Chamber Music Concert 4

Kailan Fournier was generously supported by the Helen Graham Artist Award

Kailan Fournier is a freelance clarinetist based in Toronto. As an orchestral freelancer, Kailan has performed with ensembles such as Les Violons du Roy, the Ontario Philharmonic, Hamilton Philharmonic, the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and various others. Kailan completed his Bachelors degree at The Glenn Gould School with Joaquin Valdepeñas, a Graduate degree at McGill University with Todd Cope and recently finished his Advanced Diploma in Performance at the Eastman School of Music with Michael Wayne. Kailan started his musical education on bass clarinet, which is quite uncommon, and loves to get a chance to explore contemporary music and the unique sounds possible on bass clarinet. In his spare time, Kailan also manages a cafe in Yorkville and enjoys rock climbing.

Each Zhang was generously supported by the Frederick Louis Crosby Memorial Endowment

Yichi Zhang is in his honours (fourth) year of studying with Lyndon Watts at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. He has played with the Melbourne Youth Orchestra and the University of Melbourne’s Philharmonic Orchestra, Wind Symphony and Symphony Orchestra. Highlights include concerts in Geelong, Sydney and Brisbane with the Wind Symphony, and the Symphony Orchestra’s 2023 international tour of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, where he played in Gustav Mahler’s first symphony, and premiered Hun Tur by Melody Eötvös, Senior Lecturer of Music at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.

Yichi is an enthusiastic chamber musician, having been a member of multiple wind quintets during his time at the Conservatorium, performing works such as György Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles for wind quintet and Samuel Barber’s Summer Music. Him alongside his wind quintet were selected to participate in the Portillo International Festival and Academy in Chile for 2025, where they performed Wind Quintet no.1 by Jean Françaix.

He is also a passionate pianist and conductor, and has conducted Richard Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Gran Partita with ensembles of his own making, as well as conducted compositions by his fellow students at the university.

Stamp Netthai was generously supported by the Barbara and John Poole Memorial Endowment

Thai trumpeter Jid-anan Netthai, known as Stamp, is a fellow at The Orchestra Now at Bard College. He began playing the trumpet at nine and has a passion for sharing music. Stamp has collaborated with international ensembles, including the Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra in China and the Metropolitan Festival Orchestra in Singapore. He co-founded the Brassisimo Brass Quintet and attended the American Brass Quintet Seminar at the Aspen Music Festival in 2019.

His versatility spans classical, jazz, and pop, enabling him to connect with diverse audiences. He served as the lead trumpet for the Ruam Smai Big Band during an international tour across Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Japan. Beyond performing, Stamp conducts masterclasses in Thailand to nurture young talent and composes and arranges music to expand traditional brass boundaries. He holds a Bachelor of Music from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and a Master of Music from the Tianjin Juilliard School.

Described by the New York Times as having “especially eloquent playing,” violinist Ken Hamao is a dynamic musician renowned for his sensitive interpretation, and has concertized extensively throughout the world in notable venues such as Wigmore Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Melbourne Recital Centre, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Kimmel Center, and Lincoln Center. 

As a member of the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet, Ken is Professor of the Practice at Harvard University’s Department of Music. He has also held guest faculty positions at the New England Conservatory and Dartmouth College. Prior to joining the Parker Quartet, he was a member of the Ensō String Quartet from 2014 to 2018, with whom highlights include worldwide tours of Australia, Brazil, Colombia, and New Zealand. As a soloist, he has performed concertos by Giya Kancheli, Kurt Rohde, and Tan Dun, the latter of which with the composer at the podium. He also appears frequently with Argento Chamber Ensemble, East Coast Chamber Orchestra, and Talea Ensemble.

In addition to music, Ken’s passions include attempting to make a bowl of ramen entirely from scratch, cheering on his beloved Tottenham Hotspur while attending various live football matches around the world, and amateur woodworking.
 

Allie Su is an internationally recognized collaborative pianist and chamber musician whose performances and teaching engagements have taken her across the United States, Asia, and Europe. Acclaimed for her specialization in wind and brass repertoire, she has collaborated with leading artists including Christian Lindberg, Nitzan Haroz, Carol Jantsch, Charles Neidich, Carol Wincenc, Benjamin Kamins, and Alexa Still. Her festival appearances include the Perlman Music Program, Interlochen Center for the Arts, American Viola Society Festival, Cooper International Violin Competition, and the Meadowmount School of Music. In 2025, Su presented a lecture on the topic of “The Collaborative Piano Landscape in China” at the CollabFest, the leading festival dedicated to advancing the art of collaborative piano.

As an active chamber musician and educator, Su has performed and presented masterclasses at Oberlin Conservatory, the University of Texas at Austin, University of Denver, University of Colorado Boulder, Cleveland State University, Taipei University, Tunghai University, Sun Yat-sen University, Seoul National University, and Yonsei University. She is also a versatile vocal collaborator, having served as a coach and pianist for the Land of Enchantment Opera, Butler Opera Center, Franco-American Vocal Academy, ISING Festival in Suzhou, and Lingua e Canto in Italy.

Su is currently on the faculty of The Tianjin Juilliard School, where she teaches in the Graduate Studies program, coaches chamber ensembles, and coordinates the staff pianist area. She earned her DMA in Collaborative Piano from the University of Texas at Austin and her MM in Piano Performance from Arizona State University.

Daniel Chong, violin | Ken Hamao, violin | Jessica Bodner, viola | Kee-Hyun Kim, cello

Internationally recognized for their “fearless, yet probingly beautiful” (The Strad) performances, the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet has rapidly distinguished itself as one of the preeminent ensembles of its generation, dedicated purely to the sound and depth of their music. Inspired performances and exceptional musicianship are hallmarks of the Quartet, having appeared at the world’s most illustrious venues since its founding in 2002.

Recent seasons included performances around the United States and Europe, including Wigmore Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Music Toronto, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Strathmore, San Antonio Chamber Music Society, University of Chicago, the Schubert Club, and Kansas City’s Friends of Chamber Music.

This season the Quartet marks their 20th anniversary with The Beethoven Project, a multi-faceted initiative which includes performances of the complete cycle of Beethoven’s string quartets; the commissioning of six composers to write encores inspired by Beethoven’s quartets; the creation of a new video library spotlighting each Beethoven quartet; and bringing Beethoven’s music to non-traditional venues around the Quartet’s home base of Boston, including homeless shelters and youth programs.

The Quartet is committed to working with composers of today — recent commissions include works by Augusta Read Thomas, Felipe Lara, Jaehyuck Choi, and Zosha di Castri. Celebrating the process of creation, the Quartet recorded three new commissions by Kate Soper, Oscar Bettison, and Vijay Iyer as part of Miller Theatre’s Mission: Commission podcast.

Additionally, the Quartet regularly collaborates with a diverse range of artists, including pianists Menahem Pressler, Orion Weiss, Shai Wosner, Billy Childs, and Vijay Iyer; members of the Silk Road Ensemble; clarinetist and composer Jörg Widmann; clarinetists Anthony McGill and Charles Neidich; flutist Claire Chase; and violist Kim Kashkashian, featured on their recent Dvořák recording. The Quartet also continues to be a strong supporter of Kashkashian’s project Music for Food, participating in concerts throughout the United States for the benefit of various food banks and shelters.

Recording projects continue to be an important facet of the Quartet’s artistic output. Described by Gramophone Magazine as a ”string quartet defined by virtuosity so agile that it’s indistinguishable from the process of emotional expression,” their newest release for ECM Records features Dvořák's Viola Quintet as well as György Kurtág's Six Moments Musicaux and Officium breve in memoriam. The Strad also declared the album as “nothing short of astonishing.” Under the auspices of the Monte Carlo Festival Printemps des Arts, they recorded a disc of three Beethoven quartets, of which Diapason “admired the group’s fearlessness, exceptional control, and attention to detail.” The Quartet can also be heard playing Mendelssohn on Nimbus Records, Bartók on Zig-Zag Territoires, and the complete Ligeti Quartets on Naxos, for which they won a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance.

The members of the Parker Quartet serve as Professors of the Practice and Blodgett Artists-in-Residence at Harvard University’s Department of Music. The Quartet also holds a visiting residency at the University of South Carolina and spends its summers on faculty at the Banff Centre’s Evolution: Quartet program.

Founded and currently based in Boston, the Parker Quartet’s numerous honors include winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition, the Grand Prix and Mozart Prize at France’s Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition, and Chamber Music America’s prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award.

Photo by Beowulf Sheehan

Dr. Joel Brennan enjoys a diverse career as a performer and teacher. He has performed with orchestras around the globe, including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (Australia), Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (Korea), Rotterdam Philharmonic (Netherlands), Winnipeg Symphony (Canada), Malaysian Philharmonic, and Bilkent Symphony Orchestra (Turkey), and has served as principal trumpet of the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra (Japan) and Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra (Netherlands).

A proponent of contemporary music and chamber music, Joel has commissioned and premiered dozens of new works, with a particular emphasis on working with emerging composers and those from underrepresented demographics. He is a member of Ensemble Three, a unique trio of trumpet, trombone, and guitar which has been praised as “an inspiring example of forward-thinking classical music culture” and won the 2017 Melbourne Recital Centre Contemporary Masters Award. He is also a member of Lyrebird Brass, a collective of players dedicated to performing the finest brass chamber music.

Joel received his bachelor's degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music before pursuing graduate studies at the Yale School of Music from which he is a recipient of the Doctor of Musical Arts degree. Awarded a Fulbright Grant 2007, Joel spent a year performing, teaching, and studying in the Netherlands.

Deeply devoted to education, Joel is Associate Professor of Music Performance at Melbourne Conservatorium of Music (University of Melbourne, Australia). He has also served on the faculty of Brandon University (Canada) and the Juilliard School's campus in Tianjin (China) where he worked with students in the pre-college program and graduate school in addition to performing with the Tianjin Juilliard Ensemble. He has been a guest teaching artist at the Australasian Trumpet Academy, Danish/German Brass Academy, and Oberlin Trumpet Workshop. He is the creator of "Poper's Game," a unique practice app for trumpet players.

Joel is a Yamaha Performing Artist.

Ciara Wrede was generously supported by Frederick Louis Crosby Memorial Endowment

Ciara Wrede is a horn player from Melbourne, Australia. In 2025, she completed her Bachelor of Music with Honours at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, where she studied under Carla Blackwood. Ciara discovered her passion for the horn in high school and transitioned fully to the instrument at the beginning of her undergraduate degree. 

Ciara has had the opportunity to participate in various inspiring masterclasses with Australian and international horn players,including Katy Woolley, Andrew Bain, Přemysl Vojta, Genevieve Clifford, Anneke Scott, and Simen Fegran. She is looking forward to studying with Benjamin Jacks and Peter Luff at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) in 2026.

Chamber music has become an unexpectedly important part of Ciara’s musical journey, especially after co-founding Auralis Ensemble. In 2025, she travelled to Chile with Auralis and also performed as principal horn in the Portillo Festival Academy Orchestra, touring major concert halls and working with leading international tutors.

Ciara’s true passion for the horn lies in orchestral performance. She performs regularly with Orchestra Victoria, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and the Symphonic Cinema Orchestra. She has also been a member of the Australian Youth Orchestra.

Ryuto Hibino was generously supported by the David and Peggy Leighton Endowment

Ryuto was born in Kanagawa, Japan and completed his Bachelor degree at Senzoku Gakuen College of Music with Mr. Naoki Kurebayashi, and Master degree at the Tianjin Juilliard School with Prof. Lee Allen. During his study, Ryuto has received Seki foundation Scholarship and Maeda Memorial Scholarship. Ryuto is the finalist of American Trombone Workshop Solo Competition 2025 Division Ill and 1st place winner of the International Association of Professional Music teuchers Concours. Ryuto has joined several professional orchestras as a guest player such as Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Chubu Philharmonic Orchestra, Gürzenich Rochester Köln and so on.

Amy Jordaan was generously supported by the Helen Graham Artist Award

Amy Jordaan is a tenor and bass trombonist currently based in Ontario, Canada. As a member of the 2025 Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, Amy is fortunate to learn from and play alongside the members of the TSO, as well as a variety of other passionate young musicians in Southwestern Ontario. Amy also performs with various ensembles at Western University, including the WU Symphony Orchestra, Los Gansitos salsa band, and a trombone quartet.
Amy is in her fourth year of a Bachelor of Music at Western University, studying under Dr. Denis Jiron. Prior to her move to London in 2024, Amy spent two years working with Ilan Morgenstern at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. She has previously worked as a stage manager for the UBC Bands (2023-2024), the International Trombone Festival (2025), and various student recitals. When she’s not playing her trombone or working backstage, Amy enjoys being outdoors and spending time with her cat, Jack.

Over the past few years, French clarinettist Nicolas Baldeyrou has naturally established himself as one of the most remarkable soloists of his generation. Carving a unique path in today's musical landscape, this "concert artist armed for any challenge" (Diapason) demonstrates a mastery and versatility that transcends eras and styles, navigating with ease through all repertoires, on both historical and modern instruments.

Winning prestigious competitions like the Munich ARD Competition in Munich (Germany), the Dos Hermanas Competition in Sevilla (Spain), and finally, the ICA Young Artist Competition (United States) opened to Nicolas the doors of the most prestigious concert halls all over the world - Carnegie Hall in New York, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Philharmonie de Paris, Salzburg Mozarteum, Wiener Konzerthaus, Bunkamura Orchard Hall in Tokyo, Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.

As a soloist he is regularly invited to perform with renown orchestras: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de France, Czech Philharmonic, Sinfonia Varsovia and Saint-Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Starting his career at a very young age he had the chance to work with the legendary conductors – Carlo-Maria Giulini, Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink, Kurt Masur. Nowadays, Nicolas performs with Myung-Whun Chung, Alain Altinoglu, Pablo Heras Casado, Mikko Franck, Fabien Gabel.

Today Nicolas is one of the most demanded partners for chamber music – he shared the stage with such musicians as the pianists Bertrand Chamayou, Nikolai Lugansky; violinists Renaud Capuçon, Svetlin Roussev; violist Antoine Tamestit; Modigliani, Ébène, and Chiaroscuro quartets.

Aidan Garrison was generously supported by the Cyril and Elizabeth Challice Fund for Musicians

As avid chamber musician, Aidan Garrison has collaborated with members of the St. Lawrence string quartet, and Rosemary Elliot, and performed for artists such as Ani Kavafian, Dimitri Murrath, and Christian Colberg, as well as members of the Emerson, Shanghai, and Pacifica string quartets. He has attended the Aspen, Bowdoin, Blairsville, and Heifetz international music festivals, and was a fellow at the Napa Valley Blackburn academy.

Aidan is currently pursuing his Doctoral degree at Stony Brook University, studying with Lawrence Dutton and Matthew Lipman. While at Stony Brook his string quartet was awarded first prize in the school’s Ackermann chamber music competition. He completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at the New England Conservatory, studying with Mai Motobuchi and Nicholas Cords.

While at NEC, his string quartet was chosen for the Community Performances and Partnerships Ensemble Fellowship, where they developed educational programs designed to bring chamber music to audiences beyond the scope of a formal concert setting. This has led to engagements across the US, including a teaching residency as part of the Virginia Arts Festival.

Beyond the scope of classical music, Aidan has collaborated with musicians from many different disciplines. He has performed with the Scottish fiddle duo Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas, took part in the premiere of Wayne Shorter’s opera Iphigenia (co-written by Esperanza Spaulding), and performed as part of the backup string quartet for Jazz/Pop artist Laufey.

Nina Wang was generously supported by the Cyril and Elizabeth Challice Fund for Musicians

Nina Wang is a classical pianist passionate about bringing communities together through music and storytelling. Through performance, collaboration, and the organization of concerts/outreach initiatives, she explores music’s ability to connect people across cultures and generations. Nina is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance at the University of British Columbia, studying with Dr. David Fung. She earned her ARCT Diploma in Piano Performance in 2019 and has since performed across North America as both a soloist and collaborative artist.

An active and versatile collaborator, Nina works regularly with instrumentalists, vocalists, and chamber ensembles. She has participated in the Orford Academy of Music and the Anchorage Chamber Music Festival and has performed in masterclasses for artists including Janina Fialkowska, Sara Davis Buechner, and Emely Phelps.

Her achievements include the Bronze Prize in the College & Adult Category of the Ambrose Matilda International Music Competition (2025), First Place in the Senior Canadian Composers Category at the Performing Arts BC Provincial Festival (2022), and the Vancouver WestCoast Music Society’s 2026 Tony Roper Award for Diversity in Programming. An enthusiastic chamber musician, she enjoys collaborating with fellow artists and composers to bring a wide range of repertoire to audiences.

Linda Ruan was generously supported by the Barbara and John Poole Memorial Endowment

Chinese-Canadian pianist Linda Ruan is passionate about sharing the potential of music to overcome boundaries across cultures. Since being introduced to the drums at the age of four and then the piano at age seven, music has remained a stabilizing force in her childhood from Tokyo, Shanghai to Vancouver. Her unconventional path from a young age broadened her horizons and cultivated a fascination for diverse cultures. Her curiosity guided her beyond her solo piano studies, expanding to pedagogy and community engagement, fortepiano, conducting and chamber music projects. 

Linda is a top prize winner in international piano competitions including the ARD International Music Competition 2021. She has performed in venues across the world, from Carnegie’s Weill Hall and Lincoln Center’s Rose Studio to a recital tour in China spanning Guangzhou to Shanghai. 

Linda received her Bachelor of Music with Honours and Master of Music degrees from The Glenn Gould School, The Juilliard School, and the Tianjin Juilliard School respectively. Her past teachers include James Anagnoson Hung-Kuan Chen, Corey Hamm, Xiao Li, Li Wang, and Xiaohan Wang. Currently, she is studying at the UBC School of Music with Dr. Corey Hamm.

Cian Bryson was generously supported by the Lucy and Stephen Maxym Endowment

Cian Bryson is a bassoonist from Toronto, Ontario, currently completing his Bachelor of Music at the University of Toronto studying under Eric Hall. He spent the third year of his Bachelor’s in Finland, studying at the Sibelius Academy under Jaakko Luoma, and while there, performed with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Kuopio Symphony Orchestra, and as guest principal with the Tampere Philharmonic, among others. He has attended festivals including Music Academy of the West, Round Top Festival Institute, Domaine Forget de Charlevoix, and Lucerne Festival Academy, where he performed in a revitalization of Pierre Boulez’s Poesie Pour Pourvoir and in the world premiere of Dai Fujikura’s Ritual. Cian was the first prize winner of the International Double Reed Society’s Norma Hooks Competition for bassoon in 2025, the Council of Canadian Bassoonists’s Frank Marcus award in 2024, and has performed as soloist with the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Kitchener Waterloo Chamber Orchestra, and will be performing André Jolivet’s Bassoon Concerto with the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 2026.

Jonathan Yeoh is a homegrown born and raised double bassist from Calgary, and is also the Assistant Principal Double Bass of the National Ballet of Canada Orchestra. He has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Canadian Opera Company, while also being a previous fellow at the Music Academy of the West, winning the London Symphony Keston MAX Award in 2019.

He holds a Master’s of Music in Double Bass Performance from Boston University with Edwin Barker, and holds a Bachelor’s of Music with distinction in Performance from the University of Calgary with Charles Garrett, previous Principal Bass of the Calgary Phil. Yeoh has also worked closely with David Allen Moore, Paul Ellison, François Rabbath, and Ali Yazdanfar. When not playing the double bass, Yeoh is a voracious eater, and can often be found exercising and powerlifting to justify that habit.

Trombonist Lee Allen has performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the San Diego Symphony. As acting principal trombone of the Las Vegas Philharmonic, he has performed with the Santa Monica Symphony, Riverside Symphony, San Bernardino Symphony, Long Beach Opera, Burbank Philharmonic, and Los Angeles Jewish Symphony . Allen toured as a member of award-winning smooth jazz artist Brian Culbertson’s band in 2008 and also performed with Adele at the Academy Awards in 2013. Allen has worked on numerous recording projects including a project at The Bridge Recording in L.A. with Jay Friedman. He is a founding member of the critically acclaimed MOMUS trombone quartet, and a member of the Pacific Trombone Project, which comprises some of the leading players in Thailand, South Korea, China, and Australia.

A dedicated and sought-after teacher, Allen currently serves as trombone faculty and chair of brass and percussion at The Tianjin Juilliard School. There he is also a member of the Tianjin Juilliard Ensemble, an all-faculty ensemble performing chamber concerts throughout Asia. Allen is a member of the summer faculty at RondoFest in Penang, Malaysia. He has taught at the Oberlin Conservatory, University of Southern California, and Colburn School for the Performing Arts. During his tenure as assistant professor of trombone at the Oberlin Conservatory from 2013 - 2019, Allen was soloist with many large ensembles. He performed the US premiere of Christopher Starks’ Nanokonzert for solo trombone and contemporary ensemble in 2015. He also led the Oberlin Brass Quintet on a month-long tour of China and took students to Uganda, Africa as part of a collaboration with Brass for Africa. Allen has presented master classes throughout the United States, South Korea, and China.

Allen earned a DMA and MM in trombone performance from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, and a bachelor’s of music education from the

University of Kentucky. His primary mentors have included Terry Cravens, Dale Warren, Bill Watrous, and Per Brevig.

Lee Allen is a Shires Performing Artist.