Rachel Mercer

Grand prize winner of the 2001 Vriendenkrans Competition in Amsterdam, Canadian cellist Rachel Mercer made her European recital debut in the Concertgebouw Kleine Zaal.  She has performed across the globe as a soloist and chamber musician, collaborating with orchestras such as the Toronto Symphony, National Arts Centre, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Belgrade and Durban Philharmonic and artists such as Menahem Pressler, Boris Petrushansky, Boris Berman, Toby Appel, James Tocco, Laurence Lesser and Shauna Rolston.  Since joining the Aviv String Quartet in 2002, she has appeared in halls such as the Louvre, Chatelet and Theatre de la Ville in Paris, Wigmore Hall in London, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Library of Congress in Washington DC and the Zurich Tonhalle.  Rachel is also principal cellist of Via Salzburg. She recently released her debut solo disc on the Israeli indie label EnT-T.  Rachel plays the 1824 McConnell Nicolaus Gagliano cello kindly on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Micah Heilbrunn                 

Micah Heilbrunn is a graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy and received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Michigan.  His principal teachers include Jerome Summers, Deborah Chodacki, Robert Crowley and Joquin Valdepenas.  Micah is currently the Principal Clarinet of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and teaches clarinet at Brandon University.  Micah has also served as Principal Clarinet with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Symphony Nova Scotia.  This season Micah played clarinet in the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Wagner’s “Ring Cycle” and was heard on CBC radio in a solo recital from the Glen Gould studio. Micah has been a featured artist at the Aspen Music Festival, the Winnipeg New Music Festival, and the Scotia Festival of music.

Karen Moffatt

Winnipeg born violist Karen Moffatt, holds a Master’s Degree in viola performance at the University of Victoria, where she was under scholarship and was a Teaching Assistant for the Lafayette String Quartet. Following a stay at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Karen moved to Toronto to free-lance and now plays regularly with the Windsor Symphony, the Canadian Opera Company orchestra, the Toronto Chamber Orchestra, the Brandon based Jarvis String Quintet and the St. Kitts String Quartet.  This evening is a return to the Glenn Gould stage where twice she has performed on CBC’s ‘Music Around Us’ Young Artist Series.

Shane Kim                                                                    

Toronto-born violinist Shane Kim has just completed his second year with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and will be beginning a new position with the Minnesota Orchestra this coming fall.  Prior tenures include the Associate Concertmaster position with the IRIS Chamber Orchestra in Germantown, Tennessee, and concertmaster appearances with the Tucson Symphony, Aspen Sinfonia, Yale Philharmonia, and the Domaine Forget and Colorado Springs Festival orchestras.  Shane’s concert engagements have taken him to Ravinia, the Taos Chamber Music Festival in New Mexico, the Spoleto-Charleston Festival in South Carolina, the Encuentro de Musica y Academia in Spain, and the Aspen Music Festival, where he was a violin fellowship winner.
As a chamber musician, Shane has collaborated with eminent artists Joaquin Valdepenas, Radovan Vlatkovic, Peter Frankl, the Bakken Trio, Amici and Via Salzburg.
In 2000, Shane completed his undergraduate degree at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto as a student of noted pedagogue David Zafer.  In the spring of 2003, Shane completed his M.M. and Artist Diploma at the Yale School of Music as a student of Peter Oundjian, Ani Kavafian and the Tokyo String Quartet.

Shalom Bard

Shalom was born in Haifa, Israel, and started playing the clarinet at the age of 12. Shalom’s main teachers include Joaquin Valdepenas and Yehuda Gilad, of the University of Toronto and University of Southern California respectively. Equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player, the two-time Chalmers Award Winner has collaborated with some of Canada’s leading ensembles and orchestras.  In the past 10 years, he has played as a soloist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra.  In the field of chamber music, Shalom has performed in concert with the St. Lawrence String Quartet, the Penderecki String Quartet, the Duke Trio, the Art of Time Ensemble and the Queen of Puddings Music Company, Canada’s leading contemporary opera music company. One of Shalom’s highlights was the invitation by Zubin Mehta to be an acting principal Clarinetist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
Shalom is on faculty of Community School at the Royal Conservatory of Music. 

Nadina Mackie Jackson           

Soloist and chamber musician, bassoonist Nadina Mackie Jackson released her fifth solo recording, Bacchanale in June, 2007, with trumpeter Guy Few and the Toronto Chamber Orchestra. A founding member of the Caliban Quartet of Bassoonists, Musica Franca and Network Winds. Nadina is also principal bassoonist of the Toronto Chamber Orchestra and the Aradia Ensemble.  An internationally active teacher, Nadina teaches at Wilfrid Laurier University, the University of Toronto and the Royal Conservatory of Music.  Nadina is on the Advisory Board for the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and the president of the Council of Canadian Bassoonists.

Mike Fedyshyn

A student of Robert Oades, Vincent Cichowicz, and Andrew McCandless, Michael Fedyshyn, began playing the trumpet at the age of 12, in a small band room in Cornwall, Ontario. After Undergraduate studies in Ottawa, Michael played with the Thunder Bay Symphony for a year as Principal Trumpet, before completing studies in Toronto at the Glenn Gould Professional School.  An alumnus of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, he was also invited to play in the inaugural summer season of Helmut Rilling’s Festival Ensemble in Stuttgart, Germany.  While primarily an orchestral player, Michael’s solo playing has been described as “delivered with style and care” and possessing a “haunting” quality (Hamilton Spectator, Toronto Star)
Since 2001, Michael has been a member of the Hamilton Philharmonic, and makes his home in Toronto, where he is in demand as a freelance musician with the Toronto Symphony, the NAC Orchestra, and the Canadian Opera Company. Other engagements include the Winnipeg Symphony, the Montreal Symphony, and the Colorado Music Festival, as well as the Charlottetown Festival.  When not playing the trumpet, you might find him reading, or even cooking, but most likely he’ll be on his bicycle.

John Marshman

John Marshman began his post secondary education in his hometown at the University of Waterloo studying Systems Design Engineering. He moved on to pursue Performance Cello at the University of Toronto where he received his bachelor’s degree under the tutelage of Shauna Ralston and Kim Scholes. After a winter at the Banff Centre for the Arts as an artist in residence, Mr. Marshman continued his studies in Europe.  As an orchestral musician, Mr. Marshman performs regularly with a variety of ensembles across Ontario including The Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Via Salzburg. As a chamber musician, Mr. Marshman has performed at numerous festivals with a variety of artists including Hienz Holliger, Shauna Rolston, Owen Pallet, John Perry and Kevin Fitzgerald and is a member of the Rocca String Quartet. An active teacher, Mr. Marshman has served on Faculty at Wilfid Laurier University and The Royal Conservatory of Music.

Joseph Phillips

A Toronto native, Joe Phillips studied double bass with the renowned virtuoso Joel Quarrington. In addition to playing with the Via Salzburg Chamber Orchestra, Joe is the principal bassist with Orchestra London Canada, a position he has also held with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra.
Joe is an avid performer of many different genres of music, performing and recording with such diverse artists as cabaret siren Patricia O’Callaghan, folk trio The Wailin’ Jennys, blues diva Rita Chiarelli, singer-songwriters Gregory Hoskins and Jenny Whitely, and franco-ontarian traditional fiddler Pierre Schryer.
Joe lives in London, Ontario with his partner Sylvie and their baby daughter, Eloïse. 

Jenny Thompson                                                           

Jenny Thompson, a native of the U.S., has been a member of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra since 1999.  An active chamber musician,   Jenny has been a member of the Rocca String Quartet since 2004 and has performed with numerous other area ensembles including Via Salzburg, New Music Concerts and the Bach Consort.  Jenny received her B.M. from the University of Michigan as an Angell Scholar under the tutelage of Paul Kantor. She went on to receive a M.M.  at Rice University studying with Kathy Winkler.  She has performed at the Aspen Music Festival and as concertmaster at the Tanglewood Music Center and currently spends her summers at the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. 

Jeewon Kim

Jeewon Kim began playing the violin at the age of five and continued his studies on the violin and viola with David Zafer at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Music. He has worked with orchestras across Canada and has performed with such chamber musicians as Richard Lester of the Florestan Trio, Ken Slowik of the Axelrod String Quartet, and Paul Watkins of the Nash Ensemble. He has been active as an educator for 14 years, conducting and teaching students in string orchestras, private and group lessons, and has begun clinical work with student and professional musicians. For the past three years, Jeewon has been assisting David Zafer with his studio of talented, young violinists.

Ed Reifel                       

Ed Reifel is a native of Kingston, Ontario Canada where he studied
percussion at Queen’s University. He went on to do graduate work in Ottawa and post-graduate work at the University of Toronto.  Since settling in Toronto, Ed has performed regularly with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, The Toronto Mendelssohn Choir Orchestra, The Elora Festival Orchestra and the National Ballet of Canada. He has also recorded extensively for Naxos with the Aradia Ensemble and Toronto Chamber Orchestra. Ed has worked in Germany as Principal Timpanist with the Internationale Bachakademie Orchestra under the direction of Helmut Rilling and more recently as Principal Percussionist in Italy for Musica Nel Chiostro (Including 2 World Premiere performances of the music of Jonathan Dove) and as Principal Timpanist in Ireland with the Cork Opera.

Cristina Zacharias

Since the beginning of her professional career in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canadian violinist Cristina Zacharias has traveled the world, recorded more than 25 cd’s, made TV and movie appearances, and performed in churches, bars, barns, palaces, schools, and concert halls.  Her life-long interest in early music and period performance came to the forefront while she was completing a Master’s degree in chamber music at McGill University, and has been one of her passions ever since.  Currently, Cristina lives in Toronto, and is a member of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.  She collaborates frequently with musicians and ensembles in Canada, the US and Europe.  Cristina has recorded for the BIS, Analekta, ATMA, NAXOS and CBC labels.

Amy Laing

Originally from Nanaimo, British Columbia, Ms. Laing 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. Ms. Laing has participated in various music festivals including The Spoleto Festival in Italy, Spoleto USA in Charleston SC, The National Orchestral Institute in Maryland, Northern Lights Music Festival in Mexico, The Banff Arts Festival, Musica Nel Chiostro in Tuscany Italy, and the Cork Opera Company in Ireland. Since her move to Toronto Ms. Laing has played in many orchestras in and around Ontario, including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, The Canadian Opera Company, Windsor Symphony, Thunder Bay Symphony, as well as Symphony Nova Scotia, and was the solo cellist in the World Premiere Musical production of “The Lord of the Rings”. Currently Ms. Laing is a freelance musician in the Toronto area and is a member of the Madawaska String Quartet.

Kerry Duwors, Renee London, Bethany Bergman, Jin-Shan Dai, Sydney Chun, Sandy Baron, Kathleen Kajioka, Joshua Greenlaw, Sarah Jeffrey, Jasper Hitchcock, Leonie Wall, Gabe Radford, David Quackenbush