IN CONCERT
Under the Mistletoe with Ken Lavigne
Where: Royal Theatre (805 Broughton St.)
When: Monday, 7: 30 p.m.
Tickets: $27.50 to $67.50 (plus service charges)
Ken Lavigne manages to support his wife and three children solely with income generated by his voice.
The best part? He's having a ball while doing so.
"That's a bit of a miracle these days," Lavigne said with a laugh.
The celebrated Victoria-born tenor will showcase his valuable asset on stage Monday at the Royal Theatre. Lavigne's much-anticipated Christmas concert, Under the Mistletoe, with proceeds to help benefit CFAX Santas Anonymous, is one of six seasonal events on his concert calendar - though it certainly qualifies as his most cherished.
In preparation for the concert, Lavigne has been meeting weekly with vocal coach Selena James, his one-time teacher and a longtime instructor with the Victoria Conservatory of Music. Lavigne said he hired James - the "best in the business" - to help get him into singing shape, like only she can.
"She has been my mentor in preparation for this particular show," Lavigne said. "I tackle a lot of different styles, and I always have to remember that I'm remaining true to the classical technique. You can get sloppy. Her role in all of this is to make sure I'm in tip-top shape."
James, 90, gladly accepted the challenge from her former charge, who began coming to her for lessons 15 years ago. Back then, Lavigne was fresh off a string of starry appearances with Pacific Opera Victoria, the Victoria Symphony and the University of Victoria, his alma mater. Freshly graduated, he had plans to move directly into a career similar to some of James's famous former students, including Richard Margison and Benjamin Butterfield.
Still, he had reservations. "I wasn't ready for a career yet, to leave the nest, as it were. I fell into getting a lot of professional jobs and gigs, but I still needed training. To be perfectly honest, I don't think I was singing particularly well.
A colleague of mine suggested Selena because she has a reputation for the stable of singers that have gone through her studio."
James immediately saw the potential in Lavigne.
"He had a lot of things. He had a great appeal with his singing, a lovely, clear, tenor voice and he was tall and good-looking, which always helps."
When asked to compare the Lavigne of 15 years ago and the Lavigne of today, James said maturity remains the singer's greatest asset. He could always sing, James said. Nowadays, he does it with much more confidence.
"He always had the ability to reach the public," she said, "but he's lost that nervousness that only comes with experience. You have to have a boyish or childlike passion for singing to keep it going. And he has that."
Chemainus-based Lavigne, 38, first stepped on a grand stage as a nine-year-old singer in the Victoria Operatic Society's production of Oliver! That set him off on his current path, one which has taken the talented singer to stages around the world. He has worked with a number of incredible instructors, among them Joan Dorne-mann in New York and Stuart Burrows in Wales, each of whom added something special to his repertoire.
None, however, have equalled the impact of James, he said.
In fact, Lavigne vividly remembers arriving at her studio for the first time, in his early 20s, for an audition. It lasted all of half an hour.
"I remember thinking I was going to impress the hell out of her, to sing every high note as loud as I possibly could," Lavigne said with a laugh.
"And then she stops, and looks down at the piano. 'OK, Mr. Domingo, I'd like to hear from Mr. Lavigne now.' It's like someone opened up a window and let in a fresh, cool breeze. For me, at that moment, she gave me my voice back."
Lavigne made international news in 2009 after renting Carnegie Hall, the legendary New York concert hall, for himself and the 51-member New York Pops. With help from a series of fundraisers, he footed the bill - at a cost of $200,000 for a mere two hours - but the event drew a remarkable 1,200 people.
Lavigne has not regretted it once in the years since. "I want to sing, I want to perform. Sometimes you've got to go out and find your audiences to make it happen."
Years earlier, in 2003, Lavigne had a close brush with fame. He was the first singer recruited for the Canadian Tenors, a Victoria-bred group that sings pop-opera. A long string of members has since passed through its ranks, including Lavigne, who left a little more than a year after its formation.
It went worldwide years later. On the strength of its two No. 1 recordings, the group, featuring all new members, performed live in 2010 on the Oprah Winfrey Show, alongside C脙漏line Dion and David Foster. Now dubbed The Tenors, the quartet is slated to perform Feb. 9 at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
"I can't see my involvement playing out any other way, to be honest," Lavigne said of his decision to leave the group.
"Even from the very beginning, we knew that what we were putting on the stage, the audiences were wanting that. But from the management side, we just felt we couldn't continue. I'm a little sad that it had to play out that way, but I'm really comfortable. I'm happy."
His happiness is contagious. James loves her student's imagination and sheer love of music. Now that the hard work is done, she's looking forward to watching Lavigne's concert on Monday simply as a fan.
At this point, she never misses a concert by one of her students.
"They are my family, as they say."
