Justin Luchinski began an active career in early music performance in Montréal while completing his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees at the Schulich School of Music, McGill University.
Before moving back to his hometown of Calgary in the summer of 2020, for over half a decade Justin was a regular rehearsal keyboardist with Opera McGill’s baroque opera productions, and had regular season concerts, performances at the Montréal Baroque Festival, recording projects, and nation-wide touring with Les Méandres, the ensemble of which he is a co-founder.
The “sensitivity and nuance” of Justin’s playing has been shaped largely under the tutelage of Hank Knox, but has also been heavily influenced through masterclasses with Charlotte Nediger of Tafelmusik, Marie van Rhijn at L’Académie des Musiciens de Saint-Juilien in France, Olivier Fortin, Mark Edwards, Béatrice Martin, and others. Since returning to Calgary and acquiring a replica of a 1681 Vaudry harpsichord, Justin has worked with Calgary’s highly acclaimed Luminous Voices, collaborated with various members of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and launched an early chamber music concert series in partnership with the Calgary Public Library, generously funded by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Tim Janz is a composer, performer and educator based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He is fascinated by how music works and is very interested in the ‘why’ questions pertaining to music. Why are the musical letter names not all the same distance apart? Why do tonal answers in fugues have altered intervals? Why do composers make the choices they make? Why is resonance so important?
As a performer he has played professionally as a flautist in symphonic orchestras and as a singer songwriter in a traditional/roots band. He has grown to love the intricacies of period instruments and performs on Baroque one-keyed flute, Classical eight-keyed flute as well as the modern Boehm system flute.
As a composer he believes that new music does not necessarily need to create entire new worlds or musical languages. He often uses earlier musical styles or compositional techniques as a point of departure for his new compositions.
For Mari Coetzee (cello, baroque cello), pieces of music are like time capsules from the past, encoded with meaning for future generations. Her ongoing search for authentic musical interpretation has led Mari to specialize in historical performance and advanced music theory while at The Juilliard School in New York City for her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, where she studied with Richard Aaron and Phoebe Carrai. Some other highlights of her musical career include performing at Carnegie Hall, playing concertos with the Orchestra Symphonique de Quebec and Edmonton Symphony as soloist, and attending at some of the top music festivals including Tanglewood (Boston), Lucerne (Switzerland) and Fontainebleau (France). She is also passionate about sharing her love of music in her vibrant online teaching studio where she works with young cellists across North America. Mari currently makes her home in Calgary with her husband, their 7 month old daughter and puppy Teddy.
HERE is an example of Justin Luchinski’s ensemble work, featuring a Montréal ensemble Les Méandres, of which Justin Luchinski is a director.
ALLA TEMPO TRAVERSO: Music for Flute, Baroque Cello and Harpsichord from the Early 18th Century
Step back. No texts, no emails, no video conferences. Enter the intimate space and time of the early 1700s and bring it into your own present, now. Wooden flute, baroque cello and harpsichord will lead your imagination through a journey that will start in London, fly to Paris and then settle in Leipzig. All in a simple lunch hour at the Cathedral.
