CONCERT AT THE BARN

Brian Finley

Friday July7th 2023 at2:00PM

Brian Finley currently enjoys a multi-faceted career as a pianist, composer, director and impresario As a pianist, he has performed with orchestras from Dallas to Calgary, and at venues including Wigmore Hall (London), and the Glenn Gould Studio (Toronto). He has collaborated with some of Canada’s top singers including Adrianne Pieczonka and Gerald Finley (his cousin). Having been heard on CBC, CFMX, KING-FM in the US and on Soviet Television, his recordings include his own Preludes to Canada and Intimacies for solo piano, three with life-partner, soprano Donna Bennett, and world premiere recordings of his Requiem for a Millennium (1999) and his opera-musical Rapunzel (2005)

Brian’s compositions include music for piano, voice, choral ensembles and orchestras. For the stage, he has written and produced several full-length opera-musicals including SAMSON (2001), Rapunzel (2005), The Selfish Giant (2010) and an opera based on his own original story The Pencil Salesman (2016) inspired and commissioned by Dr. Agnes M. Herzberg. As a director he has staged fully staged productions of Jesus Christ Superstar, The Sound of Music, The Magic Ornament and his own works including Requiem for a Millennium, Westben Christmas Carol and others

Together with Donna, Brian co-founded the Westben Arts Festival Theatre near Campbellford, Ontario in 1999, serving ever since as the organization’s Artistic & Managing Director. He was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002, and together with Donna, was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2017 for their work with Westben.