John Du Prez - John Du Prez  MA (Oxon) B Mus. ARCM was the seventh son of a seventh son of a seventh son. In 1966 he won a  Trevelyan  Scholarship to study Mandarin Chinese at Christ Church, Oxford. This left plenty of time to immerse himself in the rich musical life of the University as a classical French Horn player, Jazz trumpeter and Rock pianist. He moved to London to further his musical studies and join the staff of London University Music Department where he taught for four years, lecturing also at the Laban Dance Centre.  In 1978  he entered the film industry composing additional music for Monty Python's  Life  of Brian. This began a long association with Eric Idle leading eventually to their current writing partnership. Their stage musical Spamalot will shortly open its fifth company in Australia having won the 2005 Tony Award for Best Musical and a Grammy Award for Best Original Cast Album. He has scored  more than twenty feature films including The Meaning of Life,  A Private Function, A Fish Called Wanda , Once Bitten, the cult classic UHF and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles I, II & III. Other Python projects include The Contractual Obligation Album, Monty Python at the Hollywood Bowl  and The Fairly Incomplete & Rather Badly Illustrated Monty Python Song Book.

He was Musical Director for Eric Idle's two North American stage tours, Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python (2001) and The Greedy Bastard Tour (2003).

Eric Idle, Baritone and narrator - Eric Idle has multi-hyphenated his way through life, from being a writer and actor in the legendary Monty Python TV series and movies, to the creator and director of The Rutles.  He has appeared on stage singing rude songs at Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl as well as performing in two highly successful tours, Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python (2000) and The Greedy Bastard Tour (2003), for which he journeyed 15,000 miles across North America in a bus.  His Greedy Bastard Diary of that tour is available from Harper Collins.  Spamalot a theatrical version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail won him a Tony for Best Musical of 2005, and a Grammy for Best Soundtrack and is currently still on Broadway, on Tour, in London and Las Vegas at The Wynn Hotel.  His latest work with John Du Prez is a comic Oratorio called Not The Messiah which will be premiered shortly in Toronto.  He is also currently working on a CD he and John Du Prez have written for Sara Ramirez.

Shannon Mercer, Soprano - Her voice has been described as luminous, dazzling and shining and her acting witty, delightful, and feisty — Shannon Mercer is taking on the opera world as one of Canada's most promising young stars. Critically acclaimed by the international press for her musical artistry, she has been hailed as “one of Canada’s most promising young sopranos” and a “Leader of Tomorrow (Maclean's).”

An alumnus of San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Merola Opera Summer Program, Shannon began her operatic career as a member of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio Program. She has since gone on to perform major roles with the COC (Sesto in Sartorio’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto, a Madrigalist in Henze’s Venus and Adonis,  Xenia in Boris Godunov, Oscar in Un ballo in maschera and Elvira in L’italiana in Algeri),  l'Opéra du Québec, Opera Lyra Ottawa (Nanetta in Falstaff, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia special school performance), Opera Ontario, Opera Atelier (Médée) and the Toronto Operetta Theatre. In July 2006 Shannon made her London debut under the auspices of the ROH Covent Garden in The Midnight Court with Toronto's Queen of Puddings Music Theatre.

Shannon's 2006-2007 season features her return to the Canadian Opera Company as Despina in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, the opening production of the new Four Seasons Centre in Toronto. December will see Ms. Mercer make her debuts in both Calgary and Vancouver in performances as the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Vancouver Cantata Singers and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra as well as a return to Montreal for the Messiah with le Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal. In the New Year, Shannon makes her debut in France with the Opéra national de Montpellier, in the title role of Marin Marais's French Baroque opera Sémélé, which will also be recorded on the Glossa label for release in late 2007.

Following her performances and recording in France, Shannon returns to Canada for a recital with harpsichordist Luc Beauséjour in Joliette, Québec featuring the works of French composer Mondonville from their upcoming release on the Analekta label in March 2007.  In Toronto, she appears in a Mozart recital at the Glenn Gould Studio with Russell Braun and Krisztina Szabó and in a programme devoted to Edward Elgar with the Aldeburgh Connection. A frequent collaborator of Maestro Bernard Labadie, Shannon performs Handel’s Israël en Égypte with Les Violons du Roy in Montréal and Québec City as well as Bach’s St. John Passion in March 2007 with the Ensemble Arion. This summer Shannon appears in the world premiere of Eric Idle’s new comic oratorio Not the Messiah with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra under Peter Oundjian both at Toronto’s first Luminato Festival and at the Caramoor Festival. She also returns to Montéal for a special concert entitled Gloria! Vivaldi and his angels with the Caprice Orchestra and Choir, under Matthias Maute as well as a concert of works by Buxtehude with the Organ Academy.

In the 2007-2008 season Shannon will make her debut as Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with Opera Ontario and as Philine in a concert version of Ambroise Thomas’s Mignon with Opera Lyra Ottawa.

Particularly praised for her performances of baroque and contemporary music, Shannon maintains a challenging balance of opera, concert and recital appearances. Recent engagements have included her Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center debut in an all-Mozart recital featuring renowned American soprano Barbara Bonney with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, two performances at the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, a Christmas program with Thirteen Strings in Ottawa, a Bach Cantata Program with Ensemble Arion and Les Violons du Roy and Bach's B-minor Mass with le Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal (SMAM).  Shannon has also appeared in solo recital with Music Toronto for The Discovery Series and in a Schubertiade recital with the Aldeburgh Connection at the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto.

In November 2004, Shannon released her first recording English Fancy with Montréal's baroque ensemble Masques on the Analekta label, garnering such praise as Shannon Mercer sings this aria and the disc’s other fare with chameleon-like gifts. Her soprano is bright and agile, and she uses vibrato and ornamentation vividly to extract telling nuances from words and music. Mercer brings equal expressive vibrancy to the amorous, hedonistic and sorrowful feelings in these delectable pieces. (Gramophone) and Shannon Mercer is splendid icing on a very lovely and tasty cake…[Campion’s songs were] elegantly and artfully delivered by soprano Shannon Mercer, whose clear and unaffected singing is a delight to the ear. (Music Web International)

Her next recording, also for Analekta, featuring music by the French baroque composer Mondonville with acclaimed harpsichordist Luc Beauséjour, will be released in March 2007 followed by Marin Marais's opera Sémélé on the Glossa label in late 2007. Shannon also starred in Alexina Louie’s Gemini-nominated comic opera Burnt Toast, an 8-vignette series directed by Larry Weinstein that was presented at the Toronto and Calgary film festivals and broadcast nationally on CBC television and Bravo!.

Awarded a Career Development Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts and winner of the 2004 Bernard Diamant Prize, Shannon spent most of 2005 in Vienna where she studied German operatic repertoire with renowned voice coach Margaret Singer. She has recently received the Virginia Parker Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Women's Musical Club of Toronto Career Development Award.

A native of Ottawa, Shannon Mercer now resides in Toronto.

Christopher Sieber, Tenor - Mr. Sieber’s Broadway credits include: Spamalot (Tony Award Nomination, Best Supporting Actor in a Musical), Billy Flynn in Chicago, Trevor Graydon in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Rapunzel’s Prince in the recent revival of Into the Woods, Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, Agis in Triumph of Love, and Young Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol.  London/West End: Spamalot. The Prince in New York City Opera production of Cinderella. Off-Broadway credits include Brian in Avow, Donald in The Boys in the Band, and Pal Joey. Regional credits include Randy Newman’s  Faust, Paper Moon at Paper Mill, Bobby in Company, and The Boys From Syracuse at Reprise! Recent television credits include Simon Banks on ABC’s comedy It’s All Relative and Kevin Burke (dad to Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen) on ABC’s Two of a Kind. Other television credits include Sex And The City, Ed, Guiding Light, All My Children, and Another World. Mr. Sieber has not appeared on Law & Order.

Jean Stilwell, Mezzo-soprano - Hailed on three continents for her complex portrayal of Carmen, Jean Stilwell is at the forefront of this generation's mezzo-sopranos.  In Keith Warner's daring production of Carmen for Minnesota Opera and Opera Ontario, Ms. Stilwell's "riveting" performance of the title role was praised for "mesmerizing stage presence and her dangerous sounding, husky mezzo ... vocally rich and powerful."  Since first assuming the role in Vancouver, Bizet's fascinating gypsy has opened many doors for Ms. Stilwell and she has appeared with the Buxton Festival, New York City Opera, Welsh National Opera, English National Opera, Opera Zuid of Holland, Connecticut Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, and all the opera companies of Canada. The striking mezzo-soprano has appeared for Vancouver Opera as Amneris in Aida, Marie in Wozzeck for Pacific Opera Victoria and starred in the world premiere of Facing South with Tapestry New Opera Works.   On the summer circuit she appeared for the Festival of the Sound in Schönberg’s version of Mahler’s Das Lied Von Der Erde and for Festival Vancouver appeared as Genevieve in Pelléas Et Mélisande. Recent seasons have also included Katisha in Mikado for the Arizona Opera, the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd for Calgary Opera, Jenny in The Threepenny Opera for Vancouver Opera and Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana for Manitoba Opera.

Ms. Stilwell appeared as Serena Joy in the Canadian Opera Company’s acclaimed production of The Handmaid’s Tale and for Calgary Opera made her role debut in Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins.  In concert, she was in Budapest for an International Gala Opera evening, in Halifax for Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody with Symphony Nova Scotia and in Hamilton, Ontario for Opera Ontario’s Popera.  During a recent Hawaii Opera summer season, she debuted as Ruth in Pirates Of Penzance, and took on the dual roles of Mother and the Witch in Hansel And Gretel and Jenny in The Threepenny Opera for Opera Columbus.  In early 2006, her schedule was highlighted by concerts in Winnipeg, recitals in Vancouver for Music in the Morning and Maddalena in Rigoletto for Pacific Opera Victoria and Orchestra London. Other appearances in that season included Carmen La Gitana with Rex Harrington, directed and narrated by Veronica Tennant for Moses Znaimer’s ‘Idea City’ in Toronto, Brad Hampton’s Cabaret show in Montreal, Elizabeth’s ‘Concert of Hope’ for the Regina ALS Society, and a Festival of the Sound concert with Mary Lou Fallis.  Ms. Stilwell was also on the ‘Bathroom Divas’ selection panel for Bravo.  During 2006-2007, a varied schedule claims her attention.  Her recent and upcoming works include once again performing with Symphony Nova Scotia singing Mahler’s Lieder Eines Fahrenden Gesellen, her debut with Toronto Operetta Theatre as The Old Lady in Bernstein’s Candide and Tapestry New Opera Works’ ‘Three Divas’ with Teresa Tova and Patricia O’Callaghan.  She lectures and performs for the Vancouver Opera Club and launches a new CD, Carmen Unzipped, with pianist Patti Loach.

Ms. Stilwell is internationally renowned for the variety of her repertoire with engagements ranging from Dialogues Des Carmelites for Calgary Opera to Die Fledermaus for Kentucky Opera and Opera Saskatchewan. Selected career highlights include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Toronto Symphony, Zigeunerbaron at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Dido in Dido And Aeneas with Opera Atelier in Singapore and the Berio Folk Songs at the Avanti Festival in Finland conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste.  Ms. Stilwell has also performed Mahler's 'Symphony of a Thousand' in Edmonton and Vancouver and Schafer's Adieu, Robert Schumann for L’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec. The Toronto resident is in demand for a unique array of operatic starring roles including Penelope in Il Ritorno D’ulisse In Patria, Lucretia in The Rape Of Lucretia, Charlotte in Werther, and the title role in Xerxes.

Her U.S. concert debut at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York with Trevor Pinnock was followed by engagements with the symphonies of St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo.  In Canada, her conductors have included Andrew Davis, Mario Bernardi, Bramwell Tovey, Gunther Herbig, Jukka Pekka Saraste and Sergiu Comissiona.  In Japan Ms. Stilwell appeared for Sony Music Communications in Tokyo and she was artist-in-residence at the Takefu Festival.  She is frequently heard on CBC broadcasts and her discography includes the music of Berio, Weill, Poulenc, Somers and Spohr on the CBC and CMC labels.  Ms. Stilwell is the official spokesperson for the ALS Society of Canada.