Every month for so, Ludwig Van poses 60 questions to an artist who has made a mark on Toronto’s music scene. Each artist picks and chooses, with a minimum response of 20.
Canadian Keri-Lynn Wilson has an international career as a guest conductor, heading operas and orchestras from all over the globe. Wilson has two Masters degrees from Juilliard in conducting and flute performance, and since then, she has led orchestras all the way from Honolulu to Iceland to Taiwan.
She was a 2017 Dora Award nominee for Outstanding Musical Direction for her work on Tosca with the Canadian Opera Company, co-produced with the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet. She was recently the Acting Music Director of the National Slovenian Philharmonic, and on top of joining the Toronto Symphony Orchestra this season for Best of Tchaikovsky, she will be leading a production of Verdi’s Aida at the English National Opera in London.
—————
What are three things about Toronto that make you want to live here?
The considerate citizens, the kind citizens, the patient citizens
First thing that comes to your mind when you think about Toronto
Great friends and family who live there
Default Cocktail of choice?
Rose champagne
Your favourite smell?
Truffles
The historical personalities, both good and bad, that fascinate you the most?
Catherine the Great, Shostakovich, Einstein
The three books that you read that made an impact on you in your formative years?
”Crime and Punishment” — Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “Letters to a Young Poet” — Rilke, “City Room”— Arthur Gelb
If you could board a plane this afternoon, where would it be taking you?
Home!
The different career path that you could have gone on?
Spy/espionage
Your favourite sound?
An orchestra in a great hall
Your least favourite sound?
Screeching subway train
Your first three record store purchases?
Bruckner 4 Symphony, Brahms Violin Concerto, Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet
The strangest place you’ve ever been to?
Astana, Kazakhstan
Where did you go to school?
Juilliard
Where was the last place you travelled to for work or pleasure?
London, England and Vienna (all within three days before my arrival in T.O.)
The first album that made you love music?
Brahms Violin Concerto
The best way to die?
In my husband’s arms
Three pieces, songs, or arias that you could listen to on repeat for an hour?
Mozart Requiem, Mahler 9 (first or last movements), Verdi Don Carlo: Rodrigo’s death scene (sung by Dima Hvorostovsky)
The thing that makes you the happiest?
Performing
The thing that makes you the angriest?
Trump as POTUS
The piece of music you want played at your funeral?
Rodrigo’s aria from Verdi’s Don Carlo
#LUDWIGVAN
Want more updates on Toronto-centric classical music news and reviews before anyone else finds out? Follow us on Facebook or Twitter for all the latest.
- GIVEAWAY | Enter To Win Tickets To See The NAC Orchestra Live In Toronto - February 3, 2023
- WHO’S WHO | Ontario Pops Orchestra Releases Debut Album “Breaking Barriers” - January 25, 2023
- THE SCOOP | Crooning Prime Minister Causes Social Media Furor - September 19, 2022
