Mission Statement

Music has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I was taught how to read music before I was able to read words. It has helped create who I am and I can’t believe how lucky I am, that it is also what I do. As a child, I wanted nothing more than to be a doctor. The idea of helping sick people get better was enticing to me. Music has the same appeal. You never know who is sitting in your concert hall, who is going for a difficult time. We get to transport people to a different place, to express for them that which they have trouble expressing, to give them even a moment of relief, to inspire them.

As a collaborative pianist specializing in vocal accompaniment, people often ask, why singers and not instruments? The marriage of music and poetry is something I fall in love with, over and over again. It gives depth and opportunity for even more interpretive exploration. You are working with two incredible minds, composer and poet, instead of one.

As a coach and pianist, I enjoy working with singers on the important foundations of music. (notes, rhythms, diction, style) However, I love building upon those foundations to find what they have to say as a person, as an artist.

I am humbled and excited to have the opportunity to work at the Bytown School of Singing alongside so many talented colleagues and am looking forward to helping students grow.

“Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.” ― Victor Hugo

Biography

Pianist, Aude Urbancic, has her Doctorate of Music in Collaborative Piano with a specialization in vocal accompaniment from the University of Montreal. She presented her doctoral thesis, Stress, anxiety, tension, and injuries induced by sight-reading in collaborative pianists at the International Symposium on Performance Sciences, hosted in Warsaw Poland. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Piano Performance from the University of Ottawa. 

 Aude has a particular passion for opera and choral music. She has been the rehearsal pianist for major choral works at the National Arts Center and has had the pleasure of working under the batons of Jean-François Rivest, Alexander Shelley, and Trevor Pinnock. She has also been on faculty for two summer academies, CAMMAC and BIIMA (Breno Italy International Music Academy). She also toured Italy with the Ottawa Carleton Male Choir as their director in 2023. Aude was the music director for the University of Ottawa fall 2024 opera production, the Orpheus Project. 

 Based in Ottawa, Aude is a sought-after clinician and has adjudicated at the New Brunswick Competitive Festival of Music. In 2022, she launched her debut album, Batkivshchyna, alongside baritone Laurence Ewashko. She is the music director at Church of the Ascension, and the pianist for the Ottawa Regional Youth Choir and the Ottawa Children’s Choir Chamber Choir. She was also the pianist for the Ontario Youth Choir 2025. Aude is a vocal coach and pianist for local voice studios including at the University of Ottawa. She has performed on many stages both nationally and internationally, including Southam Hall at the National Arts Centre. Aude is delighted to continue her work through the Bytown School of Singing.

When Aude is not making music, she enjoys beekeeping, photography, gardening, cooking and tango dancing.