Performers | WCSO

Maestro Bujar Llapaj

Principal Conductor

Albanian-born, multi-award winning conductor Bujar Llapaj is a prominent figure in the Balkan classical music scene. He received his formal training at the Academy of Arts in Tirana and the Conservatoire National de Rueil Malmaison in France. He was appointed as the Principal Conductor of the West Coast Symphony Orchestra in 2008. Bujar has conducted concerts throughout Europe and he still travels abroad as a guest conductor.

Bujar is known for his dedication to the pursuit of excellence in music and music education. He acted as the artistic director of the Albanian National Theater of Opera and Ballet where he featured performances of music by famous composers like Mozart, Rossini, and Verdi, as well as hosted world premiers of works by upcoming Albanian composers. Bujar also founded the New Philharmonic Orchestra where he acted as both the artistic director and conductor. Before his moving to Canada, Bujar was the department chairman of conducting and singing at the Academy of Arts in Tirana, where he developed new programs in conducting and pedagogy.

Yariv Aloni

Principal Guest Conductor

Yariv Aloni has received praise for conducting “impassioned, inspiring” and “magnificently right” interpretations of major orchestral and choral repertoire. Reviewers also describe him as “a musician of considerable insight and impeccable taste.” He is music director of the Galiano Ensemble of Victoria, the Victoria Chamber Orchestra and the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra, as well as being a principal guest conductor of the West Coast Symphony Orchestra in Vancouver. His other guest appearances include the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, the Civic Orchestra of Victoria, The Victoria Choral Society and Prima Youth Choir.

As the violist of both the Penderecki string quartets and the Aviv piano quartet, he has performed in many concert halls around the world including Lincoln Centre in New York, the Louvre in Paris, Tonhalle in Zurich, and numerous concert halls in Canada, the United States, Germany, Italy, France, Poland, Holland and Mexico. In 1985 he was invited to join Isaac Stern and Pinchas Zuckerman to play a gala concert at Carnegie Hall in New York. He was a finalist at the François Shapira competition in Tel-Aviv. His awards included the Israel Broadcasting Authority award for chamber music performance and numerous awards and annual scholarships from the American-Israel Cultural foundation.

Yariv Aloni recorded for the United, Marquise, Tritonus, and CBC labels as well as independent CD labels. He appears regularly with the Vetta Ensemble in Vancouver and performs in numerous chamber music festivals and recitals series.

Born on a kibbutz in Israel, Yariv began studying the violin at the age of eight and turned to the viola when he was sixteen. He studied viola with David Chen at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem, Daniel Benyamini, principal violist of the Israel Philharmonic and Michael Tree and the Guarneri String Quartet. With an emphasis on chamber music he also studied at the Jerusalem Music Centre with distinguished visiting faculty from around the world including the Isaac Stern, the Amadeus and the Guarneri String Quartets, and many others. He studied conducting under the tutelage of the Hungarian conductor János Sándor, former music director of the Budapest State Opera, the Györ Philharmonic Orchestra.

Hal Beckett

Guest Conductor

Composer / conductor Hal Beckett has been active in the Vancouver film music scene for over 30 years, scoring well over 500 television episodes and 34 films, and has been recognized with a Gemini Award, an Emmy Nomination and multiple Leo Awards for his music. He has composed concert work commissions for the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Victoria Symphony, Kamloops Symphony, and Dance Arts, and has conducted orchestral ensembles for several recording artists (Bryan Adams, Michael Bublé, Marianas Trench, and soprano Ariel Sung). He also produced 102 National Anthems for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, performed by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

Hal is the Music Director of the Vancouver Film Orchestra, which, under his baton, performs and records scores for feature films, television, and other media projects. Recent VFO scores include: “The Hollow” for Syfy Channel; “Pupstar” for Air Bud Productions; “Fly Over Canada”, the new soaring attraction at Canada Place; and “Aurora” for Canada’s Sesquicentennial, filmed with 360 degree cameras. Previous clients include Miramax, Universal, Gold Circle Films, ABC Television, Infinity Features, Hallmark Entertainment, Lifetime Network, and Brightlight Pictures.

When not composing, Hal takes an active role in the Vancouver arts community — he’s an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre (CMC), serves on the Board of Directors of the Vancouver Post Alliance, and is the Music Director of the Leo Awards. He has lectured on the topic of film music at the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University and Capilano University. This year, Hal has been honored with his own star on the B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame StarWalk.

Frank Klassen

Guest Conductor

Frank is a favourite conductor of West Coast Symphony players and comes to the WCSO with an extensive conducting background. He has conducted orchestras and opera companies throughout Canada, Europe and South America, his repertoire encompasses more than 50 operas, 30 operettas, ballets, musicals, incidental music and much of the standard concert repertoire. Born in Vancouver, he received training in Winnipeg, New York and in Germany, where he subsequently worked as a professional conductor for over 15 years. Frank has recently returned to live on the West Coast.

Frank is Artistic Director and conductor of Opera Appassionata, a non-profit organization that presents an eclectic mix of high quality performances of opera and opera related events as site-specific theatre in highly interesting venues. Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz and Cavaleria Rusticana set in a heritage barn, as well as Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, set in the drug-scene streets of Vancouver are but a few of the recent innovative productions of this inventive company.

Dwight Bennett

Guest Conductor

Dwight Bennett has an extensive international career conducting orchestras and opera companies around the world. In addition to his guest conducting, he is the new Director of the UBC Orchestra. Maestro Bennett studied with Karel Ancerl, Julius Herford, Franco Ferrara, Kiril Kondrashin, and Bernard Haitink. After winning first prize at the Heinz Unger Conductor’s Competition, he conducted over 100 performances in North America with the Canadian Opera Company.

Mr. Bennett conducted complete symphonic cycles of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms while serving as Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra and the Windsor Symphony. He has recorded with CBC, Verdi and Bongiovanni Records. He was Assistant Conductor (Vienna State Opera), Resident Conductor (Canadian Opera Company), Chief Conductor/Head of Music (New Israeli Opera), Artistic Director (Royal Opera Canada), and Principal Guest Conductor (Ukrainian State Symphony Orchestra). He has worked at such Festivals as Gars, Westben and Strasbourg, and conducted numerous orchestral tours of Europe and Asia. He has recently conducted in Germany, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Croatia, Taiwan, Korea, and China, including a new production/DVD of Massenet’s Don Quichotte for Teatro Verdi (Trieste) and symphonic programs with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2007, he was awarded the title “Commendatore Stella Della Solidarietà Italiana” from the President of Italy for his contribution to Italian culture and art.

Kevin Zakresky

Guest Conductor

Kevin Zakresky was appointed Music Director of the Prince George Symphony Orchestra and Conductor of the Pacifica Singers in 2012. He has taught conducting at Simon Fraser University and directed vocal ensembles at Douglas College. From 2010-12 he was Assistant Conductor of Chor Leoni Men’s Choir.

Zakresky finished his Doctoral degree in Choral Conducting at Yale University in February 2012 with a concert performance featuring Cherubini’s Requiem for male voices and orchestra; he was awarded the prestigious Aidan Cavanagh Prize for Distinguished Intellectual Achievement. While at Yale he was director of the University Chapel Choir and assistant conductor of the Yale Camerata. His major teachers were Marguerite Brooks and Simon Carrington, and he coached with Helmut Rilling and Stephen Layton. Before studying at Yale, he completed a masters degree in conducting at UBC, studying with Bruce Pullan.

Hailed as one of North America’s “rising star” conductors by Vancouver Sun music critic David Gordon Duke, Kevin has expanded his career in the last few seasons to include conducting, masterclasses and workshops, as well as vocal and piano performances in the United States and Canada. The recent winner of the BC Choral Federation’s Youth Music Award, Zakresky was the founder-director of Chor Leoni’s MYVoice program, a choral experience for young men throughout the lower mainland. He is a member of the faculty of the innovative Vancouver International Song Institute, serves on the faculty of the BC Choral Federation’s Choral Directorship Course, acts as an adjudicator and clinician throughout western Canada and volunteers for Musicians without Borders. He publishes regularly in choral and vocal periodicals. His latest article: “Operas from the Playground: Benjamin Britten’s Opera Roles for Children” appeared in the May 2012 edition of the NATS Journal of Singing.

He begins his tenure with the PGSO in September, 2012, a full season of concerts that includes performances of Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, symphonies by Mozart and Haydn, concerti by Vivaldi, Hummel and Bruch as well as music by Beethoven, Estacio, Richard Rodgers and John Williams. He will also make his debut performance with Vancouver’s West Coast Symphony in December, conducting Messiah.

Jordan Nobles

Guest Conductor

JUNO award-winning composer Jordan Nobles is known for creating music filled with an “unearthly beauty” (Mondomagazine) that makes listeners want to “close (their) eyes and transcend into a cloud of music” (Discorder Magazine).

In May 2018 Jordan was nominated for Classical Composer of the Year at the 2018 Western Canadian Music Awards, his third such nomination. He has won many awards in recent years including a 2017 JUNO Award, a 2017 Western Canadian Music Award, and numerous International prizes.

In 2017 Jordan was the recipient of Jan V. Matejcek Award in recognition of his “overall success in ‘New Classical Music” and was honoured with the “Barbara Pentland Award of Excellence” for his “extraordinary contribution to Canadian Music”.

He is a member of the Canadian League of Composers and an associate of the Canadian Music Centre and lives in Deep Cove, BC with his wife Kelly, and son Julian.

Leslie Dala

Guest Conductor

Leslie Dala is the Music Director of the Vancouver Bach Choir, the Associate Conductor and Chorus Director of Vancouver Opera, and the Music Director Emeritus of the Vancouver Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra. He has worked at the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Canadian Opera Company, the Santa Fe Opera, l’Opera National du Rhin, Edmonton Opera, Pacific Opera Victoria and Saskatoon Opera and he is a frequent guest conductor with the UBC Opera Ensemble, the COSI Program in Sulmona Italy and Soundstreams Canada. Recent highlights include the Verdi Requiem, Handel’s Messiah and Mahler’s 8th Symphony with the Vancouver Bach Choir and the Vancouver Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony and the West Coast Symphony Orchestra respectively. Recent opera productions include the UBC Opera Ensemble’s production of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice and Puccini’s Il Tabarro and Gianni Schicchi and the World Premiere production of The Overcoat, an Opera by James Rolfe and Morris Panych co-produced by Vancouver Opera, Tapestry Opera and Canadian Stage Theatre. This season he will conduct a performance of William Bolcolm’s opera Dinner at Eight as well as Max Richter’s The Four Seasons Recomposed at the Wexford Festival in Ireland as well as La Cenerentola in the 2019 Vancouver Opera Festival and the world premiere of River of Light by Canadian composer Brian Current with the Vancouver Bach Choir and the Vancouver Opera Orchestra.

Jim Hopson

Soloist

Jim Hopson is an in-demand freelance low brass player, composer, arranger, and educator based in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Effortlessly versatile, his body of work as a performer crosses every genre and includes tours and appearances (live & recorded) all over the world. A dedicated educator, he has taught private lessons and clinics to hundreds of young musicians, and has conducted student ensembles of all ages and abilities. He is a first-call arranger for bands and orchestras throughout BC, and his arrangements have been featured on numerous albums, TV shows, and films. His two studio albums ‘West Coast Nights’ (2015) and ‘Generations’ (2018) are available on iTunes, CDBaby, Amazon, and at www.phonosmusic.com.

Kerenza Peacock

Soloist

A renowned classical violinist, Kerenza’s album as soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra reached the top of the UK Classical Charts. Her recording of Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’, directed by herself from the violin, was picked as Album of the Week on Classic FM, and she has just recorded a disc of concertos written especially for her, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Kerenza led the Pavao String Quartet on five albums and 15 years of tours throughout the world. She is a regular concerto soloist with several orchestras in London’s St. Martin in the Fields.

Kerenza also enjoys playing fiddle and singing in bluegrass band, the Coal Porters and wrote 2 songs on their latest album. Kerenza has played on many film and television soundtracks, including Downton Abbey, and she has performed with a huge number of artists including Paul McCartney and KanYe West. At one point she was playing on all Top 3 albums in the UK Pop Charts, as well as on the Classical no. 1. Last year she completed a year long global tour with Adele, as concertmaster.

Kerenza has recently been appointed an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music for making a “significant contribution to the music industry”.

Frederic Voorn

Soloist

Frederic Voorn, born in Amsterdam, Holland, is active in several musical areas. He is a concert pianist, a composer and makes programs for Dutch Radio 4. He also is a choir conductor and writes articles for several music magazines.

As a pianist, Frederic Voorn has given many concerts. He was a laureate of the Frank Martin International Music Competition and was invited to perform at several international music festivals. He has made concert tours on four continents and performed in major halls like the Tonhalle in Zürich and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. He was a soloist with several orchestras, such as the Messiah Festival Orchestra, The State Symphony Orchestra of Azerbeijan, the Europe Pride Festival Orchestra and the St. Michael Strings. Frederic Voorn made several CD’s and was a member of the jury at the 8th Concours International de Piano Adilia Alieva in Gaillard, France, the 3e Square Piano Competition and the International Geelvinck Fortepiano Competition in Amsterdam.

As a composer, Frederic Voorn has written a small amount of works that are performed regularly. In 2005 he composed a series of piano pieces titled: Pièces simples et naturelles and in the same year he wrote Ezra’s Journey, a short piece for orchestra. His String Quartet was premiered in America in 2008. For Babylon, a Dutch chamber choir, he has composed several works, such as Zefiro torna, a madrigal based on a poem by the Italian Renaissance poet Ottavio Rinuccini. in 2015 he wrote the Suite La forêt perdue for piano and a year later the first act of his opera Diaghilev, on a libretto by Lucas van der Hut, was staged in Amsterdam. In 2016, he made a CD with his own piano works.

Frederic Voorn studied piano at the conservatories of Amsterdam and Utrecht with Jan Marisse Huizing, Jan Wijn and Hakon Austbö. After receiving his Diploma Performing Arts he continued his studies in London with Peter Feuchtwanger and in Moscow with Lev Naumov and Youri Levin.

Emma Ringrose

Soloist

Emma Ringrose first started playing the oboe at the age of nine. At 18 she won a place at the Royal Northern College of Music, leaving with a music degree and a professional performance diploma. She also won the Mike Winfield oboe prize and the Peter Graeme oboe prize. During that time she studied with some of the world’s leading oboists.

After leaving music college, Emma played in many professional orchestras in the UK, including the BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, The Halle, Opera North and Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

In 2001 Emma was appointed Sub-Principal oboe of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. During her time there, Emma toured Europe frequently, but also went further afield including a visit to Bahrain. She played extensively in Britain, her favorite concerts to play in being the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. She also made numerous CDs and frequently performed on both radio and TV. Emma has worked with many world class conductors and soloists including Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Mark Elder, Joshua Bell, James Ehnes, Anna Netrebko and Barbara Frittoli.

Her time there also meant that she worked with composers including Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, James MacMillan and HK Gruber.

Emma now lives in Vancouver with her three boys. She works with many different ensembles, including the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Opera, Kamloops Symphony Orchestra and Turning Point Ensemble.

Laura Vanek

Soloist

Laura Vanek has won numerous competitions including the Concours Européen de Musique, the Prix de la Ville de Paris and the Mary Gardiner Award for Contemporary Music. She has held positions with l’Orchestre Hector Berlioz and l’Orchestre de l’Opèra Comique and has appeared more recently as a soloist with the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra and I Musici Sushi.

Laura began studying flute in Toronto with Dianne Aitken and Douglas Stewart. She continued her studies in Paris with Philippe Pierlot, Vincent Lucas, François-Xavier Roth and the late Alain Marion. She pursued further studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester under Peter Lloyd. In 2009 she completed her masters in music performance at the University of Victoria.

Since moving to the West coast she performs regularly as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician and has appeared with a wide variety of ensembles including the Vancouver Opera, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Kamloops Symphony, Prince George Symphony Orchestra, Turning Point Ensemble, Vancouver Island Symphony, Victoria Symphony and the Pacific Opera. She was also a founding member of NOVO Ensemble, a Vancouver based new music group that is committed to supporting Canadian composers.

Laura is appearing for the second time as guest soloist with the West Coast Symphony Orchestra.

Dominic Woo

Soloist

A native of Korea, Concertmaster Dominic Woo is an active solo violin player both in Canada and Europe. Winning the 2nd Prize in 2007 Padova International competition, Dominic was a member of Jenaer philharmonie orchestra in Jena, Germany and currently the concertmaster of the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra.

Dominic began his musical training with violin at age of six with Prof. J.K. Song in Korea. After his immigration to Canada, he furthered his studies on the violin with Mr. Arthur Ludwig Polson. In Canada, Dominic was a top prize winner in many musical competitions such as the ’96 North American Star Quest. Dominic has earned his bachelor’s degree in music from the Musik Hochschule Felix Mendelssohn Bartholy in Leipzig where he studied violin with Prof. Ulrich Klupsch. Throughout his years in Musik Hochschule, he was appointed as a concertmaster under the baton of legendary conductors such as Kurt Masur and Fabio Luisi.

In the season 2001, Dominic has been giving concerts throughout Europe, including Italy, Germany, Hungary, Russia and Switzerland with the chamber orchestra “l’seidici” as of 1st violin tutti/solo player. With his Mendelssohn haus debut in Leipzig, Germany in 2004, Dominic was appointed as concertmaster of the music school and associate concertmaster of ARS chamber orchestra of Leipzig. During his Leipzig period, he has also been working with worldly renowned orchestras such as “Gewandhaus Orchester zur Leipzig”.

In the year 2008, Dominic has received both in performance and teaching degree in Musik Hochschule Leipzig and was assigned as an assistant Professor from his teacher Prof. Ulrich Klupsch.

With the graduation, he has auditioned and accepted for both Orchestra Academy position in Musikhochschule “Franz Liszt” Weimar and also for Konzertexamen degree in Musikhochschule “Carl-Maria Webber” Dresden. In the last season, he was selected in the Konzertexamen ensemble in Dresden Musikhochschule and appointed for a concertmaster. In Dresden Musikhochschule, Dominic has studied with a Gramophone award winner Professor John Holloway and graduated with top honors.From his return to Canada in 2010, Dominic gave numerous solo concerts with Orchestras in Vancouver such as West Coast Symphony (Bruch:Scottish Fantasy), New Westminster Symphony (Beethoven:Violin concerto), Vancouver Philharmonic (Saint-Saens:Violin concerto 3) and Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra (Dvorak:Romance).

He also teaches students in his studios in North Vancouver, New Westminster, and Richmond.

Rebecca Wenham

Cello

Cellist Rebecca Wenham’s performances have been described as “silken, highly refined” (the Globe and Mail) as well as having “extraordinary commitment and maturity” (La Gazette). Her animated playing style is often surprising, dramatic and impulsive, leaving a breathless audience on the edge of their seats. She has performed across North America, Mexico, Europe, Japan and Australia. Formerly a member of the Cecilia String Quartet, she won prizes in the Osaka, Rutenberg, Bordeaux and Banff International String Quartet Competitions, and was a CBC Galaxie Rising Star in 2007.

Rebecca has collaborated with many composers including Common Sense Composers Collective, Ana Sokolovic, Gilbert Amy, Kelly-Marie Murphy and William Bolcom. She recently premiered a new work for solo cello and chamber orchestra by Owen Underhill, The Curio Box, commissioned by Vancouver New Music. Highlights of the 2015 season included a performance of the Elgar cello concerto with the Vancouver Philharmonic, and of the Brahms Double Concerto with the Lion’s Gate Sinfonia. This past May, Music on Main presented Rebecca in a program of solo cello exploring works that highlight divergent musical styles (all composed in the 21st century), from classical to music by jazz cellist Peggy Lee and rock violinist Sarah Neufeld.

A member of Microcosmos Quartet since 2011, an ensemble committed to performing music of the last 100 years (or so), she presents programs in intimate settings such as private homes, art galleries, clubs and small halls. Microcosmos Quartet held its inaugural string orchestra mentorship program, the Kessler Academy, in September 2015. Rebecca was recently named principal cello of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra. Her projects have been generously funded by the Canada Council, the BC Arts Council and ProQuartet. She holds degrees from the HARID Conservatory of Music, and from Rice, San Diego State and McGill Universities.

Spencer Tsai

Violin & Piano

Spencer Tsai, 11 years old, is a virtuoso violinist, pianist and rising orchestral composer in Canada. He is the youngest person ever awarded two certificates of Performer’s Diplomas (ARCT) by RCM for both violin and piano in the history of the Royal Conservatory of Music. Spencer is multilingual as well as being “multi-instrumental”. He speaks fluent English, French, Mandarin and some Spanish. He is currently in grade seven French immersion at James Whiteside elementary school in Richmond.

Between 2012 and 2016, Spencer won 15 first places in different violin competitions in Greater Vancouver. Spencer also has appeared as a soloist with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Delta Youth Symphony, Abbotsford Youth Orchestra, and Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra.

As a composer, Spencer has completed more than 180 original compositions, including 6 full-length concertos (for violin; piano; cello & flute) and 6 symphonic poems, as well as numerous pieces for individual instruments.

Eric Hominick

Soloist

Eric Hominick is a pianist, singer, teacher and coach comfortable in a wide range of styles, on staff at Vancouver Community College, an accompanist in high demand, and regular pianist for BC Girls Choir.

An avid reader and former English major, Eric is also a dramatic reader, performing in numerous benefit performance of A Christmas Carol since 2003 and narrating Peter and the Wolf with West Coast Symphony in 2015.

Mark McEwen

Soloist

s a young boy enduring the -40° winters and scorching summers of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Mark McEwen inexplicably decided he wasn’t miserable enough and took up the oboe. He immediately put it back down, but it was too late: he had been seen. He has been a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1996.

Formerly principal oboe of the Florida Orchestra, McEwen has also performed with the Milwaukee Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, and was the english horn of the Santa Fe Opera for two seasons.

He has performed as soloist with the BSO and the Boston Classical Orchestra, and frequently in varied chamber music concerts with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players and the BSO’s Prelude series. An alumnus of the Tanglewood Music Center, McEwen has also held fellowships at the Aspen Music Festival and with the Colorado Philharmonic. McEwen studied with James Mason in Saskatoon and with John de Lancie at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. When not busy rebuilding the carburettors on his British sports cars, McEwen is active as a faculty member at the New England Conservatory of Music and Boston University.

Linda Toote

Soloist

Born in Stuttgart, Germany, Linda Toote was raised in New York City. A graduate of the Mannes School of Music, she was a student of John Wion and Yale, where she was singularly undistinguished in her academic studies, while a student of Thomas Nyfenger. She has played Principal Flute positions with the orchestras of Toluca, Mexico, Tampa, Atlanta and Milwaukee, successfully avoiding her creditors prior to each move.

For ten years she served as the regular ad hoc piccolo player with the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops, soloing with both groups, and is now the Principal Flute of the Boston Lyric Opera and now on faculty at Boston University and the Boston Conservatory. She would have used a stage name, but frankly, couldn’t come up with anything better than the one she started with. Her children and husband Mark McEwen are paragons of patience and can sing all of her warm-ups from memory.

Boris Konovalov

Soloist

One of the most prominent pianists of his generation, Dr. Boris Konovalov has received his education from Novosibirsk Glinka Conservatory (under Prof. Gindis) and then Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory under Prof. Vera Gornostaeva, who was a student of legendary H. Neuhaus — the teacher of Gilels and Richter. At the age 21 he won First prize at All-Russia piano competition in Kazan, 1977. Since then Dr. Konovalov had numerous concert tours in many countries, including Russia, Israel, Germany, England, Austria, USA, Japan, China, South Korea and Canada.

The highlights of these concerts are performances at The Chopin Society in London and Jerusalem, International Festivals in Banff, Russia Great Hall in Moscow and recitals in Vienna, Austria. Boris Konovalov performed his first Concerto (Liszt Concerto #1) at the age of 16. Since than he collaborated with distinguished conductors including Arnold Katz (Russia), Vassilij Sinaisky (UK), Robert Bernhardt (US), Lu Sha (China), Alexei Kornienko (Austria) and others.

Dr. Konovalov started teaching at his age 23.His teaching experience includes Professor’s positions at Novosibirsk Glinka Conservatory (Russia), Jerusalem Rubin Academy and Mevasseret-Zion music Conservatory (Israel), Alberta College Music Conservatory (Edmonton, Canada), and Tom Lee Music Academy (Vancouver, Canada). Master classes were held in Art College of Nicosia (Cyprus), University of Arizona (Tucson, USA), University and Art High School (Seoul , South Korea), Sapporo music Conservatory (Japan), etc. Dr. Konovalov is in great demand as an adjudicator on various Festivals and Competitions, including North Shore Festival and Russian Music Festival in Vancouver, Canada, Canadian Music Competition (CMC) through all Canada, Jerusalem music Festivals in Israel. Boris Konovalov released six solo CDs, recorded live from his concerts. He also recorded many concerts on Radio and TV programs in Israel and Russia. The vast repertoire of Boris Konovalov includes Beethoven 32 sonatas, about 40 solo programs and 30 piano Concertos. Since 2015 Dr. Boris Konovalov is a faculty member at the Semper International Music Festival in Shlern, Italy. Currently Dr. Boris Konovalov is running his own studio in Richmond and North Vancouver B.C.

Eve-Lyn de la Haye

Soloist

Eve-Lyn de la Haye’s critically acclaimed performance as Nannetta in Verdi’s Falstaff with Calgary Opera has placed her in the front ranks of Canadian lyric coloratura sopranos of her generation. Accomplished across a wide range of musical genres, other recent highlights include Yum Yum in The Mikado for Calgary Opera, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the Vancouver Bach Choir/Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and her Vancouver Opera debut as Zina in the Canadian premiere of Dark Sisters by Nico Muhly.

Internationally, Ms. de la Haye’s roles have included Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) at the International Vocal Arts Institute of Tel Aviv, Lucia (The Rape of Lucretia) at the Aldeburgh Festival, a ‘poignant and compelling’ portrayal of Julie Jordan (Carousel) with the Boston Pops and a fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Centre where she sang Norina in Act 1 of Don Pasquale under James Levine and Second Woman in Dido and Aeneas with the Mark Morris Dance Group.

Her ‘liquid-clear, fragrant and intensely sweet voice’ is a favourite among her home town audiences of Victoria, BC, where she was recently the featured soloist in the Brahms Requiem. Other recent appearances in Victoria include performances with Pacific Opera Victoria as Echo in Ariadne of Naxos, and with the Victoria Symphony as the soprano soloist in Messiah, Beethoven’s Egmont, and A Sentimental Christmas.

Ms. de la Haye is a graduate of the Victoria Conservatory of Music’s Diploma in Music Program and the University of Toronto’s Opera Division where she was the recipient of the Paul Baker Opera Graduation Scholarship. Further honours include a grant for career development from the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation. In 2013, Ms. de la Haye settled in East Vancouver with her husband and two young children where she is also a teaching artist for Vancouver Opera.

Julia Nolan

Soloist

In reference to her recording of Paule Maurice’s “Tableaux de Provence”, a reviewer from the American Record Guide wrote, “Julia Nolan does very well…”. Not stopping there, Julia Nolan commissioned and performed concertos (Stride, MacDougall, Stolte, Oliver, and Hintersteininger) as well as numerous chamber and solo works by British Columbia composers affiliated with UBC as faculty, former and current students.

Julia Nolan has also co-commissioned works for and performed extensively with the Saxophilia Saxophone Quartet. Pianist Jane Hayes and Julia Nolan have performed in Canada and the United States presenting concerts with a mandate to include works by Canadian composers. After a recent performance, an audience member said of their concert, “the synergy between the two of you is palpable”.

Dr. Nolan teaches at the University of British Columbia and Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

Gene Ramsbottom

Soloist

Gene Ramsbottom joined the CBC Radio Orchestra clarinet section in 1974 and was its principal clarinetist from 1984 until November 2008 when the 70 year old radio orchestra was disbanded by the CBC. Maestro Richard Bonynge appointed him as the founding principal clarinetist of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra from 1975-1996. He has performed as a chamber musician and soloist in Canada, England, France, Germany, Israel, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United States and Ireland.

A life-long producer, sponsor and organizer of classical music events, some of his many concert presentations include the Whistler International Mozart Festival (1989 & 1990) and the OUT FOR LUNCH Friday noon-hour concert series now finishing its thirtieth season at the Vancouver Art Gallery (the 820th concert was on June 12, 2015 and the series was voted # 1 in PLACES THAT MATTER, a Vancouver Heritage Foundation survey in 2011). Since the early 1980s he has taught clarinet and chamber music for the Schools of Music at the University of British Columbia, Douglas College and Capilano University. With over forty-six years of teaching experience he is the senior-most clarinet teacher in British Columbia’s history and is a frequent adjudicator and clinician at provincial music festivals. Over 55 commercial recordings and innumerable radio broadcasts are to his credit and renown as one of Canada’s most recorded classical orchestral clarinetists.

His principal clarinet teachers have been Carl Kellett (Vancouver), Ronald deKant (Vancouver Symphony), Peter Hadcock, (Boston Symphony), Robert Marcellus (Cleveland Orchestra), Marcel Moyse (Brattleboro, Vermont) and Marc Lifschey (San Fransisco Symphony) and served as an apprentice arts manager under a Canada Council initiative mentoring with George Zukerman (Vancouver, B.C.). Advanced clarinet studies in the U.S.A. were possible with scholarship awards from the Canada Council and the B.C. Cultural Services Fund.

In May, 2005 Mr. Ramsbottom performed the Shanghai premiere of Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time” with Canadian cellist Bo Peng at an International Concert for World Peace commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII. In December 2006 he was featured as a chamber musician and guest faculty soloist in the UBC Symphonic Wind Ensemble’s tour to Hong Kong and Taiwan. In May 2007 he performed Stephen Chatman’s “Prairie Dawn” Clarinet Concerto in Taipei with the Taipei National University of the Arts Orchestra and was a guest professor at TNUA. He was the featured Canadian artist at the Wright State University’s Clarinet Symposium in Dayton, Ohio in January, 2009 and was a featured artist at Troy State University’s Clarinet Day conference in Alabama in March 2010. He commissioned and premiered Alain Mayrand’s “Battling Boggarts” with American clarinetist Dr. Tim Phillips and the Troy University Symphonic Winds at the 2011 Whistler Con Brio Music Festival. He toured as the guest soloist with the West Vancouver Youth Band in their Germany tour in 2007 and their July 2011 tour of France, Belgium and Holland. He has been the principal clarinetist, teacher and international soloist with SUMMER MUSIC IN GALWAY/SUMMER MUSIC ON THE SHANNON Festival since 2009 in Ireland and is currently the principal clarinetist and sectional conductor with Vancouver’s Westcoast Symphony Orchestra and the assistant conductor of the West Vancouver Youth Band and clarinet coach with the Vancouver Korean Youth Symphony.

Tian-Yu Zhou

Soloist

Canadian-Chinese pianist Tianyu Zhou is a young classical pianist born into a musician family who started her piano education at the age of four and gave her fist public concert at age of five. When Tianyu was ten years old, she was invited to perform at the Barrie International Music Festival. In the same year, Tianyu was named as “Wonder Kid” by Toronto CCTV, and was featured in a broadcasted interview. Shortly afterwards, Tianyu won the first prize of Royal Conservatory Competition and was rewarded to perform Beethoven Piano Concerto No.2 in B Flat Major with Academy Symphony Orchestra.

Since then, Tianyu has appeared in many festivals including Niagara International Chamber Music Festival where she was once again invited at the age of 13 to perform Mendelssohn Concerto for Piano and Violin in D Minor in the open gala concert. Tianyu has remained to perform actively that at the age of sixteen, she was invited to perform Liszt Piano Concerto No.1 in E Minor at the Orpheum Theatre to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Vancouver Academy of Music. At the age of seventeen, she won the grand prize of Kay Meek Music Competition where she performed Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.2 in C Minor. Tianyu has performed more than 10 piano concertos with various orchestras including Vancouver Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra, West Coast Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, New Westminster Symphony Orchestra, Royal Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra, and Hebei Symphony Orchestra in China. In the upcoming season, Tianyu will be working with West Coast Symphony Orchestra to perform Prokofiev Concerto No.3 in C Major.

As a young classical pianist, Tianyu has been invited to perform in UK, Poland, Italy, Holland, Canada, US, Japan, China, Singapore, and Malaysia. Honoring the Chopin anniversary year of 2010, Tianyu was invited to perform in Houston and all Chopin program by the Vancouver Chopin Society. In 2011, Tianyu gave her first performance of Bach Goldberg Variations at the age of eighteen; in 2012, she was also featured live on RTHK radio 4 in Hong Kong and her most recent interview was featured on Beijing Music Station, 97.4fm’s “Classics at Pop Times” in 2013.

Tianyu immigrated with her parents to Canada when she was nine and received a scholarship to study with Marina Geringas at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. She finished her Bachelor degree at the Vancouver Academy of Music with Prof. Lee Kum-Sing. Currently, Tianyu is studying at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music with Prof. Wojciech Switala.

Luke Kim

Soloist

A member of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Vancouver Cello Quartet, Luke Wook-Young Kim completed his undergraduate studies at UBC, where he received the Catherine-Cooke Topping Memorial Medal for musical excellence. Then, he finished his Master of Music degree as a full scholarship student at UCLA. His teachers include Antonio Lysy, Joseph Elworthy, Eric Wilson, John Friesen, and Kenneth Friedman. Luke participated in masterclasses with Lynn Harrell, Janos Starker, Aldo Parisot, Raphael Wallfisch, Paul Katz, and Desmond Hoebig. He also participated in summer music festivals such as the Aspen Music Festival, the Early Music Vancouver Programme (baroque cello), and the Incontri in Terra di Siena Music Festival. Luke has appeared in various concert series, such as the Dilijan Chamber Music Series (Los Angeles), the West Vancouver Community Arts Council, the Douglas College’s Arts at One series, the Canadian Music Centre, the Vancouver Chamber Music Society, and the UBC’s Wednesday Noon Hours Series. In spring 2015, he was featured as a soloist for Friedrich Gulda’s Concerto for Cello and Wind Orchestra with the UCLA Wind Ensemble. In addition, he has performed as a soloist with various orchestras such as the Seoul Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra, the Polish Czestochowa Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Busan Neo Philharmonic (Korea).

Nancy DiNovo

Soloist

A former member of the St. Louis, Toronto and Boston Symphony Orchestras and founding concertmaster of the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, violinist Nancy DiNovo is comfortable in styles ranging from period to contemporary. Her playing has been described as “stunning – a superlative mix of virtuosity and earthy vigour” (Victoria Times Colonist), and “simply astonishing……her sheer joy of revelling in the music left me dazzled.” (Hamilton Spectator- Brott Festival, June, 2015)

In a career spanning decades, Nancy has performed in the world’s major concert halls on three continents, working with conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Sir Colin Davis, Karel Ancerl, James Levine, Sir Neville Marriner, and Christopher Hogwood. Her many concerto credits include the Banff and Victoria premières of the Kurt Weill Violin Concerto, and she has premièred a number of Canadian works written especially for her, including the Barnes Violin Concerto with Sir Neville Marriner conducting, Walter Buczynski’s Sonata (1975) for CBC Arts National, and Frykberg’s “Astonishing Sense….” (1998) for solo violin and tape. In 2015, she made her debut at the Brott Festival to critical acclaim.

As guest concertmaster, she has appeared with the Canadian Chamber Ensemble, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Kitchener-Waterloo, Edmonton and Victoria Symphonies, CBC Radio Orchestra, “Music of the Night” cross-Canada tour, and Pacific Opera Victoria where she has led operas in styles ranging from period instrument Handel to Berg’s “Wozzeck”. As a Baroque violinist, she is a popular leader with several of BC’s finest choral conductors, including Lars Kaario (Laudate Singers and Capilano University) and Leroy Wiens of the Okanagan Festival Singers.

In demand as a pedagogue, Ms. DiNovo has taught at Tanglewood, the Marrowstone Festival, Western Washington University, UBC, U Vic, Capilano University, and as a mentor for Boris Brott’s National Academy Orchestra .Her many recording credits include work for CBC Radio, Earsay Records, the Elektra Women’s Choir, Disney Films, and the 2010 Olympics.

An iconic photo of her taken at a 9/11 memorial service can be seen in on The 60 Most Powerful Photos Ever taken That Perfectly Capture The Human Experience:

https://navigationstack.wordpress.com/2014/04/11/the-60-most-powerful-photos-ever-taken-that-perfectly-capture-the-human-experience/

Highlights of the 2018/19 include performances of concerti by Walton, Dvorak, and Tchaikovsky. Ms. DiNovo plays on a J.B. Guadagnini made in 1770.

Yariv Aloni

Soloist

Yariv Aloni is the music director of the Victoria Chamber Orchestra, the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra and the Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also appearing frequently as principal guest conductor with the West Coast Symphony Orchestra in Vancouver and the Civic Orchestra of Victoria. He was the founder and music director of the Galiano Ensemble of Victoria for 18 years.

Former violist of both the Penderecki string quartets and the Aviv piano quartet, he has performed in many concert halls around the world, including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Centre in New York, the Louvre in Paris, Tonhalle in Zurich, and numerous concert halls in Europe, Canada and the United States. He has recorded for the United, Marquise, Tritonus and CBC labels as well as independent CD labels. He performs in numerous chamber music concerts, festivals and recital series.

He was a finalist at the François Shapira competition in Tel Aviv. His awards included the Israel Broadcasting Authority award for chamber music performance and numerous awards and scholarships from the American-Israel Cultural Foundation.

Born on a kibbutz in Israel, Yariv began studying the violin at the age of eight and turned to the viola when he was sixteen. He studied viola with David Chen at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem, Daniel Benyamini, principal violist of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and Michael Tree and the Guarneri String Quartet. With an emphasis on chamber music, he also studied at the Jerusalem Music Centre with distinguished visiting faculty from around the world, including Isaac Stern, the Amadeus and the Guarneri String Quartets, and many others. He studied conducting under the tutelage of the Hungarian conductor János Sándor, former music director of the Budapest State Opera and the Györ Philharmonic Orchestra.

Jeanette Singh

Soloist

Jeanette Singh, Assistant Principal second violin of the Vancouver Symphony, was born in Mexico and began her violin studies at the age of three with her mother Joan King and step-father, Pablo Diemecke. She has won many national and international awards and competitions, and her performances have taken her all over North America, Europe, South East Asia, India and Australia.

Sarah Hagen

Soloist

Pianist Sarah Hagen has been heard in concert halls and on the airwaves to critical acclaim throughout North America and Europe. Her interpretations have been described as “outstandingly inventive,” performed with “infinite skill.” A visionary and an idealist, Sarah’s performances are conceptually innovative, involving photography, dance and theatre. She is Artistic Director of numerous concert series in BC and also of Pro’ject Sound, a performance project involving live piano with large-scale projected images.

Her solo album, Glass House Dancing, was nominated for Classical Recording of the Year at the 2009 Western Canadian Music Awards. Sarah recently released her second album, Devoted: Music of Robert & Clara Schumann, featuring solo piano works and Clara Schumann’s Romances, Opus 22 with violinist Martin Chalifour. As a First Prize Winner in the 2013 Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition, she was awarded the opportunity to perform solo at New York City’s Carnegie Hall in May 2013.

Highlights of Sarah’s current season include performances of Rachmaninoff’s complete Opus 32 Preludes in BC, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island; Brahms’ Horn Trio in Chicago with Oto Carrillo and Rachel Barton Pine; and a Pro’ject Sound performance in Saint John featuring New Brunswick photographers.

Rudin Lengo

Soloist

Rudin Lengo’s piano playing has been described as “profound, imaginative and exceptionally communicative”. Winner of the 2012 Glenn Gould School Concerto Competition, the 5 th Knigge Music Competition and the 2010 TD Elora Competition, he was also the 2 nd prize winner at the 40th William C. Byrd International Competition and winner of the Mary Winston Smail Memorial Award for Best Pianist at the 2011 WAMSO Minnesota Competition, the London Kiwanis Festival’s Rose Bowl, UWO London Music Scholarship Foundation, as well as the Grand Prize at the Rotary Music Festival in Burlington.

This past season Mr. Lengo performed Liszt’s Piano Concerto No.1 in Koerner Hall with the Royal Conservatory Orchestra under the direction of Tito Muñoz and Brahms’ Piano Concerto No.1 with the Toruń Symphony Orchestra and Anna Duczmal-Mróz conducting. Other engagements included recitals at the Ohrid Summer Festival in Macedonia, at the Great Hall of ththe University of the Arts in Tiranë, Albania, as part of the 13 Klasik International Festival, the Bergen Ruïnekerk and Slot Schagen in the Netherlands, the UBC Wednesday Noon Hour Series in Vancouver, the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre of the Canadian Opera Company, and at Mazzoleni Hall of the Royal Conservatory of Music.

In the 2011-12 season he performed Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto with Orchestra London under the direction of Daniel Warren. Solo recitals included performances in New York’s Steinway Hall, Minnesota Orchestra Hall, MacArthur Hall in Flint, Michigan, Roy Barnett Recital Hall in Vancouver, Gateway Theatre in Richmond, and the Elora and Chautaqua Music Festivals.

Rudin Lengo began his piano studies at the “Servete Maçi” School of Music in Tiranë, Albania, with Nedi Peku as his principal teacher. After immigrating to Canada, he continued his studies under the guidance of James Anagnoson. Alongside the courses at the Royal Conservatory of Music that led him to an ARCT Performer’s Diploma, he earned a graduating average of 99% at ndGeorge Harvey Collegiate Institute, the 2 highest in the Greater Toronto Area, and was awarded the prestigious Governor General’s Academic Medal and the University of Toronto National Book Award for his academic achievements.

Mr. Lengo has been the recipient of over 50 awards and scholarships for his musical and academic accomplishments, including the F. K. Ashbaugh President’s Entrance Scholarship (Western University), 2004 Miller Thomson National Scholarship, Queen Elizabeth II Aiming for the Top Scholarship, Silver Jubilee Award of Excellence and the Chawkers Foundation Scholarship. In 2008, he completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Performance at Western University on a National Scholarship, studying with James Anagnoson and Leslie Kinton. He received his Master’s Degree in 2010 from the Manhattan School of Music on a President’s Award studying with the esteemed pianist and pedagogue, Daniel Epstein. As a student of John Perry and David Louie, Rudin recently completed an Artist Diploma at the Glenn Gould School on a prestigious Ihnatowycz Emerging Artist Scholarship.

David Gillham

Soloist

David Gillham has an extensive solo and chamber music career, having performed throughout Asia, Europe, the Americas and South Africa. He has performed in major venues such as Tokyo’s Opera City and Bunka Kaiken Recital Halls, Baxter Concert Hall in Cape Town SA and the Chicago Cultural Centre, as part of the prestigious Dame Myra Hess memorial concerts. An internationally respected pedagogue, David is regularly invited to teach, give masterclasses and serve on competition juries in North America, Europe and Asia. In 2011, he joined the Faculty at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver Canada.

As an enthusiastic interpreter of chamber music, Mr. Gillham is currently a member of the Archytas Ensemble and the Ridge Piano Trio. He enjoyed extensive concertizing with the Arianna String Quartet as its second violinist from 2005-2012. In addition, he enjoys collaborating with musical personalities such as Johannes Moser, Noah Bendix-Balgley, James Dunham, Atar Arad, Anton Nel, Jose Franch Ballester, Jane Coop and Robert Silverman to name just a few. He is regularly invited to festivals such as the Zodiac ( France ), FEMUSC (Brazil), Kuandu (Taiwan), Sonoran (USA), Pender Harbour and the Domaine Forget International Music Festival.

Inspired by Franco Gulli and Enrico Cavallo to continue performing the standard violin and piano duo repertoire with the same stylistic precision and unity as a string quartet, Mr. Gillham has performed the violin and piano duo repertoire with pianist Chiharu Iinuma for 20 years. Concerts have taken the duo to China, Taiwan, Japan, and across both the United States and Canada. For Centaur Records, the duo has recorded sonatas by Grieg, Mendelssohn, Respighi and Beethoven.

As a soloist with orchestra, David has given performances with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, the Gateway Festival Orchestra of St. Louis, the West Coast Symphony, the Grand Forks Symphony and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. With the UBC symphony Orchestra, Mr. Gillham has toured Western Canada, performing the Tchaikovsky violin concerto and performed John Corigliano’s Chaconne from the Red Violin, with the composer in attendance as part of UBC’s Corigliano Festival.

Beyond the standard repertoire of solo and chamber music, Mr. Gillham has dedicated himself to the performance and recording of todays composers. His recordings of Marcus Goddard’s two string quartets and string trio with the Archytas ensemble ( Dale Baltrop, Ariel Barnes, David Harding ) and Stephen Chatman’s Pender Harbour Suite for piano trio with Corey Hamm and Eric Wilson will be released next year. In 2018, Mr. Gillham had the honour of performing Juno nominated composer Alice Ping Yee Ho’s, Coeur à Coeur for violin and piano with Corey Hamm, live on CBC at the Juno Awards Classical Showcase Concert.

Mr. Gillham’s students have appeared as soloist with the Vancouver Symphony orchestra, The Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra and the Philharmonia Northwest of Seattle. Many of his former students hold positions in major symphony orchestras, and have continued their studies at institutions such as the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Mr. Gillham is regularly invited to teach at universities such as Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, the Wuhan Conservatory, the Kaohsiung Normal University, the University of Music and Theatre in Hamburg, McGill University and the University of Toronto.

Mr. Gillham is director of the violin-sessions at the Domaine Forget International Music Festival and Academy in Charlevoix, Quebec. The intensive four week program for gifted and advanced students from around the world, regularly features masterclasses by renowned violinists such as Vadim Gluzman, Rachel Barton Pine, Vadim Repin, Christian Tetzlaff and Midori.

A graduate of Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, the Peabody Conservatory and the University of Manitoba, in 2002, David was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Golden Jubilee Medal for his contribution to the arts in Canada. He plays on a violin made by Carlo Tononi, Venice Italy, 1725.

NOVO Ensemble

Soloist

NOVO Ensemble is a group of classically trained musicians dedicated to the promotion of contemporary music in Vancouver and the lower mainland. Co-directors Laura Vanek (flute) and Marina Hasselberg (cello) invite guest instrumentalists to join them to present unique programs of seldom heard modern pieces. Besides exploring the existing repertoire, NOVO works closely with Canadian composers to create new music, with the intention of expanding the Canadian chamber music repertoire but also of bringing music to people that has just been composed, in many cases composed in the same city where it’s being performed: Vancouver.

NOVO has recently participated in Redshift Music Society’s chamber music extravaganza, ChamberCon, and is Vancouver Pro Musica’s Ensemble in Residence for the 2013/2014. Past performance venues include the Silk Purse Performing Arts Centre, the Orpheum Annex, Alliance Française Vancouver, Tapestry UBC, the Canadian Music Centre Creative Hub, St. Mark’s Anglican Church, Vancouver Art Gallery, The Kay Meek Centre, Pyatt Hall, and the Roy Barnett Recital Hall at UBC.

Pamela Highbaugh Aloni

Soloist

Praised for her “meltingly beautiful solos” (The Detroit News) and performances of “depth and insight” (Times Colonist), Pamela is a co-founding member of the prize-winning Lafayette String Quartet.

Since 1991, Pamela along with her quartet colleagues has been an Artist in Residence at UVic, where she teaches cello, chamber music and co-supervises the strings mentoring course in collaboration with School District 61. She and the LSQ maintain their leadership in one of the strongest university string programs in Canada.

The Lafayette quartet celebrated 26 years of musical life together last season. Highlights of these years include a celebration of the millennium performing all sixteen of Beethoven’s string quartets, tours in North America and Europe, and the initiation of the Lafayette Health Awareness Forum. Recordings include a recent title “Tre Vecchi Amici” featuring works written for the quartet. Their CBC recording “Death and the Maiden” was awarded “Outstanding Classical Recording of the Year” by the Western Canada Music Awards.

A native of California, Pamela served as principal cellist with the Detroit’s Renaissance City Chamber Players. She was a Ford Motor Company Artist in Residence at the Center for Creative Studies Institute of Music and Dance and a faculty member at Oakland University. She earned her BMus and MMus degrees from California State University, Northridge and Indiana University. Her principal teachers include Peter Rejto, Janos Starker and Paul Katz.

An enthusiast teacher, Ms. Highbaugh Aloni served for ten years on the faculty at the Courtenay Youth Music School and Festival and for the past six years has been the coach for the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra cello section. She has performed both as a soloist and recitalist and has been a guest artist with the Sooke Philharmonic, Vetta Ensemble of Vancouver, Victoria Summer Festival, Eine Kleine Summer Music, Chamber Music San Juan, and the Victoria Symphony’s Summer Cathedral Series, and has served as principal cellist with the Galiano Ensemble since its inaugural season in 2000. Pamela plays on a George Craske cello made in England, 1850.

Ann Elliott-Goldschmid

Soloist

Violinist Ann Elliott-Goldschmid is a founding member of the renowned Lafayette String Quartet, Artists in Residence at the University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia. A native of New Brunswick, Canada, she was greatly influenced by both of her parents, pianist Patricia Grant Lewis and composer and conductor, Carleton Elliott. Early, formative studies were with Pauline Harborn, then later with Victor Yampolsky who remained her mentor until finishing her studies at Boston University.

Ann has been the recipient of many awards and scholarships; in her early years she was the star of the New Brunswick Music Festival and won the Canadian National Music Festival. She was awarded a full scholarship to study at Boston University and was twice awarded the certificate for outstanding performer. She was the winner of the BU Concerto Competition and was active in the concertizing scene of Boston while still a student there. She was the first violinist of the Honors String Quartet, working closely with Eugene Lehner and Endel Kalam. For two summers she was awarded scholarships to study in Zurich, Switzerland with Nathan Milstein and in Ammerland, Germany with Denes Zsigmondy. She was a full-time member of the Emanuel Chamber Players and the Harvard Chamber Orchestra and was in demand as a free-lance musician.

In 1984 she accepted the position as assistant concertmaster of the newly formed Renaissance City Chamber Players in Detroit and it was there that she met her colleagues in the Lafayette String Quartet. After leaving the Chamber Orchestra, Ann taught violin and chamber music at the Center for Creative Studies, the Rochester Conservatory of Music and at Oakland University where the members of the Lafayette Quartet were in residence. She gave numerous recitals in the Detroit area primarily collaborating with pianists Flavio Varani and Dati Mehta.

Though working together beforehand, it was in July of 1986 that the Lafayette String Quartet’s career was officially launched. That same year the LSQ won the Cleveland Quartet Competition resulting in two years of study with members of the Cleveland Quartet at the Eastman School of Music. Ann studied with Donald Weilerstein both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. Charlie Castleman and Lynn Blakesly were also wonderful influences.

Until his untimely death in December of 1997 however, it was Rostislav Dubinsky, primarius of the Borodin Quartet, who remained the musical father for all of the members of the LSQ. It was his belief in the quartet; his dedication to them as individuals and his constant encouragement that enabled the LSQ to continue working as a foursome for over 20 years, a feat no other all-female quartet has managed.

Active in the music scene of Victoria and abroad, Ann is concertmaster of the Galiano Ensemble, and is a huge advocate for Strings in the public schools. Along with her colleague Pamela Highbaugh Aloni, she conceived of and team-teaches the Strings Mentoring program at UVic. She has often performed for the Olympic Music and Eine Kleine Summer Festivals, and has been an instructor for the CYMC, the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and the Egmont Summer Music Festival. She is in great demand as a violin and chamber music coach, adjudicator and player.

Ann has recorded numerous times for CBC radio both as a soloist and with the Lafayette String Quartet. Along with the many recordings of the LSQ, Ann and her mother have recorded Murray Adaskin’s first Sonata for Violin and Piano (AdLar), she has recorded “Cluck Old Hen” variations by David Jaffe and had recently released a recording of Beethoven string trios arranged for guitar with her UVic colleagues Alex Dunn, guitar, Lanny Pollet, flute and Joanna Hood, viola. Ann was also very lucky to have the opportunity to perform the Brahms Double concerto with the Sooke Philharmonic in two performances with her colleague Pamela Highbaugh Aloni.

An avid, but amateur horsewoman, Ann is also the wife of Robert Goldschmid and the mother of Ella and Abby.

Music Progressive Quartet

Soloist

Coming to us direct from Skopje, Macedonia, Music Progressive Quartet (MPQ) is comprised of four young, conservatory-trained, world-class professional classical musicians who play with the National Macedonian Philharmonic orchestra and guest with countless other groups and at numerous festivals in the Balkans and beyond.

In MPQ, they break out into another idiom, presenting a fresh jazz take on traditional folk songs of Macedonia. Beguiling audiences with total mastery of their instruments (violin, viola, cello, and oboe), innovative and witty arrangements, and a warm and engaging stage manner, they were a surprise break-out hit as soloist on the concert tour of West Coast Symphony in Macedonia in 2012. They are coming in Vancouver for their first time and another appearance with WCS. Members of MPQ are Vladimir Lazarevski on oboe; Vladimir Krstev, on violin; Marko Videnovik, on viola and as composer and arranger and Paskal Krapovski on cello.

The quartet portfolio includes performance at festivals like “Blues and Jazz Rallye” in Luxemburg, ”Balkan music night” in Concord, Massachusetts, “Geza Balazs Gari Jazz festival” in Serbia, “Days of the Slavic literacy and culture” in Moscow, Russia, “Ensemble studio theatre” in NYC, “Czech culture center” in Sofia, Bulgaria, “Bitfest”, “Modooars” and “Skopje summer fest” in Macedonia and famous international jazz stages as Porgy & Bess in Vienna, Austria, DROM in NYC, Lilypad in Boston ectr.