MISSY MAZZOLI COMPOSER

Grammy-nominated composer Missy Mazzoli was recently deemed “one of the more consistently inventive, surprising composers now working in New York” (The New York Times) and “Brooklyn’s post-millennial Mozart” (Time Out New York), and has been praised for her “apocalyptic imagination” (Alex Ross, The New Yorker). Mazzoli is the Mead Composerin-Residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and her music has been performed all over the world by the Kronos Quartet, eighth blackbird, pianist Emanuel Ax, Opera Philadelphia, Scottish Opera, LA Opera, Cincinnati Opera, New York City Opera, Chicago Fringe Opera, the Detroit Symphony, the LA Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, JACK Quartet, cellist Maya Beiser, violinist Jennifer Koh, pianist Kathleen Supové, Dublin’s Crash Ensemble, the Sydney Symphony and many others. In 2018, she made history when she became one of the two first women (along with composer Jeanine Tesori) to be commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera. That year, she was also nominated for a Grammy in the category of “Best Classical Composition” for her work Vespers for Violin, recorded by violinist Olivia De Prato.

Mazzoli has received considerable acclaim for her operatic compositions. Her third opera, Proving Up, written with longtime collaborator Royce Vavrek, was commissioned by Washington National Opera, Opera Omaha and New York’s Miller Theatre. Based on a short story by Karen Russell, Proving Up offers a surreal and disquieting commentary on the American dream through the story of a Nebraskan family homesteading in the late 19th century. Proving Up premiered to critical acclaim in January 2018 at Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, in April 2018 at Opera Omaha, and in September 2018 at Miller Theatre. The Washington Post called it “harrowing…powerful…a true opera of our time”. Mazzoli’s second opera, Breaking the Waves, a collaboration with librettist Royce Vavrek commissioned by Opera Philadelphia and Beth Morrison Projects in 2016, was described as “among the best 21st-century operas yet” (Opera News), “savage, heartbreaking and thoroughly original” (Wall Street Journal), and “dark and daring” (New York Times). Earlier projects include the critically acclaimed sold-out premiere of Missy’s first opera, Song from the Uproar, in a Beth Morrison production at New York venue The Kitchen in March 2012. The Wall Street Journal called this work “powerful and new” and the New York Times claimed that “in the electric surge of Ms. Mazzoli’s score you felt the joy, risk, and limitless potential of free sprits unbound.” Time Out New York named Song from the Uproar Number 3 on its list of the top ten classical music events of

2012. In October 2012, Missy’s operatic work, SALT, a re-telling of the story of Lot’s Wife written for cellist Maya Beiser and vocalist Helga Davis, premiered as part of the BAM Next Wave Festival and at UNC Chapel Hill, directed by Robert Woodruff. This work, including text by Erin Cressida-Wilson, was deemed “a dynamic amalgamation that unapologetically pushes boundaries” by Time Out New York

Mazzoli is currently the Mead Composerin-Residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. From 2012-2015 she was Composer-in-Residence with Opera Philadelphia, Gotham Chamber Opera and Music Theatre-Group, and in 2011/12 was Composer/Educator in residence with the Albany Symphony. Missy was a visiting professor of music at New York University in 2013, and later that year joined the composition faculty at the Mannes College of Music, a division of the New School. From 2007-2011 she was Executive Director of the MATA Festival in New York, and in 2016, Along with composer Ellen Reid and in collaboration with the Kaufman Music Center, Missy founded Luna Composition Lab, a mentorship program and support network for femaleidentifying, non-binary and gender nonconforming composers ages 12-18.

Last season included performances of her second opera Breaking the Waves at the Edinburgh International Festival and the Adelaide Festival, a performance of her opera Proving Up at the Aspen Music Festival, the world premiere of a Orpheus

Alive, a new ballet score commissioned and premiered by the National Ballet of Canada, the US premiere of her double bass concert Dark with Excessive Bright with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and performances of her work by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Colorado Symphony and the Opera National Bordeaux, among others. Mazzoli also curated concerts with the San Francisco Symphony and the Chicago Symphony. Her next opera, The Listeners, commissioned by the Norwegian National Opera and Opera Philadelphia and created in collaboration with playwright Jordan Tannahill, librettist Royce Vavrek and director Lileana Blain-Cruz, will premiere in March, 2021 in Oslo. Next season will also feature the world premiere of Orpheus Undone, an orchestral work commissioned by the Chicago Symphony, Mazzoli is an active TV and film composer, and recently wrote and performed music for the fictional character Thomas Pembridge on the Amazon TV show Mozart in the Jungle. She also contributed music to the documentaries Detropia and Book of Conrad and the film A Woman, A Part. Missy’s music has been recorded and released on labels including New Amsterdam, Cedille, Bedroom Community, 4AD and Innova. Artists who have recorded Mazzoli’s music include eighth blackbird (whose Grammy-winning 2012 CD Meanwhile opened with Missy’s work Still Life with Avalanche), Roomful of Teeth, violinist Jennifer Koh, violist Nadia Sirota, NOW

Ensemble, Newspeak, pianist Kathleen Supove, the Jasper Quartet, and violinist Joshua Bell, who recorded Missy’s work for the Mozart in the Jungle soundtrack. Mazzoli is an active pianist and keyboardist, and often performs with Victoire, a band she founded in 2008 dedicated to her own compositions. Their debut full-length CD, Cathedral City, was named one of 2010’s best classical albums by Time Out New York, NPR, the New Yorker and the New York Times, and was followed by the critically acclaimed Vespers for a New Dark Age, a collaboration with percussionist Glenn Kotche. Vespers was released in March 2015 on New Amsterdam Records along with Missy’s own remixes of the work and a remix of her piece A Thousand Tongues by longtime collaborator Lorna Dune. The New York Times called Vespers for a New Dark Age “ravishing and unsettling”, and the album was praised on NPR’s First Listen, All Things Considered and Pitchfork. In the past decade they have played in venues all over the world including Carnegie Hall, the M.A.D.E. Festival in Sweden, the C3 Festival in Berlin and Millennium Park in Chicago. Victoire returned to Carnegie Hall in March of 2015 as part of the “Meredith Monk and Friends” concert, performing Missy’s arrangements of Monk’s work. Missy is the recipient of a 2019 Grammy nomination, the 2017 Music Critics Association of America Inaugural Award for Best Opera, the 2018 Godard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a 2015 Foundation for Contemporary Arts

Award, four ASCAP Young Composer Awards, a Fulbright Grant to The Netherlands, the Detroit Symphony’s Elaine Lebenbom Award, and grants from the Jerome Foundation, American Music Center, and the Barlow Endowment. She has been awarded fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, Ucross, VCCA, the Blue Mountain Center and the Hermitage.

Missy attended the Yale School of Music, the Royal Conservatory of the Hague and Boston University. She has studied with (in no particular order) David Lang, Louis Andriessen, Martin Bresnick, Aaron Jay Kernis, Martijn Padding, Richard Ayres, John Harbison, Charles Fussell, Martin Amlin, Marco Stroppa, Ladislav Kubik, Louis DeLise and Richard Cornell.

Her music is published by G. Schirmer.

Nicolas Namoradze Pianist

– EMANUEL AX Pianist and composer Nicolas Namoradze, whose performances have been hailed as “sparkling… sensitive and coloristic” (The New York Times) and “simply gorgeous” (Wall Street Journal), came to international attention in 2018 upon winning the triennial Honens International Piano Competition in

Calgary, Canada—one of the largest prizes in classical music. His often sold-out recitals around the globe have been met with universal critical praise, and recent album releases have received extraordinary accolades, including the Choc de Classica, Record of the Month in Limelight, Instrumental Disc of the Month in BBC Music Magazine, Editor’s Choice in Gramophone, Editor’s Choice in Presto Classical and Critics’ Choice in International Piano, as well as a first-place debut in the UK charts for classical instrumental albums.

Among the most critically acclaimed musicians of his generation, Namoradze was bestowed the 2020 & 2021 Young Pianist Award by the UK Critics’ Circle, which called him “very much more than a top-flight pianist.” A Gramophone “One to Watch” and BBC Music Magazine “Rising Star,” Namoradze was also named among WQXR’s “20 for 20,” a list that “includes long-time heroes, established favorites and newcomers set for stardom who are redefining what classical music can be.” Recent critical highlights include rare five-star reviews in The Telegraph and The Guardian, which called his performance at Royal Festival Hall “ideally laconic and debonair, weighty yet exquisite, and exactingly precise in tone and touch.” A January 2022 cover feature in International Piano declared Namoradze’s Wigmore Hall debut “astonishing,” concluding that, “with so many talents and interests it is impossible to predict what this young man will go on to do: all we can be sure of is that it will be both original and unexpected.”

Activities of the 2022-23 season include residencies at Toronto Summer Music, the Honens International Piano Competition and the Florida Grand Piano Series; recital appearances at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Le Festival Radio France Occitanie Montpellier, Beethovenfest Bonn, Miami International Piano Festival, Kulturpalast Dresden and Lugano Musica, among others; a tour of duo recitals for piano and electronic marimba with Lukas Ligeti to mark György Ligeti’s centenary in 2023; and a series of concerto performances with multiple Canadian orchestras of a new work written for him by Kati Agócs. Highlights of recent seasons include recitals at Carnegie Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Wigmore Hall, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan and Boston’s Gardner Museum; appearances at Tanglewood, Banff, the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Telavi Music Festival, Festspiele MecklenburgVorpommern, Portland Piano International, Klavier-Festival Ruhr, and more; and performances with orchestras including the London Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Basel and Milwaukee Symphony, with conductors such as Iván Fischer, Karina Canellakis, Ken-David Masur, Finnegan DownieDear and Daniele Rustioni.

Highlights of his work as a composer include commissions and performances by leading artists and ensembles including Ken-David Masur, Lukas Ligeti, Tessa Lark, Metropolis Ensemble and the Momenta, Verona and Barkada Quartets, at festivals such as the Chelsea Music

Festival, Honens Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Portland Piano International and the Klavier-Festival Ruhr, among others. He has also composed and produced a number of film soundtracks, including Walking Painting by Fabienne Verdier and Nuit d’opéra à Aix, made in association with the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. His compositions are published by the Japan-based Muse Press.

In tandem with his musical career, Namoradze is actively engaged in various music-related fields in the cognitive sciences. His doctoral dissertation at the CUNY Graduate Center developed mathematical models for aspects of musical perception; the work won the Barry Brook Award, a distinction for exceptional achievement, and is published by Springer as the book “Ligeti’s Macroharmonies” in the Computational Music Science series. He now pursues postgraduate studies in neuropsychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College, London, where his research interests include the effects of mental practice and mindfulness on musical performance.

Namoradze is also the creator of IDAGIO Mindfulness, a platform on IDAGIO, the world’s leading classical music streaming app. Besides a podcast, video series and several other resources, the core of the platform constitutes several mental skills and mindfulness training courses for both performers and listeners. As part of his work in the field, Namoradze has begun presenting a new event type, “mindful recitals,” interspersing musical performances with guided meditations that combine mindfulness practice and music appreciation.

Namoradze was born in Tbilisi, Georgia in 1992 and grew up in Budapest, Hungary. After completing his undergraduate in Budapest, Vienna and Florence, he moved to New York for his master’s at The Juilliard School and his doctorate at the CUNY Graduate Center, holding the Graduate Center Fellowship. His teachers and mentors have included Emanuel Ax, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Zoltán Kocsis, Matti Raekallio, András Schiff and Elisso Virsaladze in piano, and John Corigliano in composition. For several years, Namoradze served on the faculty of Queens College, where he taught chamber music, composition and music history.

Michael Oesterle Composer

The composer and performer Michael Oesterle was born in Ulm, Germany, in 1968. He immigrated to Canada in 1982, and since 1996 has been living in Montréal. He has received several awards, such as the Gaudeamus Prize, the Grand Prize at the 12th CBC Radio National Competition for Young Composers, and the Canada Council Jules Léger Prize. Oesterle’s works have been performed and commissioned by ensembles and soloists in Canada and throughout the world including Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt), the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (NEM), cellist Yegor Dyachkov, the Ives Ensemble (Amsterdam), sopranos Karina Gauvin and Suzie Leblanc. He has produced projects in collaboration with composer Gerhard Staebler, violinist Clemens Merkel, painter Christine Unger, video/installation artist Wanda Koop and Bonnie Baxter and choreographer Isabelle Van Grimde. He composed the music for cNOTE, a film by animator Christopher Hinton, produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). cNOTE won the 2005 GENIE award for best animated-short. In 1997 he founded the Montréal based Ensemble Kore with pianist Marc Couroux, and between 2001 and 2004 he was composer-in-residence with l’Orchestre Metropolitain du Grand Montréal.

Gregory Parth Composer

Gregory Parth is a 23-year-old composer from Edmonton, Alberta. He was awarded First Place at the Alberta Music Festival for Music Composition (2014, 2015), the Rose Bowl “Best of the Festival” award at the St. Albert Rotary Music Festival for Piano Performance (2015), and his Level Ten

RCM Piano Certificate (2016). In 2017, he participated in the Young Composers Project with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, where he received mentorship from Composer-In-Residence John McPherson. In 2021, he received composition and orchestration lessons from John Estacio, and continues to write orchestral music in his spare time. In addition to composition, Gregory is currently in his second year of law school and obtained a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alberta (2021)

Julian Pellicano Conductor

Known for his versatility across a broad spectrum of genres, dynamic interpretations and meticulous technique, American-Canadian conductor Julian Pellicano is the Principal Conductor of Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Associate Conductor of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Bringing an incisive musicality and collaborative spirit to every performance, he has built a wide-ranging international career leading the Winnipeg Free Press to proclaim that “his versatility is truly astonishing.”

As a guest, he has conducted orchestras in North America and abroad including the Seattle Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Orquestra de Valencia,

Edmonton Symphony, the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Orquestra Sinfônica de Porto Alegre, the Hartford Symphony, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and the Vermont Symphony among others.

Passionate about the intersection of music and dance, Pellicano has collaborated with internationally renowned dancers and choreographers. Upcoming ballet performances include a debut with the National Ballet of Canada, a return to Orlando Ballet as well as extensive performing and touring with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

A specialist in performing films live with orchestra, Mr. Pellicano’s catalogue of film projects encompasses over 20 titles including the Star Wars and Harry Potter series, E.T. The Extra-terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Home Alone, Miloš Forman’s award-winning film Amadeus, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis with its original 1927 score, Casablanca, Singin’ in the Rain, The Wizard of Oz, Disney’s Fantasia, The Nightmare Before Christmas, plus several of Charlie Chaplin’s silent classics.

Julian Pellicano studied conducting at the Yale School of Music, the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, and has conducted in masterclasses with Kurt Masur, Peter Eötvös, Zsolt Nagy, Martyn Brabbins, Carl St. Clair, L’Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He was a recipient of the Presser Music Award, prizes from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and Yale’s Phillip F. Nelson Prize for Musical Entrepreneurship.

Julian Pellicano’s career grew out of unconventional beginnings, performing as a primarily self-taught percussionist, timpanist, drummer and accordionist, in styles ranging from folk music to blues and jazz, rock and punk, as well as more traditional ensembles and orchestras. He studied percussion at the Peabody Conservatory, the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Sweden, and at the Yale School of Music where he was a member of the critically acclaimed Yale Percussion Group directed by Robert Van Sice. As a percussionist, he has performed in concert halls and festivals in North America, Europe and Asia and was notably the percussionist for the legendary composer/conductor Mauricio Kagel during one of his final concert tours throughout the Netherlands. He also holds a degree in philosophy from The Johns Hopkins University.

Victoria Poleva Composer

Victoria Poleva was born in a family of musicians – her grandfather was a renowned singer and her father was a composer. She studied composition in the studio of Ivan Karabyts (1984-1989), and Levko Kolodub (1990-1995) at Kyiv Conservatory, where she also taught composition in 1990-2005. In her early works, including the ballet Gagaku, Transforma for symphony orchestra,

Anthem for chamber orchestra and others, Polevá adopted avant-garde and polystylistic aesthetics. Since the late 1990s, she became increasingly drawn to spiritual themes and simplicity, and developed a style identified by European critics as “sacred minimalism.”

Polevá composes orchestral, choral, vocal, and chamber music, and frequently uses sacred texts.

Polevá’s works have been commissioned by leading international performers of contemporary music, including Gidon Kremer (in 2005 for an international project Sempre Primavera and in 2010 for an international project The Art of Instrumentation) and Kronos Quartet (Walking on Waters, 2013).

She was composer-in-residence at the Menhir Chamber Music Festival (Switzerland) in 2006, and at the XXX Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival (Austria) in 2011, at the Festival of Contemporary Music Darwin Vargas (Chile) in 2013 and other international festivals. In 2009, her Ode to Joy (for soloists, mixed choir, and symphony orchestra) was performed during an international concert commemorating of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Polevá’s works have been performed at the Beethovenfest Bonn, Chamber Music Connects the World (Kronberg, Germany), the Dresdner Musikfestspiele, the Philharmonie Berlin, the Köln Philharmonie, the Theatre de Chatelet in Paris, the Rudolfinum-Dvorak Hall in Prague, the Yuri Bashmet Festival in Minsk, the Valery Gergiev Easter Festival in Moscow, the Auditorio Nacional de España in Madrid, the George Weston Recital Hall in Toronto, the Italian Academy in New York City, the Yerba Buena Theater in San Francisco, the Oriental Art Center in Shanghai, the Seoul Art Center, the Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore, and at festivals of new music in Ukraine, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, United Arab Emirates, Peru and Chile.

Polycoro Chamber Choir

Polycoro has enthralled audiences with contemporary programming and daring artistry since May 2015.

With concerts praised as a “combustion of creativity” by the Winnipeg Free Press, the elite ensemble performs exciting a cappella works by contemporary and ancient composers, adding visual elements in unique venues that augment the sonic experience.

Comprised of eight or more adventuresome vocalists, Polycoro performs challenging, seldom heard contemporary works and rediscovered early music. They produce one or two concerts per season, commissioning new works from Canadian composers and developing performance collaborations with visual artists.

Polycoro notably wowed capacity crowds during a multi-sensory performance of Joby Talbot’s “Path of Miracles” in collaboration with internationally acclaimed filmmaker/projection designer Deco Dawson in 2018.

Performing with Polycoro at WNMF 2023 are Scott Reimer, conductor; and Merina Dobson-Perry, Chloe Thiessen, Katy Harmer, Sarah Hall, James Magnus-Johnston, Nolan Kehler, Paul Bruch-Wiens and Jereme Wall, singers

Red Sky Performance

Red Sky Performance is a leading company of contemporary Indigenous performance in Canada and worldwide.

Since its creation in 2000, Red Sky’s vision is to lead in the creation, elevation, and evolution of contemporary Indigenous performance and make a significant contribution to the artistic and cultural vibrancy of Canada and the world.

Now in their 22nd year of performance (dance, theatre, music, and media), they continue to be guided by their mission to create inspiring experiences of contemporary Indigenous arts and culture that transform society in meaningful ways.

The vision of Red Sky Performance derives from its creator Sandra Laronde (Misko Kizhigoo Migizii Kwe) which means “Red Sky Eagle Woman” in Anishinaabemowin (Ojibway) language from the Teme-Augama Anishinaabe (People of the Deep Water). Her vision is dedicated to expanding and elevating the ecology of contemporary performance informed by Indigenous worldview and culture.

Laronde’s concept of performance explores the relationship between movement, live music, theatricality, and image. Her engagement in these disciplines involves collaborations with dancers, musicians, composers, choreographers, visual artists, actors, writers, designers, researchers, and culture keepers are integral to Red Sky Performance’s distinct productions. ‘Story’ is paramount to Red Sky because Laronde sees stories as the embodiment of Indigenous voice, ethos, and key to empowerment.

They also provide many opportunities to emerging and established artists as they hone their artistic practice through a collaborative Indigenous process, offering unique opportunities for these practitioners to thrive creatively and professionally.

Touring since 2003, they have delivered over 2,755 performances across Canada including international performances in 17 countries on four continents, including two Cultural Olympiads (Beijing and Vancouver), World Expo in Shanghai, Venice Biennale, and Jacob’s Pillow, among others. At the same time, they remain deeply rooted and invested on a grassroots level and regularly perform in urban, rural, and reserve communities across Turtle Island.

They are the recipient of 16 Dora Mavor Moore awards and nominations, two Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, three International Youth Drama Awards from Shenzhen, China, and the Smithsonian Expressive Award, among other recognitions. More than Dance, Red Sky Performance is a Movement.

Liam Ritz Composer

Liam Ritz is a Canadian-born composer based in Toronto, Ontario. He has been fortunate to work with outstanding musicians and ensembles including the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Gemma New, Veronique Lacroix, Etsuko Kimura, Cameron Crozman, Adam Sherkin and more.

His works have been frequently performed across Canada in festivals and workshops such as the Canadian Contemporary Music Workshop, the Scotia Festival of Music, the University of Toronto: New Music Festival, the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra’s What Next Festival, and at the Orford Music Academy. In addition, Liam’s works are often programmed by musicians in solo and chamber recitals, including recent performances in the United States, Italy,

Finland, and Argentina. Recognized for his work, Ritz has received six SOCAN Foundation Young Composers Awards, as well as a Prix Artistique from the Jeunesses Musicales Canada: Concours Do Mi Si La Do Ré. His works have been supported by organizations such as the Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, and the RBC Emerging Artists Project. In 2018, Ritz was selected as the inaugural winner of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra’s Composer Fellowship Program, in their 2018-19 Season, and was recently awarded a 2020 City of Hamilton Arts Award. Liam received a Bachelor of Music from the University of Toronto, studying composition under Abigail Richardson-Schulte. In addition, he has participated in masterclasses with Peteris Vasks, Robin de Raaf, Ana Sokolovic, and Jean Lesage and has studied conducting under Ivars Taurins, Stephane Potvin, and Gillian McKay. Liam is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre. liamritz.com

Kyle Sanna Guitarist

Hailed by The New Yorker as a “first-rate, versatile musician”, guitarist Kyle Sanna’s musical practice includes composition, improvisation, the recording studio, live coding, and the traditional music of Ireland. His compositions have been performed at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, the Royal Opera House in Oman, Sydney’s ABC studios, the National Recital Hall in

Taipei, New York’s Carnegie Hall, and many points between. WNYC’s New Sounds and Soundcheck host John Schaefer called his music “unconventionally beautiful.”

Kyle Sanna has received commissions from Brooklyn Rider, The Knights, Palaver Strings, Beta Collide, soprano Danielle Birrittella, and flutist Alex Sopp. His “ruminative and shape-shifting” (San Francisco Chronicle) work for string quartet, Sequence for Minor White, won First Prize in the 2018 Charlotte New Music Festival Composition Competition. Kyle Sanna performs regularly as an improvising guitarist with Ground Patrol and Kinan Azmeh’s CityBand, and performs traditional Irish music with legends Seamus Egan and Martin Hayes.

Caroline Shaw Composer

Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She works often in collaboration with others, as producer, composer, violinist, and vocalist. Caroline is the recipient of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music, several Grammy awards, an honorary doctorate from Yale, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship.

This year’s projects include the score to “Fleishman is in Trouble” (FX/Hulu), vocal work with Rosalía (MOTOMAMI), the score to Josephine Decker’s “The Sky Is Everywhere” (A24/Apple), music for the National Theatre’s production of “The Crucible” (dir. Lyndsey Turner), Justin Peck’s “Partita” with NY City Ballet, a new stage work “LIFE” (Gandini Juggling/Merce Cunningham Trust), the premiere of “Microfictions Vol. 3” for NY Philharmonic and Roomful of Teeth, a live orchestral score for Wu Tsang’s silent film “Moby Dick” co-composed with Andrew Yee, two albums on Nonesuch (“Evergreen” and “The Blue Hour”), the score for Helen Simoneau’s dance work “Delicate Power”, tours of Graveyards & Gardens (co-created immersive theatrical work with Vanessa Goodman), and tours with So Percussion featuring songs from “Let The Soil Play Its Simple Part” (Nonesuch), amid occasional chamber music appearances as violist (Chamber Music Society of Minnesota, La Jolla Music Society).

Caroline has written over 100 works in the last decade, for Anne Sofie von Otter, Davóne Tines, Yo Yo Ma, Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, LA Phil, Philharmonia Baroque, Seattle Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Aizuri Quartet, The Crossing, Dover Quartet, Calidore Quartet, Brooklyn Rider, Miro Quartet, I Giardini, Ars Nova Copenhagen, Ariadne Greif, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Britt Festival, and the Vail Dance Festival. She has contributed production to albums by Rosalía, Woodkid, and Nas.

Her work as vocalist or composer has appeared in several films, tv series, and podcasts including The Humans, Bombshell, Yellowjackets, Maid, Dark, Beyonce’s Homecoming, Tár, Dolly Parton’s America, and More Perfect Her favorite color is yellow, and her favorite smell is rosemary. carolineshaw.com

SHHH!! ENSEMBLE EDANA HIGHAM, PIANO ZAC PULAK, PERCUSSION

Shhh!!… a powerful utterance designed to draw attention forward… creating space and awareness… opening ears to something important.

Percussionist Zac Pulak and pianist Edana Higham are the two members of SHHH!! Ensemble, a duo carving a space for themselves as compelling performers, collaborators, and commissioners of electrifying new music. A keen taste for experimentation and discovery has guided their “avantaccessible” projects, which they have workshopped at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance, and the Canadian Music Centre, resulting in feature performances at the Tuckamore Festival, Ottawa Chamberfest, Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound, and the National Arts Centre #CanadaPerforms series.

They have toured broadly across Canada, celebrating and performing new works by both leading and emerging composers, including Jocelyn Morlock, Kelly-Marie Murphy, John Beckwith, Monica Pearce, Daniel Mehdizadeh, and Mari Alice Conrad. Their 2020 Toronto debut for the Music Mondays series was broadcast nationally on the CBC Radio 2 program “In Concert”.

In 2023, SHHH!! Ensemble will present the world premiere of Kelly-Marie Murphy’s double concerto Machines, Mannequins, and Monsters with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, followed by an appearance at the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec’s Montreal New Music Biennial. Additionally, as co-Artistic Directors of the Ottawa New Music Creators, Zac and Edana enjoy curating performances by leading Canadian and international artists in their home base of Ottawa, Ontario. Their debut album, Meanwhile, recorded for the Analekta label, was released in October 2022 to critical acclaim. shhhensemble.com

NELSON TAGOONA THROAT-BOXER

Nelson Naittuq Tagoona began writing songs and performing when he was 15. Tagoona improvises with traditional throat singing and beat-boxing, developing a technique he has termed “throat boxing”.

This unique performance has garnered Tagoona high praise throughout Canada, including being awarded at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and named one of the “Top 10 Canadian Artists under 20” by CBC Music. Tagoona performed during the opening of the Northern Scene Festival at the National Arts Centre, Pan Am Games, and at numerous other festivals and events Canada-wide.

An accomplished songwriter and performer with more than 300 performances under his belt, Nelson tours and performs regularly at music festivals and has a growing presence on National TV and in the press as an advocate for youth and wellness.

“In a lot of my songs I’ve always talked a lot about believing in yourself, being courageous and not being afraid and having a lot of heart. No matter how dark your days have been, you’ll see that shining light once again.”

– NELSON TAGOONA

As a member of the National Centre for the Arts’ Music Alive program, Tagoona is frequently invited to perform at public events and for youth. The Music Alive program sends teaching musicians to work with children and youth in northern communities, including Iqaluit, Igloolik, Rankin Inlet, Pangnirtung and Kugluktuk. Tagoona also works with Blueprint for Life, a non-profit organization that conducts hip-hop workshops with vulnerable youth to help boost self-esteem and tackle issues like violence, domestic abuse, sexual assault and suicide.

Bramwell Tovey Composer

Bramwell Tovey, OC OM, was a British GRAMMY® and JUNO awardwinning conductor and composer.

“He [was] the very model of a modern orchestral maestro... Not only [was] he a supremely gifted conductor and music director, a much-published composer, a pianist (classical and jazz) and a dreamer of big projects, he [was] also the bearer of a fantastic sense of humour.”

— ERIC FRIESEN in Montecristo Magazine, Spring 2011 Maestro Tovey served as music director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra between 1989-2001, founding the Winnipeg New Music Festival in 1991. He was the Principal Conductor of the B.B.C. Concert Orchestra, based in London, U.K. Since September 2018 he was also the Artistic Advisor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic.

From 2000 to 2018, he was Music Director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Founder and Artistic Advisor of the VSO’s state of the art School of Music in downtown Vancouver. In December 2018, the facility was renamed the Tovey Centre for Music incorporating the VSO School of Music in his honour. He is now the orchestra’s Music Director Emeritus. In January 2019, he assumed the role of Artistic Director of Calgary Opera, one of Canada’s leading companies with an outstanding record of newly commissioned mainstage work. He most recently led the company in the 2016 Canadian premiere of Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt with Lynn Fortin, David Pomeroy and Brett Polegato leading the cast. Maestro Tovey has planned the company’s seasons for 2020-21 and 2021-22 but relinquished the position for health reasons during the COVID-19 crisis. He returned to conduct the company’s performances of Beethoven’s Fidelio in November 2021.

As a guest conductor, he worked internationally with some of the world’s most prestigious orchestras. During 2017-18 his guest appearances included the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston, Chicago, Melbourne and Sydney Symphonies.

In July 2018, Bramwell was awarded the Orchestras Canada Betty Webster Award “...as a driving force for music in Canada, as a conductor, orchestra builder, composer, music education advocate and passionate exponent of new music.”

In November 2015, Bramwell Tovey was awarded the $20,000 Oscar Morawetz Award for Excellence in Music Performance. Bramwell donated the award to the VSO School of Music for bursaries to study with musicians of the Vancouver Symhony Orchestra. Bramwell made his operatic debut in 1984 conducting Puccini’s Tosca with Leonie Rysanek in the title role for Cape Town Opera, her final performances of a signature role. He made his Canadian Opera debut in 1994. His recording of Jean Cras’ Polypheme won the Academie Lyrique Française Prix d’or. His repertoire includes Mozart, Britten, Strauss, Gershwin, Bernstein, Puccini and several world premieres. At the 2015 Tanglewood Festival, he led the Boston Symphony and Tanglewood Festival Chorus in Tosca with Sondra Radvanovsky, Bryn Terfel and Brandon Jovanovich. One of his final concerts as music director of the Vancouver Symphony was leading concert performances of Britten’s Peter Grimes with David Pomeroy in the title role and Erin Wall as Ellen Orford.

Bramwell was also an award-winning composer. His Requiem for a Charred Skull won the 2003 JUNO award for Best Classical Composition. His opera The Inventor, written with playwright John Murrell, was commissioned by Calgary Opera and recorded by the original cast with the Vancouver Symphony and UBC Opera for CD release. His trumpet concerto Songs of the Paradise Saloon was commissioned by the Toronto Symphony for their principal trumpet, Andrew McCandless and premiered in December 2010. The US premiere took place at the Sun Valley Festival in August 2011. Alison Balsom played the concerto under the composer’s direction at the Los Angeles Philharmonic in November 2013 and again under the composer’s direction with the Philadelphia Orchestra in December 2014.

In 2008, with violinist James Ehnes, Bramwell and the VSO won a GRAMMY® and a JUNO award for their recording of Barber, Korngold and Walton concertos. In the fall of 2009, the VSO toured to Korea and China, including two concerts at the Beijing International Festival. In the Spring of 2010, the VSO performed in Toronto, Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa. In 2011, the VSO and Naxos records announced the launch of the Naxos Canadian Classics label with a disc of music by VSO Composer Laureate, Fugitive Voices – the Music of Jeffrey Ryan which has been nominated for a JUNO award. In January 2013, Bramwell and the VSO toured the western United States.

In Vancouver, Bramwell led complete symphonic cycles of Beethoven, Brahms and Mahler, many Canadian premieres of international works, including Thomas Ades Asyla and John Adams Dr Atomic Symphony, and works from across the choral, classical and Canadian repertoire. Bramwell worked with many leading international choirs including the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the Huddersfield Choral Society, the Amadeus Choir of Toronto, the Melbourne Symphony Chorus, the Pacific Chorale and the Canadian Mennonite Festival Choir in a wide range of repertoire from Bach and Britten to Part and Penderecki. bramwelltovey.com

Bram Van Sambeek Bassoonist

Bram van Sambeek is an international bassoonist and professor of bassoon at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague. He is known for his highly versatile approach to bassoon playing and for his innovative programming. He is the only bassoonist to receive the highest Dutch Cultural Award: The Dutch Music Prize in 2009. As a soloist, he performs with orchestras such as the Gothenburg, Galicia and Netherlands Symphony Orchestras, the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn and Camerata RCO. Many composers, such as Vanessa Lann, Sebastian Fagerlund and Kalevi Aho, have written concertos for him.

He played for ten years as principal bassoonist in the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and as a guest principal with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Since 2009, he has been teaching the bassoon at the Conservatories in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and The Hague. In 2017, he started a professorship at the Hochschule für Music und Tanz in Cologne, before deciding to return to the Royal Conservatoire The Hague in 2021. Bram has taught masterclasses at schools like Bloomington Indiana, the Royal College of London and the Hochschule für Musik in Basel.

As a chamber musician, he has worked regularly with Alexei Ogrintchouk, Reto Bieri, Hervé Joulain, Radovan Vlatkovich, Liza Ferschtman, Christoph Pregardien, Pekka Kuusisto, Nicolas Altstaedt and his most frequent chambermusic partner Rick Stotijn. In 2010, Bram was offered a Carte Blanche series in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and in 2015, he received a “Wild Card” consisting of many adventurous concerts at the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, also in Amsterdam. He is a regular guest at festivals like the Delft Chamber Music Festival, Storioni Festival, Orlando Festival, West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, and he has experimented with concert formats such as playing people to sleep. In 2016, he was the spokesman of the “Save the bassoon” campaign set up by the Holland Festival. This led to a lot of international attention and publicity for the instrument. Bram is very much interested in playing any style he likes, which leads him to work with rock musicians like Sven Figee at Konzerthaus Berlin, Jazz musicians like Joris Roelofs at the famous North Sea Jazz Festival, and Arab musicians like Kinan Azmeh at the Morgenland Festival.

On the occasion of being awarded the Dutch Music Prize, Bram played the bassoon concerto by Gubaidulina with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and chief conductor Seguin. De Telegraaf newspaper wrote about this performance: “He uses his instrument freely as a mouthpiece, conjures the finest timbres, and is technically capable of doing anything.” In 2011, he won a Borletti Buitoni Trust Award, and has been admitted to the Chamber Music Society of New York’s Lincoln Center.

About working together with Bram, Yannick Nézet-Séguin remarked in a television interview available at www.bramvansambeek.com: “I think he is able to fall in love with many aspects of the music, and doesn’t set himself too many boundaries.” In another interview about Bram, Valery Gergiev remarked: “... all in all a combination of being artistically involved, motivated and being gifted, being a very nice person, and also being a little bit unusual!”

Bram van Sambeek is a founder of the group ORBI (the Oscillating Revenge of the Background Instruments), performing tailor-made arrangements of rock songs.

Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra

Established in 1947, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO) is a powerhouse Canadian orchestra that regularly surprises audiences, guest conductors and artists with the exceptional musicianship and flexibility of its members. The WSO is integral to Winnipeg’s rich cultural life, delighting more than 225,000 audience members each year with innovative programming and musical excellence. The WSO presents educational programs for more than 40,000 students annually and has toured across Canada, twice to New York’s Carnegie Hall, and regularly across Manitoba. wso.ca

Its primary concert venue is the Centennial Concert Hall. The WSO also provides orchestral accompaniment to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Manitoba Opera. The orchestra’s executive director is Angela Birdsell.

Daniel Raiskin is the WSO’s music director. Naomi Woo is the assistant conductor and Julian Pellicano is the associate conductor.