" "... classical music without pretence... " is Alissa Cheung's approach to her multi-faceted career. A native of Edmonton (Alberta) violinist and composer, Ms Alissa Cheung (BSc '07, BMus '09, MM '13), is a tenured member of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (ESO) since 2010 and will move to Montréal in January 2015 to join the Bozzini Quartet.

She has been involved with the Alberta Baroque Ensemble, and has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Canada, USA, Europe and Japan. Career highlights include performances at Carnegie Hall and Suntory Hall, and solos with the ESO and the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra. Ms Cheung has been featured in Vue Weekly Magazine and Edmonton Sun, and was aired on CBC, CKUA, and WKPN Radio.

An adamant interpreter of new music, Alissa has performed numerous contemporary works and was an Artist in Residence at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival (2011), at the and at the Lucerne Festival Academy (2013).

As a composer, her works have been performed at the Tonus Vivus Festival of New Music (Edmonton), Jordan Hall (Boston), Morse Recital Hall (New Haven, CT), and the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. Upcoming projects include a commission by the Arx Duo and the Bass Line Road Ensemble. Ms Cheung studied composition with Hannah Lash (Yale) and Piotr Grella-Mozejko (Edmonton).

In addition to private teaching, Ms Cheung has been Sessional Instructor at King's University College and faculty member of the Alberta College Conservatory of Music. Educational outreach initiatives include being a Teaching Artist with ESO's Adopt-a-Player Program and with the National Arts Centre's Music Alive Program.

Ms Cheung's principal violin teachers were Marian Moody, Ranald Shean, Broderyck Olson (Edmonton), Thomas Williams (McGill), and Ani Kavafian (Yale). Other influential coaches include Malcolm Lowe, Mark Fewer, Rafael Rosenfeld, Kyoko Hashimoto, and members of the former Tokyo, Juilliard and Concord string quartets."

"Clemens Merkel's unconventional sound defines a new sensibility in contemporary music, through its intimate purity of tone, its settled understanding of microtonal or unconventional harmonic language, and its unhurried sensitivity. He is well known for innovative interpretations of Bach and John Cage, and is sought after by composers worldwide as an inspiration for new repertoire. His diverse collaborators range from the Wandelweiser collective to Montréal's Musique Actuelle community, and from emerging experimentalists to today's most revered composers.

For over a decade, Merkel's unusual sound has fused with that of the Quatuor Bozzini, considered one of the world's leading string quartets. Together they have mentored an entire generation of creators through the Composer's Kitchen; have released numerous critically acclaimed albums on their collection qb label; undertake multiple tours annually to be featured at festivals worldwide; and maintain a profound impact on the music scene across Canada and Europe in particular. They nourish Montréal audiences with unusual self-produced events that bridge worlds and cross boundaries of style, generation and culture.

Following an early career in Europe, where he contributed to the continent's leading ensembles, Merkel has made Montréal his home since 2000. He supports and advocates for new music in Québec and in Canada, and is regularly sought after as speaker, curator and adviser. His presence is felt in academia as well, through articles written for the Revue Circuit, and through his teaching at Concordia University. He's a passionate chef and lives in Montréal's Portuguese neighborhood together with his wife Isabelle Bozzini and children Félix and Béatrice."

"Violist Marina Thibeault is renowned for her "rich and deep sound as well as her virtuosity and exceptional enthusiasm" (The Strad). Thibeault brings a focused intensity to the musical scene as a chamber musician, concert artist, and soloist. Through her practice, she continually questions the traditional role of the performer, seeking an approach that unites physical engagement, emotional depth, and artistic transcendence.

Named Revelation of the Year 2016-2017 by Radio-Canada, Marina has since been invited to perform as a soloist internationally with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Northern Czech Republic, the Orchestra of Mariánské Lázně, the Chamber Orchestra of Santiago, as well as in recital in Verbier. In Canada, audiences have heard her with the Orchestre Métropolitain under Yannick Nézêt-Séguin, Kamloops Symphony, La Sinfonia Toronto, and l'Orchestre de l'Agora among others. As a chamber musician, she has collaborated with members of the Guarneri Quartet and the Cleveland Quartet, as well as with Charles Richard-Hamelin, Marie-Nicole Lemieux and Johannes Moser. Her interest in new music has led her to work with composers John Corigliano, Joan Tower and Krzysztof Penderecki.

Marina has recorded four albums on ATMA Classique, all of which have received strong critical and public acclaim. Her first release, Toquade (2017), was selected in the "Classical Album of the Year" category at the 2017 ADISQ Gala as well as in the "Record of the Year" category at the 2018 Prix Opus. Recorded in 2019, ELLES has contributed to the recognition of the work of women composers who are unfairly forgotten or unknown to the general public. Her JUNO Award album, Viola Borealis (2022), reflects her willingness to connect different languages within creative programming. With this album, she revisits her own relationship to the north by traversing works by Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks and Anishinaabe artist Melody McKiver, as well as the very first viola concerto, composed around 1716 by Telemann. Her newest release with Trio Garibaldi, Faded in Sepia (2026), alongside clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester and pianist David Fung, expands her chamber music discography through commissions of new works by Stephen Chatman and Dorothy Chang, the first commercial recording of Lowell Liebermann's Trio for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano, Op. 128, and original arrangements of music by Duke Ellington. This album reflects her continued commitment to artistic collaboration, expanding repertoire, and exploring the expressive richness of chamber music.

A graduate of McGill University and the Curtis Institute of Music and now Assistant Professor of Viola and Chamber Music Coordinator at McGill, she leads innovative pedagogical initiatives that connect performance, research, and community engagement, while mentoring the next generation of performers through an approach that balances technical rigor with artistic autonomy. Marina Thibeault's research interests include performance psychology, embodiment, and artistic resilience-interests she also nurtures through endurance sports and time spent in nature. Through her work, she seeks not only to push the boundaries of the viola, but a deeper, more human connection to music-one that invites reflection, vulnerability, and transformation.

Marina Thibeault plays an English viola made by Gordon Kerr (2020) and wishes to thank the anonymous donor of the instrument."

"Isabelle Bozzini. Born Montréal, Québec, 1969. Performer (cello).

A passionate chamber player, cellist Isabelle Bozzini is dedicated to exploring two parallel worlds - new music of all kinds and music on period instruments. This endeavour continuously challenges her and nourishes her artistic aspirations.

She is a founding member of the Quatuor Bozzini which since its inception in 1999 has become one of Canada's leading string quartets on national and international scenes. Playing close to forty concerts per year, the Bozzinis produce their own concert series in Montréal including the Salon des compositeurs + Composer's Kitchen event. They tour several times per year in Europe, the US and Canada and have launched the label collection qb in the Fall of 2004 in collaboration with DAME. Isabelle Bozzini also works with Kore Ensemble, and various improvising artists such as Malcolm Goldstein, François Houle, Benoît Delbecq, Diane Labrosse and Jean Derome. Having collaborated for many years with Joël Thiffault and the Montréal Baroque Orchestra, Isabelle Bozzini now plays regularly with Ensemble Arion. She also plays with Idées Heureuses, Ensemble Caprice, the Studio de Musique Ancienne de Montréal, and French harpsichordist and conductor Hervé Niquet."

"Daniel Cabena is a concert singer, recitalist, chamber musician, and singing actor. He is highly regarded in both Canada and Europe for performances of music from the medieval to the contemporary.

He is also a curator of texts and music, working in artistic direction, concert programming and the commissioning of new works of text and music.

To this work he brings a background in early music and liturgical music scholarship and a commitment to exploring how music functions in different performance contexts and traditions, a commitment to the 'why' of music and to its 'how.'

Daniel is also practitioner of the teacherly arts. He has taught singing, vocal pedagogy, and music history at Wilfrid Laurier University; and he teaches at the Laurier Academy of Music & Arts (LAMA), the community-integrated wing of WLU's Faculty of Music. At LAMA he leads the Community Consort, a multi-instrumental, multidisciplinary community of practice and curiosity that explores how early music was new when it was new and how it means today.

Daniel's singing and teaching are informed by the Alexander Technique, in which movement education field he is a teacher. He also makes music with his hands, playing modern and Baroque violin and viola as well as vièle and recorders.

His Canadian concert engagements have included performances with the Victoria and Newfoundland Symphony Orchestras, the Ottawa Choral Society, the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Winnipeg's Camerata Nova, the Grand Philharmonic Choir, the Elora Festival Singers, Spiritus Ensemble, Spiritus Chamber Choir, and Tafelmusik, to name a few. Highlights of his European work include performances with Musica Fiorita, Ensemble Diapsalma, Le Concert Spirituel, La Divina Armonia, Le Parlement de Musique, and Ensemble Gilles Binchois.

His work on the operatic stage has taken him most recently to Prague, Ostrava and Vancouver, for performances, in the role of Ochre in Rudolf Komorous' The Mute Canary. Past seasons have included appearances with l'Opéra de Montréal, Pacific Opera Victoria and Edmonton Opera in the role of Lydie-Anne in Kevin March and Michel Marc Bouchard's Les Feluettes, as well as in productions at Theater Basel and the Grand Théâtre de Genève.

As a recitalist, Daniel regularly collaborates with pianist Stephen Runge, and their A Sanctuary in Song recording is nominated for a 2022 East Coast Music Award. Other recent and upcoming collaborations are with Scaramella Ensemble (The Red Priest), the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony (The Dark Side of Love), and the Cardinal Consort of Viols.

This season's performances include appearances with Soundstreams, Toronto (The Garden of Vanished Pleasures, a semi-staged concert featuring the music of Donna McKevitt and Cecilia Livingston), Modulus Festival, Vancouver (Aves, the Four-Chambered Heart, a new song cycle by Alfredo Santa Ana with texts by Colin Browne). His concert work will include performances of Bach's music with Spiritus Ensemble, Kitchener, the Ottawa Choral Society and Pallade Musica, Montreal.

Daniel, who is deeply involved in contemporary music-making, has participated in the creation of numerous new works by composers such as Rudolf Komorous, Jürgen Simpson, Zachary Wadsworth, Kevin March, Stacey Brown, Philippe Fénelon, Francis Perron, William Rowson, Tim Corlis, and Barrie Cabena, and by librettists such as Luke Hathaway, Augustin Rioux, Bertrand Laverdure, Renée Sarojini Saklikar, and Michel Marc Bouchard.

Daniel participates with lyricist Luke Hathaway in ANIMA, which is a metamorphosing ensemble, a gathering-place in art: a place of friendship, of sustaining story; a place where old texts and melodies are animated by spirit and voice. Daniel and Luke collaborate to create and commission new works of text and music that are in conversation with early sources and soundworlds.

Daniel holds an Honours Bachelor of Music from Wilfrid Laurier University and a Doctorate of Music from l'Université de Montréal. He is a past recipient of the Bernard Diamant and Virginia Parker Prizes from the Canada Council for the Arts, and he holds a Master in Specialized Early Music Performance from the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland."

"Jeremy Berkman has held the position of Principal Trombonist for the Vancouver Opera Orchestra since 1993. He is also currently the Artistic Co-Director of the Turning Point Ensemble of Vancouver. He is a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Oberlin College, where he received degrees in both music and economics. In addition, Mr Berkman earned a Masters Degree at the Juilliard School, and moved permanently to Canada after a post-graduate residency at The Banff Centre for the Arts. He was the Principal trombonist for the Juilliard Orchestra's inaugural tour of mainland China and has recorded with many famous ensembles, including the Turning Point Ensemble, and with numerous film and television session orchestras. A strong advocate for today's composers, Mr Berkman has commissioned chamber music featuring the trombone from noted British Columbia composers such as Owen Underhill, has presented contemporary chamber works with outstanding ensembles such as Continuum (New York) and the St Lawrence String Quartet. Through these and other ensembles, Mr Berkman has collaborated with internationally acclaimed late twentieth and twenty-first century composers John Cage, John Adams, Sofia Gubaidulina, Jacob Druckman, and Vinko Globokar."