Maxim Bernard, piano

Maxim Bernard discovered his passion at the age of 13. His development has been phenomenal; by age 18 he was invited to perform Beethoven’s magnificent Fourth Piano Concerto with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra!

In 2004, he met the legendary pianist Menahem Pressler at the Orford Arts Centre and the chemistry between them was immediate. After hearing Maxim play, Pressler declared “I believe in your future!” A few months later, Maxim was on his way to the University of Indiana to study with his new mentor, where he earned both his Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Piano Performance. He developed his unique style, and music has become for him a spiritual experience. His sensitivity, his personal touch, and the contagious spontaneity he brings to his interpretations combine to make him an exceptional pianist.

He has been a prize winner at the CBC Young Artists Competition, the Indianapolis Matinee Musicale Competition and at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Concerto Competition. In 2006, his career was launched after he won the prestigious International Stepping Stone of the Canadian Music Competition.

He taught for five years at Indiana University and his qualifications led him to serve on juries of many music competitions throughout Canada.

Maxim Bernard is a polyvalent musician who adores challenges. That is probably why conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin asked him to learn Ginastera’s challenging Second Piano Concerto in order to perform the Canadian premiere of the work with the Orchestre Métropolitain of Montreal at the Maison Symphonique de Montréal. The critic Claude Gingras from La Presse wrote: “The pianist was entirely up to the onerous task, both in power and in introspection. The conductor and orchestra were in perfect synchronisation with him and the spectacular result inspired a long and enthusiastic ovation from the hall.”

He looks forward to his debut in Brussels in 2016 where he will perform a recital in the great hall of the Centre for Fine Arts.

Stanislav Pronin, violin

Violinist and composer Stanislav Pronin was born in Moscow, Russia and began his violin studies upon his immigration to Israel at the age of 8. His first teacher was his grandfather, Veniamin Pronin, a student of Pyotr Stoliarskiy and former Professor at the Odessa Conservatoire. Stanislav continued his studies at Indiana University with Nelli Shkolnikova and Jaime Laredo, and later at the Hochschule für Musik Köln, Germany, with Professor Zakhar Bron.

Stanislav’s professional career began following his solo debut in Israel at the age of 10. He has performed as soloist and chamber musician at many festivals including Verbier Festival and Interlaken Classics in Switzerland, Banff Festival and Stratford Festival in Canada, Kronberg Festival in Germany, etc. He performs regularly in USA, Canada, Europe and Scandinavia, and in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Miller Theatre, Musikhuset Aarhus, National Arts Centre Ottawa, Perlman Theatre in Philadelphia, and so on. He has collaborated with numerous conductors including Leonard Slatkin, Herbert Blomstedt, Antonio Mendez, Sigiswald Kuijken, Andrew Constantine and Joshua Weilerstein. As chamber musician, he has collaborated with Jan Lisiecki, Jaime Laredo, James Campbell, Mark Kaplan, Bion Tsang, Orion String Quartet, Victor Danchenko, Julian Milkis, Anton Nel, Emille Naoumoff and Lera Auerbach. An avid performer of new music, Stanislav has worked with and premiered works of such composers as John Adams, Fabian Panisello, Ned Rorem, Toivo Tulev, Hans Abrahamsen and Lera Auerbach.
Stanislav’s recordings, including his solo CD debut on Naxos/Sono Luminus labels, have been broadcast on numerous radio and television channels including WDR Köln, RTS-1 Belgrade, CBC Canada, Radio Klassisk Denmark, Interlochen Public Radio, WFMT Chicago Classical, etc.

Stanislav is a recipient of multiple awards from such organization as the American String Teachers Association, America-Israel Cultural Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts and Classical Artists Development Foundation. He performs on a Nicola Bergonzi violin from 1785, and the ex-Ysaye, ex-Flesch Voirin bow, generously on loan from a private donor.

TOUR DATES: July 1, 2015 – May 31, 2016 (Ensemble in Residence)

BIOGRAPHY:

The Maritime Brass Quintet (MBQ) brings the highest caliber chamber music to concert halls, churches, festivals and schools across the Maritimes and beyond. The group is comprised of five of Canada’s finest brass players: Curtis Dietz and Richard Simoneau (trumpet), Gina Patterson (horn), Eric Mathis (trombone) and Bob Nicholson (tuba & bass trombone). MBQ members have studied throughout North America and performed or held positions with many of the world’s leading ensembles, including the Chicago Symphony, Toronto Symphony, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Honolulu Symphony and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra. They also have experience playing in numerous smaller groups and ensembles, including Foothills Brass, Northumberland Brass, Honolulu Brass Quintet, the Jive Kings and the Canadian Brass. All MBQ members are dedicated educators as well as players, and are committed to working with brass players of all ages. Since forming in 2011, Maritime Brass Quintet has been gaining recognition as a leading brass ensemble in Canada and internationally.

Curtis Dietz, trumpet

In addition to performing with Maritime Brass Quintet, trumpeter Curtis Dietz is now in his sixteenth season with Symphony Nova Scotia. A native of Hanover, Ontario, he is a graduate of the University of Montreal and also studied at University of Toronto, The Royal Conservatory of Music, and the Banff Centre. Curtis has made orchestral appearances with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, I Musici de Montreal,  L’Orchestre Metropolitain and the Canadian Opera Company orchestra. In 2005 he was featured as lead trumpet in Neptune Theatre’s production of Chicago. He is currently on the faculty of the Acadia University School of Music.

Richard Simoneau, trumpet

Trumpeter Richard was born in Quebec City, and pursued his studies at the Quebec and then Montreal Conservatories. Following his graduation, he won a one-year contract to play third and assistant principal trumpet with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. The next year he played principal trumpet with the Hamilton Philharmonic and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, before moving to his current position of principal trumpet with Symphony Nova Scotia in 1996. Richard has been heard on many occasions as soloist with Symphony Nova Scotia and with the Maritime Brass Quintet. Many of his performances have been recorded and broadcast nationally by the CBC. Richard has been on faculties of Acadia University in Wolfville and Universite de Moncton. He also acts as artist in residence at the Scotia Festival of Music in Halifax.

Gina Patterson, horn

Gina returned to Nova Scotia after seven years with Canada’s renowned Canadian Opera Company Orchestra where she played on many acclaimed productions and recordings. An experienced chamber musician, Gina has rehearsed with the Canadian Brass and performed on the live national broadcast of the Schubertian Celebration at the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto. She has played with I Musici de Montreal, performed at the New Brunswick and Indian River Chamber Music Festivals, and was a finalist at the CIBC National Music Festival. Gina has performed with orchestras across Canada, including Symphony Nova Scotia, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, Newfoundland Symphony, and the Charlottetown Festival

Eric Mathis, trombone

Eric Mathis brings a variety of performance experience to the Maritime Brass Quintet. Associate Principal Trombonist of the Honolulu Symphony, Eric has performed with a number of orchestras including Royal Winnipeg Ballet Orchestra, Charlottetown Festival Orchestra, Chicago Civic Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has also held positions in Northumberland Brass, Millar Brass Ensemble and Honolulu Brass Quintet. Now performing regularly with Symphony Nova Scotia and the PEI Trombone Mafia, Eric also gives regular recitals in Canada and the United States. He has also been featured with Richard Simoneau and Symphony Nova Scotia A dedicated educator, Eric teaches trombone at Dalhousie University and is a coach with the Nova ScotiaYouth Orchestra. While in Honolulu, he taught at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa. Eric received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Prince Edward Island and his Master of Music degree from Northwestern University.

Bob Nicholson, tuba & bass trombone

Winner of two East Coast music awards with the Jive Kings, Bob Nicholson is enjoying a varied and successful career. He recently completed three years as tubaist with the Foothills Brass Quintet, performed for five years with The Phantom of the Opera in Toronto and for fourteen summers in the orchestra of Anne of Green Gables at the Charlottetown Festival and is now pleased to be playing tuba and bass trombone with Maritime Brass Quintet. As an orchestral musician, he has performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic, CBC Toronto Jazz Orchestra and the National Ballet Orchestra among others. Theatre work ‘in the pit’ includes Toronto productions of Beauty and the Beast, Showboat, Crazy for You, Miss Saigon, Les Miserables and numerous productions at the Charlottetown Festival. Bob studied at the University of PEI, the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, the University of Toronto and at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. In addition to performing with MBQ, Bob currently teaches at Acadia University and Nova Scotia Community College.

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TOUR DATES: March 12 – 24, 2016

BIOGRAPHY:

Profiled by CBC Q, The National, Discovery Channel, and the Toronto Star (“one of the most attention-grabbing concerts of the year”), the Afiara Quartet, an ensemble for the 21st century, is a string quartet defined by its pursuit of beauty, meaning, and growth as musicians and ambassadors for its genre.

Comprised of Valerie Li, first violin; Timothy Kantor, violin; Eric Wong, viola and Adrian Fung, cello, the Afiara Quartet is a dynamic and award-winning ensemble, described as “a revelation” (La Presse) with performances balancing “intensity and commitment” and “frequent moments of tenderness” (Montreal Gazette).  After residencies at The Juilliard School and San Francisco State University, the Afiara are currently Fellowship Quartet at the Royal Conservatory of Music. The ensemble is winner of the Young Canadian Musicians Award, Concert Artist Guild, Munich ARD, and Banff International String Quartet Competitions, including the latter’s Szekely Prize for the best interpretation of Beethoven. The Afiara has performed throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia, at such venues as Carnegie Hall’s Zankel and Weill Halls, the Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Library of Congress in DC, Sao Paulo’s Museum of Modern Art, Pro Musica of San Miguel de Allende, London’s Wigmore Hall, Austria’s Esterhazy Palace, Munich’s Prinz Regenten Theatre, Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw, and the Royal Library in Copenhagen. Their journey is documented in over 30 commissions of new music, new educational outreach initiatives for school children funded by the Ontario Arts Council, and projects with jazz virtuoso Uri Caine, Latin Grammy Award-winning producer Javier Limon, and innovative scratch DJ, Kid Koala.

As Executive Producers, the Afiara Quartet’s latest project, “Spin Cycle”, is a ground-breaking process that begins with four Canadian commissions by composers Kevin Lau, Laura Silberberg, Rob Teehan, and Dinuk Wijeratne, which is then remixed by renowned DJ Skratch Bastid. The composers then compose to the remixes by writing quartet parts in response, creating an authentic and fully collaborative dialogue, with all three stages stand-alone works in their own right. Classicaliszt writes: “Like a tornado cutting a swath of chaos across cornfields and farmlands, Spin Cycle (Centrediscs) is knocking down those musical silos that once contained and kept classical music and hip hop at more than arms length from each other, and allows conversations across a musical void that I never expected to hear filled in.”

Bogdan Dulu is an extraordinary musician able to open the world of music to even the most non-musical audience, combining mastery of the piano with the ability to educate and entertain with his engaging speaking style, intelligence, compassion, and humour. Dulu received a rigorous foundation in the fundamentals of music through specialized education in his native Romania. This led to his orchestral debut at age 12 in a concert broadcast nationally by the Romanian Radio Corporation. It was this institution that significantly contributed to making his name recognized across the country, through multiple live broadcasts of solo and orchestral performances, interviews, and several studio recordings. His recordings represented the Romanian Radio at the Concertino Prague (1997) and EURORADIO New Talent Bratislava (2006) competitions.

Bogdan Dulu received the Gold Medal at the 2011 Seattle International Piano Competition. He won the 2005 Yamaha Prize in Romania, followed by wins at the 2006 Liszt-Bartok Competition (Sofia, Bulgaria) and the 2007 William Garrison International Piano Competition (Baltimore, USA).

To date, Dulu has performed on four continents: Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa. He is equally at home as a soloist as well as chamber musician, collaborative pianist, coach, or public speaker, with appearances on NHK Tokyo, YLE Finnish Broadcasting Corporation, and KING FM Seattle. Dulu’s recent collaborations include performances with flutists Catherine Ransom-Karoly (Associate Principal, LA Phil) and Christie Reside (Principal Flute, Vancouver Symphony), trombonist Ralph Sauer (former Toronto Symphony, LA Phil), soprano Aline Kutan, and saxophonist extraordinaire Joe Lulloff.

Dulu received coachings from pianists Yefim Bronfman, Richard Goode, and Stephen Hough, and worked with soprano Dawn Upshaw at the Banff Centre. Of note is his association with Canadian composer-pianist Marc-André Hamelin, Dulu being the first pianist to write a doctoral dissertation on Hamelin’s Études. His research involved the performance of these works under the personal guidance of the composer.

After studying privately with Ana Pitis in Bucharest while pursuing his Bachelor’s degree, Dulu continued his training with Irina Morozova at Mannes College in New York City and with Jane Coop at University of British Columbia in Vancouver. While in New York, he was an active member of a select global community of graduate students at International House, where he developed a deeper understanding and appreciation for a multicultural environment, and where he received training in public speaking and leadership skills.

Bogdan Dulu is represented worldwide by MitBravour. He makes his home in Vancouver, where he becomes a little more Canadian by the day.

CLICK HERE to watch videos of Bogdan answering some questions we had for him.

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Pallade Musica brings together four of Montreal’s most promising Early Music performers. Grand Prize winners at the Early Music America Baroque Performance Competition in New York, October 2012, the quartet consists of Tanya LaPerrière, Baroque violon, Elinor Frey, Baroque cello, Esteban La Rotta, theorbo, and Mark Edwards, harpsichord. Based on dedicated research and continuous exploration, Pallade Musica’s performances are acclaimed for

their expressive and elegant interpretations, earning praise for their “spectacular virtuosity” (Tom Strini Blog) and “tremendous ensemble sense” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).

The ensemble has performed throughout Canada including at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, Festival Montréal Baroque, Festival Alexandria, Toronto Music Garden, Early Music Vancouver, Early Music Society of the Islands (Victoria), and in the United States at Early Music Now (Milwaukee), the Chicago Cultural Center, and will soon perform at Renaissance and Barouqe (Pittsburgh), Early Music Societies of Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, and Arizona, at the Connecticut and Indianapolis Early Music Festivals, and in Bogotà, Colombia. The members of Pallade Musica regularly appear with leading early music ensembles all over the world, while also pursuing careers as soloists and teachers. Pallade Musica recorded “Verso Venezia,” its first CD on the ATMA label. The CD features music of Castello, Legrenzi, and Merula was released in April 2014.

We asked the artists of Pallade Musica a few questions.
Check out what they had to say by watching these fun videos!

For more performance videos click the links below:

Dario Castello – Sonata Secunda

Francois Couperin – L’et Coetera Minuet

 CLICK FOR FRENCH BIOGRAPHY