The Tuckamore Faculty Trio, comprised of the Duo Concertante (violinist Nancy Dahn and pianist Timothy Steeves) and Vernon Regehr, cello, have played together for almost two decades. This program features a newly discovered masterwork by the mega talent Clara Schumann, a trio by Newfoundland composer Aiden Hartery, and Dvorak’s Dumky” trio, one of the most beloved and intensely spirited works for piano, violin and cello. This program, performed by three of the province’s outstanding classical artists, will be certain to move the soul and delight the senses. We hope you will join us across beautiful Central and Western Newfoundland to hear great music in intimate and unique venues.
English Harbour Arts Centre, English Harbour (July 8)
Terra Nova Visitor Centre, Terra Nova National Park (July 9)
The Beaches Arts and Heritage Centre, Eastpost (July 9)
Twillingate Performing Arts Centre, Twillingate (July 10)
United Church, Grand Falls (July 11)
Rotary Arts Centre (July 12)
Garrick Theatre, Bonavista (July 13)
Please visit our Events https://tuckamorefestival.ca/events/ for tickets and more information.
Biographies
Duo Concertante: Nancy Dahn, violin; Timothy Steeves, piano
For over two decades, violinist Nancy Dahn and pianist Timothy Steeves have built an international career as artist and life partners in the ensemble Duo Concertante. Award-winning performers, champions of new music, visionary artistic directors, and inspiring mentors, Duo Concertante have forged a musical legacy and strive to provoke thought and engagement through their art. After their first concert in 1997, the Halifax Chronicle-Herald called Duo Concertante “two packages of musical dynamite that would credit any stage on the planet.” Since then, they have performed more than 700 concerts across North America, Europe, Central America and China in venues as Wigmore Hall (London), Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall (New York City), Shanghai City Theatre, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Roy Thomson Hall, Koerner Hall, and the Four Seasons Performing Arts Centre (Toronto), the National Arts Centre (Ottawa), and the Forbidden City Concert Hall (Beijing).
Duo Concertante’s 13 award-winning recordings include Beethoven Complete Sonatas for Violin and Piano, which wasdescribed by Gramophone Magazine as “a miracle of knowledge and poetry.” Preeminent critic John Terauds stated “…these beautiful interpretations are so good right down to the tiniest of details that they deserve to be called a reference in… contemporary performance.” Their other recordings include Incarnation, one of CBC Radio’s Top 10 Classical Recordings of 2017, and 2011’s JUNO-winning Wild Bird. 2025 will see the release of two additional albums: a recording of works by Schumann, Franck and Amanda Maier recorded in Scotland on the Delphian label, as well as Dark Tales, a commissioned piece by Alice Ho based on Newfoundland ghost stories, recorded on the PARMA label.
In addition to their dedication to the rich canon of standard repertoire, Nancy and Timothy have commissioned over 70 new works from Canada’s leading and emergent composers. Their devotion to “citizen artistry” synthesizes the performing arts with issues important to them, particularly environmentalism and the climate emergency, seen in recent projects as Ecology of Being and Taking on Water.
Since 2020, Duo Concertante have also been active creating unique music art films with Nicola Hawkins, such as Melissa Hui’s work from the Ecology of Being project, which was made into a 21-minute film and won Best Experimental Film and Best Original Score at the 2020 IndieX Filmfest (Los Angeles). In 2022, the Duo created SOLACE – four films with music by Dawn Avery, Alice Ho, Jessie Montgomery and Cesar Franck. The Jessie Montgomery film, End of the Line, was an award winner at the Los Angeles Women’s Independent Film Festival. In 2025, they release BIRDS two by two, a new film with music of Shostakovich Trio no. 1 with cellist Heather Tuach.
Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada, they are also the founding Artistic Directors of the Tuckamore Festival, a major attraction where for two weeks every summer, international artists and students gather for intense chamber music workshops, coachings and performances in beautiful St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.
Vernon Regehr, cello
A native of Winnipeg, cellist Vernon Regehr is an active recitalist, chamber and orchestral musician, conductor and teacher, and developer of eMusic Bach, an interactive iOS app.
An avid chamber musician and teacher, he serves as a member of the faculty at the Tuckamore chamber music festival in St. John’s Newfoundland he has performed numerous commissioned works for national radio broadcast. He is a founding member of the Spectrolite Ensemble, a clarinet trio with Sean Rice and Patrick Cashin whose premiere recording includes works by Beethoven, Zemlinksy and Roberto Sierra. Regehr served on the performance and teaching faculty of the Kinhaven Music Festival in Vermont for many years, and has taught at numerous other festivals. He has collaborated with Ensemble Made in Canada, the Shanghai, Penderecki, Fitzwilliam and Lafayette string quartets, Andrew Burashko, Mark Fewer, Suzie Leblanc, and Leon Fleisher. His performance of Carter’s cello sonata at the Groundswell New Music Festival commemorating Elliott Carter’s 100th birthday, “…showed a clear understanding of the work, while handling its hefty technical demands with finesse.” (Winnipeg Free Press)
He has made festival appearances with the First Avenue Chamber Players of New York City, at the Indian River Festival, the International Festival of Ensembles in St. Petersburg, Russia, Trinidad Arts Festival, University of Victoria, Artspring, SoundaXis New Music Festival, Hilton Beach, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Music in the Barns and the Chamber Music Societies of Quebec and Kitchener-Waterloo. Regehr has also performed as soloist with the Winnipeg Symphony, Newfoundland Sinfonia, Memorial University Chamber Orchestra and the Cantata Singers of Ottawa. https://www.mun.ca/music/people/faculty/vernon-regehr/