Biography - Ian Garrett
Ian Garrett has been
widely recognized for cultivating and producing many professional
singers over the past twenty-five years in both classical
and pop music. Formerly an opera singer with the Canadian
Opera Company and a high school music teacher Ian has a
Vocal Supervisor and
Instrumental Specialists Certificate
with the Department of Education for the province of Ontario.
He is also a member of the Secondary
School Teachers Federation (O.S.S.T.F). He studied
privately for fourteen years as a young man with George
Lambert, (vocal coach to the acclaimed Robert
Goulet and opera singer John
Vickers) and also later with Bernard
Diamont (vocal coach to Maureen
Forrester).
Ian
has performed at the Royal Alexandria
Theatre and the O'Keefe
Centre with such notable stars as Hal
Linden (Barney Miller), Jack
Carter, Phil Silvers
(Sgt. Bilko), Danny Kaye
and Dorothy Collins
(Arthur Godfrey's Show). His professional singing and acting
experience includes several years as a soloist with the
Canadian Opera Company;
solo appearances with the CBC Symphony
and excellent reviews in such works as the Evangelist
in St. John Passion by J.S. Bach, under the baton
of Sir Ernest Macmillan
(former conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra). In
addition to performing, he became involved in television
production and distribution, and had the opportunity of
becoming personally acquainted with many people in the industry
such as Gloria Gaynor,
Elton John, Rod
Stewart, Eva Gabor,
Loretta Swit and as
a result has a broad knowledge of how to guide young people
intelligently in their pursuit of becoming a professional
performer.
Ian Garrett has many
students who have achieved success and fame in various styles
of music including country (Shania
Twain), pop (Shawn Desman),
and dance (Kim Esty - Boomtang
Boys). His experience performing in various broadway
musicals has certainly influenced his students in helping
them to achieve major roles as actors, dancers, and singers
in Broadway productions. Some of his students include soloists
in Miss Saigon, Cats,
Beauty and the Beast,
Ragtime, and the Lion
King.
