Performers - Season 06/07

To view works and performers from our past seasons, please click here.

Julie Baumgartel – Violin
Julie Baumgartel has studied at Indiana University, the Freiburg Conservatory and the University of Toronto and has performed with Tafelmusik, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and the Orchestre des Champs Elysees across Europe, North America and Asia. She has been featured in numerous CBC radio broadcasts, was a member of Modern Quartet, performs chamber music regularly at the Festival of the Sound in Parry Sound, Artspring Festival on Salt Spring Island, B.C., the Elora Festival in Ontario and co-founded the Grand River Baroque Festival near Ayr, Ontario with her husband oboist James Mason. She also appears on various chamber music series in southern Ontario including The Gallery Players Of Niagara and the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo. In 2002 she co-ordinated and coached chamber music for the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony’s youth orchestra programme and in 2003 she was appointed conductor of the KWS Youth Sinfonia, which she continues to do. Julie is a part time faculty member at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Deborah Braun - Harp
Deborah Braun (harpist)...is a native of St. Catharines and began her harp studies locally with Doris Scharing. She subsequently studied with Eilene Malone of the Eastman School of Music, Suzanne Thomas of the Buffalo Philharmonic, and Elaine Pamphilon of Cambridge, England. In additional to extensive solo and ensemble playing, she is harpist with the Niagara Symphony Orchestra and Glissandi.

Margaret Gay - 'cello
After completing a Bachelor of Music degree at Boston University School for the Arts, Margaret Gay accepted an invitation to the Banff Centre for Fine Arts, where she completed the winter programme. From there she moved to Toronto, where she earned a Master’s degree at the University of Toronto and began a remarkably active freelance career performing on both modern and period ‘cello. Margaret performs regularly with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony, Opera Atelier, Mississauga Sinfonia, Baroque Music Beside The Grange, the Eybler Quartet, and Ensemble Polaris, a group exploring the traditional music of various Nordic countries. She is Artistic Director of The Gallery Players of Niagara, an organization based in the Niagara Region that presents chamber music. She was for many years a member of Modern Quartet, a string quartet dedicated to the performance of new works, the Burdocks, a foursome specializing in works of the 20th century, and Critical Band. In the summers she has performed at the Carmel Bach Festival, Stratford, Elora, Parry Sound, Grand River Baroque, and Lameque Baroque Music festivals, as well as teaching ‘cello and coaching chamber music at the Toronto Board of Education Music Camp, and the University of New Brunswick Summer Music Camp. Margaret can be heard on numerous CD’s, including a recent release from Analekta of Joseph Leopold Eybler's string quartets Op. 1, Ensemble Polaris, Not Much Is Worse Than A Troll, a Hungaroton disc of 17th century English theatre music, Ah! How Sweet It Is To Love, O Bali, from New Music Concerts, and, A Curious Collection for the Common Flute.

Lori Gemmell - Harp
Harpist, Lori Gemmell enjoys a diverse career as a chamber musician, soloist, orchestral player and teacher. She received her Masters degree from the University of Toronto where she studied with eminent harpist, Judy Loman. Lori also studied with Catherine Michel in Paris, France and Alice Chalifoux in Camden, Maine. She has been a regular performer with the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, Belladonna and LeNEM, a contemporary chamber group in Montreal with whom she toured through Europe and Japan. She has had solo concerto performances with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Edmonton Symphony, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and Orchestra London among others. In March 2000 she was a prize winner in the Canadian Concerto Competition and in January 2001 she was a participant in the 14th International Harp Contest in Israel. Lori currently holds the position of Principal Harpist with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. She teaches at Wilfred Laurier University and maintains a private studio in Toronto. In 2002, Lori released her first solo CD entitled “Prelude, solo harp”.

Beverley Johnston - Percussion
Beverley Johnston is one of Canada’s leading percussionists, performing, touring and broadcasting a wide array of compositions, both new and old. She is an accomplished orchestral and chamber musician, as well as an internationally celebrated solo touring artist, both in recital and with orchestra. Her exciting performances have been distinguished as non-conventional, effectively combining classical transcriptions, contemporary music and a touch of theatre. She has released four solo albums: IMPACT (nominated for a JUNO award in 1987) and ALTERNATE CURRENTS for the Centrediscs label, MARIMBACH on CBC Records’ Musica Viva label and just released her 4th solo recording called GARDEN OF DELIGHTS (available through her website www.beverleyjohnston.com ). Since the millennium, Ms. Johnston has been busy with concerto performances and recital programs across North America. Beverley Johnston studied at Vanier College in her native Montreal and at the University of Toronto where she now teaches.

Patrick Jordan - Viola
Patrick Jordan, a native of West Texas, studied with Susan Schoenfeld before moving to Boston in 1981 to study with Walter Trampler. Mr. Jordan holds a Bachelor's degree from the New England Conservatory and an Artist's Diploma in Chamber Music from the Longy School, where he began several years' study with Eugene Lehner. Now a resident of Toronto, Mr. Jordan is a member of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra with which he tours throughout Canada, the United States, Mexico, Asia and Europe. He is also the Artistic Administrator and violist with the Gallery Players of Niagara. He has been a member of the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra since 1997 and has appeared with the New York Collegium as well as the American Classical Soloists. While living in Boston, he performed regularly with D.C. Hall's Band (a recreation of a 19th-century dance and concert band), the van Swieten Quartet, a period instrument string quartet, and the Handel & Haydn Society Orchestra. He was a member of the Boston Quartet, a modern instrument string quartet, and the Really Eclectic String Quartet (RESQ), a group that explored popular dance and lyrical music from many cultures. From 1988 to 1993 he was Lecturer in Violin and Viola at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA; he is currently on the faculty of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He has recorded for Sony, Sony Classical, Dorian, Newport Classic, NorthStar, Analekta and Northeastern.

David Louie - Piano
Hailed as "a pianistic sensation" (Rhein-Zeitung, Germany), David Louie ranks among the foremost Canadian musicians of his generation. Born in British Columbia, he has performed throughout Canada, the United States, Europe and Australia. A major prizewinner at prestigious competitions — the CBC Radio Competition, Santander International Piano Competition (Paloma O'Shea) in Spain and the Sydney International Piano Competition — David Louie made his New York debut under the auspices of the city's venerable Peoples' Symphony Concerts. Recital appearances include the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts in Chicago, the Mosel Festwochen (Germany), and the National Auditorium of Madrid. He has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras including the Vancouver Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada, Gulbenkian Chamber Orchestra of Lisbon, and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London. An accomplished chamber musician, David Louie is a member of Toronto-based ARC and the Gallery Players of Niagara. He has collaborated with the Takacs String Quartet and members of the Toronto Symphony and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. Equally at home on the harpsichord, he is one of the few keyboard artists to master both instruments and transcend traditional boundaries between period and modern performance. As harpsichord recitalist he has presented Bach's Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier at Canada's Grand River Baroque Festival. A Canada Council Arts Grant recipient, David Louie studied with John Perry and Boris Zarankin and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Southern California. He resides in Toronto and is on faculty at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Myron Lutzke - cello
Myron Lutzke is well known to audiences as a performer on both period and modern violincello. He studied at Brandeis University and is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he was a student of Leonard Rose and Harvey Shapiro. He now serves as principal cellist of numerous orchestras and a chamber player with ensembles touring throughout the world. He is principal cellist of the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Handel & Haydn Society Orchestra of Boston, the New York Collegium and American Classical Orchestra and is a member of the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, Mozartean Players, the Aulos Ensemble, Loma Mar Quartet and the Bach Ensemble. He has performed with Aston Magna and was a faculty member at their academy. For the last twenty summers Mr. Lutzke has been an artist-in-residence at the Caramoor International Music Festival and has appeared as soloist at the Caramoor, Ravinia, Tanglewood, and Mostly Mozart Festivals. He has recorded for Decca, Sony, Harmonia Mundi, EMI, Nonesuch, Musical Heritage Society, Deutsche Grammophon, Dorian, Denon and Arabesque labels. Mr. Lutzke is currently on the faculties of SUNY-Purchase and Mannes College of Music, where he teaches baroque 'cello and performance practice and has taught at the Brixen-Initiative Academy in Italy.

James Mason - Oboe
James Mason is highly regarded as one of Canada’s most prominent oboists. Since 1979 he has been the Principal Oboe of the Kitchener- Waterloo Symphony and Canadian Chamber Ensemble. Prior to that Mr. Mason was Principal Oboe with the Saskatoon Symphony and Assistant Principal Oboe with the Virginia Symphony. He has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in Germany, Holland, Spain, South America and Japan as well as the United States and Canada. Mr. Mason has many recordings to his credit and is heard regularly on CBC radio, for which he has recorded most of the standard chamber music and solo oboe repertoire, along with several new works for oboe and orchestra written specifically for him. Earlier this year (2007) he premiered 3 newly commissioned quartets for oboe and strings by Canadian composers.

During the summer months, Mr. Mason is active in music festivals around the country. He is a member of the Festival Winds at the Festival of the Sound and a regular performer at the Elora Festival. He has also performed at Artspring on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, Wolf Trap Festival in Virginia and the Flagstaff Festival of the Arts in Flagstaff, Arizona. He and his wife, violinist Julie Baumgartel, are co-founding past Artistic Directors of the Grand River Baroque Festival in Ayr, Ontario. Mr. Mason has appeared as Principal Oboe with the Boston Symphony, Toronto Symphony and Montreal Symphony, along with the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Mr. Mason is highly respected as a teacher. His students hold positions in many North American orchestras. Mr. Mason is on the faculty at Wilfrid Laurier University, where he holds the position of Musician-in-Residence. He plays a Yamaha oboe and is generously sponsored in many of his musical endeavors as a member of the Yamaha Artist program.

Douglas Miller – Flute
Doug Miller is an established freelance musician in the Toronto area. He has performed with the Toronto Symphony, Hamilton Philharmonic, Kitchener Waterloo Orchestra, and is current principal flute of the Niagara Symphony. Mr. Miller holds a BMus and A Licentiate Diploma from McGill and a Master of Music from U of Toronto. As theatre musician he has played many Toronto productions such as Phantom, Les Miz, Crazy for You, and the Lion King, in which he played many ethnic flutes, several which he built. He has been a member of the Shaw Festival Orchestra for five seasons, and has recently returned from the North American tour of EVITA.

 

Aisslinn Nosky - Violin
Violinist Aisslinn Nosky, a native of Nanaimo B.C., is a performer in great demand in both the classical and early music worlds. From 1993-99, she was a member of the Metro String Quartet and with the quartet performed recitals across Canada and in Europe. Aisslinn is currently a member of I Furiosi Baroque Ensemble, the Aradia Ensemble, the Bach Consort, and the Kirby String Quartet. Since 2002 Aisslinn has served as Assistant Principal second violin of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra and, in the Autumn of 2005 she will be joining Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.

Julie Wedman - Violin
Violinist Julia Wedman brings an "infectious vitality" to music (Victoria Times Colonist). She is often praised for the freshness of her interpretation and her strong emotional connection to music. With a life long passion for chamber music, she formed her first serious string quartet at age 15. Studies at the University of Western Ontario, the University of Toronto and Indiana University at Bloomington nourished her musically and academically and in her search for musical understanding, led her to a passion for historically informed, period performance. One critic offered that she "likes to play all music as if were written yesterday". Julia is a member and programming co-ordinator of the innovative young Baroque group I Furiosi, deemed "hip and madly entertaining" by the National Post. She is also a member of the newly formed Kirby String Quartet, playing everything from Haydn to John Zorn.. Most recently she joined the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, one of the world's premiere baroque orchestras. Over the past few years, Julia has performed in Toronto with the Canadian Opera Company, the National Ballet Company, the Via Salzburg Chamber Orchestra, Toronto Consort and Aradia Baroque Ensemble, with whom she has recorded over 15 CDs for the Naxos Label. In the summers she performs at Grand River Baroque Festival, Festival of the Sound in Parry Sound, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, Domaine Forget Music Festival in Quebec and the Klang und Raum festival in Irsee, Germany.

To view works and performers from our past seasons, please click here.