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Biographical InformationRick Avery Judy Greenhill Jonathan Avery Katie Avery
Rick and JudyRick and Judy met in 1978, and after two years of performing together they married. Today they live with their children in Guelph, Ontario. Since teaming up they have performed more than two thousand concert venues, including numerous appearances at major festivals and concert halls in Canada and the United States. They have played three times on Stuart MacLean's popular CBC radio show, 'The Vinyl Café' and are featured on the Vinyl Café's Christmas CD. In 2002, Rick and Judy became Relative Harmony, officially welcoming their son Jonathan to the musical team. Daughter Katie joined the melange in 2005. Relative Harmony has appeared individually and together at many southern Ontario venues, as well as many dance venues throughout the American mid-west.., They have also entertained at numerous weddings and social gatherings. Their instrumental music is a blend of traditional Anglo-American and Celtic dance tunes for two violins, piano/guitar and percussion. Vocally they perform traditional and contemporary folk songs in two, three and four-part harmony, with a special emphasis on audience participation.
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Rick was a founding member of the now legendary 'Fiddler's Green' Coffeehouse in Toronto. An economic downturn in 1973 led to his adopting music as a career and he soon discovered the joy and satisfaction of performing for young audiences. Rick served two terms as president of 'Mariposa In The Schools' and has been a member almost since its inception.
A skilled accompanist on guitar and 5-string banjo, Rick also plays spoons,
dulcimer, bowed psaltery and his cheeks! In the past five years he has
revisited keyboards, and now anchors two dance bands, Relative Harmony and 'Trafalgar Trio' which performs exclusively English Country Dance music '. He also sells and services computers.
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Judy grew up in Toronto. Music has been an integral part of her life since she was three years old. By the time she graduated from the University of Guelph in 1973, she had passed Grade 8 piano and was singing with three different choirs. Her musical talents were put to good use in her early career as a primary school teacher, and later on as a strolling musician in a number of restaurants in the Guelph area. A long-time passion for contra-dancing has segued into a second career, and she is a regular caller at dances across the northeastern US and Canada.
Judy teaches vocal technique and piano to beginning students, and was hired
in 2002 to conduct the choir classes at the Southwestern Ontario Suzuki
Institute. She plays guitar, piano, Appalachian dulcimer and spoons.
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Jonathan was born in Toronto in 1983 and has been studying and performing music for most of his 25 years. He studied classical violin with the Suzuki String School of Guelph and was a member of the internationally acclaimed 'Guelph Youth Singers' for six years. He has been a professsional musician since 2003.
For the past several years, Jonathan has been the full-time drummer for "Uncle Heavy's Pork Chop Revue", a Guelph-based experimental jazz ensemble, that performs regularly and frequently in the Guelph-Kitchener area. He also provides percussion, fiddle and vocals for Relative Harmony.
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Katie Avery was born in Guelph in 1987. Like her brother Jonathan, she comes by her musical training via Suzuki and the Guelph Youth Singers. She has studied voice for six years and also studied ballet and modern dance at the Royal City School of Dance. She has been a member of Relative Harmony since the summer of 2001. She is currently studying music at Toronto University, majoring in violin, and intends to be aSuzuki teacher upon graduation. Since 2005 she has also been a member of the Young Folk Revue a toronto based quintet of young and very talented folk musicians anchored by her partner Duncan Cameron.
