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Amanda
de Boer is a classically trained pianist/teacher who began singing jazz and blues in 1999 when her best friend, who was dying of cancer, asked her what she would do if she only had 6 months left to live and she answered “Sing!” A year later Amanda gave a benefit concert in her friend’s memory for the Cancer Society where she made her singing debut and she has never looked back since. Steven Ladwig is a self taught musician and artist who has been making music and playing guitar since he was eleven years old. He has played in various classical rock bands over the years as well as doing solo acoustic work and has been heard in various venues in Durham. The two were seated at the same table at a Christmas Party in 2004 and it was there that two opposite ends of the musical spectrum came together. The couple started talking and haven’t stopped since, in fact they got married June 2007! Shortly after they started dating, they began performing along with Terry Blankley at the Saturday dinner matinee at Chicago’s Diner, Oshawa. You may have also caught them in the act as a duo or with their band Surrender Dorothy at the Oshawa Jazz/Blues Festival, the Peterborough Jazz Festival, the Durham Music Society Awards Party, Canada Day Celebrations 2002, YMCA Christmas Dinner 2005, Alzheimer Benefit 2005, Down’Omer, Waltzing Weasel, Za Za Zoo’s, Scugog Cruises, Port Perry Band Shell, Portly Piper-Ajax, Xeno’s - Ajax, Rusty Snail - Peterborough to name a few!
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Amanda
de Boer holds an ARCT in Piano Teaching from the Royal Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Toronto. She has taught privately for over 25 years to a wide range of students of all ages from beginner to advanced. She adjudicates music festivals, is an examiner for the Royal Conservatory of Music and enjoys giving master classes and workshops on various topics. She has held the positions of accompanist for the General Motors Touring Choir, Entertainment Co-ordinator for the Cancer Society’s Relay for Life Event, and Artistic Director of the Oshawa Jazz and Blues Festival. In 1998 she founded the Durham Non-Competitive Music Festival for Piano. She is currently accepting new students.
Along with his musical skills, Steven Ladwig is also an accomplished artist, his specialty being pen and ink renderings and specifically pointillism. He has had a work hanging in the Oshawa Art Gallery and you can check out his signed picture of John Mays from the blues band Fathead that is hanging in Chicago’s Diner in Oshawa. His works make unique gifts for birthdays, retirements, weddings, engagements, showers, graduations and in memoriams. |
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