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Bio

 

Nick Di Tomaso, guitarist and music teacher born in Montreal, began his guitar studies at The McGill Conservatory of Music. He later pursued his studies at Vanier College and in 1984 graduated from McGill University in Jazz performance with high distinction.In the mid 80’s, Nick began teaching classical and jazz guitar at The McGill Conservatory of Music. In 1993, he began teaching jazz guitar and ensembles at Vanier College. He is also teaching at Université de Montréal. Nick has performed and recorded professionally for the last thirty years on television, radio, broadway shows, jazz festivals and jingles. He has worked with artists as diverse as Tony Romandini (Jazz Guitar Quintet), The McGill Alumni stage Band featuring Oliver Jones, Paquito D’Rivera and Randy Brecker; and he has also performed with many Montreal-based musicians. Nick is presently working with singer Tamara Vickerd Armstrong on a recording project engineered and produced by Pat McNeil.

Tamara Vickerd-Armstrong cannot recall a time when she wasn't singing. Born and raised in Windsor Ontario she began studying voice classically at age 15. The next several years saw her singing in rock bands and winning competitions in everything from pop to country, as well as several Classical Kiwanis competitions. But it wasn't long before growing up so close to Detroit brought about another important musical influence: jazz. Hearing everyone from Ella Fitzgerald to Chet Baker inspired a lifelong love of this genre and she began getting gigs and performing in the Windsor/Detroit area. During this time, she earned a BMA in classical voice from the University of Windsor and began teaching privately at one of Windsor's music conservatories. As well as performing classically on a regular basis, she now teaches voice at CEGEP Vanier College in Montreal and is very excited to be working with her colleagues, Nick Di Tomaso and Pat McNeil on this project.