Guest Artists

Click/tap on each artist’s name to view their bio.

  • Eight time Juno nominated and Emmy nominated, Music Director of the Toledo Symphony (USA) and of l’Orchestre Symphonique de Trois-Rivières (Can) Alain Trudel was knighted by the government of Québec in 2020 and received a Jubilee medal from the Queen of England.

    From 2006 to 2022 Trudel was music director of l’Orchestre symphonique de Laval, taking the organization to new artistic heights and financial stability, “Every so often a perfect listening trance can befall one" (Fanfare Magazine).

    He was also principal conductor of the CBC radio orchestra from 2006-2009 “probably the best thing that's ever happened to the orchestra” (Vancouver Sun).

    Trudel has conducted every major orchestra in Canada as well as orchestras in the UK, USA, Sweden, Brazil, Italy, Russia, Japan, Hong-Kong, Malaysia and Latin America.

    He has collaborated with many renowned artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Herbie Hancock, Midori, Pinchas Zukermann, Ben Heppner, Bradford Marsalis.

    Trudel has been a regular guest with the Opéra de Montréal where he conducted classics such as Carmen, the Magic Flute, Hansel & Gretel, the premiered of the operatic version of another brick in the wall as well as leading operas in Cincinnati, Québec and Toronto.

    He was also music director of Orchestra London (2011-2014), principal guest conductor of the Victoria symphony (2009-2014), youth and family conductor at the National Art Centre (2012-2018), conductor of the TSYO (2004-2012) and of the NYOC (2009,12,13,14 India tour).

    Trudel was interim music director of the National Academy Orchestra and Brott festival, the most important orchestral festival in Canada, in 2022 and 2023, assuring a successful transition after the tragic passing of its founder.

    Hailed as “the Jascha Heifetz of the trombone” (Le monde de la musique) Alain Trudel is also one of the world’s most respected and renowned trombonists. in 2018 he was awarded the prestigious International Trombone Association Award for his outstanding contribution. A Yamaha artist for the last three decades the company has internationally distributed the Alain Trudel mouthpiece designed with his specifications.

    Trudel is also an accomplished composer with commissions and premieres in America and Asia.

    He is the recipient of numerous awards and honours, among them the Choc de l’année du monde de la musique, Grand prix de l’académie Charles Cros, the Virginia Parker Prize.

  • Canadian violinist Mary-Elizabeth Brown enjoys parallel careers as a performer and pedagogue. In concert, she has delighted audiences around the world and earned accolades for her “ability to unfold bittersweet magic” (Rhein Main Presse) and “perfect command of her instrument” (Florsheim Zeitung). In recent seasons, she has appeared as an invited soloist with orchestra more than forty times in Europe, Asia, North and South America, as well as numerous chamber music festivals including Festival Campos do Jordao (Brazil), Mozarteum Uruguay, The White House (USA), the Aldeburgh Festival (UK), Indian River Festival, Elora Festival and Banff Summer Arts Festival (Canada). Her recording of the last 3 Mozart Violin Concerti for Mozart Effect recordings released worldwide in 2017.

    Equally at home as in the first chair, critics have praised Mary-Elizabeth as “superbly confident in her role as leader” (Norfolk Times) and “…an outstanding concertmaster” (El Adelantado, Spain). Over 15 years as a concertmaster, she led nearly 1000 concerts on 4 continents under the direction of some of the most noted conductors of our time including Lorin Maazel, Placido Domingo, Carlos Miguel Prieto, and Vasily Petrenko. She was the solo violinist for the recording of John Burge’s Flanders Fields Reflections that won the 2009 Juno for best composition. Leader posts include Orchestra of the Americas (2006-2008), the Britten-Pears Orchestra (2007-2009), Orchestra London Canada (Assoc. CM, 2006-2015), the award-winning chamber orchestra Sinfonia Toronto (2007-2016), Montreal’s longstanding McGill Chamber Orchestra (2016-2019) and the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra (2017-2020).

    In addition to a rich career as a soloist and concertmaster, she is a sought-after teacher, clinician, adjudicator and speaker in Canada and abroad. Since founding the AVIVA Virtual Young Artist Program (the first web-based pre-college music program in the world) in 2012, she has touched lives around the world, teaching thousands of lessons to students on five continents via webcam, piloting projects aimed at accessibility, and training hundreds of teachers and creative entrepreneurs. She was one of the youngest in history to be named a Teacher of Distinction by the Royal Conservatory (2020).

    Mary-Elizabeth is widely recognized as a pioneer in the world of innovation in classical music and technology. She was the lead musician on Canada’s first federally funded project exploring 3D printed string instruments, and her work in developing effective methods for distance music education has been featured in numerous broadcasts and publications including CBC’s “Q,” The Strad Magazine, the Canadian Suzuki Journal, and the American String Teacher.

    Mary-Elizabeth plays on a Giuseppe Gagliano violin, c.1766 (Naples)

  • In a career that now spans over three decades, violinist Mark Fewer has been an interpreter of music past and present in virtually every genre and setting you will find a violin in. From appearances at famed concert halls such as Carnegie, Wigmore and Salle Pleyel, to venues such as Bartok House (Budapest), the Forum (Taipei) and Le Poisson Rouge (NYC), Fewer has appeared as featured guest soloist with ensembles ranging from the Zapp Quartet of Amsterdam, the Fodens-Richardson Brass Band (UK), the Chieftains, Stevie Wonder and his band, and the major symphonies of Toronto, San Francisco, Melbourne and more.

    His extensive and unique discography includes appearances on multiple Juno-winning recordings, one Grammy winning recording, and a Prix Opus for a recording celebrating the work of Canadian composer Serge Arcuri.

    He has held the positions of Concertmaster of the Vancouver Symphony, Artist-in-Residence at Stanford University, William Dawson Scholar at McGill University, and Artist-in-Residence at the Glamorgan Festival of Music in Cardiff, Wales. As a chamber musician he was a founding member of the Duke Piano Trio, violinist with the SuperNova and St. Lawrence String Quartets, and was an original member of the ARC Ensemble. He is currently first violinist of the Axelrod String Quartet at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, where the group performs and records exclusively on Stradivari and Amati instruments from the museum’s famed collection.

    After 16 years as the founding artistic director of the SweetWater Music Festival, he is now in his sixth season at the helm of Stratford Summer Music.

    He is an Associate Professor of Violin at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto.

  • Recognized as one of Canada’s most outstanding violinists, Gwen Hoebig is in her 36th season as Concertmaster of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. She joined the orchestra as Concertmaster in 1987, having been awarded the position as the unanimous choice of the audition committee. This position has allowed and encouraged her to pursue not only her love of orchestral playing, but also solo performances, chamber music performances, and teaching.

    Gwen Hoebig has performed all the major violin concerti with orchestras across Canada, the United States and Europe. Particularly celebrated for her interpretation of new music, she has given the Canadian premieres of violin concertos by S. C. Eckhardt-Gramatté, T. Patrick Carrabré, Randolph Peters, Joan Tower, Christopher Rouse and Philip Glass, and Gary Kulesha.

    As a chamber musician, Gwen has been a member of the Hoebig/Moroz trio with her husband, pianist David Moroz, and with her brother, cellist Desmond Hoebig for over 40 years. She is a founding member of the Clearwater Quartet which in addition to performances for the Winnipeg Chamber Music Society has been Ensemble-in-Residence of the University of Manitoba since 2019. She also regularly plays with her family; husband David, children Alexander (viola) and Juliana (cello) as the JAGD quartet.

    Teaching is an integral part of Gwen’s life. She maintains a private studio in Winnipeg, and has students performing and teaching across North America. As founding Co-Artistic Director of the elite Morningside Music Bridge programme, she teaches and coaches young violinists from around the world in preparation for their international performing careers. She is also directly involved with numerous summer festivals and with the Winnipeg Youth Orchestras, currently serving as President of the WYO’s Board of Directors.

  • Halifax-born violinist Mark Lee is a graduate of Dalhousie University, and the Royal Academy of Music in the United Kingdom. Mark is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships that include the first Georg Tintner Scholarship Award, a solo debut with Symphony Nova Scotia in February 2010, Wolfe Wolfinsohn String Quartet Prize (both in 2011 and 2014), Max Pirani Piano Trio Prize, and the Regency Award recommended by RAM for notable achievement.

    Between 2011-2015, Mark worked closely with the London Symphony Orchestra, and with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as acting Principal Violinist. He has also performed for members of the British Royal Family in the House of Lords at Parliament.

    Mark is also a member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra, having served as concertmaster during the 2015 festival season.

    Since his return to Canada, Mark currently serves as Assistant Concertmaster with Symphony Nova Scotia.

  • Kerson Leong has been described as “not just one of Canada’s greatest violinists but one of the greatest violinists, period” (Toronto Star). Forging a unique path since his First Prize win at the International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition in 2010, he continues to win over colleagues and audiences alike with “a mixture of spontaneity and mastery, elegance, fantasy, intensity that makes his sound recognizable from the first notes” (Le Monde).

    His latest album, featuring the Britten and Bruch violin concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Patrick Hahn for Alpha Classics, was released to widespread critical acclaim, including having been awarded ‘Editor’s Choice’ by Gramophone, ‘The Strad Recommends’ by The Strad, and the ‘Choc de Classica’ by Classica as well as five-star recommendations from the Sunday Times and Diapason among others.

    Recent season highlights include solo performances with such ensembles as the Royal, Oslo, Brussels, Kansai, and Liège Royal Philharmonic Orchestras, the Seattle, Singapore, Toledo, Montreal, Tucson, Bilkent, Toronto, Vancouver, Stavanger, and Wuppertal Symphony Orchestras, a tour of Sweden with the Camerata Nordica, a recital tour of the Midwestern United States, and recording John Rutter’s Visions with the composer himself and the Aurora Chamber Orchestra, after giving its world premiere in London, UK.

    As a sought-after soloist, he was hand-picked by Yannick Nézet-Séguin to be his artist-in-residence with the Orchestre Métropolitain during the 18/19 season and has performed in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Wigmore Hall, the Auditorium du Louvre and the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. As a passionate chamber musician, he has performed at such international festivals and concert series as the Verbier Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Flâneries musicales de Reims, and Bergen International Festival among others.

    Passionate about pedagogy and music outreach, he has been invited to give masterclasses and teach at various festivals and universities including the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, the Gustav Mahler Academy, the Domaine Forget Festival Academy, the University of Ottawa, and Dalhousie University among others. Fostering a significant audience away from the concert hall as well, he is cementing his noteworthy role in reaching young people, aspiring musicians, and potential music lovers alike with his art in creative and engaging ways on social media. He is an associate artist of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium, where he was mentored by Augustin Dumay.

    He has always been keen on making connections between music and other fields. Ever since his dad started introducing him to physics concepts about string resonance, they have strongly influenced his playing and philosophy on sound production. Together with his dad, he has given lectures about this subject in places such as the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, the Barratt-Due Music Institute in Oslo, and various universities in California.

    Kerson performs on the ‘ex Bohrer, Baumgartner’ Guarneri del Gesu courtesy of Canimex Inc, Drummondville (Quebec), Canada.

  • Hailed by the Gramophone Magazine as “brilliant and intrepid”, violinist Airi Yoshioka has concertized throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Canada as a recitalist, soloist and chamber musician. Deeply committed to chamber music, she is the founding member of the Damocles Trio and Modigliani Quartet and has performed and recorded with the members of the Emerson, Brentano and Arditti Quartets. Damocles Trio’s debut disc of complete Piano Trios and Piano Quartet of Joquín Turina has won a four-star rating from the BBC Music Magazine, Le Monde de la Musique and Diapason.

    Her orchestral credits include performances with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, American Sinfonietta and engagements as concertmaster and soloist with the Manhattan Virtuosi and concertmaster of one of the festival orchestras at the Aspen Music Festival. An enthusiastic performer of new music, she was one of the original members and concertmasters of the New Juilliard Ensemble and had performed annually in Juilliard’s FOCUS! Festival and is currently a member of Continuum, ModernWorks!, RUCKUS, Son Sonora, and Azure Ensemble. Of a performance with the New Juilliard Ensemble, the New York Times wrote, “Airi Yoshioka played the violin solo touchingly”, and of a performance with Continuum of Dallapiccola’s music, the New York Times wrote “Powerfully communicative…violinist Airi Yoshioka [played] a lovely ‘Due Studi.’ The performances were as varied as the music.” She has premiered dozens of works and her latest recording project of works for violin and electronics includes commissions from such prominent women composers as Tania León, Linda Dusman, Alice Shields and Milica Paranosic.

    Educational outreach has been a vital aspect of Ms. Yoshioka’s professional life through her work as a teaching artist for the New York Philharmonic and Lincoln Center Institute. In addition, she has taught music at New York City public schools through the Morse Fellowship program and has performed in hospitals, hospices, and nursing homes as a recipient of the Community Service Fellowship. In October, 2004, she organized Art Reach!, a three-day symposium on effectiveness of arts outreach. The highly successful occasion brought together teachers, teaching artists, administrators, and community leaders from Maryland. Currently, she is Professor of Violin at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

    A native of Japan, Ms. Yoshioka came to the United States at the age of 12 and received her early training as a student of Honorary Distinction at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She holds a B.A. in English from Yale University, where she received the Branford College Arts Award for outstanding contribution to the arts, M.M. and DMA from The Juilliard School. Summer festivals attended include Meadowmount, Encore, Sarasota, Banff, and Aspen.

    While at The Juilliard School, she won the concerto competition. Among her teachers and coaches have been Jorja Fleezanis, Glenn Dicterow, Joey Corpus, Stephen Clapp, Syoko Aki, Felix Galimir, Paul Kantor, Jerome Lowenthal, and Seymour Lipkin, as well as members of the Juilliard and Tokyo String Quartets.

    Her solo and chamber performances can be heard on Naxos, New World, Claves, Mode, Albany, Neuma, and Pony Canyon records labels.

  • Canadian violist Isaac Chalk received a rich and diverse musical education. In addition to training as an instrumentalist, he studied singing at the Maîtrise des Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal and worked extensively as a choral singer. He is also a graduate of Mozarteum University in Salzburg and of McGill University in Montréal, where he received the prestigious Lloyd Carr-Harris String Scholarship and the Golden Violin Award, Canada’s largest privately-funded music scholarship. In June 2013, he was named principal viola of Les Violons du Roy and has since performed with the orchestra on four continents. He has also appeared as a soloist with the orchestra on many occasions, most notably in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with Anthony Marwood and as viola d’amore soloist in the orchestra’s popular Vivaldissimo! project. Mr. Chalk has been generously supported by the Sylva Gelber Music Foundation and the Canada Council for the Arts.

  • Canadian violist Sharon Wei is a dynamic and multi-faceted musician, establishing herself as one of the most respected violists on the scene today. She has appeared as concerto soloist with orchestras such as Symphony of the Redwoods, Kingston Symphony, Sinfonia Toronto, Orchestra of Southern Utah, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and Connecticut Valley Chamber Orchestra and recently premiered Richard Mascall’s “Ziigwan” viola concerto with the London Symphonia. She has performed recital tours with pianist Angela Park under the auspices of Debut Atlantic and Prairie Debut.

    As a chamber musician, she regularly takes part at international festivals such as Verbier, Marlboro, Prussia Cove, Banff, Seattle and Ravinia. She is the violist of the award-winning New Orford String Quartet and has performed with renowned musicians including James Ehnes, Lynn Harrell, Peter Wiley, Gary Hoffman, Claude Frank, Joseph Silverstein, James Campbell, the Amernet, and St. Lawrence String Quartets. Sharon co-founded Ensemble Made in Canada in 2006. Their Mosaïque Project won a 2021 JUNO for Classical Album of the Year.

    Sharon was on faculty at Yale and Stanford University and is currently Associate Professor of viola at Western University where she has also been Assistant Dean of Research. She is a regular faculty violist at Curtis Summerfest, Scotia Festival, Toronto Summer Music and Orford Academy. Sharon won the viola prize at Yale University, is a Western Faculty Scholar and has been the recipient of grants through the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and FACTOR.

  • Named “Canada’s next big cello star” by CBC Music and selected 2019-20 Classical Révélation artist of ICI-Musique Radio-Canada, cellist Cameron Crozman is making a name for himself both at home and internationally. Performing recitals and chamber music across Canada and the USA as well as over in Europe, engagements have taken him to such world-renowned venues as the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, Berliner Philharmonie, Paris Philharmonie, Philadelphia's Mann Centre, and Canada's National Arts Centre. He has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras across Canada including the Montreal, Winnipeg, Quebec, Hamilton, and Vancouver Island Symphonies under the direction of conductors including Gemma New, Fabien Gabel, and Edwin Outwater. As the recipient of the Canada Council Michael Measure’s prize, he was the featured soloist with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada and conductor Alain Trudel during their 2012 tour of Canada and the USA. Current season highlights include appearances with I Musici, the Niagara Symphony, a tour of the Canadian Prairies, and a performance at America’s National Museum of Music.

    An avid collaborator and chamber musician, Mr. Crozman regularly shares the stage with world-renowned artists including James Ehnes, Augustin Hadelich, Boris Giltburg, Martin Beaver, Inon Barnatan, James Campbell, Hue Watkins, Gerard Caussé, and members of the Ébène, New Zealand, and Penderecki String Quartets. He regularly appears at festivals around the world such as the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Ottawa Chamberfest, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Montreal Chamber Music Festival, Helsinki Musica Nova, Birmingham Frontiers Festival, and Musique et Vin festival at Clos Vougeot in Burgundy. His performances have been broadcast on CBC/Radio-Canada, Radio France, Radio Classique, and Medici.tv.

    Mr. Crozman ’s debut album, Cavatine, recorded on the ca. 1696 “Bonjour” Stradivarius cello, was released to critical acclaim in 2019 and described by the France’s publication Classica Magazine as displaying “technical perfection with a personal style that leaves us wanting to hear more.” His most recent solo recording of the Britten Cello Suites, debuted in Monaco in the presence of Princess Caroline of Hannover, is already garnering similar praise, receiving highest marks from Diapason Magazine, one of the world’s leading classical music publications.

    Mr. Crozman was one of six cellists from around the world chosen to take part in Gautier Capuçon's 2016-17 Classe d'Excellence at the Louis Vuitton Foundation. After studies with Paul Pulford in Canada, he spent six years aboard at the Paris Conservatoire. There he received his 2e Cycle Supérieur Conférant le Grade de Master (master's level) in cello with highest honours in the class of Michel Strauss and Guillaume Paoletti, while concurrently completing his master's level in Chamber music in the class of Claire Désert and Ami Flammer and an Artist Diploma in contemporary repertoire and creation. He has played in master class for leading cellists, including Janos Starker, Anner Bylsma, Lawrence Lesser, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Gary Hoffman, Richard Aaron, and Colin Carr. Passionate about teaching the next generation, he has been invited to give master classes at the Académie Rainier III in Monaco, Mount Royal Conservatory in Calgary, and the Victoria Conservatory, among others.

    Deeply committed to innovation in classical music, Mr. Crozman constantly imagines new ways to share his art with the world. He enjoys performing in unconventional locations, from breweries and wineries to public markets, and makes a point of visiting smaller communities in Canada. He is fascinated by historical performance practice and exploring lesser known works while also being engaged in contemporary music and collaborating with world renowned composers including Kaija Saariaho and Peteris Vasks. He has premiered a number of new works dedicated to him from solos to concertos and is active in commissioning new music from Canadian composers such as Alexina Louie and Kelly-Marie Murphy. He has worked with a number of contemporary music ensembles and institutions including the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the IRCAM, and the Ensemble Court-Circuit.

    Mr. Crozman has been selected to participate in various international competitions, and is 2nd prize laureate of both the OSM Standard Life and the Eckhardt-Gramatté Competitions. He was one of 12 cellists chosen to compete at Kronberg Academy's 2014 Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann. He is extremely grateful for the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Sylva Gelber Foundation, and CBC/Radio-Canada in his projects. He currently plays the Spanish cello “El Tiburon” attributed to Juan Guillami of Barcelona ca. 1769 generously on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts Instrument Bank.

  • Described by Gramophone critic Ivan Moody as “a tremendous player”, cellist Blair Lofgren’s career is a marriage of extensive performing and dedication to his teaching. Holding the post of Violoncelle solo of the Orchestre symphonique de Québec since the age of 24, Blair’s musical vitality sees him dividing his time to include teaching at the Conservatoire de musique de Québec, performing with the orchestra, collaborating in various chamber music ensembles, teaching masterclasses, appearing as guest principal cello of various orchestras and recording (most recently for the acclaimed “Horizon Forbidden West” video game soundtrack).

    As a soloist, Blair performs regularly with orchestras across Canada. His career has seen him collaborate with such artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Joseph Kalichstein, Lynn Harrell, Marc-André Hamelin and Mark O’Connor.

    Blair is the founder and artistic director of the chamber music festival Vibrances in Québec City. He also co-founded the already successful cello octet Élément 8, comprised of cellists from the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, as well as prominent cellists from the area.

  • Joe Phillips is one of Canada’s most versatile double bassists. He performs with Toronto’s genre-defying Art of Time Ensemble, reimagines folk traditions learned from field recordings with banjoist Jayme Stone’s Folklife, struts his stuff with Payadora Tango Ensemble, performs annually at Sweetwater Music Weekend with some of the best chamber musicians in the world, and plays principal bass in the London Symphonia. Equally at home in a concert hall or at a folk festival, Joe has appeared as guest principal bass with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, has performed at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow, the Winnipeg Folk Festival, and toured Canada with chamber music supergroup, Octagon.

    He teaches double bass at Western University.

    When not touring, Joe lives in London Ontario with his partner and their two children.

  • Taiwanese-born Canadian flutist Jack Chen lives and performs in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Jack’s love of chamber music has brought him to the stages of concert series all across the Maritimes, and he has premiered works by many Canadian composers. He appears frequently with Symphony Nova Scotia, Scotia Chamber Players as well as Inner Space Concerts, a chamber concert series he founded in 2014.

    Jack earned his degrees in flute and early music performance from Indiana University and the University of British Columbia. He has shared the stage with artists such as Jeanne Lamon, Bobby McFerrin, and Sir James Galway and has also appeared in numerous PBS television music specials and tours.

    In addition to performing, Jack is the Artistic Director of Inner Space Concerts, is on the faculty at the Acadia University School of Music, and is the General Manager of the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra. While not playing the flute or teaching, Jack can be spotted enjoying the great outdoors of the East Coast kayaking, biking and skiing!

  • With a ravishing tone, a natural musicality and great interpretative intuition, Patricia Creighton was Principal Flautist with Symphony Nova Scotia, from 1984 to 2022. During that time, she played over 3,000 orchestral concerts and over 1,000 chamber and solo concerts.

    As a chamber and orchestral artist, she has shared the stage with such distinguished artists as Julius Baker, Robert Cram, Victor Yampolsky, Robert Uchida, Isaac Stern, Maureen Forrester, William Tritt, Steven Dann, Fred Sherry, Malcolm Lowe, Erica Goodman, Anton Kuerti, Peter Allen, Jeanne Lamon, Georg Tintner, Simon Streatfeild, Mario Bernardi, Grant Llewelyn, Denise Djokic, Rene Fleming, Bernhard Gueller, James Ennes, Andrew Armstrong and many others.

    She has been a regular guest artist with the Scotia Festival of Music and many Nova Scotian concert series. She has performed across Canada and has guested in the United States, Germany, Yugoslavia, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, and Mexico.

    Patty will now be dedicating her time to solo and chamber music performances and flute teaching at Dalhousie University’s Fountain School of the Performing Arts. She will also be joining the Faculty at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts in 2023.

  • Alex Liedtke is the newly appointed principal oboe of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, a position he begins in the 2024-2025 season. He is currently associate principal oboe of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and second oboe at the Grant Park Music Festival. Alex was acting/interim assistant principal oboe and english horn with the North Carolina Symphony for two seasons and served as guest principal oboe for one season with the Chilean State Opera and Ballet Orchestra at El Teatro Municipal in Santiago. A Chicago native, Alex is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music under Elizabeth Camus and he thereafter studied extensively with Robin Driscoll. Alex is passionate about composing and arranging - several new arrangements of early music adapted for the oboe/oboe d’amore are featured on his solo CD “A New Renaissance,” which is available on all streaming platforms.

  • Dominic Desautels is one of the most sought-after wind instrumentalists in Canada and enjoys a thriving career as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral clarinetist and pedagogue.

    He is the principal clarinetist at the Canadian Opera Company and adjunct professor of clarinet at the University of Toronto. Dominic made his début as a soloist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at the age of 21, furthermore during the same season, he performed there as acting principal clarinetist, being the youngest musician hired by the TSO.

    Upon graduation from the Université de Montréal, he was hired by the Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais in Brazil as a principal clarinetist, a position he later held with Symphony Nova Scotia, and Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.

    He plays Schwenk & Seggelke clarinets and is an endorsing Artist for companies Silverstein and Légère.

  • A native of Ottawa, Ontario, Gabe Azzie joined Symphony Nova Scotia as Principal Bassoon in January 2019. That same spring, he completed his Master’s at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of William Winstead.

    Prior to moving to Cincinnati, he graduated summa cum laude from the University of Ottawa, where he studied with Christopher Millard. During his time in Ottawa, he performed frequently with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre symphonique de Gatineau. He was also called upon as a pit musician for Broadway Across Canada’s Ottawa performances of Roger and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music.

    In addition to his university training, Gabe has performed with Boris Brott’s National Academy Orchestra of Canada, and has had the opportunity to tour Canada and Portugal with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, where he worked under the batons of Emmanuel Villaume, Michael Francis, and Perry So. Other teachers include Kathleen McLean, Mathieu Harel, Stéphane Levesque, Richard Hoenich, and Jo Ann Simpson.

    Outside of music, Gabe is an avid hockey and football fan, and also enjoys swimming, travelling, and hiking.

  • As a concert pianist, Peter Allen is well known and loved by audiences in the Maritimes and throughout Canada for his captivating interpretations. He regularly performs solo recitals, concertos with orchestra, and chamber music. He has recorded two solo piano compact discs for CBC, one featuring some of his own very popular Bagatelles, another an all-Haydn disc, and numerous duo CDs with flautist Patricia Creighton.

    For many years he has been a regular performer with local concert presenters such as “Music on the Hill” Concert Series at UNB Fredericton, the New Brunswick Summer Music Festival, Scotia Festival of Music, the Antigonish Performing Arts Series, Cecilia Concerts, and the Kincardine Music Festival in Ontario. Peter has also performed multiple times with the PEI Symphony and Symphony New Brunswick as well as performing over a dozen concerto appearances with Symphony Nova Scotia. Peter has performed as solo recitalist in most communities in the Maritimes, to rave reviews and standing ovations.

    Peter is currently Associate Professor of Piano at Dalhousie University’s Fountain School of Performing Arts, a post he has held since 2005. Peter has a B. Mus from Mount Allison University, and a Master of Music in Performance from Yale University.

  • A versatile musician and a piano wizard, Louise Bessette is much in demand as a concert artist in Europe, America, and Asia. She has recorded a wide variety of repertoire both as a soloist and with chamber ensembles, appearing the world over with distinguished orchestras and by invitation to many first-rate festivals. She premieres works specially written for her and her reviews are consistently laudatory.

    In April 2019, she received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award for Classical Music. The GGPAA are Canada’s highest honour in the performing arts. In June 2016, Louise Bessette was honoured by the University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario) where she received the degree of Doctor of Music, honoris causa, to celebrate her accomplishments as an internationally recognized performer and leading light in the interpretation of 20th and 21st century music and for her significant impact in the contemporary world of classical piano.

    As a pianist with an eclectic repertoire, and always eager to promote exchange with other art forms, Louise Bessette recorded works by Alkan and Grieg for a film soundtrack in 2009. “Hidden diary” by French film director Julie Lopes-Curval, starring Catherine Deneuve and Marie-Josée Croze, was presented as world premiere at the Festival des Films du Monde in Montreal (2009), and then in movie theatres all over the world.

    Louise Bessette regularly tours throughout America, Europe and Asia. She has been the soloist under the direction of renowned conductors such as Robert Aitken, Raffi Armenian, Linda Bouchard, Walter Boudreau, Nathan Brock, Charles Bruck, Edward Cumming, Marc David, Agnieszka Duczmal, Charles Dutoit, Mauricio Kagel, Bill Linwood, Diego Masson, Tania Miller, Daniel Myssyk, Kent Nagano, Pascal Rophé, Gerard Schwarz, Michel Swierczewski, Alain Trudel, Lorraine Vaillancourt and Pascal Verrot, performing in New York to Varsovie, and including Montréal, Ottawa, Victoria, Lyon, Strasbourg, Montpellier, Huddersfield, Aarhus and Mexico along the way.

    Louise Bessette has recorded as a solo pianist, with orchestras and with chamber ensembles. Her recording Messiaen, Les oiseaux on Analekta label received a wonderful review in the Gramophone magazine. In 2021, she started a new serie of albums with Analekta label: A piano around the world. The first two albums has been released in 2021 and 2022: Port of call: Curaçao (works by Wim Statius Muller) and Port of call: Buenos Aires (works by Astor Piazzolla with violonist Marc Djokic and cellist Chloé Dominguez).

    Louise Bessette received her tenth Opus Prize from Conseil québécois de la musique in 2021. In 2015, she was listed as one of Canada’s top 25 pianists by CBC Music. Louise Bessette has received many honors and prizes marking the importance of her musical contributions. These include: First Prize, Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition (1981); First Prize, Concours International de Musique Contemporaine (Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 1986); First Prize, International Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition (Rotterdam, 1989); Femme de l’Année at the Salon de la Femme de Montréal (Arts category, 1989); Prix Québec-Flandre (1991); Member of the Order of Canada (2001); Officier de l’Ordre national du Québec (2005), and Canadian Music Centre Ambassador (2009).

    Always working to encourage the growth of music, Louise Bessette has participated in numerous juries for international competitions, and has given master classes in Europe as well as in Canada an Asia. She has been a professor of piano at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal since 1996.

  • Australian-born pianist Simon Docking has appeared as a soloist for Toronto’s Soundstreams, the Winnipeg New Music Festival, Scotia Festival of Music, Symphony Nova Scotia, Acadia University’s Shattering the Silence, Australia’s Aurora Festival, the new music group Stroma in New Zealand, and MATA Festival in New York. Active as a chamber musician, Simon has been a founding member of several ensembles, including the Toronto-based group Toca Loca, which has been presented by nearly every new music series in Canada from St John’s to Vancouver, as well as appearances in New York, California and at the C3 Festival at Berlin’s legendary Berghain. Toca Loca have released two CDs: P*P (2009) and SHED (2010). Simon studied piano in Australia with Ransford Elsley, and holds a doctorate in piano performance from SUNY Stony Brook, where he worked with Gilbert Kalish, and upon graduation was awarded New York State’s Thayer Fellowship for the Arts. In October 2011 Simon received an Established Artist Recognition Award from the province of Nova Scotia. Simon lives in Halifax, where he is Managing and Artistic Director of Scotia Festival of Music.

  • A graduate of the Juilliard School, Winnipeg-born pianist David Moroz enjoys a career as one of Canada’s most versatile artists. As a soloist he has performed in every major Canadian city, and as a collaborative artist he appears regularly in recital with Canada’s most distinguished musicians. A gifted and dedicated teacher, he was guest instructor at The Banff Centre’s Special Studies for Young Musicians in the mid-1990’s, and in 1999 was appointed to the University of Manitoba’s Desautels Faculty of Music, where he serves as Chair of the Piano Faculty, teaching piano, piano repertoire and chamber music. In 2000, he began his long and rewarding association with The Morningside Music Bridge as coordinator of its Piano Department; his work alongside the early core members of the MMB Faculty made significant contributions to the development and success of this elite program through its first 20 years.

    David Moroz was awarded a Doctor of Music degree from the University of Montréal, and holds both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the celebrated Juilliard School in New York City. Twice nominated for Manitoba’s Artist of the Year, he is a frequent guest of CBC Radio and is a veteran performer at Canada’s most important music festivals. Artistic Director of The Winnipeg Chamber Music Society since 1987, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal by the Government of Canada, in recognition of his contribution to the Arts.

  • Grammy-nominated pianist John Novacek regularly tours the Americas, Europe, and Asia as concerto soloist, solo recitalist, and chamber musician. Performance venues have included Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s David Geffen and Alice Tully Halls, Kennedy Center, Chicago’s Symphony Center, Hollywood Bowl, Paris’ Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, London’s Wigmore Hall and Barbican, and Tokyo’s Suntory, Opera City, and Bunkamura Halls. He is a frequent guest artist at festivals, having participated in Mostly Mozart, Aspen, La Jolla’s SummerFest, Cape Cod, Caramoor, Colorado College, Mimir, San Luis Obispo Mozaic, Ravinia, Seattle, Wolf Trap; Scotia, Toronto Summer Music, Ottawa Chamberfest, SweetWater, and Festival of the Sound (Canada); BBC Proms (England); Braunschweig (Germany); Lucerne, Menuhin Gstaad, and Verbier (Switzerland); Sorrento (Italy); Serenates d’Estiu (Mallorca, Spain); and Stavanger (Norway).

    A frequent presence on radio, Novacek is regularly showcased on NPR’s Performance Today, Saint Paul Sunday, and (as featured composer/performer) A Prairie Home Companion; television appearances include CNN International, Entertainment Tonight, and The Tonight Show.

    A highly sought-after chamber musician and collaborator, Novacek has performed with Leila Josefowicz, Lynn Harrell, Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Cho-Liang Lin, Emmanuel Pahud, Jeremy Denk, Renaud Capuçon, Truls Mørk, Matt Haimovitz, and Elmar Oliveira, as well as with the members of the Emerson, Ying, St. Lawrence, Miro, and Tokyo String Quartets. He is also a member of the versatile piano trio Intersection, with violinist Laura Frautschi and cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper.

    Novacek’s original compositions and arrangements have received frequent performances by the 5 Browns, Ying Quartet, Concertante, Pacific Symphony, Three Tenors, Kiri Te Kanawa, and pop diva Diana Ross. Novacek is an active recording artist whose over 30 CDs have garnered numerous international awards (Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, 2004 Grammy nomination for “Best Chamber Music Performance”). Labels include Philips, Nonesuch, Arabesque, Warner Classics, Sony/BMG, Koch International, New World, Universal Classics, Ambassador, Azica, Marquis, Arkay, Neuma, Pony Canyon, Four Winds, and EMI Classics.

  • Lori Gemmell started as a street-corner busker in Montreal and wound up playing regularly with the Toronto Symphony, The National Ballet of Canada Orchestra and, until there wasn’t one, anymore, she was Principal Harpist with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. Lori has toured Europe and Japan with the Nouvelle Ensemble Moderne, teaches at Wilfred Laurier University and was gifted, by the late composer R. Murray Schafer, with a set of four songs for harp and voice. She is a member of the Four Seasons Harp Quartette. Her most recent recording is Canadian Music for Harp. She has also recorded as a soloist on Prelude, with Jennifer Swartz on their harp duo recording The Garden of Peacocks, with Trumpeter Larry Larson on Divertissement and with songwriters Kevin Fox and Feist.

  • The Montreal-based quartet ARCHITEK PERCUSSION creates musical experiences that entertain, captivate, and challenge audiences. Founded in 2012 by graduates of McGill University, Architek quickly established itself as equally comfortable in performing classic repertoire and exploring new terrain through experimental and crossover projects. Architek regularly performs in Montreal, across Canada, and internationally, most recently having toured Northern Europe in 2023. Architek has performed extensively across Canada, concertizing and providing outreach activities with New Music Edmonton, the Winnipeg New Music Festival, Le Vivier (Montreal), The Cluster Festival of Music and Integrated Art (Winnipeg), Jeunesses Musicales Canada, Debut Atlantic, The University of Toronto New Music Festival, The Music Gallery (Toronto), Music on Main (Vancouver), and the Scotia Festival of Music (Halifax). Locally, the quartet has performed extensively in the context of the Montreal Arts Council’s CAM En Tournée program, which presents free, accessible arts programming in the city’s 19 boroughs and 15 on-island suburbs.

    Architek has premiered over 60 new works; several of these premieres have led to commercial recording projects, of which Architek appears on eight: Bookburners (Nicole Lizée / Centrediscs, 2014), A Boat Upon its Blood (Jason Sharp / Constellation Records, 2016), Metatron (Eliot Britton / Ambiances Magnétiques, 2017), Katana of Choice (Ben Reimer / Redshift Records, 2017), The Privacy of Domestic Life (Architek Percussion / Centrediscs, 2018), Call Sign (Architek Records, 2022), Six Changes (Architek Records, 2022), and Apparitions Vol 1 (Olivier Alary / Line Imprints, 2023).

    Architek Percussion is Noam Bierstone, Ben Duinker, Alexander Haupt, and Alessandro Valiante.

  • Joseph Petric has appeared as featured soloist at London’s Southbank, Seiji Ozawa Hall, Bunka Kaikan, and the Berlin Philharmonic. His recitals include free improvisations with Pauline Oliveros, the complete Trio Sonatas by J.S.Bach and mixed programs of Mozart and Christos Hatzis acclaimed as “...cool, liquid, flowing...” (Maribor Vecer, Slovenia)

    After Petric’s Wigmore Hall Winterreise with Christoph Prégardien (2019) critic Peter Reed noted Petric’s “…extraordinary grasp of the accordion’s ability to sound like “breath from another planet” (London. Classical Source).

    Petric’s concerto debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra was welcomed by critic Elissa Poole as “sensational…a brilliant performance.” (Globe and Mail) and launched a concerto led career that included appearances with the Vancouver CBC Radio Orchestra, BBC Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, Sweden’s Camerata Roman, Chicago Concertante, Symphony Nova Scotia, Boston Modern Orchestra, SMCQ Ensemble and Nouvel Ensemble Modern. In 2010 he performed three concertos in one night by Brian Current, Denis Gougeon and Astor Piazzolla with the Victoria Symphony.

    Petric’s 59 recordings on 17 labels and media has garnered Québec’s Prix Opus, a JUNO nomination critical notice in Gramophone (UK) and Fanfare (USA). Petric’s recordings for NAXOS, CBC5000 Series, Analekta, ATMA, Centrediscs, Chandos, Redshift, Emprinte digitale labels and France’s TV Monde include numerous thematic albums of electroacoustic works, period recordings of Bernhard Molique and George MacFarren, the complete Trio Sonatas by J.S. Bach, J.P. Rameau’s Pieces de Claveçin 1706-45, Scarlatti, Soler and Haydn sonatas, and Franz Schubert’s Winterreise. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation aired features on Petric 1986, 1996, 2019, Société Radio Canada 2002 and 2004.

  • Tom Allen was born in Montreal. He attended Marianapolis College and McGill, before finishing degrees at Boston University and Yale. Tom worked as a bass trombonist in New York City when there were still places you just didn’t go, in Toronto, and on tour with the Great Lakes Brass. He began working for the CBC on his 30th birthday, a very long time ago, and, at the time of writing, still does. He has written three books, created and hosted countless shows for Soulpepper Theatre and many Canadian orchestras, as well as touring a series of cabaret/history/storytelling shows that includes Bohemians in Brooklyn, The Judgment of Paris, From Weimar to Vaudeville, The Missing Pages, Exosphere and, Being Lost, about the 15 hours John Cage spent lost in the Saskatchewan woods. His film, The Last Curlew, starring RH Thomson, was released in 2022.

    Tom lives in Toronto with his beloved, the harpist Lori Gemmell, their son, and a politically astute puppy.

  • Canadian Soprano Jane Archibald has established an international reputation for stage performances of extraordinary artistic intensity and panache, regardless of tessitura, in repertoire ranging from Zerbinetta to Alcina, Donna Anna, Daphne and Salome. Archibald has appeared on the world’s finest opera and concert stages including the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Teatro alla Scala, Opernhaus Zürich, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper and The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In the 2023/24 season, engagements will include a return to the Canadian Opera Company as Vixen in Janáček The Cunning Little Vixen, and on the concert stage, a programme of Mozart, Brahms and Strauss with Hamburg Symphony Orchestra.

    Recent highlights include her role debut as the title role in Strauss Salome at the Fondazione Lirico Sinfonico Petruzzelli e Teatro di Bari, the title role in a new production of Handel Alcina for Glyndebourne, the title role in Strauss Daphne and Roxana in Szymanowski Krol Roger at Oper Frankfurt, Mathilde in Rossini Guillaume Tell at Opéra National de Lyon, Tytania in Britten A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Ginevra in Handel Ariodante at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia.

    On the concert platform, Archibald has worked with world renowned conductors such as Marin Alsop, Kent Nagano, Christian Thielemann, Ryan Wigglesworth and Ludvic Morlot amongst others. She has most recently performed Messiaen Poèmes pour Mi with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Berlin Philharmonic, Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Mozart Requiem with both National Arts Centre Orchestra and Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Mozart Exsultate, jubilate with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the Orchestra of La Scala, Debussy La Damoiselle élue, Dutilleux Correspondances and Bach B Minor Mass with Seattle Symphony, Brahms Requiem with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Handel Messiah with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem with the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España, Bach St. Matthew Passion with Orchestre National de Lyon, and Britten Les Illuminations and Grieg Peer Gynt with the Oregon Symphony.

    Archibald released her first solo CD, a programme of Haydn arias, on the ATMA Classique label and won a JUNO Award for Classical Album of the Year. Her recording of Mozart Die Entführung aus dem Serail with conductor Jérémie Rhorer, received rave reviews, as did her recording of Messiaen Poèmes pour Mi with Ludovic Morlot and the Seattle Symphony. The latest addition to her discography is a recording of Bernstein Candide, with Marin Alsop and the London Symphony Orchestra.

    A proud representative of Canadian classical music, and having begun her career there, Archibald has won numerous awards and accolades for her contributions to the industry. She was an Adler Fellow and Merola participant with the San Francisco Opera, and then became a member of the ensemble at the Wiener Staatsoper in 2006.

  • Deantha Edmunds is Canada’s first Inuk professional classical singer. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in December 2023 for her activity as a performer, writer, composer, and mentor - work which seeks to empower Indigenous people and share their stories. Her work has international reverberation as well as community integrity. She brings a level of professional excellence to Canada’s Indigenous art scene that is unique and important.

    Notable appearances include singing at the opening ceremony of the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2021, performing for His Holiness, Pope Francis in Iqaluit at the official apology to Inuit residential school survivors in 2022, and singing the Nunatsiavut anthem for King Charles III at the St. John’s welcome ceremony of the 2022 Canadian Royal Tour which focused on Reconciliation.

    Creating original music, collaborating with other musicians, contributing to Indigenous productions, and mentoring young artists, Deantha shares her voice and vision with her whole heart, and is drawing accolades from across Canada and the world.

  • India Gailey (she/they) is a cellist, composer, vocalist, and improviser who appears most often in the realms of classical and experimental music. Recently named by CBC as one of “30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30,” she works as a soloist, chamber musician, and collaborator with various disciplines to create works of exploratory art. She has worked with numerous living composers, including Andrew Noseworthy, Nicole Lizée, Amy Brandon, Philip Glass, Fjóla Evans, and Michael Harrison; written music for concert, film, dance, and theatre; and is a member of the acclaimed environmental improvisation quartet New Hermitage, which recently released their fifth album, Unearth.

    India’s second solo album to you through (Redshift Records), was praised as “a truly exceptional display of unparalleled talent” (Take Effect) that “flows like poetry” (The Whole Note). In 2022 she wrote music for Symphony Nova Scotia to illustrate Rebecca Thomas’s children’s book I’m Finding My Talk, followed by her own cello concerto Butterfly Lightning Shakes the Earth in 2024. Her latest solo album, Problematica, was released in February 2024 on People Places Records.

    India is the recipient of numerous honours, including awards from Arts Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia Talent Trust, the Canada Council for the Arts, Upstream Music, and Acadia & McGill Universities. She is currently based in Kjipuktuk (Halifax, Nova Scotia). She loves raspberries, large marimbas, and the smell of burning thyme.

  • Jeff Reilly is a musician with a broad and extensive scope of work. A twice Juno-nominated bass clarinetist as well as a composer, conductor, improviser, and producer, Jeff has appeared a soloist with the Elora Singers, Symphony Nova Scotia, the Winnipeg New Music Festival, Elmer Iseler Singers, I Musici de Montreal, the Canadian Chamber Choir, Calgary’s Luminous Voices, Ottawa’s 13 Strings and across Canada, USA, Europe and Asia in the groundbreaking trio Sanctuary. His approach to music blurs any simple distinctions between improvisation and composition, and he strives to do it with such integrity that we are reminded that these distinctions are moot.

    Jeff has recorded and performed with Jerry Granelli, Ben Caplan, Barry Guy, Maya Homburger, John Potter, Peter Togni, Suzie Leblanc and Tom Allen. He is active in many musical projects including the Blackwood Duo, New Hermitage, Upstream Music and with James Shaw’s Vesuvius Big Band. As a soloist on the famous ECM New Series label, his virtuosic performance of Peter-Anthony Togni’s Lamentations of Jeremiah was praised by the British critic Norman Lebrecht as “extending across the history of sound, from monotony to modernism, in a performance that is dominant and often hypnotic”.

    A long-time music producer with the Canadian Broadcasting corporation, he has produced hundreds of concert recordings of classical, jazz, world and contemporary music, hundreds of studio sessions and over 25 CD’s of Canadian jazz and classical music. Over the years 6 of his CD productions have received Juno nominations.

    Jeff has composed dozens of works for orchestra, big band, jazz composer’s orchestras, bass clarinet ensembles, chamber jazz groups and for his duo Blackwood with long-time collaborator Peter-Anthony Togni. His most recent composition “Unfathomable Presence” for solo harp and orchestra was premiered by Ellen Gibling and Symphony Nova Scotia conducted by Karl Hirzer in January of 2024.

    Jeff is the regular conductor of the Upstream Orchestra, a jazz composer’s orchestra based in Halifax.