Musical Staff
Music Director
Janice Beninger started working with the Burlington Welsh Male Chorus in 2008, and thus began a love affair with the Welsh hwyl—that feeling of deep expression and meaning in traditional Welsh singing. This vibrant relationship has continued and in 2017 expanded with the founding of the Burlington Welsh Ladies Chorus.
Janice received her MMus from the University of Western Ontario. She has worked in a number of Church Organist/Music Coordinator positions, served as pianist/keyboard player for Symphony Hamilton, and has directed numerous vocal ensembles including community, church, university, and school choirs.
Currently, Janice maintains JBeningerStudio, an active piano/theory teaching studio in Dundas, Ontario, and performs as pianist in the concert organ/piano duo, Four Hands Two Feet, with her husband, Simon Irving.
Collaborative Pianist
Larisa Gulenco received her training at the Moldavian Academy of Music, North Netherlands Conservatory and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague (The Netherlands), where she earned the degree of Master of Music. Since summer 2008, Larisa has resided in Hamilton, Ontario. She maintains a busy schedule as a piano teacher and performer.
Throughout her career Larisa has performed extensively in Moldova, Russia, Romania, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, United States and Canada. She is a prize-winner of several national and international piano and chamber music competitions in Italy, Romania, and Moldova.
She has performed in Boston, Montreal, and the Maritimes with the Burlington Welsh Male Chorus; at the Brott Music Festival with Jacqueline Woodley (soprano); at the Convocation Hall with the McMaster Chamber Orchestra under Keith Kinder; at Hamilton Place with Adrianne Pieczonka (soprano); at the Campbellville Chamber Concerts with Rosanne Warren (flute) and Marion Samuel-Stevens (soprano); at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre with John Fanning (baritone); and with Margaret Bardos (mezzo), the John Laing Singers, the Hamilton Children’s Choir, and Schulte Strings. She recently performed a two-piano recital with her husband, Alexei Gulenco, at McMaster University's Wilson Hall.
