{"id":53747,"date":"2018-05-03T09:01:56","date_gmt":"2018-05-03T13:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=53747"},"modified":"2018-05-04T09:25:38","modified_gmt":"2018-05-04T13:25:38","slug":"qa-31-questions-for-rachel-mahon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2018\/05\/03\/qa-31-questions-for-rachel-mahon\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A | 31 Questions For Rachel Mahon"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rachel
Toronto-born organist Rachel Mahon talks about her favourite films, games she’s best at, and secret talents.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Every month or so, Ludwig Van poses 60 questions to an artist who has made a mark on Toronto\u2019s music scene. Each artist picks and chooses, with a minimum response of 20. A kind of personality test, if you will.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Toronto’s Rachel Mahon\u00a0first made a splash in the international organ scene as the first female organist hired at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, a position she held between<\/span>\u00a02014-2016. Now based in the U.K., she performs regularly around the world including\u00a0performances with the Orgelsommer Festival 2016, St. Michaelis Church, L\u00fcneburg, Germany, and Temple Church, London, UK. She also a busy guest accompanist for numerous choirs and ensembles, including the Mendelssohn Singers, the Elora Festival Singers and the Tallis Choir of Toronto. She\u00a0<\/span>is currently\u00a0<\/span>Assistant Organist at Chester Cathedral, in the UK.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can hear\u00a0Rachel Mahon next at the Toronto Bach Festival on Saturday, May 12 at the\u00a0<\/span>Holy Family Roman Catholic Church (Toronto Oratory). Details here<\/a>\u00a0and at www.torontobachfestival.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 \u2014 \u2014 \u2014 \u2014<\/h3>\n

What are three things that Toronto doesn\u2019t have but should?<\/h3>\n

A King subway line.
\nAn Eglinton subway line.
\nA Shepherd subway line.<\/p>\n

Name the musical equivalent to junk food.<\/h3>\n

Pop music.<\/p>\n

Default drink\/cocktail of choice?<\/h3>\n

Water\u2026.or sauvignon blanc.<\/p>\n

Your favourite sound?<\/h3>\n

Clarinet.<\/p>\n

Your least favourite sound?<\/h3>\n

Police sirens. I always plug my ears because I can\u2019t stand it. I swear they are getting louder as the years go on.<\/p>\n

Your favourite smells?<\/h3>\n

Chocolate chip cookies in the oven, lavender, lilies.<\/p>\n

Your least favourite smells?<\/h3>\n

Onions and B.O.<\/p>\n

First thing that comes to your mind when you think about Toronto<\/h3>\n

The skyline.<\/p>\n

The dumbest thing that you\u2019ve ever done to your hair?<\/h3>\n

I cut my bangs very badly once, but I grew into them. I still cut my own hair.<\/p>\n

If you could board a plane this afternoon, where would it be taking you?<\/h3>\n

Calgary.<\/p>\n

Whose musical style do you covet?<\/h3>\n

Julia Wedman! My sisters and I love watching her play.<\/p>\n

Where was the last place you travelled to for work or pleasure?<\/h3>\n

Toronto.<\/p>\n

What did you major in as an undergraduate?<\/h3>\n

Organ Performance.<\/p>\n

The strangest talent that you possess?<\/h3>\n

I have an incredible toe span. I can also pop various limbs out of joint and do the splits.<\/p>\n

Shoe of choice?<\/h3>\n

In an ideal world, heels, but they are too painful and it\u2019s not practical with all the cobblestones here.<\/p>\n

The different career path that you could have gone on?<\/h3>\n

Too many to count! I wanted to be a doctor, a carpenter, a dancer, an artist and the list goes on.<\/p>\n

Your ancestry?<\/h3>\n

Primarily English and Russian.<\/p>\n

Your three favourite films?<\/h3>\n

Gone with the Wind, It\u2019s a Wonderful Life and BBC Pride and Prejudice mini-series.<\/p>\n

What is the best thing about your work?<\/h3>\n

Getting to make music every day with the choir on the organ, and travelling to different places to play different instruments.<\/p>\n

What is the worst thing about your work?<\/h3>\n

Long hours and no weekends. Practising late at night after the Cathedral is closed.<\/p>\n

The talent that you wish you possessed?<\/h3>\n

Ballet dancing.<\/p>\n

What are you listening to as you answer these questions?<\/h3>\n

My nephew is repeating most of what I say as my sister and I chat.<\/p>\n

What musical instrument do you secretly long to play?<\/h3>\n

Cello or bagpipes.<\/p>\n

What sport did you give up and why?<\/h3>\n

Field hockey. I just ran out of time when I went to University because I had three jobs.<\/p>\n

What is the game that you\u2019re best at?<\/h3>\n

Monopoly.<\/p>\n

Your least favourite word?<\/h3>\n

Moist. Or any reflexive pronoun when used improperly!<\/p>\n

The first album that made you love music?<\/h3>\n

My mum\u2019s box set called Piano Mania.<\/p>\n

The one place that you have the least interest in ever visiting?<\/h3>\n

Australia.<\/p>\n

The first three things that you do every morning?<\/h3>\n

Boil some eggs, shower, brush my teeth.<\/p>\n

The best way to die?<\/h3>\n

While sleeping peacefully.<\/p>\n

The piece of music you want played at your funeral?<\/h3>\n

Komm, s\u00fcsser Tod \u2014 Virgil Fox\u2019s arrangement of Bach.<\/p>\n

[Updated. May 4, 9:00 a.m.Rachel Mahon’s bio has been corrected <\/span>for accuracy.]<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toronto-born organist Rachel Mahon talks about her favourite films, games she’s best at, and secret talents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14761,29,5009,63],"tags":[2747],"yst_prominent_words":[19257,7495,19281,7520,7506,7521,10396,6616,6735,12755,17079,11181,7501,11937,19255,7134,19252,19251,6741,9960],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/05\/rachel-mahon.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-dYT","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53747"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53747"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53784,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53747\/revisions\/53784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53747"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=53747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}