Chamber Music and Opera: Interplay

Joel Ivany — qui a été décrit comme « l’enfant pas si terrible de l’opéra au Canada » — est reconnu pour sa capacité de repousser les limites de l’opéra. En 2010, il a fondé, à Toronto, la compagnie d’opéra Against the Grain Theatre, à laquelle il continue de consacrer du temps. Il a adapté et traduit plus de 10 opéras présentés dans des lieux inattendus, et a été qualifié de « héros des arts » par le Globe and Mail en 2020 pour son travail de réalisation pour le film numérique loué par la critique Messiah/Complex, une adaptation du Messie de Händel. Joel Ivany a également mis en scène 50 productions pour des compagnies d’opéra des quatre coins de l’Amérique du Nord et de l’Europe, dont la Compagnie d’opéra canadienne, l’Opéra de Vancouver et l’Opéra du Minnesota.

Grâce au caractère innovant et à l’étendue de ses activités artistiques, à son tempérament dynamique et à ses prestations « captivantes et aptes à élargir les horizons », la pianiste primée Megumi Masaki est considérée comme l’une des interprètes de premier plan de la scène de la musique contemporaine. Elle se spécialise dans l’exploration des manières d’intégrer son, image, texte et mouvement dans des œuvres multimédia. Elle collabore fréquemment avec des compositeurs, des artistes en arts visuels, des écrivains et des chorégraphes dans le cadre de projets interdisciplinaires mettant à profit les nouvelles technologies pour accroître l’interaction dynamique entre le créateur et l’interprète. Megumi Masaki a commandé de nombreuses nouvelles œuvres et a donné la première de plus de 70 œuvres dans le monde. Elle est professeure de piano ainsi que directrice du New Music Ensemble et du New Music Festival à l’Université Brandon, est membre de l’ensemble interdisciplinaire Noiseborder et de Slingshot-Kidõ, et fait partie du corps enseignant du festival Casalmaggiore, en Italie. Elle est également directrice artistique du Concours de musique national Eckhardt-Gramatté.

Amiel Gladstone est un auteur et un metteur en scène qui vit sur la Côte Ouest. Au nombre des opéras qu’il a mis en scène figurent Rattenbury et la Tosca à Pacific Opera Victoria, Dark Sisters et Lucia di Lammermoor à l’Opéra de Vancouver, ainsi que plusieurs opéras jeunesse pour le programme Vancouver Opera In Schools. En tant que metteur en scène, il a dirigé des productions adaptées à des sites non conventionnels, tout comme des productions traditionnelles présentées dans des salles de théâtre, pour des compagnies dont Alberta Theatre Projects, l’Arts Club de Vancouver, Belfry Theatre, Caravan Farm Theatre, Factory Theatre, le Firehall, le Guild Hall Theatre (Whitehorse, Yukon), Musical Stage Co, Theatre Replacement, Theatre Conspiracy, Theatre SKAM, la Vancouver Playhouse, et le Festival PuSh. En tant qu’auteur, il a vu ses pièces produites par Alberta Theatre Projects, Belfry Theatre, Touchstone Theatre, Caravan Farm Theatre, le Centre national des arts, Solo Collective, Western Edge Theatre, Theatre SKAM. Ses pièces ont également été présentées sur la scène internationale aux États-Unis, en France et en Roumanie.

Soprano Christina Bell hails from Goderich, Ontario.  Christina is frequently featured in Concert, Opera, and Oratorio across North America.  Recent performances include Paquette in Candide with North York Concert Orchestra in June 2023 as well as a recital tour across Southwestern Ontario in August of 2023.  A graduate from University of Toronto with a Diploma in Operatic Performance Christina sang the roles of Mrs. Baggett in Footsteps in Campbell House, Lady with a Cake Box in Dominick Argentos’ Postcard from Morocco, Lady Billows in Brittens’ Albert Herring, Donatella in Encouters, as well as being a part of Last Days. a new production with Tim Albery and David Fallis.  Over the recent years Christina has attended the Mainstage/Ensemble Programs at Opera on the Avalon (2015, 2014), The Centre for Opera Studies in Italy (2013, 2015), Halifax Summer Opera Festival (2014), St.Andrews Summer Opera Workshop (2016).  Other recent operatic performances include Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito, Liliana in Miracle Flight 571 with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, Portia in Le marchand de Venise, Cousin Hebe from Gilbert & Sullivans’ HMS Pinafore, Mrs.Grose in The Turn of the Screw, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Helena in Brittens’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  
 
In 2015 Christina had the privilege of representing Canada with the Toronto Korean-Canadian Choir as a soloist for Vivaldis’ Gloria and sang Arirang as the soprano soloist during the performance of the Korean Folk Songs with Symphonia Toronto.  Christina has been a member of the Canadian Opera Company Chorus since 2015 and when she is not on a stage, she can be found exploring her passion for arts administration and management.

Holly Kroeker, qui vit à Montréal (QC), est une coach vocale en opéra, une pianiste accompagnatrice et une répétitrice recherchée. Ayant récemment terminé le programme de formation pour jeunes artistes de l’Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal (2018-2021), elle y travaille présentement comme pianiste et assistante à la formation.

Durant la saison 2021-2022, elle aura travaillé entre autres comme pianiste-répétitrice principale pour le programme double Riders to the Sea/Le Flambeau de la nuit de Vaughn Williams/Tanguay-Labrosse (Opéra de Montréal), Les Pêcheurs de perles de Bizet (Jeunesses musicales du Canada), Cosi Fan Tutte (Opéra d’Edmonton) et Die Zauberflöte (Opéra de Montréal). L’été dernier, Holly Kroeker a été pianiste au sein du corps enseignant de l’Institut canadien d’art vocal (ICAV) à Montréal. Auparavant, elle a été pianiste-coach-stagiaire au programme L’opéra au XXIe siècle du Centre des arts de Banff, où elle a travaillé sur les productions de Silent Night de Prestini/Vavrek et Candide de Bernstein.

En 2018-2019, elle a été pianiste dans l’orchestre de chambre accompagnant The Turn of the Screw (Orchestre de l’Agora) et dans l’orchestre accompagnant l’opéra La scala di seta de Rossini (Orchestre symphonique de la Vallée-du-Haut-Saint-Laurent); elle a également été pianiste-répétitrice pour Cabaret Bel Canto! (Orchestre de l’Agora), et Grands opéras : gala (Orchestre symphonique de Laval). Au cours de saisons passées, elle a travaillé comme assistante pianiste répétitrice pour Eugène Onéguine et Lucia di Lammermoor (Opéra de Montréal), A Broadway Evening (Aramusique), Soirée à l’opérette (Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil) et 27 (Atelier lyrique), ainsi que comme pianiste répétitrice du chœur pour Champion (Opéra de Montréal).

Elle a participé au programme pour jeunes artistes Yulanda M. Faris à l’Opéra de Vancouver, où elle a été assistante pianiste pour L’Elisir d’amore et Eugene Onegin (Opéra de Vancouver) et pianiste principale pour Requiem for a Lost Girl (Opéra de Vancouver/Kettle Society).

Amanda Testini est une actrice, chorégraphe et metteure en scène vivant sur les terres ancestrales non cédées des Premières Nations Musqueam, Squamish et Tsleil-Waututh. Elle a travaillé à l’Arts Club, au festival Bard on the Beach, au Cultch, Theatre Replacement, le Firehall Arts Centre, le Belfry Theatre, Opera Kelowna, le Gateway, Savage Society, Theatre Under the Stars, VACT, Carousel Theatre, shameless hussy productions, Neworld Theatre, Speakeasy Theatre, The Electric Company, l’Opéra de Vancouver et Axis Theatre. Au nombre des points forts de sa carrière, notons le travail de chorégraphe adjointe pour Onegin (Arts Club/Belfry), une tournée canadienne dans le rôle principal de Justine Chambers in Love Bomb (shameless hussy productions), la chorégraphie de quatre « East Van Pantos » pour Theatre Replacement, l’incarnation du rôle de Lydia Wickham dans Miss Benett: Christmas at Pemberly, et le travail d’assistante à la mise en scène pour La Cenerentola (Vancouver Opera). Elle a aussi été metteure en scène dans le cadre du programme pour jeunes artistes Yulanda M Faris (2021-2022) à l’Opéra de Vancouver où elle a mis en scène Cavalleria Rusticana in Concert (Mascagni) et Blond Eckbert (Judith Weir), et a été chorégraphe et assistante à la mise en scène de HMS Pinafore (Gilbert et Sullivan). Elle a tout récemment travaillé  conjointement à l’élaboration du spectacle de danse contemporaine de Sophie Dow sur la musique d’Agrimony, le nouvel album de Laura Reznek. Amanda Testini est très reconnaissante d’être ici au Centre des arts de Banff pour continuer à faire évoluer son art et pour se plonger dans le somptueux monde de l’opéra. Elle tient également à souligner le soutien du Fonds pour artistes Bill Millerd de l’Arts Club Theatre Company. Diplômée du Studio 58, elle a été en nomination pour un prix Jessie.

La musique de Daniel Schlosberg, compositeur, pianiste et chef d’orchestre qui vit à Brooklyn, a été jouée par le quatuor Dover, l’Orchestre du Minnesota, le Trinity Wall Street Choir, et les orchestres symphoniques de Nashville et d’Albany, dans des lieux comme le Carnegie Hall, Le Poisson Rouge (NY), le Royal Albert Hall (Londres), le Beijing Modern Music Festival, et le Festival of Disruption de David Lynch. Elle a aussi fait l’objet d’articles du New York Times et a été diffusée à l’émission Soundcheck du réseau WNYC. Daniel Schlosberg a reçu la bourse Charles Ives de l’American Academy of Arts and Letters et deux prix Morton Gould de l’ASCAP. Il a composé et dirigé des ensembles au Soho Repertory Theater, au Public Theater (NY), au Festival de théâtre de Williamstown, au Baryshnikov Arts Center et à Playwrights Horizons. Au nombre de ses projets de composition et de direction récents  figurent A Boys' Company Presents: Tell Me If I'm Hurting You  de Jeremy O. Harris (été 2023), Only an Octave Apart d’Anthony Roth Costanzo et Justin Vivian Bond (Wilton’s Music Hall, Londres, octobre 2022) et au Festival de Spoleto (juin 2023), et The Extinctionist, un nouvel opéra composé pour Heartbeat Opera (première au printemps 2024). Daniel Schlosberg est le directeur musical de Heartbeat Opera, pour qui il a signé des orchestrations radicales d’opéra classiques dont l’ingéniosité a été louée par le Wall Street Journal. En plus de ses collaborations avec Angel Blue, Ariana DeBose, Ben Stiller, Tony Kushner, Anthony McGill et Imani Winds, Daniel Schlosberg a été pianiste sur la trame sonore primée (Grammy) du film West Side Story de Steven Spielberg, et soliste de la production de Only an Octave Apart avec l’Orchestre philharmonique de New York.

Lesley s’enthousiasme à l’idée de passer du temps dans les montagnes cet été, alors qu’elle reviendra au Centre des arts de Banff comme directrice de la compagnie dans le cadre du programme L’opéra. Active dans le monde de l’opéra depuis 25 ans, principalement comme régisseuse de plateau, elle a pris plaisir à travailler régulièrement pour la Compagnie d’opéra canadienne, l’École Glenn Gould, Against the Grain Theatre et Tapestry Opera. Au nombre de ses productions « coup de cœur », notons Tosca (COC), Svadba (EGG), Figaro’s Wedding (AtG) et Shanawdithit (Tapestry). Elle a aussi aimé assurer la régie pour la Canadian Children’s Opera Company, l’École d’opéra de l’Université de Toronto, Opera Columbus et le Centre des arts de Banff.  
 

If you’re from the North, Leela Gilday’s music is home. If you’ve never been, it will take you there. Born and raised in the Northwest Territories, she writes about the people and the land that created her. The power in her voice conveys the depth of her feelings of love and life in a rugged environment and vibrant culture, as if it comes straight from that earth. Leela’s family is from Délįne on the shore of Great Bear Lake and her rich vocals dance across the rhythmic beats of traditional Dene drumming as smoothly as a bass line onstage the largest venues in the country. And she has played them all. 

Leela has toured festivals and concert halls with her four-piece band through every province and territory in Canada. She has played in the United States, Greenland, Denmark, and New Zealand, and recently embarked on an ambitious European tour. Her live shows are where she connects with fans who have followed her on a 20-year career and where new fans are born. She reaches into their hearts and feels the energy of every person in front of her as she guides them on a journey through song and experience. She believes music has an inexplicable effect on people. It is a place where she can share light and dark and the most vulnerable moments, with a clarity and genuine purpose that reassures her listeners through every word. She is a storyteller, and through this, reflects the world onto itself. 

Leela’s fifth album “North Star Calling” won the 2021 Juno Award for Indigenous Artist/Group of the Year, a Canadian Folk Music Award for Indigenous Songwriter of the Year, and Roots Album of the Year at the Summer Solstice Indigenous Music Awards. It is more raw, more intimate and more Leela than anything you’ve heard from her before. 

Elizabeth Bowman was appointed as Editor-In-Chief of Opera Canada magazine in May 2022. Before moving to the editorial side, she founded and ran Bowman Media, a boutique communications firm with a special focus on the arts for over a decade with clients that included the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, conductor James Gaffigan, soprano Joyce El-Khoury, mezzo soprano Wallis Giunta, and more. The firm focused on public relations, design, branding, marketing, and social media strategy. She was the Executive Assistant to the General Director (Alexander Neef) and Board Administrator of the Canadian Opera Company from 2008-2010. She holds a post-graduate diploma in Arts Administration and Cultural Management and a Bachelor of Music.

Lauréate de la médaille d’excellence Sphinx de 2022, la célèbre soprano américaine Karen Slack a acquis une renommée internationale pour sa polyvalence, son charisme et ses réalisations professionnelles. Elle a été acclamée par la critique pour ses interprétations énergiques et passionnées tant dans des rôles principaux d’opéra qu’en récital. Collaboratrice recherchée, elle est reconnue comme chef de file et militante, comme conceptrice de projets et conseillère artistique, et comme quelqu’un qui a une conception révolutionnaire de l’engagement.

Lisette Oropesa, a leading lyric coloratura, graces prestigious opera houses globally, including The Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Opéra National de Paris, and more. Renowned for her liquid legato and diverse repertoire spanning Bel Canto, Mozart, Händel, French and Spanish composers, Lisette most performed roles include Violetta, Lucia, Gilda, and Konstanze.

In the 2022/2023 season, she triumphed in Händel’s Alcina, portrayed Gilda at the MET, Amalia in I Masnadieri, Ophélie in Hamlet, and debuted as Juliette in Roméo et Juliette. Career highlights include Covent Garden's La Traviata, Teatro Real’s Lucia di Lammermoor, and I Capuleti e I Montecchi at Teatro alla Scala. Notable debuts include Elvira in I Puritani and Queen Marguerite de Valois in Les Huguenots.

Beyond opera, Lisette captivates audiences worldwide with solo concerts and recitals in cities like Vienna, Tokyo, New York City, and Rio de Janeiro, solidifying her status as a cherished interpreter of art song. Besides her two recordings of recital repertoire, Lisette has award winning orchestral recordings of La Traviata, Mozart Concert Arias, and French Bel Canto arias. 

Ian Cusson est un compositeur canadien de mélodies, d’opéras et d’œuvres orchestrales. D’ascendance métisse (communauté métisse de la baie Georgienne) et canadienne-française, il explore par son œuvre l’expérience autochtone canadienne, y compris l’histoire du peuple métis, la nature hybride de l’identité des gens de race mixte, et l’intersection des cultures occidentale et autochtone. Il a reçu de nombreux prix et bourses, dont la bourse de développement professionnel Chalmers, le prix de la Fondation nationale des réalisations autochtones, et diverses bourses accordées par le Conseil des arts du Canada, le Conseil des arts de l’Ontario et le Conseil des arts de Toronto. Ian Cusson a été l’un des deux premiers compositeurs choisis pour la résidence Carrefour du Centre national des arts (2017-2019), et il a été compositeur en résidence pour la Compagnie d’opéra canadienne de 2019 à 2021. Il est codirecteur artistique du programme L’opéra au XXIe siècle au Centre des arts de Banff, et il était le lauréat du prix Jan V. Matejcek (musique classique) de la SOCAN en 2021. Ian Cusson est un compositeur agréé du Centre de musique canadienne et un membre de la Ligue canadienne des compositeurs. Il vit à Oakville (Ontario) avec sa femme et ses quatre enfants.

Royce Vavrek est un librettiste et parolier canadien dont l’opéra Angel’s Bone, mis en musique par la compositrice Du Yun, a gagné le prix Pulitzer de la musique en 2017. Royce Vavrek est connu pour ses nombreuses collaborations avec des compositeurs, dont David T. Little (Dog Days, Am I Born, JFK), Missy Mazzoli (Song from the Uproar, Breaking the Waves, Proving Up), Ricky Ian Gordon (27, The House Without a Christmas Tree) et Paola Prestini (The Hubble Cantata). Royce Vavrek est également codirecteur artistique de The Coterie, une compagnie d’opéra-théâtre qui a été fondée par la soprano Lauren Worsham. Il a étudié à l’Université Concordia (Montréal) et à l’Université de New York. Il aussi participé au programme de perfectionnement pour les compositeurs et librettistes de l’American Lyric Theater.

Kamna Gupta est une chef d’orchestre américaine primée, qui a une l’expérience considérable en opéra, en musique orchestrale et en musique chorale. Sa saison 2023-24 a été ponctuée de premières : Mme Gupta a dirigé le chœur (Trinity Choir) et l’ensemble NOVUS de la Trinity Church Wall Street (New York) dans Number Our Days, le nouvel oratorio de Luna Pearl Woolf, et reparaît au festival Spoleto pour y diriger la première de l’opéra Ruinous Gods de Layale Chaker . De plus, Mme Gupta a également a été chef adjointe à l’Opéra national à Washington pour l’opéra Songbird (La Périchole adaptée au jazz),  s’est jointe au corps enseignant du programme d’Opéra de chambre du Centre des arts et de la créativité de Banff, et a fait une nouvelle apparition à Tapestry Opera pour y diriger Rocking Horse Winner de Gareth Williams, opéra qui a été enregistré sous sa baguette durant la pandémie, a été accueilli chaleureusement par la critique et a été diffusé à l’Opéra du samedi au réseau anglais de Radio-Canada. Elle a également dirigé Les pêcheurs de perles (Bizet) à l’Opéra de Vancouver, In Our Daughter’s Eyes  (Du Yun) avec l’Opéra de Los Angeles dans le cadre du Prototype Festival, et la première de The Rip Van Winkles  (Ben Morris) au festival Glimmerglass (New York).

Sandra Horst est la directrice des études musicales de la division de l’opéra au Banff Centre, cadre dans lequel elle a dirigé L’elisir d’amore de Donizetti, La voix humaine et Les mamelles de Tiresias de Poulenc, Hansel and Gretel de Humperdinck, L’enfant et les sortilèges de Debussy, L’heure espagnole de Ravel et Taptoo! de John Beckwith. Sandra Horst est également chef de chœur de la Compagnie d’opéra canadienne, et conseillère en matière d’auditions à l’Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. L’Université Wilfrid Laurier l’a sélectionnée parmi ses « 100 Alumni of Achievement » (100 anciens élèves s’étant démarqués par leurs réalisations); elle est également juge aux auditions du Conseil national du Metropolitan Opera. Ancienne chef de chœur de l’Opera Theatre of Saint Louis et de l’Opéra d’Edmonton, elle a aussi travaillé avec le Juilliard Opera Center, l’école de chant du Chautauqua Institute, l’Opéra lyrique de Boston, l’Opéra de la Saskatchewan, Opera Ontario et le Banff Centre des arts et de la créativité. Elle a animé l’émission « This is My Music » à la radio anglaise de Radio-Canada, et a joué des récitals diffusés à Radio-Canada et à la chaîne radio WGBH (Nouvelle-Angleterre).

Michael is a Nigerian-Canadian writer and editor published in The Globe and Mail, Opera Canada, The Journal of Physiology, and more. He is the Chief Editor of Cannopy Magazine and Managing Editor of the Toronto Symphony. His interests in music include the operas of Britten, symphonies of Sibelius, and piano works of Chopin and Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou. He is also a University of Toronto graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology and a Master of Health Science in Medical Physiology with subspecialty in cardiovascular science. He continues his work in health science as Editorial Consultant at Qanatpharma and contributing writer at the Cardiac Catheterization lab at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. As a formerly homeless youth, his mission in the arts is to increase the accessibility of Toronto’s performing arts across all economic and demographic barriers. Elsewhere, he's an avid runner, connoisseur of basketball-related gossip, and a bicycle enthusiast with permanent helmet-hair.

Ténor et professeur de chant américain, Jason Ferrante a été décrit par Opera News comme chantant « une tempête de style » et comme « l’une des meilleures voix que j’aie entendues depuis très longtemps »  par Gayle Williams  dans le Sarasota Herald Tribune. Au cours des deux dernières saisons, on l’a entendu incarner Beadle Bamford dans une nouvelle production de Sweeney Todd par Opera Omaha, Don Basilio et Don Curzio dans Le Nozze di Figaro à l’Opéra de la Virginie et à l’Opéra de Knoxville, le « quatrième Juif » dans Salome avec l’Opéra de Tulsa, qu’en concert avec l’Orchestre symphonique de Palm Beach comme ténor soliste dans le Requiem de Mozart sous la direction de Gerard Schwarz. Il a incarné plus de 80 rôles sur la scène de l’opéra et s’est produit comme soliste avec des orchestres de premier plan, dont ceux de Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Juilliard, et des orchestres symphoniques nationaux. En plus de cumuler deux décennies d’expérience de scène, Jason Ferrante est devenu l’un des professeurs de chant les plus recherchés du monde de l’opéra, enseignant à des professionnels qui se produisent sur les scènes du monde ainsi qu’à des chanteurs participant aux programmes de formation de compagnies d’opéra du Minnesota, de Pensacola, de Nashville, de Portland, de Wolf Trap et d’Arizona, ainsi que du Brevard Opera Institute. Il fait régulièrement partie du jury du Concours Laffont du Metropolitan Opera et dirige le département de chant classique de YoungArts.

Frances Thielmann, of Vancouver, British Columbia, completed her master’s degree in collaborative piano in 2019 at the University of Toronto where she studied with esteemed pianist, Steven Philcox. She also holds a bachelor’s degree with distinction in piano performance from the University of Victoria, where she was the recipient of multiple scholarships for her high level of performance both on stage and academically.

Throughout her university years, Frances studied a broad range of repertoire from art song to opera at summer intensive programs such as the Franz Schubert Institute, Opera NUOVA, and Toronto Summer Music. Her professional opera experience includes one year as an apprentice coach with the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, and two years with the Canadian Opera Company’s ensemble studio from 2020-2022. One significant highlight from her time at the COC ensemble studio was music directing and playing orchestral piano for the premiere of Ian Cusson’s opera, Fantasma in March 2022. After graduating from the COC ensemble studio in May 2022, Frances was one of five pianists selected internationally to participate in the prestigious Music Academy of the West summer festival in Santa Barbara, California.

In August 2022, Frances moved to Edmonton, Alberta, where she is the head coach and repetiteur for all productions at Edmonton Opera. She is thrilled to be joining the faculty at the Banff Centre for the Arts’ Opera in the 21st century program, where she will be lead pianist on the workshop of Mary Kouyoumdijan and Royce Vavrek’s opera Adoration.

<traduction en attente> The artistic journey I have been on as a performer of both well-established favourites and truthful new works dealing specifically with cultural stories and Indigenous realities has made me into a more out-spoken, listening and inclusive human. The realization that increased understanding and support is absolutely necessary while living in these truths and while recovering from telling these stories, after the curtain has dropped, has led me to the various roles that I play now. As a mezzo soprano I choose the projects I engage in carefully for who is writing, leading, performing and producing the work. As a co-founder of Amplified Opera I aim to set an example of how companies can produce stories that raise up those not traditionally represented in opera in a manner that fits the artistic and cultural needs of the artists and stories. As a Kwagiulth, Coast Salish, English, Irish, Scottish person (she/her) I come from long lines of artists and story-tellers. Navigating life balancing the perspectives that I hold is a responsibility and a privilege. As an artistic advisor I share my views with arts organizations to help create a healthier climate for all. As a teacher I always want to create an environment in which there is an understanding that we all learn from each other. Gilakas’la. 

Patricia Shih , violoniste, est devenue l’élève du légendaire Josef Gingold, à l’Université de l’Indiana, à l’âge de 14 ans. Celui-ci l’a décrite comme l’une des musiciennes les plus talentueuses à qui il ait enseigné. Selon lui, « sa grande technique, sa musicalité innée, son sens du style et sa virtuosité sont inégalés ». Patricia a joué comme soliste et récitaliste dans des salles prestigieuses du monde entier, dont le Wigmore Hall à Londres et le Carnegie Hall à New York, où elle a joué le Concerto no 1 de Wieniawski à l’âge de 15 ans. La même année, elle a gagné le Prix spécial du Concours international Wieniawski, en Pologne. Elle a reçu de nombreux prix, dont le prix Sylva Gelber (musicien canadien le plus remarquable) et le Prix du Mozarteum à Salzbourg. Patricia Shih s’est produite comme artiste invitée avec des orchestres comme le Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, le Hallé (Royaume-Uni), les orchestres symphoniques de Toronto, de Singapour et de Seattle, l’Orchestre national du Mexique, l’Orchestre de chambre de Munich et l’Orchestre symphonique national de la radio polonaise. Son DVD de la Chaconne de Vitali a été présenté sur la chaîne Classic FM dans toute l’Europe. Plus récemment, un documentaire d’une demi-heure sur la carrière de Patricia Shih a été télévisé sur la chaîne Biography aux quatre coins de l’Amérique du Nord.

Violin: Lorenzo Storioni (Cremona, c 1780)

YUEL YAWNEY, Violinist, has performed extensively in Canada, the United States and the Czech Republic, where he completed his advanced training at the Prague Academy with Joseph Suk. He also studied at the Harid Conservatory in Florida and at Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Texas. Frequently appearing as soloist and chamber musician, he has been heard at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Summer Festival, Domaine Forget and the Scotia Festival. Yuel is a member of the Borealis Quartet.

Violin: Giovanni Battista Rogeri (Cremona, 1698)
 

Violinist Cordelia Paw is a versatile musician currently serving as Concertmaster of Sinfonia Rotterdam in The Netherlands, where she currently resides. Regularly invited as a guest concertmaster, her recent invitations include engagements in Belgium, Germany, Sweden and The Netherlands. Much sought after as chamber musician and soloist, recent performances include the Brahms Double Concerto with cellist, Harriet Krijgh (Sinfonia Rotterdam, conductor Conrad van Alphen) and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with Sara Kuijken (l’Orchestra des Pays de Savoie, conductor Sigiswald Kuijken) on a tour of France. As a member of the former Tessera and Sospiro Quartets, they have given concerts at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, The Royal Concertgebouw, and recorded for Albany Records. Ms. Paw has been a guest artist at Distinguished Concerts International New York, Bari International Music Festival, Lake Canandaigua Music Festival in New York, and Musicalis Daunia in southern Italy. Her Sinfonia Rotterdam season began with performances by Maxim Vengerov at The Royal Concertgebouw hall followed by a concert tour in China with concerts in Hangzhou, the Lian Hua Shan Music Festival in Shenzhen, and the Qintai Music Festival in  uhan. Upcoming Sinfonia season highlights include tours to Turkey and Brazil and Cordelia will also serve as concertmaster at the prestigious Rachmaninov Mikhail Pletnev Festival 2024. Later in the 2024 season, she will serve as guest concertmaster with  Noord Nederlands Orkest and as associate concertmaster of Het Nationale Balletorkest.

Cordelia holds degrees from the Boston Conservatory, the Juilliard School, and received the coveted Artist Diploma at the Yale School of Music, where she was also twice-awarded the Broadus Erle Prize and taught chamber music at Yale College. She has  been honoured to serve as artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre and received The Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Performance Residency. Her teachers include Hyo Kang, Naoko Tanaka, Lynn Chang, Edmond Agopian, Paul Kantor, and Vera Beths, with whom she studied at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Cordelia grew up one hour from Banff spending summers at the Banff Masterclasses, chamber music, and orchestra festivals, and watching the BISQ competition with her family. She currently plays on a Eugéne Sartory bow and a Samuel Zygmuntowicz violin generously loaned to her by the Banff Centre in Canada.

Nikita Pogrebnoy, altiste, est né à Saint-Pétersbourg, en Russie. Il a étudié au prestigieux Conservatoire de Saint-Pétersbourg, dont il est diplômé avec très grande distinction. Il a ensuite déménagé aux États-Unis, à l’invitation de Victor Rosenbaum, le directeur de l’École de musique Longy qui, après l’avoir entendu jouer en concert, lui a offert une bourse complète pour étudier à Cambridge, au Massachusetts. Nikita Pogrebnoy a été lauréat du Concours international Valentino Bucchi à Rome, en Italie. Depuis ce temps, il a joué comme soliste et comme chambriste avec divers ensembles  aux quatre coins de la Russie, en Espagne, en Amérique centrale et aux États-Unis. Il a joué à de nombreux festivals, dont l’International Musical Arts Institute of Fryeburg, dans le Maine, et le Colorado Music Festival. Ses concerts ont été diffusés à la radio et à la télévision aux États-Unis, y compris à NPR, à la grandeur du pays.

Viola: Pietro Giovanni Mantegazza (Milano, 1791)

Cellist, Sungyong Lim, graduated with honors from the renowned Yewon School and the Seoul School of the Arts before entering the Korea National University of Arts. During his university studies, he decided to advance his musical education in Europe. Accepted by the Detmold Musik Hochschule in Germany, he earned a bachelor's degree, master's degree, a konzertexamen's degree in cello performance. Sungyong graduated at the top of his class, with a comprehensive performance repertoire and with considerable teaching experience.

Among his many musical achievements, Sungyong has received accolades from the DAAD (Deutdcher Akademischer Austausch Dienst) and from his performance at the German Chamber Music Competition. He continues to receive invitations for solo engagements from organizations such as the German Johannes-Brahms-Saal, and Detmold Konzert Hause, as well as from musical groups in Switzerland , France, Luxembourg, Germany and Korea. Sung Yong has also concertized as an outstanding artist in the French Flaine International Masterclass, the Courchevel Music Festival, the Swiss Lugano Music Festival and the Swiss Sion Music Festival. In addition, he performed, by invitation at music concerts with the Navara Music Festival, and had concerts under Kurt Masur. He also attended the Master classes of famous music professors, such as Lauren Lesser, Christoph Henkel, Xenia Jankovich, Yong Chang Cho and Praha Trio.

His musical talents have been influenced by many recognized artists with whom he studied, including Marcio Carneiro, Johnes Goritzki, Alexander Gebert, Aurin Qurtet, and Sung Won Yang. Sungyong has played as the principal cellist of both the German Detmold Orchestra and the Mosy Chamber Orchestra. Also, he regularly performed in many chamber music concerts, with duos, trios and quartets in Korea and Germany. Sungyong currently teaches at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and since 2015, he has been a member of the Borealis String Quartet.

Flutist Dr. Paolo Bortolussi is a soloist, chamber artist, and new music pioneer. Raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician across Canada, the US and abroad. A specialist in contemporary music, Paolo is the flutist and co-director of the Nu:BC Collective, a new music and multimedia arts ensemble in residence at the University of British Columbia. To date he has premiered over one hundred and fifty solo and chamber works, including concerti written for him by Jian-Ping Tang, Dorothy Chang, Aaron Gervais, and Jocelyn Morlock, whose concerto “Ornithomancy”, commissioned with funds from the Canada Council, was premiered by Paolo and the Vancouver Island Symphony in April 2013. In 2016, Paolo released his first solo album, Israfel – music for flute and electronics, on the Redshift label, which includes works by Keith Hamel, Larry Lake, John Oliver, and Kaija Saariaho. The album received two nominations at the 2016 Western Canadian Music Awards, including Artist of the Year.

Currently principal flutist with the Vancouver Island Symphony, Paolo has appeared as soloist multiple times with the VIS as well as the Albany (NY) Symphony and the Turning Point Ensemble, and has performed with the Aventa Ensemble, the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, The Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra, as well as the Vancouver and Victoria Symphony Orchestras. He is a featured soloist on Vancouver Visions, a Centredisc release of Stephen Chatman’s music as well as Mirages, a CD of chamber works by Dorothy Chang. In 2014, Beyond Shadows, The Nu:BC Collective’s first CD was released on the Redshift label, featuring music by Dorothy Chang, Marc Mellits, and specially commissioned works by Brian Cherney and Chris Paul Harman.

A graduate of the University of Ottawa (B.Mus) and the Indiana University School of Music (M.Mus, D.M.A), Paolo serves on the music faculties of the University of British Columbia, where he co-directs the Contemporary Players Ensemble, as well as Kwantlen Polytechnic University and Trinity Western University.

Diplômé du Conservatoire de musique de Montréal et de l’Université McGill, le flûtiste Jeffrey Stonehouse se produit sur les scènes à travers le Canada ainsi qu’à l’étranger en Europe, aux États Unis et au Mexique. Très actif dans la scène des musiques nouvelles montréalaise, il est co-fondateur et directeur artistique de Paramirabo et flûtiste du Nouvel Ensemble Moderne. Il se produit également avec l'ECM+, la SMCQ et No Hay Banda. Il est directeur artistique du diffuseur spécialisé Le Vivier. Jeffrey travaille également comme pigiste dans les orchestres au Québec. Il se produit avec l’Orchestre Métropolitain, I Musici, ainsi que les orchestres symphonique de Trois-Rivières, Laval, Québec et Drummondville. Comme soliste, Il s’est produit avec l’Orchestre Métropolitain, l’Orchestre symphonique de Kitchener-Waterloo et dans les festivals Journées de l’informatique musicale (Paris), Cluster New Music + Integrated Arts (Winnipeg), Mise-En (New York) et Chrysanthemums and Maple Leaves Festival (Vancouver). 

Il est le lauréat du prix du meilleur interprète du festival Soundscape (Maccagno, Italie) ainsi que le 2ième prix du TD-Canada Trust Young Artist Competition. 

Parmi ses autres projets, on note le projet iso (avec la harpiste Robin Best) et Altra Voce (avec la soprano Sarah Albu). 

On peut l’entendre sur plusieurs disques sur les étiquettes: ATMA, Naxos, Centrediscs, et Redshift Records.

Jose Franch-Ballester (Frank Ba-yès-tèr), clarinettiste espagnol primé, est considéré comme l’un des meilleurs musiciens solistes et chambristes classiques de sa génération. Il a été loué pour « sa prouesse technique et son enthousiasme indéfectible » (New York Times), sa « sonorité riche et résonnante » (Birmingham News) et son « sens artistique subtil et incomparable » (Santa Barbara Independent). Récipiendaire d’une bourse Avery Fisher de soutien à la carrière en 2008, et gagnant de l’audition internationale  de Young Concert Artists et de l’audition nationale  d’Astral Artists, il est très recherché comme soliste et comme chambriste.

À titre de concertiste, Jose Franch-Ballester a joué son premier concert à New York en 2006 avec l’Orchestra of St. Luke’s au Lincoln Center. Il s’est aussi produit avec le BBC Concert Orchestra, l’Orchestre de Louisville, les orchestres symphoniques  de Princeton, de la Louisiane et de Hilton Head, l’Orchestre de chambre de Santa Barbara, et les orchestres philharmoniques du Wisconsin et de la Malaisie, ainsi que divers orchestres de son Espagne natale.

Jose Franch-Ballester a donné son premier récital new-yorkais au 92NY , et a présenté des récitals au Musée Isabella Stewart Gardner de Boston, à l’Université d’État de l’Iowa, à la Société de musique de chambre de Buffalo et au Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. Il joue régulièrement avec la Société de musique de chambre du Lincoln Center, à New York comme en tournée, et il est clarinette solo de l’ensemble musical Camerata Pacifica, à Santa Barbara.

Au nombre de ses prestations dans des festivals figurent des concerts au Festival de musique de chambre de Saratoga, à Music@Menlo, à Mainly Mozart, au festival de musique de chambre de Bridgehampton, à Music from Angel Fire, à Chamber Music Northwest et au Festival de Skaneateles. Sur la scène internationale, Jose Franch-Ballester a joué à l’Usedomer Musikfestival en Allemagne, au Festival de Verbier en Suisse, au Cartagena Festival Internacional de Música en Colombia, au Festival Kon-Tiki en Norvège, et au Young Concert Artists Festival à Tokyo.

Joel Brennan jouit d’une carrière diversifiée de musicien et d’enseignant. Il a joué avec des orchestres du monde entier, notamment les orchestres symphoniques  de Melbourne (Australie), de Winnipeg et de Bilkent (Turquie), ainsi que les orchestres philharmoniques de Séoul (Corée), de Rotterdam (Pays-Bas) et de la Malaisie. Il a été trompette solo de l’Orchestre du Centre des arts de la scène de Hyōgo (Japon) et de l’Orchestre symphonique d’Amsterdam.

Passionné de musique contemporaine et de musique de chambre, Joel Brennan  a commandé ou donné la première de dizaines de nouvelles œuvres, déterminé à travailler avec des compositeurs émergents et des compositeurs appartenant à des groupes démographiques sous-représentés. Il est membre de Ensemble Three, un trio inusité — trompette, trombone et guitare — qui a été décrit comme « un exemple inspirant de la culture musicale classique tournée vers l’avenir en Australie » (CutCommon) et a gagné le Prix des maîtres de la musique contemporaine du Melbourne Recital Centre en 2017. Il est aussi membre de Lyrebird Brass, un ensemble de musiciens se spécialisant dans l’interprétation des plus grandes pièces de musique de chambre pour cuivres.

Joel Brennan a reçu son baccalauréat au Conservatoire de musique d’Oberlin avant de poursuivre ses études à l’École de musique de Yale, où il a fait son doctorat en musique. Lauréat d’une bourse Fulbright en 2007, il a passé un an à jouer, à enseigner et à étudier aux Pays-Bas.

Profondément dévoué à l’éducation, Joel Brennan est professeur agrégé en interprétation musicale au Conservatoire de musique de Melbourne (Université de Melbourne, Australie). Il a également fait partie du corps enseignant de l’Université de Brandon (Canada) et du campus de Tianjin (Chine) de l’École Juilliard, où il a travaillé avec les étudiants du programme préuniversitaire et des cycles supérieurs en plus de jouer avec l’Ensemble Juilliard de Tianjin. Il a été enseignant invité à l’Australasian Trumpet Academy, à la Danish German Brass Academy et à l’Atelier de trompette d’Oberlin. Il est le créateur de « Poper’s Game » une appli originale conçue pour les trompettistes.

Joel Brennan est un artiste Yamaha.
 

Beverley Johnston is one of Canada’s leading percussionists. Over the years, she has commissioned and performed many works by leading Canadian composers some of which have become a staple of the standard percussion repertory around the world. In honour of her exemplary commitment to the performance of the music of Canadian composers, she has been awarded the distinction of “Canadian Music Centre Ambassador” and has also been nominated for the 2023 ‘Oskar Morawetz Award for Excellence in Music Performance’.

She has established her reputation beyond the border of her native Canada where she tours and performs frequently as a soloist and chamber musician. She has been invited to numerous internationally renowned marimba and percussion festivals over the years and has recorded seven solo albums. She can be heard as soloist and chamber musician on many other recordings. 

Beverley teaches at the University of Toronto and is a Marimba One and Paiste Artist. 

Rod Thomas Squance is recognized as one of Canada’s most exciting musicians, very active as a soloist and collaborative percussion artist in chamber, orchestral, jazz and world music. He has performed with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Project, Paquito de Rivera, Dong-Won Kim, Prafulla Athalye and Sandeep Das. He performs as a soloist regularly with past recitals broadcast nationally by the CBC.

Rod holds a doctoral degree from the University of Miami. Formally trained as a classical percussionist, he also plays jazz vibraphone and is an accomplished improviser in diverse styles. He is experienced in the field of ethnomusicology, with expertise in Balinese gender wayang shadow theatre music, having completed field research with I Ketut Sukayana in Sukawati village, Bali. He is an experienced performer of North Indian classical raga music and has studied Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music. Rod currently teaches ethnomusicology and performance at the University of Calgary.

Éric Le Sage est connu comme un représentant notoire de l’école de piano française, caractérisée par sa sonorité très subtile, son vrai sens de la structure et la poésie de son phrasé. Déjà lorsqu’il était âgé d’à peine vingt ans, le Financial Times l’avait décrit comme « un disciple extrêmement cultivé de la grande tradition française du piano de Schumann ». En 2010, Die Zeit a loué son « esthétique pianistique et [sa] clarté françaises idéales ».

Éric Le Sage est invité à jouer comme soliste avec des orchestres du plus haut niveau, comme les orchestres philharmoniques  de Los Angeles, de Brême, de Dresde , de Rotterdam et de Radio France, les orchestres symphoniques de Toronto, de Saint-Louis, de Göteborg, de la SWR, de la NHK et du Queensland, l’Orchestre de Philadelphie, le Konzerthaus Orchester de Berlin, le Royal Scottish National Orchestra, l’Orchestre symphonique Yomiuri  du Japon, l’Orchestre métropolitain de Tokyo, l’Orchestre de chambre de Munich, l’Orchestre National de Bordeaux-Aquitaine, l’Orchestre Métropolitain (Montréal)  et le Chamber Orchestra of Europe, sous la direction de chefs dont Edo de Waart, Stéphane Denève, Pablo Gonzalez, Fabien Gabel, Jeffrey Tate , François Leleux , Alexander Liebreich, Kazuki Yamada, Alondra de la Parra, Lionel Bringuier, Michael Stern, Leonardo Garcia Alarcon, Simon Rattle et Yannick Nézet-Seguin.

Éric Le Sage a donné des récitals et des concerts de musique de chambre lors de grands festivals et dans des salles prestigieuses du monde, notamment le Wigmore Hall, le Suntory Hall, le Carnegie Hall, la Laeiszhalle de Hambourg, la Philharmonie de Paris, le Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Radio France, la Philharmonie de Cologne, la Philharmonie d’Essen, la Philharmonie de Dresde, l’Alte Oper de Frankfort, le Concertgebouw d’Amsterdam, la Schubertiade de Schwartzenberg, le Mozarteum de Salzbourg, le Festival de Ludwigsburg, le Rudolfinium de Prague, le Taipei National Concert Hall, le Wiener Konzerthaus, la Philharmonie du Luxembourg, la Dublin’s celebrity series, le Festival international d’Edinburgh, la Tonhalle Düsseldorf, le Festival de la Roque d’Anthéron, Sanssouci à Potsdam, Bozar à Bruxelles, la Boulezsaal à Berlin, le Konzerthaus Berlin et la Philharmonie de Berlin.

Éric Le Sage a enregistré de nombreux albums; tous ont été accueillis avec enthousiasme par la critique et ont gagné de nombreux prix. À part son cycle de Schumann de 2010 — qui est célèbre dans le monde entier et a reçu le très prestigieux Jahrespreis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (prix annuel de la critique allemande) — ses enregistrements notoires sont l’intégrale de la musique de chambre avec piano de Francis Poulenc (BMG, 1998), l’intégrale de la musique de chambre avec piano de Fauré (Alpha 228 ), et l’intégrale de la musique de chambre de Brahms (B-Records, 2021).

Deux albums magnifiques sont sortis en 2022 : Un album de musique de Mozart (les concertos n° 17 et 24) sous la direction du chef François Leleux — avec qui il partage la scène depuis longtemps — et l’Orchestre symphonique de Gävle, sur étiquette Alpha, et un album solo de Sony Classical présentant du répertoire français rarement joué du début du XXe siècle. Au cours des dernières années, Éric Le Sage a enregistré l’ensemble des nocturnes de Fauré sur étiquette Alpha (2019) et les trois dernières sonates de Beethoven (2014). Au nombre de ses enregistrements de musique de chambre figurent des collaborations avec des artistes comme le ténor Julian Prégardien (album de musique de Schumann en 2019), Emmanuel Pahud, Paul Meyer, Daishin Kashimoto et Aurélien Pascal, entre autres, axées sur le répertoire de Vienne autour des années 1900 et la musique de Nino Rota.

Vraiment passionné de musique de chambre, Éric Le Sage joue régulièrement avec des amis, dont Emmanuel Pahud, Paul Meyer, les membres du  Quatuor Ébène et des Vents Français, François Leleux, Jean-Guihen Queyras, François Salque, Lise Berthaud, Daishin Kashimoto, Claudio Bohorquez, Julian Prégardien, Sandrine Piau, Olivier Latry, et bien d’autres encore.

Né à Aix en Provence, Éric Le Sage a été lauréat d’importants concours de musique internationaux, dont celui de Porto en 1985 et le Concourt Robert Schumann à Zwickau, en 1989. Il avait également gagné un prix au Concours international de piano de Leeds la même année, ce qui lui a permis de jouer sous la baguette du grand chef Simon Rattle. Éric Le Sage est professeur à la Hochschule für Musik à Fribourg, en Allemagne.
 

Annette Saunders studied at the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music as a pianist, accompanist and repetiteur where she won many prizes. She was recently awarded an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. 

Since 1996 she has worked for Opera North, English National Opera, Glyndebourne, Garsington Opera, Buxton Festival, RCM, RAM, the Britten-Pears School at Aldeburgh, and the Jette Parker Young Artists at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. This includes coaching singers and playing the harpsichord, fortepiano, celeste and organ in repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to My Fair Lady and contemporary opera. She was the Head of Music at Buxton Festival for seven years and joined the permanent music staff at Opera North in 2016 where she is now the Assistant Head of Music.

As a chamber musician and song accompanist she has given numerous concerts across the UK and Europe including several broadcasts for BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM. 

In February 2022 she released her debut album under Warner Classics: "Mozart and Strauss Oboe concertos" with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra & Daniel Barenboim. Highly acclaimed by the critics, it was rated with 5-stars by the BBC Music Magazine: “Mozart and Strauss works that mesmerise the ears".

Cristina Gómez Godoy takes on the 2023-24 season with numerous exciting performances, including concerts as a soloist with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla, and Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra. In addition, she will complete her three years-residency as a "Junge Wilde" artist at the Konzerthaus Dortmund in December 2023.

She develops an intense activity as soloist and chamber musician. Gómez made in 2019 her recital debuts at Carnegie Hall and Pierre Boulez Saal with the pianist Michail Lifits. Shortly after, she was selected by the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) as "Rising Star" for the season 2020-21.

Recent highlights include appearances as a soloist with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Festival Strings Lucerne, Saarländisches Staatsorchester, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona and Orquesta Sinfónica de la Región de Murcia. Past solo concerts have also been held with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra and Stettin Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.

Cristina frequently collaborates with such artists as Daniel Barenboim, Guy Braunstein, Pablo Ferrández, Mario Häring, Radek Baborak, Sophie Dervaux, Sara Ferrández, Calidore String Quartet, Streichquartett der Staatskapelle Berlin and Castalian String Quartet, at renowned festivals and halls such a Ravinia Festival(USA), Lucerne Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Liceo de Cámara XXI, East Neuk Festival, Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, Elbphilharmonie, Paris Philharmonie, Mozarteum, Konserthuset Stockholm, Berlin Philharmonie, Sage Gateshead, Köln Philharmonie, Barbican Centre, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Müpa Budapest, Bozar Brussels, Casa da Música in Porto, L’Auditori and Palau de la Música in Barcelona, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid and Vienna Musikverein.

Born in Linares (Spain) in 1990. Her musical education took place at the conservatories of Linares, Jaén and Seville while she simultaneously joined the Academia de Estudios Orquestales of the Barenboim-Said Foundation at the early age of 14. She finished her studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Rostock.

She was a Prizewinner at the 60th ARD International Music Competition including the BR-Klassik Prize and at the Internationaler Instrumentalwettbewerb Markneukirchen.

In 2013, Gómez was appointed principal solo oboist of the Staatskapelle Berlin under the baton of Daniel Barenboim. Furthermore, she is since October 2015 and adjunct professor at the Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK).

Yvette Nolan (Algonquine) est une auteure dramatique, metteuse en scène et conseillère dramaturgique qui travaille sur l’Île de la Tortue. Au nombre de ses œuvres figurent The Unplugging et Annie Mae’s Movement, l’opéra dansé Bearing, le livret de Shanawdithit, la courte pièce pour l’écran Katharsis, et la pièce de réalité virtuelle Reconciling. Elle a récemment créé conjointement Wreckonciliation avec Marion Newman et Melody Courage pour Opera Kelowna, et elle travaille à l’adaptation musicale de The Englishman’s Boy avec Ian Cusson, Allan Gilliland, Josh Languedoc, Vern Thiessen et Royce Vavrek. Du côté de la mise en scène, a travaillé sur Women of the Fur Trade de Frances Koncan au festival de Stratford, sur Mizushōbai de Julie Tamiko Manning pour Tableau d’Hôte (Montréal), sur The Flood de Leah-Simone Bowen pour Imago (Montréal), et sur The First Stone de Donna Michelle Bernard aux théâtres New Harlem et GCTC à Toronto et Ottawa. De 2003 à 2011, elle a été directrice artistique de Native Earth Performing Arts. Son livre, Medicine Shows, sur les arts de la scène autochtones au Canada a été publié par Playwrights Canada Press en 2015.

Kcenia has been singing and playing piano from a young age, taking extracurricular lessons since age 8. In 2019, she received her ARCT in piano performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music, after which she pursued her Bachelor of Music at Western University (graduated 2023). She made her operatic debut as Ruggiero in Handel’s Alicina in 2021 with UWOpera, and has been in love with the art form since. She enjoyed performing a handful of roles in the past couple years, including The Mother in The Consul (Opera NUOVA, 2022); Meg Page in Falstaff (Western University Opera, 2023); and the title role of Julius Caesar (SOLT, 2023). She was the recipient of the London Opera Guild Scholarship award in 2021 and the Adrianne Pieczonka Award for Vocal Excellence in 2022. Currently, Kcenia studies at the University of Toronto’s intensive opera program where she will receive her Master’s Degree in Opera in Spring 2025. Recently, she appeared as The Sage in UofT student-composed Lysistrata and as Mme. de la Haltière in UofT’s Spring 2024 production of Cendrillon. Kcenia hopes to expand her musicianship and spread her love for music with audiences, and is extremely grateful to her mentors and family for supporting her dreams!

For Canadian conductor Gordon Gerrard, music is an animating life force. 

The newly appointed Artistic Director of City Opera Vancouver, he’s guest-conducted major Canadian orchestras (Vancouver, Quebec, Toronto, Victoria, London, Kitchener-Waterloo) and opera companies (Calgary, Hamilton, Edmonton). He loves working with emerging artists 
(Calgary Opera, the Atelier Lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, the Banff Centre, Montréal’s Opera McGill, Toronto’sGlenn Gould School.) And since 2016, he’s been the dynamic music director of the Regina Symphony Orchestra.

All rather unlikely for a kid who grew up on a farm just outside Brandon, MB. 

Piano lessons began at 7; at 17, Gordon left the farm to study at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, followed by a master’s at the Manhattan School of Music. He loved collaborating with singers, which led to a fascination with opera and the world of conducting.

He’s thrilled to be taking the lead with City Opera Vancouver, a company with a reputation for developing new work. 

“Music brings people together,” he says. “I consider it a privilege to be part of that magic.” 

Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian is an eagerly anticipated visitor to opera houses and concert halls the world over. A winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1997—the same year she graduated from the University of Toronto cum laude with a Biomedical Engineering Degree—Ms. Bayrakdarian thereafter found her career taking rapid wing.  

She won first prize in the prestigious Operalia competition in 2000 and sang in the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s world premiere production of William Bolcom’s A View from the Bridge. She has won plaudits at the Metropolitan Opera, Salzburg Festival, Los Angeles Opera, London’s Royal Opera House, San Francisco Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Paris Opera, Barcelona’s Liceu, Milan’s La Scala, Florence’s Maggio Musicale, and the Saito Kinen Festival in Matsumoto, Japan. 

An ever-active concertizer, she’s appeared with the premier orchestras of North America and Europe. Her versatility is also reflected in being the featured vocalist on the Grammy-award winning soundtrack of the blockbuster film The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers; she sings on the BBC-produced documentary HOLOCAUST - A Music Memorial Film from Auschwitz, and stars in her Gemini-nominated film Long Journey Home documenting her first visit to her ancestral homeland, Armenia.

Ms Bayrakdarian was recently nominated for a 2023 Juno Award in Best Classical Album – Solo Artist for her recording “La Zingarella”, and is the winner of four consecutive Juno Awards.  She is the recipient of the Marilyn Horne Foundation Award, Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee and the Diamond Jubilee Medals, and the George London Foundation Award. She holds an Honorary Doctorate from Wilfrid Laurier University, and an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Conservatory of Music. She is currently Professor of Voice, director of Opera Outreach, and Head of Voice Area in the Music Department of University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB)

Joanna Dundas is an arts management professional with over 20 years of experience producing in Vancouver’s cultural community. Trained as a professional singer, she has also  served in a variety of roles off-stage: video director and editor, theatre, audio, video and film producer, project manager, facilitator and digital strategist, among others. Joanna works consistently with many arts organizations including Early Music Vancouver, The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and musica intima - most recently as producer of Juno-nominated and WCMA winning recording NAGAMO. She works as Digital Content Strategist for presenting organization Music on Main, and is a producer and editor with Collide Entertainment.

Lyndon Ladeur’s favourite performances to-date include Ferrando in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore. His concert soloist repertoire consists of Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, and Gounod’s Messe solennelle en l’honneur de Sainte-Cécile. His international debut was at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival playing Marco in The Gondoliers where he won the award for Best Male Vocalist and was nominated for Best Male Actor. Lyndon won both the Senior Classical Voice and Vocal Variety competitions at the 2018 BC Provincial Performing Arts Festival. He has participated in several prestigious summer programs, including: Saluzzo Opera Academy, COSA Canada, Orford Summer Music Academy, Highlands Opera Study, Banff Centre of Arts and Creativity, and OperaSparks. Lyndon finished his Bachelors of Music in Vocal Performance at the Vancouver Academy of Music (co-op with Thompson Rivers University Open Learning) in 2022 and completed his Masters of Music in Operatic Performance in 2024 at the university of Toronto. He studies with the Canadian Opera Company’s Head Vocal Consultant, Wendy Nielsen. In September 2024, Lyndon will join Vancouver Opera as a member of the Yulanda M. Faris Young Artist Program.

Lyndon Ladeur was generously supported by the David Spencer Emerging Vocalists Endowment Fund.

Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, clarinetist Logan Lambert draws inspiration from a wide array of global music traditions. She received her Bachelor’s of Music in 2021 from New York University, where she focused on experimental, collaborative and chamber performance. Although she trained in the Western classical style, her approach to the instrument is defined by her love of Klezmer, Balkan, and Celtic trad music. She is as captivated by traditional folk melodies as she is by contemporary art music, and she strives to strike the balance between these two in her musical practice. She is currently based in Southern California, where she enjoys exploring the Huntington Gardens and boxing with her friends.

Logan Lambert was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Emma Pennell is a trailblazing 2-Spirit Mi’kmaw soprano with roots in Ktaqmkuk. Hailing from the Village of South River in Northern Ontario, Emma holds BMus honours in Voice Performance and Indigenous Studies from Western University. They trained under esteemed mentors, Pamela Teed, Torin Chiles, and presently Adrianne Pieczonka. Emma is an activist, artist and poet whose work in the arts forge spaces for Indigenous voices. They have made significant impact through foundational advocacy, including co-authoring the Indigenous Policy Paper for the Ontario Universities Student Alliance and founding the Faculty of Music Indigenous Leadership Initiative at Western’s Faculty of Music. Emma’s recent roles include Alice Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff, The Skater in Ka Nin Chan’s Ice Time, and Mére Marie in Poulenc’s Dialogue des Carmelites. Emma is in their first year of the Artist Diploma Program at the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Emma Pennell was generously supported by the Barbara and John Poole Memorial Endowment.

Mezzo-Soprano Alexandra Sorensen (she/her), who was raised singing in a little house in the woods in Prince Edward Island, will be graduating this June with a Diploma in Opera from the University of Toronto. Recent performances include “le Prince Charmant” in Massenet’s Cendrillon, “Penelope” in UofT Student Composer Collective’s Lysistrata, “Announcer” in Douglas Moore’s Gallantry, “First Apprentice” in UofT Student Composer Collective’s Disobedience, and “Young Countess” in Arthur Benjamin’s A Tale of Two Cities, all with UofT Opera. In her time at UofT, Alexandra has also participated in two new opera workshops: she learned excerpts of “Claire” from Mikael Karlsson and Royce Vavrek’s opera Melancholia, and this January participated in a workshop of Ian Cusson and Royce Vavrek’s new opera Indians on Vacation. While completing the Bachelor of Music program in voice at UPEI, Alexandra performed as “Dido” in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and sang with the UPEI Chamber Singers in Against the Grain Theatre’s Messiah/Complex. Alexandra is excited to be spending June at the Banff Centre.

Alexandra Sorensen was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Simon Proulx is a student at the University of British Columbia, studying clarinet performance and French literature. His clarinet teacher is Jose Franch-Ballester, and he has previously studied with Chris Byman. Featured on CBC Music’s 2022 30 Hot Classical Musicians Under 30, Simon has performed as a soloist with the Winnipeg Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Winnipeg Wind Ensemble, and the University of British Columbia Singers. He has also participated in masterclasses with acclaimed clarinettist David Shiffrin and Franklin Cohen and in summer music programs such as the 2022 National Youth Band of Canada. Simon has won numerous awards, including the WYSO Julie Banton Trophy, the Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg Holtby Scholarship, and most recently, was a semi-finalist in the 2024 McClellan Competition for solo performance with the WSO. He is strongly committed to researching and performing music by underrepresented composers and hopes to continue his educational journey, eventually becoming a professor. Besides music, Simon enjoys cooking, being an at-home barista, and learning languages (currently, Greek!).

Simon Proulx was generously supported by the David Spencer Emerging Vocalists Endowment Fund.

Hailed as "a major talent" a0er her Carnegie Hall debut with Prokofiev Third Piano Concerto,  Irish pianist Ellen Jansson is quickly establishing herself as one of Ireland’s most versatile and  exciting young musicians. She has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine and New York Concert SinfonieLa, as well as giving solo and chamber performances around Europe.  Under the guidance of Mary BeaPe at Cork School of Music, Ellen graduated first in her class in 2020 before continuing her studies with Barbara Moser at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. Her accolades include winning the Chetham’s Yamaha Piano Competition, the Flax Trust Bursary at Clandeboye Festival, and the COS Emerging Artist Award. An avid chamber musician, she has performed with the ConTempo String Quartet and Irish Chamber Orchestra, and at festivals throughout Ireland, most recently at the New Ross Piano Festival. 
A passionate advocate for underrepresented composers, Ellen has regularly appeared at the ‘Finding a Voice’ Festival, including giving the first complete Irish performance of Fanny Mendelssohn’s Das Jahr, and curating a concert of works by Alexina Louie. Since 2020, she is répétiteur to the MA in String Performance at the University of Limerick.

Ellen Jansson was generously supported by the George Brough Memorial Endowment and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

“Virtuoso singer” (WholeNote), and “triple-threat ... talented coloratura” (OperaCanada) Maeve Palmer is an alumna of the Rebanks Family Fellowship and the University of Toronto (UofT) Opera School. Maeve is the winner of the 2021 Jim and Charlotte Norcop Prize in Song (UofT), a prize winner of the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition, and a Dora award winner. She has performed with Tapestry Opera, New Music Concerts, Continuum Contemporary Music, and Opera Atelier. Her voice can be heard in the Hollywood film The Space Between Us. Recent operatic roles include Adina, L’Elisir d’Amore (Highlands Opera), Genio Haydn’s Orfeo ed Euridice, Jean MacDonald and Daisy Fairchild in The Bells of Baddeck (MacDonald & Burry), and Robot 1, and [Helena] understudy in Tapestry Opera’s production of RUR: A Torrent of Light (Lizée). An interpreter of many Mozart roles, Maeve has performed as Queen of the Night (Toronto City Opera) Susanna, Sandrina, and Serpetta (UofT Opera), and Zerlina (Center for Opera Studies Italy). World and Canadian premieres include works by Nicole Lizée, Alice Ping Yee Ho, Samuel Andreyev, and Haydn. A passionate scholar, Maeve is a UofT Massey College Junior Fellow culminating her doctoral studies in the voice pedagogy of native Irish sean-nós singing.

Maeve Palmer was generously supported by the Ontario Arts Fund and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Introduced to music at the age of 11 at the Conservatoire de musique de Québec (CMQ), Cassiana excels both in supporting roles and as a soloist in the opera workshop at CMQ. She has made her mark by winning several regional competitions, ranging from the Concours de musique de la Capitale to the Concours de musique du Canada. These victories have earned her multiple scholarships. She also participated in the first season of the Virtuose TV show animated By Gregory Charles and was invited twice to perform with Les Violons du Roy, first for a solo concert after being a finalist in the Concours de musique de la Capitale, and then for the “Quatuor pour un général” concert in the same year.
Occasionally, she takes part in events and recordings with the city, such as the Quebec Day celebration, highlighting the region’s rich historical heritage. Recently, she co-founded the Collectif du 4e Art, a classical music ensemble aimed at inspiring the next generation of musicians. Thanks to a generous grant from the Hans-Jürgen-Greif Fund, the Collective was able to finance its very first concert and is already preparing for other great musical events!
Recently, Cassiana sang the national anthem at the Citadelle de Québec during the decoration ceremony for acts of bravery, giving her the chance to meet and shake hands with the Governor General of Canada. This moment, which deeply marked her, inaugurated the promising beginning of her career within the Canadian Armed Forces, combining musical talent and patriotic commitment.
Currently in the first year of her master’s program, she continues her training with Sonia Racine and Hélène Guilmette.

Cassiana St-Cyr was generously supported by the Joyce and David Keith Scholarship for the Arts and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Ben Wallace is a baritone, conductor, pianist, and teacher currently studying with Wendy Nielsen and Alain Coulombe in the University of Toronto opera program. He was the recipient of the Laurier Alumni Gold Medal (2022), a finalist for UofT’s Norcop Prize in Song (2023), and a winner of the Laurier Concerto Competition (2021). Recent solo performances include Pandolfe in Cendrillon (UofT Opera), Le Dancaïre/Moralès in Carmen (Southern Ontario Lyric Opera), Billy Bigelow in Carousel (Cambridge Symphony), Fauré’s Requiem (Musicians of the KWS), Duruflé’s Requiem (Grand Philharmonic Choir), Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem (Symphony in
the Barn), John Brooke in Little Women (Opera Laurier), and Barone Douphol/Dottore Grenvil in La traviata (KW Symphony). He will appear as Figaro in Highlands Opera Studio’s Il barbiere di Siviglia later this summer. Ben formed his own chamber choir and orchestra in 2022 and has since partnered with Canadian composer Justin Lapierre to conduct première performances of One Thousand Shields of Gold, Messe de Ste. Anne, and Stabat Mater (available to stream). He has served as the music director for productions of Cabaret, Matilda (Royal City Musical Productions), Company, The Last Five Years, and In View: The Lyrics of Gord Downie
(Downtown Theatre Project).

Ben Wallace was generously supported by the Marshall M. Williams Endowment and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

A champion of vocal versatility, Camryn Dewar is an accomplished Métis vocalist and multiinstrumentalist of many genres, including contemporary classical, opera, musical theatre and jazz. Hailed as an “incredible performer and instrument” (Jeffrey Gall), she is passionate about presenting the works of living and Indigenous composers and is committed to using her artistry to uplift and amplify Indigenous voices.

Recent operatic engagements include performances in The Grapes of Wrath with Master Voices at Carnegie Hall and Blind Injustice with Peak Performances in Montclair, New Jersey. In Blind Injustice, Camryn served as the understudy for the principal role of Nancy Smith, collaborating closely with composer Scott Davenport Richards and Tony Award-winning music director Ted Sperling. She portrayed Josette LaGrande in Li Keur: Riel's Heart of the North, the first full-scale Indigenous-led opera presented on a Canadian opera mainstage alongside the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Manitoba Opera in their 2023 workshop.

A frequent recitalist, Camryn produced and showcased her talent at a concert entitled Living Music at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, as well as Beneath the Azure Sky at the Agassiz Chamber Music Festival. Camryn was honoured to have been awarded the 2023/2024 Virtuosi Concert Young Artist, a distinction that culminated in her performance at the Roots and Branches Concert.

For her vision and drive, Camryn was awarded the Modern Métis Woman Scholarship, the Association of Opera in Canada Fellowship, and the InPath: N’we Jinan Artworks Fellowship. Camryn is currently completing her Master of Music (Performance) at Montclair State University with Barbara Dever from the Metropolitan Opera. She received her Bachelor of Music with Distinction (Vocal Performance) from the University of Manitoba, where she studied under Mel Braun.

Camryn Dewar was generously supported by the Sheila K. Piercy Opera Endowment and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Jeremy Scinocca is an award-winning tenor from Toronto and alumnus of Vancouver Opera’s Yulanda M. Farris Young Artist Program. During his time with Vancouver Opera he made his main stage debut as Le Remandado in Carmen and played the roles of Lorenzo in Bolcom’s Lucrezia and Tiberge in Massenet’s Le Portrait de Manon. During this time at Vancouver Opera Jeremy also covered the roles of Nadir in Pearl Fishers, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, and Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In 2023 Jeremy made his role debut of Tonio in La fille du regiment as part of the Festival d’opera de Quebec, which included a tour across Quebec and the 
Maritimes with Jeunesses Musicales Canada. Jeremy is a graduate of McGill’s Master’s in Voice and Opera program where he played the roles of Edoardo in Verdi’s Un giorno di regno, and Mr. Buchanan in Street Scene. Upcoming, Jeremy will be playing Luke in Handmaid's Tale by composer Poul Ruders as part of Banff Centre’s Chamber Music and Opera Interplay program. 

Jeremy Scinocca was generously supported by the Ruby Mercer Endowment.

Canadian Bass-Baritone Luke Noftall is a recent graduate of the University of Toronto with a Master’s of Music in Opera Performance, as well as a Bachelor of Voice Performance with Honors from the same institution.  He currently studies with Wendy Nielsen.  

Recent performance have included: Zuniga in Carmen (Southern Ontario Lyric Opera), Count Monterone in Rigoletto (Opera by Request), and Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd (Doctor Bird Productions).

While at the University of Toronto’s Opera school, Luke was seen as: Mr. Choufleuri in Monsieur Choufleuri, Dr. Bartolo in Il barbiere di Sviliglia, Top in Aaron Copland’s The Tender Land,  Jacques I in A Tale of Two Cities, and the Chorus of Antiquity in a Canadian premiered student composition of Disobedience. Additional credits include Lancelot in Camelot (Red Panda Productions), and Papageno in Die Zauberflöte (Halifax Summer Opera Festival).  As Papageno, Luke was described as a “Star of the Festival.  Playful and mercurial, his warm baritone and dynamic interpretation complimented and contrasted effortlessly with his more earnest Tamino” (Opera Canada).

This is Luke’s second summer at the prestigious Opera in the 21st Century Program at the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity.  Last summer, Luke played the role of Masetto in Don Giovanni, as well as Morris in a workshop of a new opera Adoration by Mary Kouyoumdjian and Royce Vavrek, which premiered in New York City earlier this year.    

Luke Noftalll was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.
 

Praised for “her natural warmth matched equally by innate lyricism,” (Opera Canada), Canadian soprano Nicole Leung is currently a second year McPhee Artist at Calgary Opera. Most recently, she made her professional debut in the role of Adina in L’elisir d’amore at Calgary Opera, a role she first sang at The Yale School of Music and covered at Festival Napa Valley as a Manetti Shrem Vocal Fellow. She also performed the role of Barbarina in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. 2022/2023 season highlights included Pamina in The Little Opera Company’s production of The Magic Flute: The Trials of Tamino and Pamina, and Frasquita (Carmen), Delia in Joe Illick’s Stone Soup, and Héro (Béatrice et Bénédict) at Calgary Opera. A graduate of the Yale School of Music, Ms. Leung was seen as Rosalba in Florencia en el Amazonas and Morgana in Alcina. She sang the role of Amy in a workshop of the world-premier opera The Snowy Day by Joel Thompson and libretto by Andrea Davis Pinkney, commissioned by Houston Grand Opera. Concert repertoire includes Soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem, Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, and Brahms’ Neue Liebeslieder.

Nicole Leung was generously supported by the Alice and Betty Schultz Scholarships Endowment Fund for Dance and Music and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Rachael McAuley is a mezzo soprano who was born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario. After having made the move to the west coast a few years ago, Rachael is finding her footing in the Vancouver music scene. She is grateful to have had recent performance opportunities with Vancouver Chamber Choir, Early Music Vancouver, and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Most recently, Rachael competed in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and is thrilled to have been a winner of the Western Canada District. Rachael is delighted to be spending her first summer at the Banff Centre in the Chamber Music and Opera: INTERPLAY program. Rachael holds a Master of Music in Opera Performance from Western University where she studied under the instruction of baritone, Ted Baerg. She is currently studying with Marisa Gaetanne at the University of British Columbia. Some of Rachael’s past role highlights include Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Serse in Serse, and Mercédès in Carmen.

Rachael McAuley was generously supported by the David Spencer Emerging Vocalists Endowment Fund.

Described as “fearless and uncompromising”, Aidan Chan is an Irish-Chinese pianist whose work primarily explores identity and social structure through performance. He has performed in the US (Carnegie Hall), UK (Wigmore Hall), Hong Kong, Switzerland, France, China and across Ireland.

As a performer Aidan holds a particular affinity for the works of Chopin and Mozart, the latter whose keyboard music he has studied intensively with Dr. Robert Levin at the Salzburg Summer Academy and regularly improvises on in concerts. In addition, he is deeply passionate about performing music by contemporary composers, commissioning and premiering Knuckleduster and torn, to the ground, exhausted, sobbing by Alex Ho (2021 and 2024), Polygon by Delyth Field (2022) and Reflections and Refractions by Philip Hammond (2023).

Aidan holds a Master of Music degree with distinction from the Royal College of Music in London under the tutelage of Professors Nigel Clayton and Andrew Zolinsky, having previously completed his undergraduate studies there with first class honours.

Recent engagements include the Irish premiere of John Adams’ Eros Piano with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and performances of his interdisciplinary Wagnerisms programme in the UK.

Aidan Chan was generously supported by the Cyril and Elizabeth Challice Fund for Musicians and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Nikki Pet, clarinetist, is a D.M.A. student at Yale School of Music, studying with David Shifrin. She also holds an M.M. in clarinet performance from Yale School of Music and a B.A. in computer science from Columbia University, where she was a member of the Juilliard Exchange Program studying with Alan Kay.  Awards Nikki has received include the Philip Francis Nelson Prize, Horatio Parker Memorial Prize, Yale CCAM Studio Fellowship, runner-up in the 2023 Coltman Chamber Music Competition, and Rapaport Prize. Festivals attended include the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and Kneisel Hall.  A focus of Nikki’s work is producing multimedia performances, often incorporating A.I. technology. Live and digital productions include Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, Bach’s Second Violin Partita, and Joan Tower’s Wings, to be performed live with reactive animated accompaniment.

Nikki Pet was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

McKenzie Warriner is a Saskatchewan-born/Toronto-based soprano acclaimed for her interpretation of music spanning from the Baroque to the Avant-garde. An alumna of Vancouver Opera’s Yulanda M. Faris Young Artist Program, in the 2023/2024 season McKenzie made her mainstage debut with the company in The Magic Flute singing Papagena while also the understudy for Queen of the Night, and was featured in a concert of works by Osvaldo Golijov with Edmonton Opera. Other recent credits include Messiah (Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra), Le portrait de Manon (Vancouver Opera), and Abigail Richardson-Schulte’s Alligator Pie (Regina Symphony Orchestra).

Particularly committed to works by living composers, McKenzie premiered two new orchestral vocal works at the 2023 Aldeburgh Festival as a Britten Pears Young Artist, and she earned first prize at the 2023 Eckhardt-Gramatté Competition, granting her the opportunity to give a recital tour of contemporary works across Canada with pianist Danielle Guina,  She also recently released an album on the Centrediscs label entitled Unfinished Business with pianist Paul Williamson and composer Tristan Zaba (her husband). McKenzie holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Manitoba, and is a devoted pet mother to Marcie the dog and Blake the snake.

McKenzie Warriner was generously supported by the Eileen Higgin Calgary Theatre Singers Endowment and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Christina Katsimbardis was born in Perth, Western Australia and began violin lessons at the age of 5. Christina gained her Bachelor of Music from the University of Western Australia and her Master of Music from the University of Melbourne. Christina spent 3 years studying at the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne.

Christina has performed with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Victorian Opera, Orchestra Victoria and Australian Youth Orchestra. Christina performed in the Perth and Melbourne International Arts Festivals. She has a keen interest in period performance and was part of Festival Baroque Australia in 2011. Christina has toured repeatedly with various orchestras to most of Europe and Asia. Christina was an ACO Emerging Artist in 2005 and has toured Australia numerous times with ACO and ACO Collective.

In 2007 Christina studied at the Tibor Varga Summer Academy in Sion, Switzerland. In 2008 Christina spent a year in London studying privately with the assistance of the Tait Memorial Trust Scholarship, the PPCA Travel Grant and private donations. Christina was awarded the 2011 Mr & Mrs Gerald Frank New Churchill Fellowship which saw her undertake study in Canada and New York in 2012. Christina completed winter residencies in 2012 and 2013 at the Banff Centre, Alberta where she studied and performed on both violin and viola. Christina has been a full-time permanent violinist with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra since 2016.

Christina Katsimbardis was generously supported by the N. Murray Edwards Family Fund and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Hailing from Winnipeg, Elena Howard-Scott is a versatile soprano residing in Toronto, Ontario. Deemed "someone to watch" (Ludwig vanToronto), Elena is a graduate of the Artist Diploma Program at the Glenn Gould School, and the University of Manitoba (B.Mus), where she studied with Adrianne Pieczonka and Tracy Dahl, respectively. A ’23/’24 member of the Rebanks Family Fellowship Program at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Elena has been enjoying a busy recital schedule around the GTA, and most recently, made her debut as Blanche de la Force in GGS’s production of Dialogues des Carmélites in Koerner Hall. Selected stage credits include Tina in Flight, Venus in Venus & Adonis, Svadba (GGS Opera); Pamina in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (Opera NUOVA); A Little Night Music (Koerner Hall Special Events); Narnia (BadHats Theatre); Strike! the Musical, Beauty and the Beast (Rainbow Stage). To close out the year, Elena is attending the American Institute of Musical Studies in Austria, and performing in multiple theatre contracts, including A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (Drayton Entertainment) and Into the Woods (Koerner Hall Special Events). Elena is thrilled to be at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity surrounded by thoughtful music makers, storytellers and of 
course, mountains.

Elena Howard-Scott was generously supported by the T.C Hargrave Scholarship in Voice Endowment and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

George Theodorakopoulos is a passionate and lively baritone from Toronto, Ontario. He received his BMus in Voice Performance from the University of Toronto in 2022, and graduated from UofT with a MMus in Opera this past spring, studying under the guidance of baritone Peter Barnes. Some of George’s recent roles include Pandolfe in J.Massenet’s Cendrillon, Marullo in G.Verdi’s Rigoletto, Emilio in N.Rota’s Il cappello di paglia di Firenze, Sydney Carton in A.Benjamin’s A Tale of Two Cities, Dr.Pangloss in L.Bernstein’s Candide, and Dr.Gregg in D.Moore’s Gallantry. In early 2024 he sang excerpts from Ian Cusson’s Indians on Vacation as Bird, Oz, Eugene, and Chip in a workshop with UofT Opera in collaboration with Against the Grain Opera. George also took part in Songbook XII and the New Opera 101 program with Tapestry Opera, in which scenes from Canadian contemporary works such as Rocking Horse Winner (Gareth Williams) and The Shadow (Omar Daniel) were workshopped and performed. Some of his recent choral work has been with Tafelmusik on both their Handel Messiah and Handel Celebration programs.

George Theodorakopoulos was generously supported by the Meteoros Fund at Calgary Foundation and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Treaty One-based tenor Nolan Kehler is a performer dedicated to collaboration and reconciliation. He recently made mainstage opera debuts in his home city of Winnipeg with Manitoba Opera as La Roche in Li Keur: Riel’s Heart of the North and with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra as Oronte in Alcina. On the concert stage, Nolan sang tenor soloist roles in Bach’s Ascension Oratorio and Coffee Cantata in the Winnipeg Baroque Festival and in Carmina Burana with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Nolan also recently made his American debuts with American Bach Soloists in San Francisco and Emmanuel Music in Boston. 

Nolan has also had the pleasure of working with Juno-nominated Cree composer Andrew Balfour on his compositions Captive and Nôtinikêw in performances with Winnipeg’s Dead of Winter at the Montreal New Music Festival, the Brandon University Chorale, and with Edmonton’s Chronos Vocal Ensemble. 

When he is not performing, Nolan serves as Provincial Coordinator for the Manitoba chapter of Opera InReach, which aims to provide accessible opera education to schools from a wide variety of perspectives and backgrounds. Nolan can also be heard over the airwaves on CBC Radio One on the weekends across Canada
introducing curated classical music selections.

Nolan Kehler was generously supported by the Virginia Middelberg Scholarship and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Eva Stone-Barney is a mezzo-soprano from Montreal, Quebec, who prides herself on a wide breadth of musical experience and expertise. Eva holds degrees in vocal performance and musicology from the Schulich School of Music and the University of Toronto. In the fall of 2024, Eva will begin her Artists Masters at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, UK. 

Eva has recently appeared in the North American stage premieres of Joseph Haydn’s L’anima del filosofo (University of Toronto/McGill HP) and Henekh Kon’s Bas Sheve (Ashkenaz Festival, Toronto). Previous opera credits include Joseph Bologne’s L’amant anonyme (Opera McGill), Verdi’s Un Giorno di Regno (Opera McGill), and Mozart’s Così fan tutte (Opera da Camera).

Eva has trained at the Tafelmusik Summer Baroque Institute (2023), and the Lunenburg Academy of Musical Performance (2022). As an professional choral singer, she has appeared with ensembles in Montreal and Toronto, and has twice been named a provincial delegate to the National Youth Choir of Canada.

Eva was named a 2021 RBC Emerging Artist Fellow by the Association for Opera in Canada. She has received the SSHRC-CGS-M Award, the Pauline Donalda Memorial Scholarship, and the Margaret Kalil and Grace Evelyn Tuttle Awards (McGill University). 

Eva Stone-Barney was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.
 

Graeme Linton is a tenor based in Victoria, BC. He has a Graduate Diploma and a Bachelor of Music in Voice and Opera from McGill University. Throughout his time at McGill, he performed in choruses, operatic productions, and solo recital works. Through his classes and teachings, he developed a keen interest in art song repertoire, and romantic opera. He loves the ability to tell stories through music and collaborate with other musicians. While at McGill, he performed as Monostatos in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and as Mr. Jones in Weill’s Street Scene. He has recently performed The Evangelist in Bach’s Weihnachts-Oratorium with the Victoria Philharmonic Choir. He also has performed with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s second symphony Resurrection, Opera Kelowna in Hector Berlioz’s Beatrice and Benedict, and the Bach Festival Montreal in Bach’s Weihnachts-Oratorium. He has collaborated with Juno Award winning Ensemble Caprice through the Ensemble Art Choral, where he recently sang in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and a tour of Handel’s Messiah. During the summer, he sang the role of Bill in Jonathan Dove’s Flight at Opera Nuova. He has also started a master’s degree in vocal performance at the University of Victoria.

Graeme Linton was generously supported by the David Spencer Emerging Vocalists Endowment Fund.

Kai Chen Cheng is an active soloist, chamber musician, and avid educator based in the New York area.

Ms. Cheng is the Outreach Artist at the Staller Center of the Arts and Instructor of the Community Chamber Music Program at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She was the Music Director of the 17th LISMA International Music Competition and has adjudicated for the 17th LISMA International Music Competition and the 2024 Mid-Atlantic Flute Convention Collegiate Soloist Competition. 

As a versatile musician, Ms. Cheng has made her appearance with the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra (Taiwan), Counterpoint Chamber Orchestra (Taiwan), and the New York Wind Orchestra. In the summer of 2023, Ms. Cheng co-founded Project 23.6°N— a piano trio aiming to promote Taiwanese music and to share the 
essence of Taiwanese culture. 

A recent graduate, Ms. Cheng received her Doctor of Musical Arts from the State University of New York at Stony Brook under the tutelage of Carol Wincenc. She holds a Bachelor degree from Taipei National University of the Arts (Taiwan), Master of Music from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Major mentors include Jinny Hwei-Jin Liu, Kathryn Lukas, and Thomas Robertello.

Kai Chen Cheng was generously supported by the Frederick Louis Crosby Memorial Endowment and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Mezzo-soprano Stephania Romaniuk serves as a teaching artist for Calgary Opera, where she performs, teaches in schools, and develops opera discovery programs for new audiences and learners of all ages. She has also developed innovative programming as a Calgary Board of Education Resident Artist and teaching artist for “What Is Opera, Anyway?” As a vocalist, Stephania has performed most recently with the Calgary Civic Symphony (Beethoven Symphony No. 9 – Alto Soloist) and Calgary Opera chorus in Elixir of Love, The Marriage of Figaro, Macbeth, Carmen, and the Calgary Stampede Grandstand Show. She also premiered a semi-staged recital for ProArts@Noon and High Performance Rodeo that recounts through music the two months before, and the two months following, the fully fledged invasion of Ukraine.

In 2020, Stephania completed her M.A. in Music Education at the Eastman School of Music where she received the Catherine Filene Shouse Arts Leadership Program Certificate and was awarded the Teaching Assistant Prize for group voice instruction. A burgeoning arts writer and passionate advocate for music education, she has co-presented at the College Music Society national conference in Rochester, NY and has been published in the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra’s Prelude magazine, Eastman Journal, Eastman Case Studies, and the Journal for Performing Arts Leadership in Higher Education.

Stephania Romaniuk was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.
 

Justine Leichtling is a composer, violinist, and psychologist living in Brooklyn. Originally from San Francisco, she received her BA in Computing and the Arts from Yale University. She went on to obtain her doctorate in Psychology from the Wright Institute in Berkeley, California. In 2023, Justine began a Masters in Composition at Mannes School of Music, where she studies with Timo Andres. She maintains a small therapy practice on the side. Justine often explores psychological themes in her music and seeks to capture emotional truth through sound. Her recent work in this vein, Stand Clear of the Doors for piano trio and audio-visual media, premiered in New York in February and depicts a physical and emotional journey from a situation of being trapped to one of freedom. Other notable works include Controlled Burn for string quartet premiering this year at the LunART Festival, which depicts the dance between destruction and creation that occurs in the redwood forests of her home state as well as within our psyches. In her spare time, you can find Justine playing chamber music with friends, attending live shows, writing poetry, running in Prospect Park, or swimming in the ocean.

Justine Leichtling was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Known for his versatility, sensitivity, and compelling storytelling, Evan Lindberg is an Alberta born bass-baritone. He recently completed a Master of Music at McGill University, and holds a Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

At Opera McGill, Evan performed roles such as Leporello (Don Giovanni), Zoroastro (Orlando), Ormonte (Partenope), and participated in a digital opera collaboration with Tapestry Opera, focusing on contemporary Canadian opera. With the Oberlin Opera, his roles included Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte), Bottom (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and Father (Beasts of the Bungalow). 

Later this summer, Evan will join the Highlands Opera Studio. Previous artistic fellowships include the Toronto Summer Music Festival, the Franz-Schubert-Institut, Opera on the Avalon, and Opera Nuova.

Recent soloist highlights include Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with Cantabile Chorale, and Handel’s Messiah with L’écurie de Montréal. Additionally, a keen interpreter of song repertoire, Evan was a member of McGill University’s Song Interpretation ensemble, and has performed recitals in Calgary, Montréal, Lunenburg, and Vienna.

When Evan is not performing, he enjoys curling up with a cup of tea and a good book, taking a stroll through Montreal’s botanical gardens, and going to see live theatre!

Evan Lindberg was generously supported by the Hicks Memorial Scholarship and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Growing up in Edmonton, Alberta, Emily Luo began her musical studies at the age of 14. She has performed in festivals including Orchestre de la Francophonie, the Brott Music Festival with the National Academy Orchestra of Canada, the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Domaine Forget, and the Curtis Summerfest Young Artists Summer Program where she received the Canadian Cross-Border Award. In competition, her quintet advanced to the finals and placed third in the 2023 Glenn Gould School Chamber Competition. She is an active soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of Edmonton, debuting in 2016. She has taken part in masterclasses
across North America with artists such as Phillipe Tondre, Eugene Izotov, Nathan Hughes, and Elaine Douvas. Emily recently completed her Bachelor of Music degree from The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Sarah Jeffrey and previously studied at the Interlochen Arts Academy. She will be attending Rice University this upcoming Fall.

Emily Luo was generously supported by the Finch Chmaber Music Scholarship Fund.

Gina Hyunmin Lee is a Korean Canadian pianist currently based in Rochester, NY. Gina is pursuing the DMA in Accompanying and Chamber Music at the Eastman School of Music, studying with Dr. Andrew Harley. She is currently on faculty at the Rochester Institute of Technology. As a recitalist and chamber musician, Gina has been invited to festivals and venues across North America including Aspen Music Festival and School, Songfest, Yarn/Wire Institute, Indian River Music Festival, Toronto Arts and Letters Club, and the Music Gallery.

Gina’s summer 2024 season includes residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity as a collaborative pianist and repetiteur for the Interplay: Chamber Music and Opera workshop. Second half of the summer season will focus on a recording project centering around Lili Boulanger’s monumental song cycle Clairieres dans le ciel, along with a newly commissioned work for soprano and piano. Her artistic activities in Canada and abroad have been supported by Canada Council for the Arts, ArtsNB, Art song foundation of Canada, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Gina received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Toronto where she studied with pedagogues Dr. Midori Koga and Professor Marietta Orlov.

Gina Lee was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.
 

Ábel M.G.E. is a Hungarian-American composer and electronic music producer. He is most interested in the convergence of music with other art forms—works of opera, dance theatre, and narrative podcast—and telling one story through many overlapping layers. For this reason, collaboration is at the heart of Ábel’s practice; most prominently he works with writers, choreographers, theater makers, as well as other composers. He believes it is through narrative that we connect to art, ourselves, and others, and contextualize and understand our experiences.

Ábel is a graduate of Indiana University and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His music has featured at Resolution Dance Festival, BMI, and venues including Wigmore Hall and Grange Park Opera. Past commissioners include the Royal Northern Sinfonia, New Voices Opera Company, the Illuminated River Foundation, and Tesla, inc. and he has been supported by Canada Council for the Arts, the Irish Arts Council, the University of Cincinnati GSG Research Fund, and Sky Arts. In the 2024–25 season his operatic works will be performed at Tête à Tête opera festival (new commission TBA) and Hungarian State Opera (I’m Cleaning, I’m Cleaning). Ábel is currently based in London, UK.

Ábel M.G.E was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Daniella Tejada Cortes began her studies of the oboe at the age of 10 and continued the persuit of a proffesional carreer at the Conservatory of the National University of Colombia where she finished her bachelor degree in 2019. During her studies, she participated in several student and professional ensembles and orchestras in Bogotá; the Bogota Philharmonic Band, the Bogota Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and the Colombian Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Internationally, she has played several times at Femusc (music festival in Santa Catarina, Brazil), at the Portillo International Festival (Chile) and at the Francophonie Orchestra. Having completed her master's degree in interpretation of the oboe at the University of Montreal in 2021, she currently works as an "Oboe Teaching Artist" at Sistema New Brunswick, as the New Brusnwick youth Orchestra oboe coach, as the Moncton University oboe Lecturer and the Mount Allison University Oboe Professor.

She plays an active part of the New Brunswick musical scene, playing regularly with the New Brunswick Symphony Orchestra, being an official member of the Ventus Machina woodwind quintet and taking part in several producions of the Tutta Musica orchestra with the Moncton Capitol Theater.

Daniella Tejada Cortes was generously supported by the Richard and Sidney Killmer Oboe Endowment Fund and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Madeleine Black is an active performer, educator, and music enthusiast in Dallas, TX. She received her degree in Piano Performance from the University of North Texas in May 2022. During her time at UNT, she participated in multiple masterclasses and competitions, including placing third in the Città di Massa International Competition for Young Musicians. She served as the Keyboard Representative for the UNT Student Advisory Committee for two years and graduated magna cum laude. She was one of a select few musicians invited to perform at her graduation ceremony. Since graduating, Madeleine has performed with various organizations 
around DFW. She plays frequently with the Plano Symphony Orchestra and has also substituted for the Irving Symphony Orchestra. She is a frequent accompanist and coach for multiple high school band programs in the area and plays for other events regularly. Madeleine maintains a full piano studio where she teaches nearly 50 students per week and helps prepare them for multiple performances each year. Her work with nonprofit organizations since graduating has been very inspiring, and she has enrolled at Southern Methodist University to pursue an MBA and a Master of Arts and Nonprofit Leadership, beginning in the Fall of 2024. 

Madeleine Black was generously supported by the Marek Jablonski Piano Endowment and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Mezzo Soprano Amanda Weatherall holds her MMus of vocal literature and performance from Western University.  She is from Cranbrook, British Columbia, where she had her first taste of the stage.  The highlight of her Cranbrook performances was performing with Fort Steele Heritage Town as various historical residents and performing with the Symphony of the Kootenays on multiple concerts.

Amanda was thrilled to take part in the Yulanda M Faris Young Artist Program with Vancouver Opera, and performed as the Wife in the Music Shop, a Canadian Premier, and as Carmen in Carmen: Up Close and Personal, a new adaptation of the classic work by Bizet, during her time there.  Her other operatic credits include the title role in Bizet’s Carmen (Western), the chorus in Verdi’s Otello (Canadian Opera Company), Mrs Ott in Floyd’s Susannah (Toronto City Opera), Filippyevna in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin (Highlands Opera Studio), Romeo in Bellini’s i Capuleti e i Montecchi (Opera NUOVA), Fox in Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen (NUOVA), Olga in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin (NUOVA), Meg Page in Verdi’s Falstaff (Western), and Third Lady in Mozart’s Magic Flute (Western). She is excited to workshopping Handmaid’s Tale as Offred in the before times at the Banff Centre this summer.

Amanda Weatherall was generously supported by the David Spencer Emerging Vocalists Endowment Fund.
 

Francis Sadleir is a clarinetist from Vancouver. Characterised by his curiosity, and creativity, Francis finds so much joy in expressing himself through music. He’s currently a student at the University of British Columbia, where he studies clarinet performance with Jose Franch Ballester.

Francis’ previous clarinet teacher was AK Coope, with whom he studied with for 10 years. In that time, he also took lessons with Alain Desgagné, Todd Cope, Jean-François Normand, Jenny Jonquil, Michelle Goddard, and Kenneth Grant. In 2022 he attended Domaine Forget in Québec where he had the privilege of playing in masterclasses for Yehuda Gilad, and Charles Neidich.

Along with being a dedicated clarinetist, Francis is also a composer. In 2022 his piece ‘Puddle’ was read by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. In 2021 he took part in composition workshops with the Standing Wave Ensemble, which culminated in a performance of his piece ‘Forests’. 

Music has provided Francis with many opportunities and connections that he never would have found otherwise. He hopes to share with audiences the same amount of joy that music has brought him.

Francis Sadleir was generously supported  by the David Spencer Emerging Vocalists Endowment Fund.
 

Ehrentraud is currently in her second year at the Glenn Gould School of Music in Toronto pursuing an undergraduate degree in violin with Barry Shiffman and Paul Kantor. She hails from Edmonton, Alberta where she studied with Robert Uchida and James Keene.

She has appeared as a soloist with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in 2019 and 2022, the University of Alberta Symphony in 2022, and the Chamber Orchestra of Edmonton in 2023. She has also played with and been a member of numerous ensembles, including the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Edmonton, the University of Alberta Symphony, the Edmonton Youth Orchestra, the River City Chamber Orchestra, and is a current member of the Royal Conservatory Orchestra in Toronto.

In 2022, Ehren had the opportunity to perform chamber pieces with members of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra at the C'mon festival, including the Edmonton debut of Julia Wolfe's "Blue Dress." In 2020 Ehren performed in the Edmonton debut of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. Passionate about chamber music, she looks forward to future chamber endeavors. Ehrentraud is grateful for the generous support she has received from the Anne Burrows Foundation, the Edmonton Community Foundation, and the Glenn Gould School of Music.

Ehrentraud Moser was generously supported by the Edith Marion Ramsay Memorial Endowment and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Emanuel Reichert-Lübbert (*98 in Wiesbaden, Germany) pursued his academic studies at the University of Music Mainz, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Music majoring in violin under the guidance of Prof. Anne Shih. Currently, he continues his studies at the Academy of Music Darmstadt, pursuing an artistic postgraduate program in composition under Arne Gieshoff and Il-Ryun Chung.

Emanuel has diverse professional experience, including solo and chamber music performances as well as composing at various festivals. Since 2016, he has been a member of the Mainzer Virtuosi, a professional string chamber orchestra. Additionally, he has distinguished himself through the composition of commissioned works for the Harzburger Musiktage.Emanuel was awarded the Andreas Werckmeister Prize in Halberstadt in 2017 and the Composition Prize on the theme of "Art Nouveau" by the Hessisches Staatstheater in 2019. In 2023, he was honored with the Composition Promotion Prize from the "Prinzessin Margaret von Hessen" Competition.

In addition to classical music, Emanuel is also involved in experimental rock and metal. From 2014 to 2020, he was the lead guitarist and songwriter for the group "Gentle Gent." Since  2021, he has been leading another experimental metal band called "Time for Aardvarks."

Emanuel Reichert-Lübbert was generously supported by the Gladys and Merrill Muttart Foundation Endowment and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Montreal based Australian flutist Alex Huyghebaert completed her studies across three continents with teachers Denis Bluteau (McGill University), Thies Roorda (Royal Conservatorium of the Hague), and Patrick Nolan (University of Queensland).

In the past three years Alex has performed more than 30 world premieres, and since her time in Montreal has helped share more than 60 new pieces with the public. She is a member of the Montreal based ensemble Éclat and with them has recorded a collaboration with NASA as part of The Universe of Sound data sonification project. Alex is the artistic director of collaborative contemporary music project REACH, has been an active part of research ensembles of the ACTOR project, performed at the Festival de Lanaudière, and performed alongside flutists Emily Beynon and Timothy Munro, as well as the Australian Youth Orchestra and the Nederlandse Fluite Academie.

Alex Huyghebaert was generously supported by the Finch Chamber Music Scholarship Fund.

Keely McPeek (she/her) is a member of the Anisininew (Oji-Cree) Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation in Northwestern Ontario, with Irish and German settler roots. She holds a Bachelor of Music and Post-Baccalaureate in Vocal Performance from the Desautels Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba. Winning the Rainbow Stage Trophy at the Winnipeg Music Festival encouraged her stage performance career. You may have seen Keely in Manitoba Opera’s Li Keur: Riel’s Heart of the North as Marie Serpente, Vancouver Opera/Pacific Opera Victoria's tour of Flight of the Hummingbird as Bunny, Manitoba Theatre for Young People's recent seven-month tour of Frozen River, Dry Cold’s production of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, or the Winnipeg Fringe Festival.

Keely McPeek was generously supported by the Liz Crockford Artists Fund.

Emma is originally from southern Alberta, where she studied violin as well as piano from an early age. Her most influential teachers were Fiona Carnie, Joan Barrett and Colleen Athparia. After completing her Associate Diploma with the Royal Conservatory of Toronto (ARCT), she studied at Wilfrid Laurier University with Christine Vlajk and Jerzy Kaplanek, earning a Bachelor's of Viola and Violin Performance and a Diploma in Chamber Music. Currently, Emma is pursuing a M.Mus in Viola Performance at the University of Ottawa with Michael van der Sloot. In addition to studying performance, Emma is an active instructor with a decade of experience teaching violin, viola, piano, fiddle and theory of various levels and to all ages. She is certified in Suzuki Pedagogy, having taken long-term teacher training with Paule Barsalou. Emma’s musical interests are quite broad ranging from teaching to theoretical analysis to free improvisation; however, her current focus is orchestral performance as she begins the audition circuit. In her free time, Emma enjoys reading and going on walks.

Emma Dunbar was generously supported by the Louis and Gertrude Crosby Family Endowment and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Recently named one of CBC's “30 Hot Classical Musicians under 30”, mezzo-soprano Alex Hetherington is currently in her second year at the Canadian Opera Company's (COC) prestigious Ensemble Studio.  Last season, Alex made her COC debut as Mercédès in Carmen and returned as the Slave in Salome. COC engagements this season include Lapák in Cunning Little Vixen and Second Handmaiden in Medea. Highly skilled in the realm of new music, Alex has joined Tapestry Opera on several projects, most recently as the House in Rocking Horse Winner and Riley in Nicole Lizée’s R.U.R. A Torrent of Light. Further operatic credits include Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Carmen (La tragédie de Carmen), and Nicklausse (Les Contes d’Hoffmann). On the concert stage, Alex has performed as a soloist with the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Mozart Requiem; Golden Slumbers Kiss Your Eyes), the Victoria Symphony (Songs from the House of Death), the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Neruda Songs), and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (The Bear). In her spare time, Alex can be found reading, gardening, and admiring dogs.

Alex Hetherington was generously supported by the Jeffrey Jansen Award and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

San Diego born and raised trombonist David Johnston began his studies in 2018 in his high school marching band. He discovered his life passion, and began to pursue music as an eventual career.

David has played in various ensembles, such as the La Jolla Symphony, Lamont Jazz Orchestra, OSU Wind Ensemble, as well as having the honor to play with the Colorado Symphony. From 2020-2022, David was the principal of the San Diego Youth Symphony.

David has been a part of two recording projects during his career. He has had the opportunity to record with the Lamont Jazz Orchestra, as well as most recently he performed in the OSU Wind Ensemble on Alan Baer’s upcoming Tuba album.

David has been fortunate to study under his father, Bob Johnston, Peter Steiner, Richard Harris, Ohtae Kwon, and Sean Reusch. He is currently studying at Oklahoma State University under Paul Compton for his Bachelors in Music.

His trombone arsenal features a LITTIN S217, 1970 Conn 88h, and a Yamaha YSL-891Z Custom Z. He also plays on Griego mouthpieces.

Outside of music, David enjoys spending time with family and friends, working out, and traveling.

David Johnston was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Rebecca Gray is a soprano, composer and improviser passionate about performing and creating both classical and contemporary repertoire, always seeking to bring queerness and feminism to everything she does. She performed with Pacific Opera Victoria as part of the Civic Engagement Program in 2021-2022 for which she composed, performed and directed an original opera video.  This video “Jess” was recently named a winner of Opera America’s Awards for Excellence in Digital Opera.  Rebecca’s creativity, energy and perfect pitch are sought after in the creation of new work, and she has performed with Tapestry Opera (Toronto), OperaQ (Toronto), Esprit Orchestra (Toronto), Highlands Opera (Haliburton, ON) and Code D’accès (Montréal). She also premiered the lead in Pomegranate (2019) with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. She is a member of FAWN chamber creative with whom she performs genre-bending vocal music, and has appeared as a finalist at the Eckhardt-Gramatté Contemporary Music Competition in Manitoba. Equally at home in classic repertoire, Rebecca is a graduate of the University of Toronto Opera School, where she appeared as Donna Elvira in U of T’s Don Giovanni, and Diane in Orphée aux enfers.  She performed popular arias with Toronto’s Counterpoints Orchestra and looks forward to a future performance of Strauss’s Four Last Songs. Rebecca’s unique compositional voice has been recognized by numerous commissions and fellowships, including opportunities to present work at the Atlantic Music Festival, the Banff Centre, Westben Centre and Chateau La Napoule in France. She harbours a particular passion for vocal music, and received Canada Council support to develop Bus Opera, an absurdist fantasy about millennial alienation on public transit, excerpts of which were premiered by New Music Concerts in Toronto. She has composed unique, narrative-driven choral work for Voces Boreales (Montréal), Pro Coro (Edmonton), Soundstreams (Toronto) and the Capital Chamber Choir (Ottawa). A winner of the Mécénat Musica Prix 3 Femmes, she will develop Raccoon Opera – a fable of the housing crisis involving Toronto raccoons - with her sister, Rachel Gray, which will be presented at Salle Bourgie in Montreal in May 2024. Rebecca will perform the titular Raccoon role, and is busy practicing her shrieks and hisses, in between her Mozart arias.  

Rebecca Gray was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Jesus Pompeyo Lugo Garcia graduated from the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico with a degree in Operatic Singing. He has participated in various choirs. He debuted at the CNM Opera Workshop in (2017) "El Sueño de Rosina" at the CENART National Arts Center. His repertoire includes:

(2018) "The Marriage of Figaro" by Mozart as The Count, at the Centro Cultural Mexiquense Bicentenario, Elisa Carrillo room.

(2019) "Don Giovanni" as Mozart's Don Giovanni.

(2019) "Small Solemn Mass by Gioacchino Rossini in the Faculty of Music of the National Autonomous University of Mexico UNAM.

(2019) he joined the Vocal Scenic Ensemble of the National Musical Promotion System at the Los Pinos Cultural Center.

(2020) Encouragement winner, The Metropolitan Opera, National Council Auditions. Ah! Per semper io ti perdei by Vincenzo Bellini, and Questo amor, vergogna mia by Giacomo Puccini.

(2023) Soloist with the Carlos Chávez School Orchestra under the artistic direction of the teacher-conductor Roberto Rentería Yrene for symphony no. 9, op. 125 by Ludwig van Beethoven.

(2024) Finalist of the 15th edition of Concurso San Miguel.

(2024) Soloist with the Carlos Chávez School Orchestra under the artistic direction of the teacher-conductor Emilio Aranda for Requiem K.626 by Mozart.

Pompeyo Lugo was generously supported by the Benediktson Fellowship Fund for Mexican Artists and the Benediktson Fellowship Fund for Mexican Artists (Travel Portion).

Music has been a life-long endeavour for Madeleine Davis. When first hearing the warm sound of the French horn, Madeleine fell in love with the instrument and never looked back. She completed her Bachelor of Music in Horn Performance at the University of British Columbia where she studied with Dr. Valerie Whitney in 2019. Upon graduating, she was the recipient of the Catherine Cooke Topping Memorial Medal for musical excellence. Madeleine enjoys freelancing in the Vancouver area with the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra, Kamloops Symphony Orchestra, Allegra Chamber Orchestra and Turning Point Ensemble. She also plays with the UBC Women’s Brass Ensemble, which aims to promote women brass players and encourage younger female brass players; a topic she is incredibly passionate about. Madeleine loves sharing music with others and always plays from the heart with conviction and passion.

Madeleine Davis was generously supported by the David Spencer Emerging Vocalists Endowment Fund.

Yang (they/them) is a versatile percussionist with many side-hustles who prioritizes collaboration, personal growth, and joy. Yang is a grateful nexus of playful curiosity, cross disciplinary yearning, classical training, and loving relationships. All of which influence process & product within their work. Recent highlights include the release of two albums: longing for _ their debut percussion+friends album and Tiger Balme their band’s self titled debut album. Yang holds degrees from the University of Toronto and New York University, two institutions which encouraged Yang’s interest in music/sonic exploration of all kinds and subsequent mélange of a career.

Based in Toronto, you can find Yang performing contemporary classical and freely improvised music, drumming with RAW Taiko, teaching private & group classes, administrating the West End Micro Music Festival, grant writing endlessly, learning and performing modal music with the Labyrinth Ensemble, collaborating with composers and performers to create new music across all genres, playing drumset with some of their best friends in the band Tiger Balme, dreaming & scheming, and always growing into their most authentic self. See more @yango.bongo. Yang is excited to be creating at the Banff Centre!

Yang Chen was generously supported by the MacLachlan Ridge Family Endowment and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Joyce To (she/her) is an Australian artist whose explorations ebb and flow between genres, disciplines, and roles. She works often in collaboration with others as a percussionist, improviser, new media/sound artist, and sharer of process and ideas. Her music practice is experiment-forward - preferring to dive into sonic realms primarily composed from objects, toys, and found sounds. She actively reflects and considers tensions between ethics, aesthetics, and the material consequences of art-making practices. Joyce’s performance career spans across the globe, having performed in Australia, Japan, America, and Canada. Her output includes presenting research at conferences, performing at international festivals, premiering over 50 new works, and collaborating across multiple mediums with visual artists, improvisers, composers, dancers and writers.

Joyce To was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Molly Beatrice is a stage director and a community organizer based out of unceded and occupied xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) territory. She is grateful to work, learn, and play alongside the artists at the Banff Centre this summer.

Molly Beatrice was generously supported by the David Spencer Emerging Vocalists Endowment Fund.

Ellie Shifflett grew up in High River, Alberta surrounded by music and musicians.  She explored many instruments in her youth until her middle school music teacher put a bassoon in her hands.  Good fortune brought her a high school band director who was also a bassoonist, and set Ellie on the path that she travels today.
Ellie is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Bassoon Performance at the Uni-versity of Lethbridge, studying under Antoine St-Onge.  As well as solo and or-chestral playing, Ellie has enjoyed collaborating with pianists, guitarists, other bas-soonists, and as part of a wind quintet during her time at university. Ellie’s life expe-rience has given her a special interest in musicians’ health, and music as a sustaina-ble activity. She is also a choral singer, animal lover, and enjoys various crafts in her spare time. Ellie is looking forward to further exploring the role of the bassoon in chamber music and opera settings this summer. 

Ellie Shifflett was generously supported by the Lucy and Stephen Maxym Endowment and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Aubrey Lavender is a librettist and composer based in London, UK. Aubrey loves working collaboratively and across different disciplines and mediums. He is passionate about storytelling and music. Aubrey holds a BA from Bennington College (with a concentration in playwriting and music composition) and an MA from Guildhall School of Music and Drama in Opera Making and Writing. He has written music for Tesla, Inc., The London Wildlife Trust, and HUNAP. He was recently commissioned to write and compose an adaptation of Astrid Lindgren’s “Karlsson” series of books into an opera for the Kaunas National Puppet Theatre, Lithuania. In addition to his work as a composer, Aubrey has written libretti for numerous productions. Opera magazine called his libretto for the opera “I’m Cleaning, I’m Cleaning” the “perfect balance of slapstick and satire.”

Aubrey Lavender was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Leslie Jimenez is a violinist from El Paso Texas, USA. She began her musical career at the age of three years old playing the piano and continued until the age of twelve when she began playing the violin. Leslie continued to hone her musical skills leading her to become the Concertmaster for the Region 22 All-Region Orchestra from 2017 through the 2019 academic years, as well as being the Concertmaster for the Ysleta Independent School District from 2017 through 2023 consecutively. She has received the Outstanding Soloist Award from the 2017-23 seasons in UIL Solo and Ensemble. In the years 2019 through 2023, she traveled to Austin for 
State Solo and Ensemble and received the Outstanding Soloist Award once again. Leslie was a section leader in the El Paso Youth Symphony for seven years and played as a soloist in the Symphony. She was invited to Washington D.C. to play in the Mexican Cultural Institute for some of the most influential politicians in the United States and Mexico. Leslie is actively a private violin instructor for children under the age of 18. She is currently working on her Undergraduate Degree at the Baylor School of Music in Waco, TX.

Leslie Jimenez was generously supported by the Margaret (Peggie) Sampson Memorial Endowment.

Sólveig Thoroddsen Jónsdóttir was born in Reykjavík in 1989. Sólveig studied classical harp under Caryl Thomas at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (Coleg Brenhinol Cerdd a Drama Cymru), where she also enjoyed the guidance of Meinir Heulyn and Valerie Aldrich-Smith. She received her Bachelor of Music degree in the summer of 2013. Sólveig's first encounter with the triple harp was through the Welsh harpist Robin Huw Bowen, with whom she took several classes. Growing interest in Historical Performance led her to continue her studies in the Early Music Department of the Hochschule für Künste Bremen in Germany, where she studied historical harps with Margit Schultheiß, obtaining a Master of Music degree in July 2016. Sólveig has performed at festivals in Europe and Central America, such as Sumartónleikar í Skálholti in Skálholt, Iceland, XVIII Festival Internacional de Música Barroca Santa Ana in Costa Rica, Celebrating Sanctuary in London, Sharing Heritage – Europäisches Kulturerbejahr 2018 in Bremen, Germany and 31 Festival de Música BAC Credomatic in Costa Rica. She has twice been principal musician of the annual Christmas fairy tale of the Bremer Shakespeare Company. In 2019 she issued her first solo album Snotrur, where she sings while accompanying herself on different harps and kantele. In 2023 Consort of Two, her duo album with the Costa Rican lutenist Sergio Coto Blanco, was published by the German record label arcantus.

Sólveig Thoroddsen was generously supported by the Benediktson Fellowship Fund for Icelandic Artists and the Benediktson Fellowship Fund for Icelandic Artists (Travel Portion).

Established in September 2019, the Arete Quartet unanimously passed the  audition of the Young Chamber Concert of Kumho Art Hall, and subsequently made its debut at Kumho Art Hall Yonsei. Two years after its founding, the quartet won the first place at the 72nd Prague Spring International Music Competition and five other special prizes, including the Bohuslav Martinu Foundation Prize. In addition, the Arete Quartet received two special prizes at the 12th PREMIO PAOLO BORCIANI International String Quartet Competition for the "Best Performance for String Quartet Commissioned by Toshio Hosokawa" and a scholarship from Jeunesses Musicales Germany. In 2022, the quartet obtained a special prize at the 71st ARD International Music Competition in Munich. One year later the quartet won the first prize and the special prize for the best interpretation of Mozart’s work at the 15th International Mozart Competition in Salzburg. 

The string quartet has already performed throughout Europe and has been invited to major European festivals such as the Prague Spring International Music Festival, Barcelona Obertura Spring Festival, Mozart Festival Würzburg, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, and Ravenna Festival. Currently, the quartet members are studying at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich and also Fiesole School of Music. The Arete String Quartet studies with Prof. Christoph Poppen, Jaeyoung Kim of the Novus Quartet, Quatuor Ébène, Prof. Eberhard Feltz and Prof. Cuarteto Casals.

The Arete Quartet is supported by Music in PyeongChang and the Banff Centre partnership.

Chae-Ann Jeon was generously supported by the Margaret (Peggie) Sampson Memorial Endowment and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Seong-hyeon Park was generously supported by the Sylvia and Jack Chetner Endowment and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Yoon-sun Jang was generously supported by the Finch Chamber Music Scholarship Fun and the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.