Wednesday, October 15, 2025 – 12 – 1 pm
Hazel McCallion Central Library – 301 Burnhamthorpe Rd W, Mississauga – FREE
Join us for our next ‘3rd Wednesday at Maker’s Stage’ noon hour event with the incredible duo – Elinor Frey (cello) and Mélisande McNabney (harpsichord). With stunning music from the Baroque period by these 2 award winning musicians, you will get a small taste of what is to come on Friday, Oct 17th at our Signature Series event with Elinor and the Accademia de’ Dissonanti ensemble! Don’t miss these fabulous events!
Elinor Frey
Born in Seattle and living in Montréal, Elinor Frey is a leading Canadian-American cellist, violada gambist, and researcher. Her albums on the Belgian label Passacaille and Canadian label Analekta – many of which are world premiere recordings – include Giuseppe Clemente Dall’Abaco Cello Sonatas, winner of aDiapason d’Or, and Early Italian Cello Concertos, winner of the 2023 JUNO Award for Classical Album of the Year (small ensemble). Her critical editions of Dall’Abaco’s cello music is published in collaboration with Walhall Editions. Elinor is the artistic director of Accademia de’ Dissonanti, an organization for performance and research. She has performed throughout the Americas and in Europe in recital and with numerous chamber ensembles and orchestras including the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, London Symphonia (ON), Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Symphony Nova Scotia, Rosa Barocca, Il Gardellino, Tafelmusik, and Pacific Baroque Orchestra, among others. Recipient of dozens of grants and prizes supporting performance and research, including the US-Italy Fulbright Fellowship, a research residency at the Orpheus Institute in Ghent, and a collaborative research project in 2025 with musicologist Nicholas Baragwanath working on using hexachordal solfeggio in practice, supported by CALQ and UK Impact Accelerator grants. Elinor holds degrees from McGill, Mannes, and Juilliard. She teaches Baroque cello and performance practice at McGill University and the Université de Montréal and was a Visiting Fellow in Music (2020–2023) at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University. Frey was awarded Québec’s Opus Prize for “Performer of the Year” in 2021.
Mélisande McNabney
Mélisande McNabney performs keyboard music of all periods, on harpsichord, piano,fortepiano, and organ. In August 2015, she received the third prize at the International Competition Musica Antiquain Bruges, Belgium. Very active on the concert scene, Mélisande has performed solo recitals across Canada and Europe, and was invited as a soloist with Les Violons du Roy, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Arion Orchestre Baroque, Ensemble Caprice and the Toledo Symphony. As a chamber and orchestra musician, she has toured extensively throughout North America and is regularly invited to play with ensembles such as Les Violons du Roy, Arion Orchestre Baroque, Montreal Bach Festival Orchestra, Les Idées heureuses, and Ensemble Caprice. In 2019, Mélisande released her debut solo album on ATMA Classique, Inspirations: D’Anglebert, Forqueray, Rameau, which received 5 Diapasons from Diapason magazine. Her second album, Fantasias:C. P. E. Bach /MOZART, released in 2022, received the mention ★★★★½ from La Presse. Mélisande teaches harpsichord at the Conservatoire de Musique de Québec, and at the Domaine Forget International Academy.
She is also an active researcher in the field of performance practices, and presented papers at the HKSNA conference in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music in Birmingham, UK. Mélisande is a graduate of the Amsterdam Conservatory where she studied harpsichord, continuo and fortepiano in the classes of Bob van Asperen and Richard Egarr. She was granted her Doctorate degree atMcGill University in May 2017, under the guidance of Hank Knox and Tom Beghin, thanks to the support of theJoseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarships Program. Mélisande is grateful for the support of Musicaction, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Banff Centre, theSSHRC, the FQRSC, the CALQ, Festival Classica and M. Jacques Marchand.