Scotia Festival of Music 2026

Guest Artists

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

  • Ian Cusson is a composer of art song, opera and orchestral work. Of Métis (Georgian Bay Métis Community) and French Canadian descent, his work explores Canadian Indigenous experience including the history of the Métis people, the hybridity of mixed-racial identity, and the intersection of Western and Indigenous cultures. 

    He studied composition with Jake Heggie (San Francisco) and Samuel Dolin, and piano with James Anagnoson at the Glenn Gould School. He is the recipient of the Chalmers Professional Development Grant, and grants through the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, the Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council. 

    Ian was an inaugural Carrefour Composer-in-Residence with the National Arts Centre Orchestra for 2017-2019 and was Composer-in-Residence for the Canadian Opera Company for 2019-2021. He was a Co-artistic Director of Opera in the 21st Century at the Banff Centre and the recipient of the 2021 Jan V. Matejcek Classical Music Award from SOCAN and the 2021 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize. Ian is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers. 

    He lives in Collingwood with his wife and four children.

  • Emma Pennell is an emerging artist from Canada - an operatic soprano, poet and librettist. Emma is mixed settler with Mi’kmaw roots from Ktaqmkuk (Indigenous peoples of Newfoundland). Hailing from the village of South River in rural Northern Ontario, they are a member of the Canadian Opera Company's Ensemble Studio, winning 2nd prize in the COC's Ensemble Studio Centre Stage Competition. Additionally, they were honoured with the RBC Emerging Artist Award at the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards, recognizing their significant contributions to the arts as an emerging talent. Their recent performance with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) further highlights their rising prominence in the operatic world. During this engagement, they captivated audiences with their powerful voice and expressive interpretation, solidifying their reputation as a leading young soprano and demonstrating their ability to connect deeply with the music and the audience.

    This season at the Canadian Opera Company, Emma will be covering the roles of Gertrude in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, Giovanna in Verdi's Rigoletto, Berta in Rossini's Il Barber di Siviglia and appearing onstage for the role of Kätchen in Massenet's Werther. Emma graduated from the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music this year, where they studied under the esteemed mentor Stephanie Bogle. They previously earned a Bachelor’s Degree with Honours in Voice Performance and a minor in Indigenous Studies from Western University. Emma also holds an advanced diploma in Voice Performance from Cambrian College of Advance Arts and Technology in Sudbury, Ontario. Emma has taken the stage in various roles, including Miss Alice Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff, The Skater in Ka Nin Chan’s Ice Time at The Glenn Gould School, and Lia in Debussy's L'Enfant Prodigue. Recently, they completed an artist residency at The Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity, where they workshopped the roles of Kitty and Bernie in Ian Cusson and Royce Vavrek’s new opera Indians on Vacation, further contributing to contemporary Indigenous narratives in the operatic sphere. They also made their debut at Koerner Hall alongside renowned throat singer Tanya Tagaq to commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, exemplifying their commitment to bridging cultural divides through music.

  • Distinguished for insightful performances, visionary programming, and wide-ranging collaborations, conductor Jeffery Meyer has captivated audiences in the contemporary orchestral scene around the globe.

    He is Artistic Partner with the Northwest Sinfonietta and professor of orchestral conducting at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. For two decades he was Artistic Director of the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic, whose American debut at Symphony Space’s Wall-to-Wall Festival drew New York Times praise as “impressive,” “powerful,” and “blazing.” His programming has earned three ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming and two Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Awards.

    A champion of contemporary music, Meyer imagines the orchestra experience as a forum for story, emotion, and civic dialogue. His projects have paired symphonic works with multimedia visionaries, activists, and urban artists. His recordings span repertoire from baroque to the present; his most recent, Illuminations: Music of Narong Prangcharoen, was released by Albany Records in 2023.

    Recent highlights include a multimedia Rite of Spring and Petrushka with the Thailand Philharmonic; Carlos Simon’s Graffiti with renowned graffiti artists; a theatrical symphonic concert developed in collaboration with Daniel Bernard Roumain and Marc Bamuthi Joseph; Laura Kaminsky’s Piano Concerto with Ursula Oppens (Cedille Records); a semi-staged production of Nkeiru Okoye’s Invitation to a Die-In; and multiple collaborations with the American Composers Orchestra’s EarShot program.

    Recent and upcoming engagements include the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong with Dawn Upshaw, the Xalapa Symphony, Orquesta Juvenil Universitaria Eduardo Mata, American Composers Orchestra, and returns to the Grossman Ensemble, Sichuan Symphony, and Thailand Philharmonic.

  • Conductor Timothy Weiss has earned acclaim for his performances and bold programming throughout the United States and abroad. His repertoire in contemporary music is vast and fearless, including masterworks, very recent compositions, and an impressive number of recordings, premieres and commissions.

    For three decades, Weiss has directed the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble, bringing the group to a level of artistry and virtuosity in performance that rivals the finest new music groups. He earned the Adventurous Programming Award from the League of American Orchestras for his work with Oberlin ensembles.

    He also serves as a faculty member and is the director of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble at the Aspen Music Festival and School. Additionally, he is a co-director and founder of the Zohn-Collective, a flexible contemporary music collective which seeks to produce and perform artist-driven projects generated by its members. He remains active as a guest conductor in the US and abroad and continues to be a regular guest of the Arctic Philharmonic Sinfonietta in Norway, an ensemble for which he served as Artistic Director for six years.

    Weiss holds degrees from the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, Belgium; Northwestern University; and the University of Michigan.

  • 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.  

    He has presented the premieres of over 200 works - more than 50 of which were written for him - with the 2023-24 season seeing premieres of new works by Melia Watras, Chris Paul Harman, David Braid, Alissa Cheung and others.  Canadian jazz icon Phil Dwyer wrote his Juno-winning work Changing Seasons for Fewer, citing his “seemingly clairvoyant skills at interpretation”.  When giving the Canadian premiere of John Adams The Dharma at Big Sur for 6-string electric violin and orchestra, the Globe and Mail referred to his performance as “intrepid”. 

    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.  Other recordings of interest include the complete Sonatas of the Italian baroque composer Pandolfi-Mealli with the Smithsonian Chamber Players, the Sonatas of George Antheil with pianist John Novacek, the so-called “Jazz Sonata” of Bohuslav Martinu with Art of Time director Andrew Burashko, and Nine Daies Wander by Bramwell Tovey, written specifically for Fewer as a tribute to Shakespeare’s comedic actor Will Kemp.  Soon to be released are new recordings featuring works by Inuit soprano-composer Deantha Edmunds, Jaroslav Kapuscinski, Robert Carli, and Chris Paul Harman. 

    Fewer is also a jazz violinist, appearing on stage with Dave Young, Brad Turner, Jodi Proznick, Jim Doxas, Jan Jarczyk, Pekka Kuusisto, Heather Bambrick, Suba Sankaran, Aaron Davis and many more. 

    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 continues to excite and inspire both audiences and students. Recently retiring after holding the position of Concertmaster of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for 37 years, Gwen is continuing her career highlighting her love of performing and teaching.

    Gwen Hoebig has performed all the major violin concerti with orchestras across Canada, the United States and Europe. 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, Gary Kulesha, Joan Tower, Christopher Rouse, Pēteris Vasks, Gavin Bryars and Philip Glass. 

    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 Ensemble 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 performs regularly 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 currently teaches at the University of Manitoba, at the Canadian Mennonite University and maintains a private studio in Winnipeg, with 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 involved with numerous summer festivals and has served on the Board of Directors of the Winnipeg Youth Orchestra.

  • Halifax-born violinist Mark Lee studied at Dalhousie University with Philippe Djokic. Following his graduation in 2010, he pursued his postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music with Lydia Mordkovitch and Maureen Smith as a Leverhulme Scholar. In addition to his teachers at the Royal Academy, he has also received private studies with Maxim Vengerov. Mr. Lee 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, the London Symphony Orchestra String Experience Scheme, 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.

    After receiving his Masters degree at the Royal Academy of Music with the highest distinction, Mr. Lee worked closely with the London Symphony Orchestra, and with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as acting Principal Violinist. He has made recordings with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and has toured extensively throughout Europe, Russia, and Asia. He has also performed for members of the British Royal Family in the House of Lords at Parliament.

    Mr. Lee is a member of the Verbier Music Festival Orchestra serving as concertmaster under many renowned conductors including Charles Dutoit, Yuri Temirkanov, Daniel Harding, Jaap van Zweden, Ivan Fischer, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Gianandrea Noseda, Valery Gergiev, Manfred Honeck, and Zubin Mehta.

    As a chamber musician, Mr. Lee has performed extensively across Europe. His performances have been radio broadcasted live across the UK and Scandinavia. He has worked with several established chamber ensembles such as the BBC Scottish Ensemble, the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet, the Maggini Quartet, the Endellion Quartet, the Ying Quartet, and the Escher Quartet.

  • 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.

  • Renowned for her “rich and deep sound as well as her virtuosity and exceptional enthusiasm” (The Strad), violist Marina Thibeault invests the musical scene with an ever renewed fervor as a chamber musician, concert artist and soloist. Convinced that one must “undergo everything, experience everything, face all obstacles, all contradictions” (Pierre Perrault), she sails through the sometimes tumultuous waves of a carefully curated repertoire, approaching old and new works with the same commitment. Through her practice, she constantly questions the traditional place of the performer in order to embody a poetic approach as well as a quest to surpass herself physically and spiritually.

    Named Revelation of the Year 2016-2017 by Radio-Canada, Marina has since been invited to perform as a soloist internationally with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Northern Czech Republic, the Orchestra of Mariánské Lázně, the Chamber Orchestra of Santiago, as well as in recital in Verbier. In Canada, audiences have heard her with the Metropolitan Orchestra, La Sinfonia Toronto, and the Agora Symphony Orchestra, among others. As a chamber musician, she has collaborated with members of the Guarneri Quartet and the Cleveland Quartet, as well as with Charles Richard-Hamelin, Marie-Nicole Lemieux and Johannes Moser. Her interest in new music has led her to work with composers John Corigliano, Joan Tower and Krzysztof Penderecki.

    Marina has recorded three albums on ATMA Classique, all of which have received strong critical and public acclaim. Her first release, Toquade (2016), was selected in the “Classical Album of the Year” category at the 2017 ADISQ Gala as well as in the “Record of the Year” category at the 2018 Prix Opus. Recorded in 2019, ELLES has contributed to the recognition of the work of women composers who are unfairly forgotten or unknown to the general public. Her most recent musical adventure, Viola Borealis (2022), reflects her willingness to connect different languages within creative programming. With this album, she revisits her own relationship to the north by traversing works by Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks and Anishinaabe artist Melody McKiver, as well as the very first viola concerto, composed around 1716 by Telemann.

    Highly awarded with scholarships and honors, Marina is a graduate of McGill University and the Curtis Institute of Music. Since 2019, she has had the privilege of teaching at the University of British Columbia as an assistant professor where she helps to awaken and affirm the sometimes unexpected artistic vocations of her students.

    Having studied the connections between sports psychology and performance as part of her DMus, Marina happily enriches her artistic practice by exploring the surrounding landscapes on her bike or run.

  • Julie Hereish pursued her studies in Montreal and then in Vienna, Austria. She was a pupil of Denis Brott, Johanne Perron, Carole Sirois and Stefan Kropfitsch.

    In 2019, she joined the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra as Assistant Principal Cello. Previously, she held the same position in the Quebec Symphony Orchestra. During her time in Quebec City, she cofounded the piano quartet Quatuor Philanthros and the cello octet Élément 8.

    Winner of the 2014 Zara Nelsova Memorial Award and the 2011 Peter Mendell Award, Julie has been broadcasted on CBC Radio 2 and Radio-Canada. Her chamber music performances have taken her across Canada, where she’s toured with Debut Atlantic and Jeunesses Musicales du Canada. Julie has performed in festivals across North America, including Music By The Sea in Bamfield (BC), Sweetwater Music Festival in Owen Sound (ON), Rosebud Chamber Music Festival (AB), Rendez-vous musical de Laterrière in Saguenay (QC) and Rockport Music Festival (Massachusetts).

    Together with actor Pierre Mayer, Julie created Charlot et Mlle Cello, a family theatrical concert experience based on Charlie Chaplin’s famous character. The show has been presented in its symphonic version with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra and the Geneva Chamber Orchestra, in Switzerland.

    As a guest artist, Julie joined the Grammy Award winning ARC Ensemble in performance in Toronto. She has also performed with the Canadian Opera Company as guest continuo cellist. Julie has performed extensively with the chamber orchestra Violons du Roy in Quebec City and throughout Europe and North America.

    Julie is currently a member of the Polyphonie String Quartet, based in Edmonton, AB. Alongside husband and violist Keith Hamm, she cofounded The New Cohort, a viola and cello ensemble born at the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

  • 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!

  • Celebrated for her expressive playing and versatility, Danielle Johannes has served as Principal Oboist of Symphony Nova Scotia since 2022. She has performed extensively across Canada as both an orchestral and chamber musician, appearing with ensembles including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony, Hamilton Philharmonic, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Kingston Symphony, and Niagara Symphony. She previously served as Principal Oboe with the Guelph Symphony Orchestra and the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra. Danielle is featured on numerous recordings, including Symphony Nova Scotia's Defiant Dances (2024), Colin Eatock: Choral & Orchestral Music with Sinfonia Toronto (2023) and Scarborough Philharmonic’s Canadian Panorama (2017).

    Dedicated to music education, Danielle has worked as a coach with the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra, the Durham Youth Orchestra, the Etobicoke Youth Band, and worked as a clinician at schools throughout the Greater Toronto Area and the Halifax Regional Municipality. She has a passion for outreach and performed more than eighty school concerts across Ontario as a member of Quintroversy, a woodwind quintet supported by Prologue Performing Arts that brought classical music to young audiences between 2017 and 2020.

    Danielle holds a Master of Music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, an Honours Bachelor of Music with High Distinction from Wilfrid Laurier University, and an Artist Diploma from The Glenn Gould School at The Royal Conservatory of Music. Her principal teachers include Dr. Mark Ostoich, Sarah Jeffrey, and Jim Mason. During her training she performed with the National Academy Orchestra of Canada, L’Orchestre de la Francophonie, the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, the Orford Arts Centre Academy Orchestra, and the National Arts Centre’s Young Artists Program. She is also an alumna of the Kitchener-Waterloo Youth Symphony and the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra.

  • Principal clarinetist with the Canadian Opera Company orchestra, Dominic Desautels is one of the most sought-after wind instrumentalists in Canada as a soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue. He made his debut as a soloist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 2003 at the age of 21 — being invited the same season as acting principal clarinetist (and youngest player to be hired in this position) with the TSO. He has since been a guest soloist with several orchestras in Canada and abroad, including Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais, Symphony Nova Scotia, Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Sherbrooke, Sinfonia Lanaudière, Orchestre de la Francophonie and Orchestre de l’Université de Montréal. Dominic appears as a guest artist and faculty in several music festivals across the country and beyond, notably since 2013 at Scotia Festival of Music with its fine history of clarinet artists, initiated with Robert Marcellus in the 1980s. As co-artistic director of The Parcival Project chamber ensemble, he has toured in Canada and South America. Other tours include 40 recitals presented by Jeunesses Musicales of Canada during their 2012-2013 season.

    Before his position as principal clarinetist at the COC since 2017, he also held the principal clarinet chair at the Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais in Brazil (2008-2012), Symphony Nova Scotia (2012-2017) and Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra (2018-2022). Dominic started playing the clarinet at age 15 and studied mainly with JeanFrançois Normand, Robert Riseling and Joaquin Valdepeñas. More recently, he has received guidance from François Benda and James Campbell. After studies at several institutions such as the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and the Glenn Gould School, he graduated from the Université de Montréal in 2007.

    The winner of several competitions, he was the first clarinetist to ever win a top prize at the 33rd edition of the prestigious International Stepping Stone at the Canadian Music Competition. He is now in demand as an adjudicator at institutions such as the Glenn Gould School, University of Toronto, the Concours at the Conservatoires de Musique du Québec, the national finals of the Canadian Music Competition and many more. He has taught at Dalhousie and Acadia Universities, and from 2019 to 2022 was the adjunct professor of clarinet at the University of Toronto.

    Dominic Desautels plays on Schwenk & Seggelke clarinets made of mopane wood and handcrafted in Bamberg, Germany, and is an Endorsing Artist for companies Légère Reeds and Silverstein ligatures.

  • Named by CBC as one of the 30 most promising young musicians in Canada in 2023, Thomas Roy-Rochette is the second bassoonist with the National Ballet of Canada Orchestra from Toronto and the principal bassoonist with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra. He has received several awards, including First Prize at the Pentaèdre-Youkali Competition in 2022 and the OSQ Foundation Prize in 2022, for which he performed as a soloist.

  • Mikhailo Babiak has served as principal horn of both l'Orchestre Symphonique de Québec and l'Orchestre Symphonique du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean since 2022. Prior to his move to Québec he played for three seasons as principal horn of the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto. Mikhailo is regularly invited to perform as guest principal horn with the National Arts Centre, Vancouver Symphony, and Manitoba Chamber orchestras, and has performed and toured frequently with his hometown Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

    He is an alumnus of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, the National Orchestral Institute and Festival, the Banff Centre Orchestra and Master Class program, the National Academy Orchestra of Canada, and the Pacific Music Festival in Japan.

    Mikhailo received his Bachelor of Music and Performance Diploma from The Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, before earning a Master of Music from Northwestern University. In 2014 he returned to the Royal Conservatory of Music as a fellow in their Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Residency. His teachers include Gabe Radford, Neil Deland, Chris Gongos, Jon Boen, and Gail Williams.

  • 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.

  • Renowned for his “pianist-painter” artistry that transforms sound into vivid colour (La Presse), Philip Chiu is recognized as one of Canada’s most distinctive pianists, celebrated for his brilliant technique, poetic sensibility, and captivating stage presence. Winner of the 2023 JUNO Award for Best Classical Solo Album and the first-ever recipient of the Mécénat Musica Prix Goyer, one of Canada’s largest classical music prizes, he has earned a reputation for performances that combine virtuosic mastery with an instinctive ability to create genuine connections with audiences.

    A sought-after soloist and chamber musician, Chiu has performed across Canada, the United States, Japan, and France, appearing in major venues and festivals and collaborating with many of today’s foremost artists, including James Ehnes, Emmanuel Pahud, Régis Pasquier, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Bomsori Kim, Johannes Moser, and the New Orford String Quartet. His longstanding duo with violinist Jonathan Crow has become beloved among chamber music audiences, and his commitment to bringing music to communities nationwide is reflected in more than fourteen extensive cross-Canada tours with Prairie Debut, Jeunesses Musicales Canada, and Debut Atlantic.

    Chiu’s discography underscores both his deep affinity for the classical tradition and his dedication to amplifying contemporary voices. His JUNO-winning album Fables (ATMA Classique) and its successor Voyages—a tribute to his birthplace of Hong Kong—form part of an ambitious triptych project weaving works by Ravel and Debussy with new commissions from Canadian composers such as Anishinaabekwe artist Barbara Assiginaak and Alice Ping Yee Ho. He has also recorded John Burge’s 24 Preludes for Solo Piano (Centrediscs), Tapeo with cellist Cameron Crozman (ATMA), Night Light with flautist Lara Deutsch (Leaf Music), and a collaboration with Pentaèdre honoring Jacques Hétu. His recordings for labels including ATMA Classique, Warner Music, Analekta, Leaf Music, and Centrediscs are frequently broadcast on BBC Radio 3, France Musique, ICI Musique, and CBC Music.

    Authentic, imaginative, and deeply human, Philip Chiu continues to redefine what it means to be a classical pianist in the 21st century—an artist whose performances invite listeners on an emotional journey while affirming his role as both a cultural storyteller and a leading ambassador for Canadian music.

  • 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.

  • Canadian pianist Janelle Fung has performed in concert from coast to coast in Canada, including tours with Prairie Debut and Jeunesses Musicales du Canada.  Winner of the “Artist of the Year” award from the BC Touring Council in 2014, her international concerts have taken her to over twenty countries on five continents.  An avid chamber musician, Ms. Fung has appeared in concert with the Ying Quartet, New York Woodwind Quintet, Timothy Chooi and Matt Haimovitz.  Her first solo album, Aubade, received glowing reviews and a nomination for the Prix Opus for album of the year.

    Ms. Fung has been a prize winner in numerous national and international competitions, including the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition, the Concours OSM-Standard Life, and the Canadian Music Competition.  She has been featured on radio stations nationally and internationally including CBC, Radio-Canada, Classical 96.3 FM, NPR, and Radio France.

    Ms. Fung’s interest in opera has led to collaborations with Nicole Cabell, Teresa Stratas, and William Warfield.  She has toured twice as Touring Artistic Director for opera productions presented by Jeunesses Musicales du Canada and has been on faculty at Highlands Opera Studio since 2016.

    Born in Vancouver, Canada, Janelle Fung began her piano studies at the age of four. Her principal teachers have included Nelita True, Julian Martin and Marc Durand. Ms. Fung holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and The Juilliard School. She has made her home in Montreal since 2010 and joined the faculty of the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal as Professor of Piano and Chamber Music in the fall of 2022.

  • 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. 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.

    In addition to his work as Artistic Director of The Winnipeg Chamber Music Society, Dr. Moroz appears regularly in recital with his wife, the outstanding Canadian violinist Gwen Hoebig, and has been a member of the Hoebig/Moroz Trio since 1979, with whom he has performed much of the significant music written for piano trio. He has performed for the Governor General of Canada, and was a featured soloist in a Celebratory Concert marking the Golden Jubilee of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, which was performed in her presence and telecast live across Canada.

    A devoted advocate of new music, Dr. Moroz has given premieres of dozens of solo and ensemble works, including concertos by Kelly-Marie Murphy (Hammer of the Sorceress) and Gary Kulesha (Partita for piano and orchestra), which was written especially for him. He made his debut in Shanghai performing a recital with the acclaimed American cellist Lynn Harrell and the Dvorak quintet with the Shanghai String Quartet. He has appeared in recital with the renowned Taiwanese-American violinist Cho-Liang Lin, and with the eminent viola virtuoso Roberto Diaz. As well, he has appeared as solo pianist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, performing Alexander Scriabin's legendary score Prometheus. He has toured the Prairie provinces with saxophonist Allen Harrington under the auspices of Prairie Debut, and also performed as solo pianist in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy and Stravinsky’s Petrouchka with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. His recording From the Heartland with violinist Erika Raum was nominated for Classical Recording of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards.

    Dr. Moroz was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal by the Government of Canada, in recognition of his contribution to the Arts.

    Dr. Moroz has been Artistic Director of The Winnipeg Chamber Music Society since 1987. In 2000, he began his long association with the Morningside Music Bridge (MMB) as Coordinator of the Piano Faculty. MMB is an International summer program which gathers together the finest young violinists, cellists, and pianists from across China, Canada, the United States and Europe. He has since toured China regularly, performing, teaching and giving masterclasses at all the major Schools and Conservatories there including those in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu.

  • Versatile Grammy-nominated pianist JOHN NOVACEK regularly tours the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia as soloist and chamber musician/collaborator. The past several seasons included solo concerto performances with the Mexico City Philharmonic, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Springfield (MA) Symphony Orchestra, Traverse (MI) Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, National Academy Orchestra of Canada, Symphony Nova Scotia,  and the orchestras of Festival Mozaic, CCSMF, and Mendocino Music Festival. Regular performance venues include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s David Geffen and Alice Tully Halls, Kennedy Center, Chicago’s Symphony Center, Hollywood Bowl, Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, London’s Wigmore Hall and Barbican, and Tokyo’s Suntory, Opera City, and Bunkamura Halls.

    Novacek is a frequent festival invitee, having participated in Mostly Mozart, Aspen, Great Lakes, SummerFest La Jolla, Cape Cod, Caramoor, Music in the Vineyards (Napa), Colorado College, Festival Mozaic (San Luis Obispo), Ravinia, Seattle Chamber Music, Wolf Trap, Mimir (Fort Worth and Melbourne, AU); 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 familiar media presence, Novacek is regularly showcased on NPR’s Performance Today, St. Paul Sunday and (as composer/performer) A Prairie Home Companion, and has recently been prominently featured in discussion and demonstration on the highly-successful PBS/Great Performances series Now Hear This, hosted by Scott Yoo.

    A highly sought-after collaborator and chamber musician, Novacek has performed with Leila Josefowicz, Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Cho-Liang Lin, Lynn Harrell, Emmanuel Pahud, Jeremy Denk, Renaud Capuçon, Truls Mørk, Matt Haimovitz, and Elmar Oliveira, as well as with members of the Emerson, Ying, Pacifica, St. Lawrence, Guarneri, Miró and Tokyo String Quartets, and Beaux Arts Trio; also with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra in an orchestral obbligato role. Novacek is a member of the multifaceted piano trio Intersection, with violinist Laura Frautschi and cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper.

    As a tireless advocate for contemporary music, Novacek has worked closely with John Adams, Jennifer Higdon, John Harbison, George Rochberg, Gabriela Lena Frank, Kenji Bunch, Roberto Sierra and John Zorn, and participated in numerous world-premieres. Novacek himself is an active and well-regarded composer whose works have been taken up by many prominent soloists and ensembles; commissioning entities include the Pacific Symphony, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Liaison, Ying Quartet, Manasse/Nakamatsu Duo, The 5 Browns, Concertante, Millennium, Eastman School of Music, Scotia Festival, Schubert Club and Seattle Commissioning Club. In addition, Novacek has arranged for The Three Tenors, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, and pop diva Diana Ross, and served stints as assistant pianist-arranger to Hollywood legends Lalo Schifrin and John Williams.

    A much-recorded artist, Novacek's recordings have garnered numerous international awards (Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, Grammy nomination for 'Best Chamber Music Performance'); labels include Philips, Nonesuch, Naxos, Arabesque, Warner Classics, Sony/BMG, Koch International, New World, Universal Classics, Ambassador, Azica, Marquis, Arkay, Neuma, IBS Classical, Pony Canyon, Four Winds, and EMI Classics.

    Novacek received his M.Mus. at Mannes, studying piano with Peter Serkin, and chamber music with Felix Galimir and Julius Levine.

    John Novacek is a Steinway Artist.

  • The Montreal-based quartet ARCHITEK PERCUSSION creates artistic experiences that entertain, captivate, and challenge audiences, often simultaneously. Founded in 2012 by members of McGill University’s Percussion Studio, Architek is equally comfortable performing classic quartet repertoire and exploring new terrain through commissions and premieres, often using instrument batteries that extend far beyond the traditional arsenal of instruments associated with percussion. Architek regularly performs in Montreal, having partnered with Codes d’Acces, Innovations en Concert, Le Vivier, Suoni per Il Popolo, Montréal/Nouvelles Musiques, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the Montreal Museum of Fine Art, the Pointe-a-Calliere Museum, and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT). In addition, the quartet has collaborated extensively with the Montreal Arts Council’s CAM En Tournée program, which presents free, accessible arts programming across the 19 boroughs and 15 independent municipalities that comprise the Island of Montreal.

    Architek regularly concertizes and conducts educational outreach across Canada, collaborating with New Music Edmonton, the Winnipeg New Music Festival, The Cluster Festival of Music and Integrated Art (Winnipeg), Jeunesses Musicales Canada, Debut Atlantic, Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, Music on Main (Vancouver), The University of Toronto New Music Festival, The Music Gallery (Toronto), New Music Concerts (Toronto), the Scotia Festival of Music (Halifax), and nearly all of Canada’s post-secondary music institutions. Architek’s international touring has taken them across Northern Europe in collaboration with the Ultima Festival (Oslo), NyMusikk Bergen, NTNU (Trondheim), Fylkingen (Stockholm), the Universities of Glasgow and Huddersfield (UK), Rainy Days Festival (Luxembourg), and the Royal College of Music (Stockholm).

    Architek has commissioned and/or premiered over 60 works by composers from around the world. Several of these commissions 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), Six Changes (Architek Percussion 2022), Call Sign (Architek Percussion, 2022), and Apparitions vol. I (Olivier Alary / Line Imprints, 2023). Architek’s remarkably diverse artistic output is guided by the quartet’s belief that, given proper context, every audience member should feel welcomed, included, and challenged.

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