Praised for her “very personal creative power” (Badener Zeitung), soprano Dorothea Hayley has been a soloist with the Vancouver Symphony, the Bourgas Symphony and Capriccio Basel, and has appeared in recital in Europe, Asia and North and South America. She has performed in festivals such as the Happening Festival, Gulangyu Piano Festival, Performer’s Voice Symposium, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival and the Atempo Festival of Caracas, and with organizations like Vancouver New Music, the SMCQ, Chants Libres, CIRMMT, Codes d’accès, and the Land’s End Ensemble. Recently Artist in Residence at the Banff Centre and the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, she teaches voice at Vancouver Community College. Dorothea completed vocal studies at McGill University, the University of British Columbia, and the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, and has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Koerner Foundation, and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. She holds a Doctor of Music degree from Université de Montréal.

Alejandro Ochoa (D.Mus, M.Mus, B.Mus) is a soloist, chamber recitalist, pianist of the Broadwood Duo and Co-Artistic Director of the Blueridge Chamber Music Festival. Before moving to Canada to pursue his graduate studies, Alejandro graduated Magna cum Laude from Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia), where he studied with the renowned Cuban pianist Ignacio Pacheco. As well as performing extensively throughout Colombia and Canada, Alejandro has performed recitals in China, Germany, The Netherlands, Portugal and the United States. Alejandro is a competition medalist and recipient of multiple national awards and grants. As a fortepianist he has been heard in Vancouver, Montreal and Bruges, Belgium.

His latest CD recording features works on fortepiano by C.P.E. Bach, Scarlatti, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. https://apple.co/35rp7VD

Alejandro is equally devoted to music education. He is co-founder of Top Music Teachers, an online platform aimed at improving quality private music instruction. Under his tutelage, Alejandro’s students have gone on to win multiple prizes at international, local and national competitions and have been admitted to prestigious post secondary institutions and festivals. Alejandro has instructed piano at McGill University, Kwantlen Polytechnic University and is currently on faculty at the Vancouver Academy of Music.

Microcosmos was formed in Vancouver in the spring of 2010 to perform the rich repertoire of string quartets written in the past century. The quartet takes advantage of the compactness and portability of a string quartet - four chairs and adequate light are all that is required - to present some of the greatest music of the 20th and 21st centuries in intimate spaces and sometimes unusual venues such as private homes, clubs, small halls, public and commercial buildings, for an audience that can experience the music close at hand. 

The six quartets of Béla Bartók form the core of the quartet’s repertoire, complemented by important related works, including those by Canadian composers. Aside from the quartet's intimate 'house' concerts, they have been guests on Music on Main’s series, as ensemble-in-residence for Vancouver Pro Musica’s ‘Further’ Series, and performed ‘Speaking in Ligeti’, an interdisciplinary collaboration with MMHop Productions and four dancers that toured to Halifax and Ottawa. They have commissioned and premiered string quartets by Vancouver composers Bradshaw Pack and Peter Hannan.

In 2015 the quartet launched the Kessler Academy, an annual educational initiative featuring a conductor-less orchestra mentorship program led by the quartet members. (http://kessleracademy.com)

Elinor Frey is a leading Canadian-American cellist and researcher who specializes in early music and new music. Her acclaimed CDs on the Belgian label Passacaille – most of which are world premiere recordings – include La voce del violoncello (2013), Berlin Sonatas (2015) with Lorenzo Ghielmi on fortepiano, Fiorè (2017), which features soprano Suzie LeBlanc, and Giuseppe Clemente Dall’Abaco: Cello Sonatas (2020) which received a Diapason d’Or. She just released Antonio Vandini: Complete Works, a project in collaboration with Marc Vanscheeuwijck. Her critical edition of Dall’Abaco Sonatas is published in collaboration with Walhall Editions.

Frey’s debut album, Dialoghi, is titled for the solo piece written for her by Steven Stucky, and her CD of new works for Baroque cello, titled Guided By Voices, was released on the Analekta label in March 2019. These works are by Scott Godin, Linda Catlin Smith, Ken Ueno, Isaiah Ceccarelli, Maxime McKinley, and Lisa Streich. 

Frey’s honours include a US-Italy Fulbright Fellowship, the SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship, American Musicological Society, and Canada Council for the Arts grants facilitating her work on Italian cello music. In recent seasons she has performed with Il Gardellino, Constantinople, Clavecin en concert, Ensemble Caprice, and Les Idées heureuses, as well as with her quartet, Pallade Musica, grand prize winners of the 2012 Early Music America Baroque Performance Competition and second prize winners in the 2014 International Van Wassenaer Competition in Utrecht. Currently a course instructor at McGill University, and instructor of Baroque cello at the University of Montréal, Frey holds degrees from Mannes, McGill, and Juilliard and is the Visiting Fellow in Music from 2019-2022 at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University. Frey was awarded Québec’s Opus Prize for “Performer of the Year” in 2021.

Acclaimed for her “stylistic versatility, clarity, range” (Halifax Chronicle Herald) and “gorgeous operatic power” (Vancouver Sun), soprano Heather Pawsey’s career encompasses opera, oratorio, chamber, symphonic, and contemporary music. First Prize winner of the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition, she has performed with opera companies, orchestras, ensembles and festivals across North America, Europe and Japan. Pawsey is honoured to have been named an Ambassador of the Canadian Music Centre — one of only 50 performers and conductors "who have played exceptional roles in shaping the Canadian music scene and raising the profile of Canadian music” — and has premiered over 40 Canadian and international works, many of them written specifically for her. The Founding Artistic Director and General Manager of Astrolabe Musik Theatre, Heather is the producer and featured performer of the upcoming feature-length opera documentary The Lake / n’-ha-a-itk with Opus 59 Films.

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, 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 Stanick, Robert Lipsett, Ani Kavafian, Laurie Smukler, and Cho-Liang Lin on violin and Robert Mealy, Cynthia Roberts and Monica Huggett on baroque violin.

A born and raised Vancouverite, Michelle attended the University of British Columbia where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in clarinet under Wes Foster and Cris Inguanti. She received her Master’s degree from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music studying with renowned clarinetist James Campbell. During her time at IU Michelle was the Associate Instructor of the clarinet studio. From 2012 to 2017 Michelle held the position of 2 nd /Utility Clarinet with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and was sessional faculty at the University of Manitoba.

Michelle is the 2nd /Eb clarinetist of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
Michelle has spent multiple summers studying music at the Banff Centre and was accepted into the Winter Residency program. Along with her career as a symphony musician, Michelle is a sought-after solo and chamber musician, and has performed with numerous touring Broadway companies. Michelle is an active teacher and clinician throughout British Columbia and is on faculty at the VSO School of Music.

Raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Dr. Paolo Bortolussi has performed throughout Canada and the United States. As a specialist in contemporary music, Paolo is the Artistic Director of the Nu:BC Collective, a new music and arts ensemble in residence at the University of British Columbia. To date he has premiered over one hundred solo, chamber, and orchestral works. Currently principal flutist with the Vancouver Island Symphony, Paolo has appeared as soloist with the VIS, the Albany (NY) Symphony Orchestra and the Canada West Chamber Orchestra. In April 2013, Paolo will premiere a newly commissioned flute concerto by Jocelyn Morlock with the Vancouver Island Symphony. Paolo co-directs the contemporary players ensemble at the University of British Columbia, and is also on the faculty of Kwantlen Polytechnic University. He holds a BMus degree in performance from the University of Ottawa and a Master and Doctoral degree in flute from Indiana University.

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 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 many symphony and chamber orchestras in Canada and the US, including the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Concert Artists of Baltimore, and CBC Radio Orchestra, and has served as concertmaster in orchestras such as 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.

Marc Destrubé has an international career as a performer of baroque and classical music on period instruments, and performs extensively as soloist, chamber musician, concertmaster and director of orchestras on modern instruments, particularly music of the 20th century and new music. He is a member of the Turning Point Ensemble, first violinist with the Axelrod String Quartet (Smithsonian Institution) and co-concertmaster of the Orchestra of the 18th Century (Amsterdam). His teachers included two eminent string quartet leaders, Norbert Brainin (Amadeus Quartet) and Sandor Végh (Végh Quartet).

Rebecca Whitling is the Acting Second Assistant Concertmaster of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and violinist in the new music quintet Standing Wave. She was Principal Second Violin of the CBC Radio Orchestra. Rebecca is a graduate of McGill and Indiana Universities, and she played in the New World Symphony from 1992-95. She has appeared as a chamber and orchestral musician at Tanglewood, Schleswig-Holstein, Ojai, and Cabrillo music festivals. As a member of the prize-winning Plymouth String Quartet, she performed at festivals and concert series in the U.S., Europe, and South America. Rebecca plays regularly with great musicians in all kinds of musical groups in and around Vancouver, including the Vancouver New Music Society, the Babayaga String Quartet, the New Orchestra Workshop, the NU:BC ensemble, Tango Paradiso, the Hard Rubber Orchestra, and the Tony Wilson Sextet. She has appeared as a soloist with the Vancouver Philharmonic, the Semiahmoo Strings, Prince George Symphony Orchestra and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

An enthusiastic proponent of new music, pianist Manuel Laufer has presented world premieres at Merkin Hall, Symphony Space, Le Poisson Rouge, Bang on a Can, June in Buffalo, and Festival Atempo (Caracas and Paris). Also passionate about traditional repertoire, he has performed with orchestras on both sides of the Atlantic, and appears regularly at the Blueridge Chamber Music Festival. Manuel has been a visiting artist at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and University at Buffalo's Creative Arts Initiative. He serves as President of the Piano Teachers Congress of New York, whose 20th/21st-Century Music Festival he co-chairs, and as Director of Collaborative Piano at New York University.

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 was heard on Hong Kong’s Radio 4 with the Vancouver based Koerner Quartet. She was heard on WQXR in New York, playing baroque viola with Juilliard’s historical performance ensemble, and was featured in the National Arts Centre’s “My First NAC” showcase concert series. She regularly appears in numerous series around Vancouver, including the VSO Chamber Players, UBC’s Wednesdays at Noon, the Little Chamber Series, Music on Main, the Blueridge Music Festival, 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. She currently holds the title of Acting Associate Principal Viola.

One of Canada’s leading interpreters of contemporary and experimental music, flutist Mark Takeshi McGregor has been praised for his “mind-blowing” musicianship and “huge physical energy” (Victoria Times Colonist). As a soloist and chamber musician, McGregor has performed extensively across five continents, including appearances at the 2017 ISCM World New Music Days, Innovations en Concert (Montreal), Athelas New Music Festival (Copenhagen), the Melos-Ethos Festival (Bratislava), Núcleo Música Nova’s International Symposium of New Music in Curitiba, Brazil, and the 2019 Honolulu Festival. His discography includes critically acclaimed recordings for Redshift Records and Centrediscs, including his latest album, Lutalica, which explores music for solo flute by Pacific Rim composers. Mark has a fondness for newts, whiskey, and the internet, where he can be found at www.marktakeshimcgregor.com. 

Organist, harpsichordist, and musicologist 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 a doctoral candidate in musicology at the University of British Columbia. Her thesis project explores how, why, and by whom sacred motets of Orlando di Lasso were so cherished, taught, and performed from the sixteenth until the nineteeth century. Her doctoral research is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Christina is an enthusiastic teacher. She teaches music history at UBC, coaches and helps to coordinate 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 completing her doctoral degree under the supervision of Alexander Fisher at UBC.

Luke Kim is a member of the Vancouver Cello Quartet and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. After his undergraduate studies at UBC, where he received the Catherine-Cooke Topping Memorial Medal upon graduation, he completed his Master of Music degree as a full scholarship student at UCLA. His teachers include Antonio Lysy, Joseph Elworthy, Eric Wilson, John Friesen, and Kenneth Friedman. In addition to masterclasses with Lynn Harrell, Janos Starker, Aldo Parisot, Paul Katz, and Jaap ter Linden, Luke attended the Aspen Music Festival and the Early Music Vancouver Programme (baroque cello). He has appeared in various concert series and recitals throughout Greater Vancouver and performed as a soloist with various orchestras, including the Seoul Symphony Orchestra, the Polish Czestochowa Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra, and the Busan Neo Philharmonic (Korea). As a soloist, Luke also performed Prokofiev's Sinfonia Concertante in its entirety with the West Coast Symphony in 2019.

Canadian violist Tawnya Popoff enjoys an exciting and versatile international career. In addition to being principal violist with the Vancouver Opera (BC) since 2007, she is a member of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (TX), the Walden School Players (NH) and a founding member of Microcosmos string quartet/Kessler Academy (BC).  Ms. Popoff regularly presents solo and chamber recitals and gave the North American premiere of the viola concerto Dark Light by Ching-Wei Chao in 2018.

Ms. Popoff has a keen interest in inter-disciplinary projects and is an enthusiastic supporter of works by living artists. She has commissioned and premiered and recorded dozens of works and served on the faculties of the Perlman Music Program, University of Pennsylvania, Syracuse University, SUNY Buffalo and more.

Aside from musical pursuits, Ms. Popoff had a cycling tour company in NYC, designs handmade games and toys for her little friends, volunteers regularly and passionately enjoys the great outdoors in all seasons!

Jeremy Chaulk was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia and now makes his home in Montreal. In addition to performing across Canada, his career has brought to Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Mexico, Netherlands, Romania, Spain and the United States. He has been recorded by the CBC for Medici TV in a masterclass with Jean- Phillipe Collard, as well as having appeared several times on television in Halifax in his youth. He recently participated in a recording of chamber music, soon to be released on the Naxos label’s Canadian Composers series. Recent notable performances were at the Salzburg International Chamber Music Festival, the Montreal New Music Festival, and as soloist with the Youth Orchestra of Nova Scotia. Jeremy won the second prize at the first Alkan-Zimmermann International Piano Competition in Athens, an honorable mention at the International Ludmilla Knezkova Piano Competition, and won first prize in the national finals of the Canadian Music Competition. He also won first prize at the Festival du Royaume in both solo and chamber music.

Jeremy completed his Doctor of Music degree under the direction of Kyoko Hashimoto at McGill University in Montreal, and he holds a master’s degree and an artist diploma from the same institution. He also studied at the Conservatoire de Montréal, the Conservatory of Utrecht in the Netherlands, and has completed courses at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Rencontres Musicales Internationales d’Enghien in Belgium and the Orford Arts Centre.
 

Vancouver-based percussionist Katie Rife is an enthusiastic performer of new music, with appearances in concerts presented by Music on Main, Vancouver New Music, Redshift Music Society, and the Canadian Music Centre, and with groups including the Ethos Collective, Turning Point Ensemble, Erato Ensemble, Gruppo Montebello, and Fringe Percussion. She is a founding member of the chamber groups Driftwood Percussion and the Ethos Collective, and for larger ensemble playing is the Principal Percussionist of the Okanagan Symphony and an extra musician with several BC orchestras. Katie holds a Masters of Music and Professional Studies Diploma from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, a Bachelors of Music from the University of British Columbia, and has had multiple artist residencies at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

Canadian cellist Jonathan Lo has performed in venues such as Alice Tully Hall and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre at the Canadian Opera Company, Koerner Hall at the Royal Conservatory of Music, and the Paleis Het Loo. He has appeared as soloist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Northwest, and the Burnaby Symphony. His chamber music collaborators have included Robert Levin, Dasol Kim, Louis Schwizgebel, Georgy Tchaidze, Geoff Nuttall and the late Lynn Harrell; additionally he has worked closely with composers such as Osvaldo Golijov, Oliver Knussen, and Shulamit Ran.

From 2013 to 2020, he was the founding cellist of the Rolston String Quartet, winners of the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Cleveland Quartet Award. Praised for their “maturity and cohesion rivaling the best string quartets in the world” (Musical Toronto), they performed throughout North America, Europe, and Israel, in such concert halls as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Koerner Hall, Wigmore Hall, and Esterhazy Palace.

Jonathan has given masterclasses at the University of Toronto, University of Calgary, Mount Royal University, and La Jolla SummerFest. He holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, The Juilliard School, and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, as well as fellowships from the Glenn Gould School and the Yale School of Music. His major teachers include Norman Fischer, Desmond Hoebig, Andrés Díaz, Joel Krosnick, Steven Doane, Rosemary Elliott, and Audrey Nodwell.

Cellist Rebecca Wenham's performances have been described as "silken, highly refined" (the Globe and Mail) as well as having "extraordinary commitment and maturity" (La Gazette). Her animated playing style is often surprising, dramatic and impulsive, leaving a breathless audience on the edge of their seats. She has performed across North America, Mexico, Europe, Japan and Australia. Formerly a member of the Cecilia String Quartet, she won prizes in the Osaka, Rutenberg, Bordeaux and Banff International String Quartet Competitions, and was a CBC Galaxie Rising Star in 2007. Highlights of the 2015 season included performances of the Elgar Cello Concerto with the Vancouver Philharmonic, the Brahms Double Concerto with the Lion’s Gate Sinfonia, as well as a sold-out solo cello concert of music of the 21st century, presented by Music on Main at the Fox Cabaret. Rebecca was recently named principal cello of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra. She holds degrees from the HARID Conservatory of Music, and from Rice, San Diego State and McGill Universities

A graduate of Juilliard School of Music and Oberlin Conservatory and College (with degrees in music and economics), trombonist Jeremy Berkman currently performs with the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, the early music ensemble Cappella Borealis, the Vancouver Brass Orchestra, and leads the education and community engagement efforts of Vancouver’s award-winning Turning Point Ensemble (TPE).  Jeremy has studied extensively with Tim Atherton, Thomas Cramer, and Per Brevig.   With TPE, Jeremy has co-led a number of large-scale collaborations and in 2011 was honoured with Vancouver’s Mayor’s Arts Award (Music).   He has contributed to over 30 commercial recordings, and is featured with the Bozzini String Quartet in Still Image (music of Owen Underhill) on the Centerdisc label.  With The Peggy Lee Band, led by cellist Peggy Lee, he has recorded five cds, toured nationally and internationally, and as a band member been nominated for a Juno Award.    A fan of the bands Chicago and Earth Wind and Fire as a youngster, he has had those “am I still a kid (?), pinch me moments” recording both on CD and appearing on TV with Michael Bublé and his band, as well as recording with Matthew Good, and Tanya Tagaq (on her Polaris Prize winning CD Animism).  Jeremy is a Sessional Instructor of Trombone and coaches chamber music at the University of British Columbia.

“I love being surrounded by people who make music because they enjoy it. I will continue to surround myself with such people”.  After her Vancouver studies Andrea Siradze moved to Germany, where contemporary music was the focal point of her 5 year stay, highlighted by commemorative performances that celebrated composers in person, those that are responsible for shaping the direction of music today.

She is a member of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, concertmaster of Lions Gate Sinfonia, and a member of the Microcosmos Quartet. Andrea’s loves are many and include spending time with her family and the wondrous surroundings of the West Coast. Of her future Andrea says, “I’m very happy to be doing everything I’m doing, I wouldn’t change a thing. I’m happy to just play – this is what I want.”

Julia Chien currently holds the Principal Timpanist position with the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra (KSO). Prior to joining the KSO, she held the principal percussion position with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra. Some of the ensembles Julia also performs with include the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Turning Point Ensemble, and Continuum Contemporary Ensemble. Julia received both her Bachelors and Masters degree at the University of British Columbia where she studied with Vern Griffiths and Aaron McDonald.

Holly Bryan is an accomplished horn performer and teacher based in Vancouver, BC, on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəyyəm (Musqueam), Sḵwxxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Selyílwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. She enjoys a diverse y performance schedule which includes frequent performances with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Victoria Symphony and the Vancouver Film Orchestra. She is passionate about chamber music and plays in several chamber groups including the Fireside Quintet, John Avison Chamber Orchestra and BRAZZ. In addition to live performances, Holly is a skilled session musician and has been recorded for several albums and film soundtracks. 

Holly also plays the natural horn and has performed with period instrument orchestras including the Victoria Baroque Players, Julliard415 and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra. She joined Les Violons du Roy for their tour to South Korea and China in 2019. 

When she isn't playing or teaching the horn, Holly is an avid cyclist and enjoys immersing herself in nature by hiking, canoeing and backcountry camping.

Cheyenne is a Vancouver-born and based graphic designer, artist and improvisor. She is a Trinidadian-Ojibway-Mixed settler. She explores her roots through art, food and fashion. Her studies in Visual Communications (BA, CapU) sparked an inspiration to blend design and culture in a colourful way. When not designing, you can find her playing Dungeons & Dragons, sewing or cooking. She’s currently learning Anishnaabemowin, the Ojibway Language. Below is an introduction.

Boozhoo. Cheyenne nindizhinikaaz. Waab’anong Oshkigamaang ndoonjii. Ningaabii’anong Vancouver noogom daya. Miigwetch diked Unceded Musquem, Squamish, gaye Tsleil-Waututh nibabaamaadiz omaa aki. Weweni bimose. Chi miigwetch aakina n’danwen’maganiduc.

Hello. My name is Cheyenne. I come from Curve Lake in the East. I currently live in Vancouver in the West. I acknowledge the Unceded Musquem, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Territories for allowing me to live on these lands. I will walk gently. All my relations.