Music - Theatre Performance Program

Program Coordinator: Michael Bianchin - Professor of Acting

A fulltime Professor in the acting program, he is an actor, producer, and director with over 40 years of experience in professional theatre and academia. In the past he has served as Artistic Producer for the Regent Theatre, Picton, the Upper Canada Playhouse in Morrisburg, Ontario.

He has been acting and directing for theatres across Canada including The Belfry Theatre, Victoria; the Arts Club Theatre, Vancouver; Globe Theatre, Regina; Persephone Theatre, Saskatoon; Great Canadian Theatre Co. Ottawa; The Piggery Theatre; Quebec and The Gryphon Theatre, Barrie Ontario and The Thousand Islands Playhouse, Gananoque . Most recent directing credits include Rock n’ Roll; Cats; Cabaret; Chicago; I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change; Foot Loose; and Unity 1918. As an actor credits include Kemp in Morris Panych’s Vigil and Arturo Ui in The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui at the Edinburgh Festival. .

Christopher Coyea – Professor of Music

Christopher  Coyea received his Bachelor of Music Degree from Wilfrid Laurier University, and did post-graduate work in Opera Performance. Chris has established a well deserved international artistic reputation as a performer in Opera and in concert and was an award winner in the prestigious Lauritz Melchior Heldentenor Competition in New York City.

As a member of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble, he has been featured in numerous productions, including Salome, Tristan and Isolde, Queen of Spades, Carmen and The Tales of Hoffmann.  After leaving the Ensemble, he embarked on an extensive career as a guest artist with every major Canadian Opera Company and as a soloist with the Toronto, Winnipeg, Victoria and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestras, as well as Orchestra London and the Hamilton Philharmonic. He has sung in the company of such singers as Dame Joan Sutherland, Placido Domingo, Carol Vaness, Dolores Ziegler, Ben Hepner and Richard Margison, just to name a few.

His European engagements include Canio in Pagliacci ,  and Tenor Soloist in Haydn’s The Creation , Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle , Saint-Saens’ Oratorio de Noel , Beethoven’s Christus am Oelberge and The Mozart Requiem. Chris was also featured in a nation wide German tour of Carmen in 2003.

In August of 2005, Chris was invited to Head the Music Discipline in the newly established St. Lawrence College Music-Theatre Performance Program in Brockville. This is a position he enjoys very much, as it allows him to guide talented young performers while continuing with his own singing career.

Janet Venn- Jackson - Professor of Dance

Ms. Venn-Jackson is the full-time Professor of Dance in the Music Theatre Performance Program at St. Lawrence College. Recently Janet has choreographed major musicals for S.L.C. including FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, WHITE CHRISTMAS, NEW FACES, LITTLE WOMEN and OKLAHOMA. Janet also instructs students in Tap and Jazz classes at all levels of the program.

Janet has performed in over 50 professional television and stage productions in her career including CBC Specials, ACTRA awards, JUNO awards, Wayne and Shuster Specials, Search for Stars and Tommy Hunter.

Ms. Venn-Jackson is well known across Canada and the USA as a choreographer and a dance adjudicator. She is also a dance examiner, certified through A.D.A.P.T. and serves as Principal at the A.D.A.P.T. annual Teacher Certification Program held in Red Deer, Alberta. She has choreographed commercials for such industry giants as Quaker Oats and Mattel Toys and even a half time show for the NFL for a game played at the Toronto Sky Dome between the BUFFALO BILLS and the DALLAS COWBOYS.

Former students of Janet's are enjoying full time performing arts careers on the professional stage. They have appeared on Toronto stages in such shows as OLIVER!, CRAZY FOR YOU, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and HELLO DOLLY as well as on CARNIVAL, DISNEY and ROYAL CARIBBEAN Cruise Lines. In addition, several students have appeared with such music icons as Britney Spears, Janet Jackson and Aaron Carter.

She has also choreographed major musicals in the USA at the exclusive Performing Arts Institute, located near Wilkes/Barre, Pennsylvania working on shows such as LES MISERABLES, KISS ME KATE, CABARET, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF and OLIVER! .

Alex Fleuriau Chateau – Professor of Music

A native of Ottawa, Alex Fleuriau Chateau received his Bachelor of Music with Honours at the University of Ottawa  and then proceeded to achieve a post-graduate Opera  Diploma from Wilfrid Laurier University.

During his career as a bass, Alex has performed major roles with Opera Lyra Ottawa, the Canadian Opera Company, Opera Mississauga and Opera in Concert.

His European engagements include two years as house bass for Theater Regensburg and as a guest soloist for Theater Detmold, Theater Dortmund, Theater Hildesheim, and Theater Trier all in Germany. During this time he was also featured at the Zwingenberg Summer Festival. In the summer of 2003, Mr. Fleuriau Chateau toured through Prague, Salzburg and Vienna as the bass soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Alex became a member of the teaching team at St. Lawrence College in September of 2005 where he employs his talent and experience to teach music theory, sight-singing/ear training, performance classes, vocal technique and also as director for “New Faces”, a musical revue featuring the program’s first year students.

Alejandra Sanchez - Professor of Dance

Known to us all as Ale, she is a teacher and choreographer specializing in Ballet, Floor Barre, contemporary Ballet and Modern. She has performed in various dance forms in Canada, the US, Mexico, Costa Rica and Grenada Island. Awarded  Teacher of The Year in 2007 by her students,  Ale began her career as an instructor with Mexico’s National Ballet and then with The Academia de la Danza Mexicana and Modulo Dancistica Company.

In Canada she has worked with Ballet Creole, the Sean Boutillier Dance Academy and collaborated with Canadian choreographers Santee Smith, Alejandro Ronceria, Gaby Camino, Patrick Parson and Donna Greenberg. Her experience includes choreography for “Cats”, “Saturday Night Fever”, Sesame Street, Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and industrials for Reebok, Toyota, LG, Umbro and Sol.