Obsidiana Duo has a reputation as an international prize-winning collaborative pair, having been featured at CollabFest 2020, Collabaret 2020, and 2021 as part of the International Keyboard Collaborative Arts Society. Most recently, they won First Prize in the 2022 Puerto Rico Collaborative Piano Competition, and a fellowship in the Toronto Art Song Festival 2022. They are currently part of Prairie Debut’s roster of touring ensembles.

Camila Montefusco

Brazilian-born mezzo-soprano Camila Montefusco is quickly distinguishing herself as a passionate and exciting artist. Hailed for her “lush steady tone” (Stage Door), Camila was a young artist with the Britten Pears Young Artist Program, the Institute for Young Dramatic Voices, and Toronto Summer Music Festival. During these residencies, Camila worked extensively on operatic and art song repertoire with renowned industry professionals such as Wolfram Rieger, John Fisher, and Dolora Zajick.

Camila is excited to tour with Prairie Debut in the 2023-2024 season, bringing to the Prairies repertoire she is passionate about. As a co-founder of Obsidiana Duo, Camila believes in the importance of Ibero- American musical culture and history. The duo was born from her desire to give voice to BIPOC and historically excluded composers through folk music from Latin America. Along with pianist Yolanda Tapia, Camila is proud to be part of the work towards a more equitable and diverse industry.

Yolanda Tapia

Yolanda Tapia is an international prize-winning pianist and a highly sought-after collaborative pianist. A native of Mexico, she has performed as a soloist and as a chamber musician across Mexico, Switzerland, Italy, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Canada, and the United States. She was a staff pianist at the Instituto Superior de Música in Xalapa, Mexico, and pursued graduate studies at Colorado State University, the University of Boulder Colorado, and the University of Western Ontario where she obtained her Doctor of Musical Arts. She was a Fulbright scholar and has won awards at international piano competitions, concerto competitions, and chamber music competitions in Mexico, Costa Rica, the United States, and Canada. Most recently, Yolanda’s performance with the mezzo-soprano Camila Montefusco (Obsidiana Duo) was awarded the first prize of the Virtual International Professional Collaborative Piano Competition of the Puerto Rico Center for Collaborative Piano.

In 2020, Yolanda created www.collaborativepianists.info, a platform with affiliated social media accounts helping to promote the diversity of the collaborative piano community. She has taught master classes at the University of Veracruz, FIM Loja (Ecuador), and Cambrian College in Ontario, and has presented lecture recitals at CollabFest2021, Latin American Chamber Players, Western University, and El Canto Online in Mexico.

Since 2015, she has worked as a private collaborative pianist at the University of Western Ontario working with vocalists and instrumentalists, as well as being the music director of Knox St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Dutton, Ontario. Currently, Yolanda is a resident performer as part of Holland America’s Lincoln Center Stage piano quartet. As part of this unique program, she has been travelling to different countries in Europe, South America, and Antarctica.