Artistic Directors
Joan Blackman
Artistic Director
Artistic Director of Vancouver’s Vetta Chamber Music Society, Ms. Blackman enjoys a vibrant and varied musical life. She served as Associate Concertmaster of the Vancouver Symphony for many years and has performed and recorded as soloist with the Vancouver Symphony, Victoria Symphony, CBC Radio Orchestra, Turning Point Ensemble and the Banff Festival Orchestra. She also teaches privately and has given masterclasses throughout B.C.
Ms. Blackman is known throughout Canada and the U.S. as a fine chamber musician and has performed with premier groups such as the Penderecki String Quartet, the Purcell String Quartet and the Gryphon Trio. Besides performing and curating the Vetta Chamber Music series in Vancouver, she works with the Canadian Music Centre in their Celebration concert series. Joan is also a member of the Sea and Sky collective which has released two CDs and performs throughout B.C.
Joan has appeared on numerous series including Music in the Morning, Music Fest Vancouver, the Jeffrey Concerts in London, Ont., and the American String Project. She has also appeared at summer festivals including the Hornby Island Festival, the Pender Harbour Chamber Music Festival, Kaimerata, and the Victoria Summer Music Festival.
“Your heart would need to be made of stone not to have loved Joan Blackman’s splendid solo “. “Shapelier phrases and sweeter tone would be hard to imagine”, “a ravishing tone”, “first rate soloist”, “exchanged lines meltingly in a flawless performance” “playing with lyricism, precision, and evident joy”, are some of the accolades that have graced Joan’s reviews.
Eugene Osadchy
Artistic Director Emeritus - in Memoriam
Cellist Eugene Osadchy was hailed for having "the most refined and balanced string playing" by the New York Times and has been called "a paragon of Russian élan" by the Vancouver Sun. Newsday writes he was "a soloist with a clearly defined musical personality" and was noted for his "extraordinary playing" by the Dallas Morning News. "Mr. Osadchy possessed a very rich tone and was steeped in the great classical tradition. It is good to know that there are ardent keepers of the flame", wrote the New York Sun.
Eugene Osadchy was professor of cello at the University of North Texas and was principal cellist with the Plano Symphony, Dallas Chamber Orchestra and Richardson Symphony.
Eugene Osadchy regularly performed and gave master classes throughout Canada, the United States, Mexico, Europe, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan and South Africa. He had performed at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center, and Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto. In addition, Mr. Osadchy made frequent appearances at the Bargemusic series in New York, the Autumn Classic series in Anchorage, Alaska, Chamber Music International in Dallas, Strings in the Mountains at Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and at the International Niagara Music Festival in Canada.
Mr. Osadchy had participated in numerous music festivals around the world including the Amsterdam and Groningen international festivals in Holland, Stellenbosch International Music Festival in South Africa, Music at Blair Athol in Scotland, Castelfranko di Veneto Festival in Italy, Mozart Festival in Woodstock, Illinois, as well as Vancouver, Victoria, Banff, Seattle, Sitka, Durango, the Mozart Festival in Long Island, NY and Maui.
Born in Kiev to a family of professional musicians, Eugene Osadchy started his musical education at the age of five on the piano and a year later on the cello. After graduating from The Special Music School for Talented and Gifted Children, he continued his education at the Kiev State Conservatory of Music and graduated with honors. Mr. Osadchy became a Laureate of the Republic of Ukraine Cello Competition.
Other musical credits of Mr. Osadchy include recordings with the CBC Radio Orchestra which have received numerous Juno awards - the Canadian equivalent of a GRAMMY. He had composed two film scores and had several CDs on the Melodia label featuring his own compositions and arrangements. Mr. Osadchy had more than 100 arrangements for various cello ensembles. Since 2000 Eugene Osadchy had presented his annual Summer Cello Clinic in Dallas, TX.
Eugene Osadchy had won critical acclaim for his recently released CD Russian Romances with pianist Anastasia Markina. A second CD of German Lieder Nacht und Träume (with Anastasia Markina, piano) was released in 2014.