Experience the musical brilliance of Manual Piazza, Winner of the 2023 Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Prize, and Winner of he 2021 RCCO National Organ Playing Competition.
Manuel Giovanni Piazza is Assistant Organist and Choirmaster at St Thomas’s Anglican Church in Toronto. He developed a passion for sacred music while attending St Michael’s Choir School in Toronto, where he served as a chorister and began organ studies.
From September 2019 to July 2020, he was organ scholar at Truro Cathedral in Cornwall (UK), where he played at Evensong three times a week, accompanying a dedicated group of choristers under the direction of Christopher Gray. While living in the UK, he also taught theory and organ, led chorister rehearsals, and performed with ensembles such as the London Sinfonia.
After returning to North America, he won first prize in the 2021 Royal Canadian College of Organists’ National Organ Playing Competition. Other awards include the Godfrey Hewitt Memorial Scholarship (RCCO), the Mary Baker Scholarship in Organ Accompanying (Yale Institute of Sacred Music), the Julia R. Sherman Memorial Prize for excellence in organ playing (Yale School of Music) and the Aidan Kavanagh Prize for Academic Achievement (Yale Institute of Sacred Music).
The programme at St James' will include works by Edward Elgar, Robert Schumann, and Maurice Duruflé.Tickets : $25 General Admission / $20 Seniors & Students