Artists & Performers
Joan Blackman
Artistic director / violin
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, Ontario, 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.
Rosemary Georgeson
First Nations Consultant
Rose came into her community art’s career later in life, after working for many years as a truck driver, resort cook and a deckhand on the fishboats, as a means of raising three children on her own. Rose came into control of her own life in 2000.
The recipient of the 2009 Vancouver Mayor’s Award recognizing her as an emerging artist in community arts, Rosemary has applied her talents in a variety of situations in the Downtown Eastside and throughout B.C. & the Northwest Territories and into the Yukon.
Rosemary has provided outreach and story consultation for Vancouver Moving Theatre’s In the Heart of a City: The Downtown Eastside Community Play and co-wrote and provided cast hospitality for We’re All In This Together: The Shadows Project.
She is Urban Ink Productions Community Liaison and worked closely with Marie Clements on the CBC radio drama Hours of Water involving 100’s of participants – decades of women who lived and worked in the drowning west coast fishing industry.
Rosemary was associate producer of From Where We Speak (a theatrical bridge of words between two islands created by Penalakut and Galiano Island Aboriginal students).
Rosemary worked as project leader of The Squaw Hall Community Arts Project: A Community Remembers – a documentary film created by youth and elders from an Aboriginal perspective that was created for and within the Williams Lake community by co-producers urban ink and the Twin Fish Theatre Collective (Nelson).
Rosemary has been touring “Women In Fish” throughout B.C. and other parts of Canada. “Women in Fish” has been adapted as a two women touring show.
Rosemary also collaborated with Renae Morriseau and Savannah Walling on the “Story Weaving Project”, a contemporary story of urban Aboriginal life, which she was also project co-ordinator.
Rosemary’s first documentary “We Have Stories” screened in the fall of 2013 at “The Heart of the City Festival” and was also part of “Indigenous Women In Film” Screening / Discussion / Q&A at Liu Institute for Global Issues at UBC in May 2014.
Rosemary has just completed her four-month residency as Vancouver Public Library’s Aboriginal Storyteller in Residence 2014.Since 2015, Rosemary has collaborated with “Vetta Chamber Music” in ongoing projects of cultural reconciliation.
Yariv Aloni
Viola
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.
Jose Franch-Ballester
Clarinet
The multi-award-winning Spanish clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester (FrAHnk Bai-yess-TAIR) is considered one of the finest classical soloists and chamber music artists of his generation. He has been hailed for his “technical wizardry and tireless enthusiasm” (The New York Times), his “rich, resonant tone” (Birmingham News), and his “subtle and consummate artistry” (Santa Barbara Independent). The recipient of a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2008, and winner of both the Young Concert Artists and Astral Artists auditions, he is a solo artist and chamber musician in great demand.
As a concerto soloist Mr. Franch-Ballester made his New York debut in 2006 with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Lincoln Center. He has also performed with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Philharmonic, Louisiana Philharmonic, Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, and various orchestras in his native Spain.
Mr. Franch-Ballester made his New York recital debut at the 92nd Street Y, and has appeared in recital at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Iowa State University, the Buffalo Chamber Music Society, and the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. He performs regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center both in New York City and on tour, and also acts as principal clarinet of the Santa Barbara-based chamber music collective Camerata Pacifica.
U.S. festival appearances include the Saratoga Chamber Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Mainly Mozart, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, Chamber Music Northwest, and Skaneateles Festival. Abroad, Mr. Franch-Ballester has appeared at the Usedomer Musikfestival in Germany, the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the Cartagena Festival Internacional de Música in Colombia, the Kon-Tiki Festival in Norway, and the Young Concert Artists Festival in Tokyo.
Jae-Won Bang
Violin
Violinist Jae-Won Bang received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in Violin Performance from the Colburn School and Yale School of Music respectively, and Master of Music in Historical Performance from the Juilliard School. In 2012, she was featured on the NEXT Young Artist series on CBC Radio Two with pianist Ryo Yanagitani, as the first artist to be heard on both baroque and modern violins.
Jae-Won has collaborated with Clive Greensmith, Gil Kalish, Ronald Leonard, Rachel Podger, Arnold Steinhardt, and has performed in Weill Hall and Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, Kennedy Centre, Alice Tully Hall, the Greene Space at WQXR, and le poisson rouge. She has also appeared as a Young Artist with Da Camera Houston for the 2015/2016 season. Her teachers include Gerald and Toni Stanick, Robert Lipsett, Ani Kavafian, Laurie Smukler, and Cho-Liang Lin on violin and Robert Mealy, Cynthia Roberts and Monica Huggett on baroque violin. As an orchestral musician, Jae-Won has previously performed in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. Since the 2016/2017 season, she has been a member of the first violin section in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
Angela Cheng
Piano
Consistently praised for her brilliant technique, tonal beauty, and superb musicianship, Canadian pianist Angela Cheng is one of her country’s national treasures.
During the 2019/2020 season, Ms. Cheng served as an Artistic Partner of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra where she will perform three concertos throughout the season. Other highlights of the season include return engagements with the symphonies of Vancouver, Victoria, and Nova Scotia. In the U.S., Ms. Cheng performed with the symphonies of Fort Worth, Oklahoma City, Richmond and Canton, as well as the IRIS Chamber Orchestra.
Angela Cheng has given concerts in Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and the 92nd Street Y in New York. She has also performed in the Musikverein in Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St. Petersburg and the Sydney Opera House. She has appeared at the Verbier, Edinburgh, Miyazaki, St. Petersburg/Stars of the White Nights, and Enescu/Romania Festivals.
An avid recitalist, Angela Cheng appears regularly on recital series throughout the United States and Canada and has collaborated with numerous chamber ensembles including the Takács, Colorado, and Vogler quartets. Festival appearances have included Banff, Bravo! Vail, Chautauqua, Colorado, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla’s SummerFest, Ravinia, Vancouver, the Festival International de Lanaudière in Quebec, Toronto Summer Music Festival, the Cartegena International Music Festival in Colombia and the Schleswig-Holstein festival in Germany.
Ingrid Chiang
Bassoon
Ingrid Chiang was that little kid who loved to perform - to be the centre of attention, to get up on stage and tell stories through music, to bask in the approval of her proud parents in the audience.
Today she’s a veteran of the Vancouver music scene - a highly respected bassoon soloist, orchestral musician and teacher. And that love of being in the spotlight continues.
Ingrid grew up in Taipei, Taiwan. She joined a choir at 4, began piano at 5. At the Conservatory she majored in piano. In Grade 3 she had to choose an orchestral instrument to learn as well. She tried violin (until her dad complained it sounded like a “cat getting skinned.”) Eventually, her Mom suggested that “beautiful
long instrument” - the bassoon. Ingrid found her voice.
At 15, she emigrated with her family to Vancouver and the music lessons continued. Ingrid received her BMus from UBC and played bassoon and piano with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada for five years.
She’s been Principal Bassoon of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra for over 20 years, is in her 10th season with the adventurous Turning Point Ensemble, serves on faculty at UBC, is a mentor for local amateur orchestras and is in constant demand as a studio musician.
She’s also a fashion maven and a fitness freak.
Over a decade ago, Ingrid had breast cancer. The survival rate was 10 per cent. The invasive treatments saved her life, but weakened her body. She found a gym with a cross-trek regimen that helped her regain her health and stamina and gave her the strength to support the hours of practicing, rehearsals and concerts that a professional musician endures. She’s now training other musicians to improve both their physical and mental fitness.
“I’m constantly learning something new,” she says. “I want my students, my family and my friends to see and hear music in any genre as part of everyday life, part of basic education and a way to express oneself. “I’m very lucky”.
Emilie Grimes-Bouchard
Viola
Originally from Ottawa, Emilie Grimes holds a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Michael Tree and Steven Tenenbom. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Montreal under the tutelage of Neal Gripp.
As an orchestral and chamber musician, Emilie has performed in venues worldwide. She toured with the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra in Germany, and appeared on Hong Kong’s Radio 4 with the Vancouver based Koerner Quartet. She has also appeared on WQXR in New York, playing baroque viola with Juilliard’s historical performance ensemble, Juilliard415, and was featured in the National Arts Centre’s “My First NAC” showcase concert series. She regularly takes part in series around Vancouver, including the VSO Chamber Players, UBC’s Wednesdays at Noon, Classics at the Gordon Smith Gallery, the Vancouver Chamber Music Society, and has performed as a guest with the NU:BC new music ensemble. She was appointed Adjunct Professor of Viola at the University of British Columbia from 2017 to 2019.
Emilie joined the viola section of the Vancouver Symphony in 2012, and recently won the position of Assistant Principal Viola.
Alvin Chow
Piano
Alvin Chow has appeared throughout North America and Asia as an orchestral soloist and recitalist. In addition, he has performed extensively in duo-piano recitals with his wife, Angela Cheng, and his twin brother, Alan. A native of Miami, Florida, he graduated summa cum laude and Co-Valedictorian (with his brother) at the University of Maryland, where he was a student of Nelita True. Mr. Chow received the Victor Herbert Prize in Piano upon graduation from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Sasha Gorodnitzki, and held the Joseph Battista Memorial Scholarship at Indiana University as a student of Menahem Pressler.
Mr. Chow has been presented as recitalist in such cities as Hong Kong, Shanghai, Vienna, Montreal, Toronto, New York, and Los Angeles, and has appeared as soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Pan-Asia Symphony in Hong Kong, Shanghai Philharmonic, and Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, among others.
Mr. Chow has presented numerous master classes and lectures at music institutions throughout the United States and abroad, including the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Colburn School, Eastman School of Music, and Indiana University. He has taught and performed at numerous summer festivals, including the Shanghai Piano Festival, Banff Piano Master Classes, and the Lake Como Summer Piano School in Italy.
Mr. Chow is a member of the artist faculty at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He served as Chair of the Piano Department from 2007-19, and from 2011-14 he was the Ruth Strickland Gardner Professor of Music. Awarded Oberlin’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2016, Mr. Chow was appointed Director of the Division of Keyboard Studies in 2019.
David Gillham
Violin
Canadian Violinist David Gillham regularly appears as chamber musician, in recital and as soloist in major cities and venues across four continents. A sought after teacher, Mr. Gillham is an Associate Professor of Violin at the University of British Columbia School of Music and is the director of the Violin Programme at the Domaine Forget International Music Festival and Academy. Mr. Gillham has given masterclasses throughout North and South America, China, Taiwan and South Africa.
Mr. Gillham was for many years a member of the acclaimed Arianna String Quartet (USA) and is a founding member of the Ridge Piano Trio and the violin and piano duo “Gillham-Iinuma”.
In 2002, Mr. Gillham received the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in honour of his contributions to the arts in Canada.
Mr. Gillham performs on a Carlo Tononi violin made in 1725, Venice.
Emilie Grimes
Viola
Originally from Ottawa, Emilie Grimes holds a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Michael Tree and Steven Tenenbom. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Montreal under the tutelage of Neal Gripp.
As an orchestral and chamber musician, Emilie has performed in venues worldwide. She toured with the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra in Germany, and appeared on Hong Kong’s Radio 4 with the Vancouver based Koerner Quartet. She has also appeared on WQXR in New York, playing baroque viola with Juilliard’s historical performance ensemble, Juilliard415, and was featured in the National Arts Centre’s "My First NAC” showcase concert series.
She regularly takes part in series around Vancouver, including the VSO Chamber Players, UBC’s Wednesdays at Noon, Classics at the Gordon Smith Gallery, the Vancouver Chamber Music Society, and has performed as a guest with the NU:BC new music ensemble. She was appointed Adjunct Professor of Viola at the University of British Columbia from 2017 to 2019.
Emilie joined the viola section of the Vancouver Symphony in 2012, and recently won the position of Assistant Principal Viola.
In recent years she has appeared regularly on concert stages in every combination from duo through large ensemble, as soloist with orchestra to chamber collaborator. She has been a partner of such esteemed artists as cellist Harvey Shapiro, violinist Robert Davidovici, and flutists Julius Baker and Bonita Boyd among others. She is a founding member of Vancouver’s Turning Point Ensemble, the Yarilo Ensemble and Sea and Sky (violinist Joan Blackman; clarinetist François Houle; saxophonist Julia Nolan). This season’s highlights will include presentations of the complete Beethoven Cello Sonata Cycle with Pamela Highbaugh Aloni of the LaFayette Quartet along with several livestream and video performances around the province.
Christina Hutten
Harpsichord
Organist and harpsichordist Christina Hutten has presented recitals in Canada, the United States, and Europe, including performances in concert series hosted by the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, the Hooglandsekerk in Leiden, Early Music Vancouver, the Universities of British Columbia and Calgary, and others.
She performs regularly with Pacific Baroque Orchestra and has appeared as concerto soloist with the Okanagan Symphony, the Vancouver Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra, and the Arizona State University Chamber Orchestra.
Christina is also an enthusiastic teacher. She coaches and coordinates the early music ensembles at the University of British Columbia and has given masterclasses and workshops at institutions including Brandon University, the University of Manitoba, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada’s National Music Centre in Calgary, and the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute.
Funded by a generous grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, she pursued historical keyboard studies in Europe with Francesco Cera, François Espinasse, and Bernard Winsemius. She participated in the Britten-Pears Programme, led by Andreas Scholl and Tamar Halperin, for which she was awarded the Loewen Prize.
Christina obtained a Master’s Degree in Organ Performance from Arizona State University under the direction of Kimberly Marshall and an Advanced Certificate in Harpsichord Performance from the University of Toronto, where she studied with Charlotte Nediger. She is now a doctoral candidate in musicology at UBC.
Amy Laing
Cello
Originally from Nanaimo B.C. Amy earned her Bachelor of Music degree from the HARID Conservatory in Boca Raton Florida, and her Master of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Prior to the arrival of COVID, Amy was delighted to be in her first season as Principal cellist in the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. She played regularly with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, as well as with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company, the Windsor Symphony, Niagara Symphony, Thunder Bay Symphony, and also held a six-month contract with Symphony Nova Scotia in Halifax.
In 2011/12 Amy served as acting principal cello in the Victoria Symphony and taught at the Victoria Conservatory of Music, and again joined the orchestra playing principal cello for the second part of their 2016 season. Amy is an active chamber musician, and was a member of the Madawaska String Quartet, specializing in the performance and cultivation of contemporary works. Amy has also been the solo cellist in numerous major musical theatre productions, most recently “Hamilton”.
Beyond the strictly classical music genre Amy has worked with Toronto’s Art of Time Ensemble, SoulPepper Theatre Company, Toronto Dance Theatre, the Stratford Festival and Music in the Barns. She has performed or recorded with leading artists including Stevie Wonder, Blue Rodeo, Jesse Cook, The Barenaked Ladies, Jim Cuddy, Steven Page, Sarah Slean, Molly Johnson, Royal Wood, Amelia Curran, Donovan Woods, and played a Canadian tour with Blue Rodeo including a performance in the JUNO’s.
Amy has played in music festivals around the world including the Spoleto Festivals in Italy and in Charleston, The National Orchestral Institute, the Banff Arts Festival, Musica Nel Chiostro in Tuscany, Cork Opera Festival Ireland, COSI festival in Italy, the Northern Lights Festival in Ajijic Mexico, Festival of Sound in Parry Sound, the Phil Dywer Music Festival in Qualicum BC, Salt Spring Chamber Music Festival, Tafelmusik’s Winter Institute, and also toured China with her cello quartet.
On the positive side of the reconfiguration this pandemic has caused in her life, Amy is now happy to call Vancouver Island home once again and is thrilled to be joining Victoria Baroque this season. Amy plays on a Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume cello.
Michelle Mares
Piano
A native of Vancouver, Canada, Michelle Mares began her musical studies at the age of four as a student of the Suzuki Piano Method when the Vancouver Academy of Music was in its infancy. She amassed a great deal of performing experience as a child prodigy and drew the attention of many notable musicians, including András Schiff, Ivan Moravec and Gaby Casadesus.
At the age of 10, she gave her first full length recital and in the same year, appeared for the first time as a soloist with the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, Austria. At the age of 12, she was personally invited by the world renowned pedagogue, Karl Heinz Kämmerling to study with him in Germany and worked with him there for a year. From that point on, she routinely won top prizes in competitions including the CBC Young Performer’s Competition (second prize in 1987 at the age of 15 and again in 1995 with 1st prize), the Hamburg Steinway Competition (1983), the Montreal Symphony Competition (1986), the S.A.C.E.M. Prize at the Casadesus International Competition (1993) and at the age of 17, top prize at the 1988 Geneva International Competition. She has also been awarded the Canada Council B grant on various occasions.
She has been mentored by some of the world’s most eminent musicians, studying with Canada’s own Jane Coop and subsequently, Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory. She received her performance degree at the Mozarteum Conservatory in Salzburg, Austria in 1995, after which, she moved to London, England where she enjoyed the rare privilege of studying with Alfred Brendel. In those same years, she also came into the orbit of the great Hungarian composer, György Kurtág who had an enormous influence on her as a musician. It was at this point that she decided to settle in Europe.
She has lead an active performing career in both Canada and Europe spanning the entire repertoire as a soloist and chamber musician. She has performed with virtually every major orchestra in Canada as a soloist and her performances have been heard regularly on national and international radio broadcast. Some of the orchestras she has appeared with in Europe include Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Polish Chamber Orchestra and the Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra.
After nearly two decades in Europe, Ms Mares returned to her native West Coast of Canada in 2008. She taught for eight years at the University of Victoria and is currently settled in Vancouver, BC with her two children where she is on the piano faculty at the University of British Columbia. A popular guest adjudicator at music competitions throughout western Canada and the United States, Ms Mares is also a regular master teacher at the Victoria Summer Piano Academy which takes place each summer on the University of Victoria campus. In her teaching, she draws from a deep reservoir of musical, professional and life experience.
Molly MacKinnon
Violin
Molly MacKinnon is a violinist and collaborative artist based on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish people. Fortunate to grow up in the thriving arts community of Nelson, BC, Molly studied with former Vancouver Opera Orchestra and CBC Radio Orchestra violinist Wendy Herbison before moving to the coast to continue her studies at the University of British Columbia.
Molly has developed a strong passion for theatre and interdisciplinary work. She has been featured in a number of productions including The Idiot (Neworld Theatre/VMT), STATIONARY: A Recession-Era Musical (Delinquent Theatre), The Tempest (Bard on the Beach), The Night’s Mare (Caravan Farm Theatre), Les Filles Du Roi (Urban Ink), Double Happiness (Music on Main), and most recently, a digital run of Good Things To Do (Rumble Theatre). Along with playwright Christine Quintana, Molly is the creator of Never The Last, a genre-bending theatre/concert piece based around the life and work of 20th century Canadian composer and violinist Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté, which received five Jessie Richardson Theatre award nominations, and won in the Special Achievement Award category for outstanding interdisciplinary collaboration.
Christi Meyers
Violin
An accomplished performer on both modern and baroque violin, Christi Meyers has played a prominent role in the musical life of Victoria for 20 years. She has been Assistant Concertmaster of the Victoria Symphony since 2001 and has appeared several times as soloist with the orchestra. She is a founding member of the period performance group, Victoria Baroque and is a member of Vancouver’s Pacific Baroque orchestra, frequently participating both in orchestral and chamber music for Early Music Vancouver. In 2011, while on sabbatical in the Netherlands, she was assistant concertmaster of Sinfonia Rotterdam (NL), and a member of European Camerata (UK).
A dedicated educator, she has been on faculty of University of Victoria, Victoria Conservatory of Music, and had a long association with the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra as a violin coach.
She has recently become the Artistic Director of Township Classics, an Esquimalt based chamber music concert series that funds the Youth Mentorship Program, an initiative that provides scholarships, mentoring and concert opportunities for talented teens from the public school system in the greater Victoria area.
Born in Montreal and raised in northern Alberta, Christi holds degrees from McGill and Western Universities under the tutelage of Gwen Thompson-Robinow and Sonia Jelinkova. She is the mom of two teenagers and one ginger cat with attitude.
Ian Parker
Piano
Magnetic, easy-going, and delightfully articulate, Canadian pianist/conductor Ian Parker captivates audiences wherever he goes. As a pianist, he has appeared with top Canadian orchestras including the symphonies of Toronto, Quebec, Vancouver, Victoria, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Orchestre Métropolitain, and the Calgary Philharmonic. In the U.S., orchestral highlights include the San Francisco, Cincinnati, National, Santa Barbara, Richmond, and Honolulu symphonies as well as the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom, to name just a few. During the 2019/20 season, Ian will make his debuts with the Savannah and Bakersfield symphonies, and will return to the Pensacola and Okanagan symphonies, among others.
In addition to his work at the keyboard, Ian is currently in his second season as music director and principal conductor of the VAM Symphony Orchestra at the Vancouver Academy of Music. Working with some of Canada’s most promising young orchestral players, Ian programs and conducts four concerts per season in Vancouver’s historic Orpheum Theatre. In July 2020 he will lead the orchestra in a 50th anniversary tour throughout China. He is also artistic director of the Resonate chamber music series at the Kay Meek Centre in North Vancouver.
An enthusiastic recitalist, Ian has performed across the United States, Europe, Israel, and throughout Canada on tours with Debut Atlantic, Jeunesses Musicales du Canada, and Piano Six. Recital highlights include the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center, UCLA, the University of British Columbia, and collaborative performances at the Hawaii International Music Festival and the Morgan Library in New York City.
Ian's recordings include a CD with the London Symphony conducted by Michael Francis featuring three piano concertos: Ravel Concerto in G, Stravinsky Capriccio, and Gershwin Concerto in F, released by ATMA Classique, and an all-fantasy solo CD including fantasies of Chopin, Schumann, and Beethoven on Azica Records. Additionally, CBC Records released a recording of three Mozart concertos for one piano (K. 467), two pianos (K. 365), and three pianos (K. 242) featuring Ian and his two cousins, Jon Kimura Parker and Jamie Parker, with the CBC Radio Orchestra and Mario Bernardi on the podium.
First Prize winner at the 2001 CBC National Radio Competition, Ian has also won the Grand Prize at the Canadian National Music Festival, the Corpus Christie International Competition and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition. At The Juilliard School, he received the 2002 William Petschek Piano Debut Award and, on two occasions, was the winner of the Gina Bachauer Piano Scholarship Competition. Heard regularly on CBC Radio, he has also performed live on WQXR (hosted by Robert Sherman) in New York.
Born in Vancouver to a family of pianists, Ian began his piano studies at age three with his father, Edward Parker. He holds both the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, where he was a student of Yoheved Kaplinsky. While at Juilliard, he was awarded the Sylva Gelber Career Grant by the Canada Council for the Arts, presented annually to the “most talented Canadian artist.”
Jennie Press
Violin
A native of St. John's, NL, Jennie Press made her solo debut with the Newfoundland Symphony at thirteen and has since had solo appearances with orchestras in Canada and the United States. Ms. Press has been a national finalist numerous times in the Canadian Music Competitions, the Shean Strings Competiton and the National Music Festival, both as a soloist and chamber musician. She has also been a prize winner in the Marbury Violin Competition, the Yale Gordon String Competition, the Alexandria Symphony Competiton and the Wellesly Symphony Competition. Ms. Press has performed in symphony and chamber orchestras including the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Concert Artists of Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Annapolis Symphony, Lancaster Symphony, Key West Symphony, and the CBC Radio Orchestra, and has served as concertmaster in several orchestras including Royal Opera Canada, Annapolis Opera, Washington Summer Opera, De Camera Chamber Players.
Ms. Press spent one year at the Walnut Hill School in Natick, MA as a student of Eric Rosenblith, and has attended Encore School for Strings, the Banff Centre Chamber Music Residency, and the National Arts Centre Young Artists Program. She holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD as a student of Victor Danchenko. She also spent one year as an Artist Diploma candidate at the Glenn Gould School in Toronto, ON as a student of Atis Bankas. Ms. Press has played in masterclasses and lessons for such internationally renowned artists as Midori, Pinchas Zukerman, Leon Fleisher, Donald Weilerstein, Camilla Wicks, Andreas Cardenes, Laurence Lesser, Lorand Fenyves, and members of the Juilliard, Orford and Vogler Quartets.
Ms. Press is currently Second Assistant Concertmaster of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and teaches privately at the VSO School of Music. She is a regular performer in the VSO Chamber Players, Vancouver Chamber Players, and Vetta Chamber music Series.
Zoltan Rozsnyai
cello
Zoltan Rozsnyai was born into a musical family. Both his parents and grandparents were professional musicians. He studied piano and violin, before taking up the cello at the age of six. He joined the Windsor Symphony at 15, then left to attend the University of Toronto two years later.
While in Toronto, he studied with Vladimir Orloff and Daniel Domb. Zoltan also took masterclasses at the Banff School of Fine Arts, studying with Aldo Parisot, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, and Janos Starker. He played for many years in the Canadian Opera Company and National Ballet orchestras, as well as performing as soloist and chamber musician throughout Ontario. Zoltan also spent a year in India with his electric cello, traveling and collaborating with musicians. In 1999 he joined the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and has been the Assistant Principal cellist since 2001.
Rebecca Ruthven
Violin
Rebecca is a freelance violinist and violist based in Vancouver. Originally from Kelowna, she completed bachelor’s degrees in Violin Performance and Biochemistry at McGill University. She has performed in workshops at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Tafelmusik Summer and Winter Baroque Institutes, Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival and Madeline Island Chamber Music. A three-time alumnus of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, she was the youngest Canadian musician in the Canada India Youth Orchestra project in Bangalore and is a recipient of the Stephen Sitarski Leadership Award. She performs with chamber and orchestral ensembles in and outside Vancouver, including the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra, and studies baroque violin as part of Early Music Vancouver’s Scholarship Programme and UBC’s Baroque Orchestra Mentorship Program.
Meaghan Williams
Bass
Raised in St. John’s Newfoundland, Meaghan completed her undergraduate degree in performance at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto with virtuoso bassist Joel Quarrington. During that time, she also had the privilege of studying with bass legend Gary Karr. Meaghan earned her Konzertexamen with Michael Wolf at the Universität der Künste in Berlin. She also attended the Carl-Flesch Akademie in Baden-Baden, Germany where she studied with Finnish double bass phenomenon Janne Saksala, Principal Bass of Berlin Philharmonic.
Following her studies, Meaghan performed with the Neue Lausitzer Philharmonie in Germany and she was founding member of the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Symphony Orchestra in Japan. Since returning to Canada, Meaghan has performed with ensembles from coast to coast including the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Victoria Symphony and the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra. Meaghan is the Principal Bass of the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra.
A believer in diversity and innovation, Meaghan enjoys working with living composers and expanding the repertoire for double bass. She premiered the Concerto for Cello, Bass, Suona & Dizi by Dr. Ning Wang (Beijing) with the Nu:BC Collective and premiered Placentia Bay: Summer of 1941 for double bass and orchestra by Mark Haney with the Okanagan Symphony in November 2019. Meaghan is a passionate advocate of Canadian design and craftsmanship and performs on a double bass made by Peter Mach (Gatineau, QC) and bows made by Reid Hudson (Duncan, BC) and Max Kasper (Halifax, NS).
Meaghan is grateful to have been supported throughout her career with grants from the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council, the BC Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts. She teaches at Capilano University, privately both in person and online, and at the West Coast Amateur Musicians Society course in Squamish, BC, each summer.
Min Jee Yoon
Cello
Born in Incheon, South Korea, Min Jee completed her Bachelor of Music degree from the Kyung-won University in Korea and an Artist Diploma from the Vancouver Academy of Music. She participated in masterclasses by distinguished cellists such as Aldo Parisot, Daniel Muller Schott and Desmond Hoebig.
After moving to Canada, she enjoyed two months participating in the NAC’s Institute of Orchestra Studies in the autumn of 2011, which allowed her the opportunity to perform with the National Art Centre Orchestra under the baton of Pinchas Zukerman in Ottawa. She was previously a Section Cellist of the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony Orchestra. Min Jee has also performed regularly as a substitute player with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra since 2016. She currently holds the position of Principal Cellist with the Vancouver Island Symphony. She has received awards in numerous competitions, including First Prize in the Friends of Chamber Music Competition in 2011 in both the Senior Category and the Audience Prize for cello ensemble. She was also awarded Chamber Open Winner in the 6th Hong Kong International Music Festival Chamber competition in 2019 for Piano Trio.