AIRS workshop at UPEI includes free public concert June 28

Members of the public are invited to attend a free concert on Sunday, June 28, from 8 to 9:30 p.m. in the Steel Recital Hall at UPEI.

The concert is part of an international workshop being held at UPEI from June 27 to 30 for a multi-faceted research project called Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing (AIRS). Led by UPEI's Dr. Annabel Cohen, a pioneer in the growing field of music psychology, AIRS will focus on exploring the development of singing ability, the connections between singing and learning and the enhancement of health and well-being through singing.

The line-up at the concert will include AIRS researchers who are professional vocalists like tenor Darryl Edwards, University of Toronto; soprano Sung-Ha Shin-Bouey, UPEI; and soprano Simone Falk, of Germany.

Neuroscience researchers Laurel Trainor and David Gerry, both from McMaster University, will perform two of Faure's vocal duets on flute, with pianist Rena Sharon from the University of British Columbia. Accompanied by Island pianist Jacqueline Sorensen, Cohen will sing Mozart and Gershwin.

As well, some AIRS researchers will share folk songs and children's songs from their own oral tradition. These include Helga Rut Guðmundsdóttir, of Iceland, and well-known P.E.I. singer Teresa Doyle.

During the seven-year AIRS project, more than 70 researchers from across Canada and many countries around the world will contribute to, and share knowledge and expertise about, numerous fields of study, including social psychology, musicology, education and medicine. They will present and develop their work audiovisually, using a digital library and virtual research environment (VRE) already established at UPEI.

The AIRS project is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.