ADI BRAUN is a singer/songwriter with a long list of cabaret, concert and theatre successes to her credit.  She has performed in major jazz and concert venues in Canada, the United States, and Europe.  In the fall of 2023 Adi released her sixth critically-acclaimed CD, “Night and Day – The Cole Porter Songbook”, which which had its premiere with full orchestra at the Rose Theatre, Brampton in February, 2025.  Her other recordings include “Moderne Frau (Modern Woman)”, a tribute to the music of Weimar Berlin; “Canadian Scenes I”, featuring some of her own compositions; “Live at the Metropolitan Room” from New York City; “The Rules of the Game”, and “Delishious”. 

 After beginning her career in classical music, Adi started “singing sideways” in the late ‘90s and returned to her first love, which she calls “cabarazz”, drawing on aspects from both cabaret and jazz.  Adi has received andbeen nominated for numerous awards, including “Best Major Jazz Vocalist of the Year” by New York’s Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs, and two Juno album short-lists.  Her repertoire ranges from the Great American songbook, to European cabaret, to contemporary songs by Canadian legend’s Shirley Eikhard and Gordon Lightfoot, among others.   

In addition to performing, Adi is a sought-after German Diction and Lieder coach, has co-hosted “Classical Mornings” on the New Classical FM, and frequently speaks on topics related to Weimar Cabaret.

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DR. LAUREL TRAINOR

 Laurel Trainor (Ph.D., University of Toronto) is a Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour at McMaster University, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC), Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, a McMaster Distinguished University Professor, and a Research Scientist at the Rotman Research Institute. She was given a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Music Perception and Cognition (2022) as well as a YWCA Woman of Distinction Award for Arts Culture and Design.

She has published over 160 articles on the neuroscience of auditory development and perception of music in journals including Science and Nature and co-holds a patent for the Neuro-compensator hearing aid. She has pioneered the study of musical development, showing that infants acquire the music system of their culture without instruction, just as they acquire language.

Laurel is the founding and present director of the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind (MIMM), which houses the LIVELab Home – LIVELab , a unique research-concert hall with high acoustic control, that is equipped with multi-person motion capture and EEG (and measurement of other physiological responses) for studying how performers and audiences interact, and how music can be used to promote health and well-being.

Laurel also has a Bachelor of Music Performance from the University of Toronto and is currently principal flute of the Burlington Symphony.

Laurel’s Playlist:

 SONG TO THE MOON (Rusalka’s Aria from Dvorak’s opera Rusalka)

IT’S A WONDERFUL WORLD (Louis Armstrong)

LEONARD COHEN’S MUSIC

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MUSIC FOR THIS EPISODE:

AMBE (Chronos Vocal Ensemble / Jordan Van Biert, cond.)

Composer: Andrew Balfour /www.instagram.com/andrewbalfour_

PIXABAY Royalty Free Music