As conceived and originally written by Joan Wellwood, updated July 2007

The Canadian woman of a now-venerated haunting voice, Salli Terri, a native of London, Ontario, became a mentor of Tom Graff when she heard him sing on the first day of her class voice course. She told Graff to either join her in teaching the class or leave immediately and seek private solo voice lessons.

Her counsel and friendship led to Graff performing and conducting with a wide variety of people from all over the world.

That first day in voice class was the beginning of a mentoring relationship in which Graff learned of things as diverse as “singing of a voice of the folk,” Charles and Ray Eames (the great Los Angeles designers of exhibitions, furniture, and EXPO pavilions) or Sister Mary Corita, the seminal teacher of Andy Warhol, as well as working with Igor Stravinsky, Roger Wagner, Robert Shaw, performing in master's classes with Josha Heifitz and Igor Piatagorsky, crooning at Disneyland with a barbershop quartet, exploring Gospel with the Clara Ward Singers during performance breaks. These diverse activities were combined with numerous exciting experiences in the world of classical music whether performing with John Cage or working in the trenches of the Ohai and Carmel Bach Festivals with such luminaries as Pierre Boulez and Ingalf Dahl. Fusion arts experiences led to the odd stint in Anglican choral tradition, and solos and conducting with Russian Orthodox or Gospel choral folks, singing opera character roles, and working on radio and live stage. In his spare time Graff would learn songs from trips into the Watts Towers area in Los Angeles or Tshimian First Nations' greeting or spirit songs.

Sally Terri's persuasive influence underscored the benefits of exercising all one's talents and genius, never focusing only on one field to the exclusion of others. Otherwise “life would become more full of toil than art.” She always said, “Love thy art as thyself and live large!”

On recommendation of Terri, the Norwegian mezzo-soprano Eva Gustafson became Graff's chief voice coach. She taught Graff “to sing with the soul, accompanied by the mind.” A vivacious personality of the classical European bel canto schools, she taught from the traditions of Toscanini. With rigorous study, coupled with daring and just barely bridled energy, Toscanini had collaborated secretly with Gustafson to use her concert engagements as a cover for working as an covert agent for the Allies throughout World War II. Gustafson taught Graff that singing is less about singing and more about life.

Encouraged by Terri, Graff began his professional choral experience by working in the Robert Shaw Chorale. His solo work and leadership with school choirs had earned him attention from Shaw. Graff was included in Shaw summer choral festivals and workshops annually.

Graff had worked with John Cage during high school years in the early 1960's in solo roles in seminal pieces written for Bass singer, of necessity a willing contemporary performer. His comfort level with uniquely modern musical and performance work led him to want to create his own live works. Building on this experience and the many successes he had with small live works at the performing arts programme at the Vancouver Art Gallery in the 1970's, Graff subsequently developed a performance art work style which became known as Performance Art and wrote and performed 32 works between 1970 and 1999, including eight large performance art operas, for which he has received two senior Canada Council Grants and the Lynch Staunton Award “for Excellence in Canadian Culture.” Working with the likes of Gathie Falk, Phyllis Mailing, Harold Brown, Trudy Forest, Avis Lang, Joan Lowndes, and Elizabeth Klassen, Graff developed the first cross-Canada tour of performance art and was commissioned by several groups from Toronto's Music Gallery to the Vancouver New Music Society for major works such as Canada Family Album, Tom's Peep Show, Gallileo: Is it Science or Art?, Men's Closets, and Surgical Mask.

Composers Graff has worked with:

Darius Millhaud, Igor Stravinsky, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Ingalf Dahl, John Cage, Roger Wagner, Robert Shaw, Salli Terri, Dr. S. Drummond Wolff, Eugene Gerlitz, R. Murray Shafer, Don Druick, Lloyd Burritt, and Alfred Siemens.

Community Work:

Graff was pioneer conductor of the Vancouver Rainbow Band, a gay and lesbian performing group, for four years. Among the many concert appearances of the symphonic band, Graff produced and musically directed at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre the spectacularly successful musical production “Safe Sex: The Concert--a musical for parents and teens about self-trust, restraint, moderation and safe and sane sexual practices.” Graff conducted Vancouver Symphony members along with Vancouver Rainbow Band members at Dr. Peter's memorial at Christ Church Cathedral; For First Night performance years, at Christ Church Cathedral Graff conducted several concerts of excerpts from opera and musical comedy.

Graff has instituted peace education and peace promotion with music and art projects from 1979 to 2005, in activities from benefit concerts and print sales to development of the Fair Trade initiatives that led to Ten Thousand Villages. Graff's efforst have included a wide variety of artists, print makers, sales galleries, charieits, cultural exchange students and numerious inter-cultural partners overseas.

Publications Highlights:

Choral and congregational music with Grapple Press and Mennonite Church of North America music publishers: Chief edited / published works: The Joyful Round; The Joyful Sound

For National Museums Canada: Museums on Stage: Readers and Musicians Theatre (Early Canadian music and how to perform it in concert)

For numerous galleries and museums, Graff has either written, edited, or directed over 65 publications.

Career Highlights:

1964 - 1969

Graff won seventeen vocal scholarships and performance awards.

1970

Devised and Directed the interdisciplinary programme of summer stydy Omnibus of the Arts, University of British Columbia

1974

Curated, directed, and promoted the first tour of performance art in Canada / North America: Gathie Falk & Tom Graff on Tour. 11 appearances across Canada.

1978

Hey Diddle Diddle, Graff's much-copied first large scale thematic exhibition. Well before "blockbuster" exhibitions, the entire show sold out to capacity audiences.

1980

Mud & Dancing: BC Christmas in 1885, Graff's first Readers' and Musician's Theatre production, initiating professional live presentation of oral and archival historic urtext literature and music. 12 original songs written in British Columbia and literature brought to light. Readers' and musicians' theatre.

1985 - 1986

While curator and special programmes coordinator for the Canada Pavilion, Graff also performed as Bass Soloist with Vancouver Symphony for gala opening of EXPO '86: Marshall MacLuhan Celebration by Lloyd Burritt, for Canada Youth Choir, Symphony Orchestra, and Bass Solo.

1987 - 1994

Established tgx, Tom Graff Exhibitions, starting first with The Colour of Black in three versions over three years in collaboration with Apple Computer, Adobe, and other software makers now owned by Adobe, to establish an archive or the earliest graphic design work done on personal computers. Numerous exhibitions followed for museums and industry

1995 - 2003

Graff established and developed the Pendulum Gallery at the City-owned and operated art display and events space housed in the HSBC Building (at the corner of Hornby and Georgia) in Vancouver, Canada.

2005

Establishment of Voice MentoringTM

2006

Producer, curator and designer of the most attended art exhibition at the Canadian Embassy, Tokyo. Lord of the Brush. John Howe Exhibiton: Tolkein's Lord of the Rings illustrator.

An exhibtion first with establishment on a world stage of sustainable exhibition techniques by tgx for United Nations World Urban Forum 2006 at Canada Pavilion, host. Direction and sponsorship from International Development Research Council, a support for developing countries sponsored by the Government of Canada.

2007

Producer and curator of exhibitions of Canadian Artist Andrea Padovani for Kyoto's Japan Art Forum and Shanghai's ChinArt.

Commissions:

1975 - 1999 Eight Major Performance Art Operas

1972 - 2005 Numerous art and music publications

2003 - 2005 Voice workshops for Toastmasters Canada

2006 - 2007 Choral workshops for Vancouver choirs

Tom Graff