-known across Canada as a music broadcaster. He has been the Program Host of Saturday Afternoon at the Opera since 1987. He is also the Host of Choral Concert on CBC Radio Two. Although he made his CBC broadcast debut as Host of Mostly Music in 1976, his broadcasting career began at CFAM in Altona, Manitoba the day after he wrote his last high school examination.
Recognized for his work as a conductor and broadcaster, Howard Dyck is listed in Canadian Who's Who. In 1996, he was awarded honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) degrees by the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University. That same year he received the Ontario Choral Federation's Distinguished Service Award. In 1999 the Yunnan Arts Institute (Kunming, China) named him Honorary Professor of Music.In 2000, he was appointed to the Order of Canada, and in 2002 he was awarded the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal. |
