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The Canadian soprano, Linda Perillo, grew up in Edmonton. Her family loved music, though it was usually folk music rather than classical. She especially enjoyed choir rehearsals at St. Peter's Anglican Church, with conductor Ruby Dunn and organist Ann Martindale, both steeped in the English choral tradition with its purity of sound, so much like her own voice. On the University of Alberta campus she was a frequent piano accompanist for student soloists and loved to sit in on the art song classes run by Professor Emeritus Sandy Munn. She was often the backstage pianist in drama department productions.
Linda Perillo’s first major success came at an earlier Edmonton Bach celebration, the 1985 TriBACH Tercentenary Festival. At that time she was singing with Pro Coro Canada and their conductor, Michel Gervais, encouraged her to enter the festival's national competition. She won a scholarship, spent the money on airfare to London, England, voice lessons with renowned teacher Jessica Cash and the early music concerts given there by instrumentalists and singers, including Emma Kirkby. It was there she decided that "I want to do that kind of music." Back in Canada, her performance with the Alberta Baroque Ensemble, broadcast on CBC, caught the attention of a Vancouver agent. Auditions were arranged in Toronto, invitations followed, and by the 1989-1990 season her performance career had begun.
Linda Perillo’s voice and technical mastery have captured the attention of renowned baroque specialists all over the world and just recently she was chosen to record a Bach cantata newly discovered at the University of Leipzig. She has appeared as soloist with most of Canada's leading symphony orchestras, as well as with North American period-instruments groups as Tafelmusik in Toronto and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco. Her Career in Europe has included solo appearances with La Grande Ecurie, La Chapelle Royale, and The English Concert, and she performs frequently with the Gabrieli Consort.
Most of Linda Perillo’s current repertoire concentrates on the Baroque. The soprano is also involved in the area of contemporary music, such as the new work, Cycle of Spring by Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's composer-in-residence, Glen Buhr.
Linda Perillo’s home base is London, England, with baroque violinist Walter Reiter. She has already made guest appearances in several European countries, in Israel, Argentina, and the Philippines. Among her pupils and/or singers who have attended her master-classes: Julio López Agudo (Tenor). |
