Mireille Rijavec

Manager, School of Music
Sessional instructor, Voice

email:  mireille.rijavec@concordia.ab.ca
telephone:  (780) 479-9355
office:  Alumni Hall, office A312

In 1987, Mireille was invited to Ottawa to participate in the Page Programme at the House of Commons. Four years later, she completed her Bachelor of Social Sciences (Political Science, Philosophy) from the University of Ottawa and was hired as a Parliamentary Liaison Officer with Transport Canada. A few years later, she returned to Ottawa's Carleton University full time to complete her Bachelor of Music, while continuing her work with the public service part time. In 1996, she moved to Vancouver to begin her Master in Music, Vocal Performance at the University of British Columbia. There, she was one of the founding members of Opera Breve Vancouver, and acted as their publicist.

Upon her graduation from UBC in 1998, she returned to Edmonton and began teaching privately. She has been a Sessional instructor in Music at the University of Alberta's Campus Saint-Jean since 1999, and has been on staff at Concordia University College since 2006. Mireille has been a recipient of Alberta Foundation for the Arts Grants; Edmonton Arts Council Travel Grants; the Johann Strauss Foundation Scholarship for Advanced Studies and a Centre d'Arts Orford Scholarship.

Mireille has appeared as a soloist with the Alberta Baroque Ensemble, Pro Coro Canada, Concordia University Chorus and Orchestra, Opera Breve Vancouver, Western Concert Opera, Opera Lyra Ottawa, and in productions supported by Edmonton Opera. She has been heard as the inimitable Julia Child in Lee Hoiby's Bon Appétit!, an operatic version of one of Julia's cooking shows, which brought her critical acclaim in Vancouver and at the Edmonton Fringe. Mireille is also in demand as a cabaret singer. Most recently, she presented her cabaret Brie, Baguette and a Broad at the 2007 Edmonton Fringe Festival. Mireille has been heard many times on the CBC as a soloist and has been a core member of Western Canada's only professional choir, Pro Coro Canada since 2001.

As Manager of the School of Music, Mireille combines her love of music, her dedication to education as well as her administrative experience in order to serve its staff and students.