Sierra Gao was generously supported by the Frederick Louis Crosby Memorial Endowment

Sierra Gao is an oboe and cor anglais player based in Melbourne Australia. She recently completed a Graduate Diploma in Music at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, where she studied under Jeffrey Crellin, former Principal Oboe of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

She has performed with ensembles including the University of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Melbourne Youth Orchestras, performing major orchestral repertoire. Sierra has also participated in masterclasses with oboists including Johannes Grosso, Bobby Cheng, Eve Newsome, Ricardo Barbosa, and Federico Curti.

Sierra is a co-founder of Auralis Ensemble, a Melbourne-based wind quintet dedicated to collaborative and expressive chamber music performance. The ensemble has performed at venues including Tempo Rubato, a well-known Melbourne concert venue recognised for its intimate chamber music programming, and Lennox St Gallery. Their repertoire spans core wind quintet works such as Barber’s Summer Music and Françaix’s Wind Quintet No.1, alongside Poulenc’s Sextet for Piano and Winds and contemporary Australian composer Ross Edwards’ Incantations. In 2025, Auralis attended the Portillo Music Festival in Chile, further expanding their international artistic collaborations.

Maija Flood was generously supported by the Frederick Louis Crosby Memorial Endowment

Maija Flood is a clarinettist from Dja Dja Wurrung Country in Australia. Maija completed her Bachelor of Music (Hons.) at the Melbourne Conservatorium in 2025, learning under the tutelage of David Thomas and David Griffiths. Maija is an avid chamber musician, performing across Melbourne with her group ‘Auralis Ensemble’ and participating in the 2025 Portillo International Music Festival in Chile. In 2026, she is excited to continue progressing her musical identity through the Banff Chamber Music Residency and to travel to Europe for further development of her clarinet playing, including through the Voksenåsen Summer Academy. Maija has a particular interest in exploring the relationship between fine arts and music, which saw her receive a grant from the University of Melbourne in 2025. With this, she presented a curated chamber music concert in collaboration with Lennox St Gallery, responding to Jason Cordero’s surrealist landscape exhibit, ‘The Place of Concord.’

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.

Ido Akov was generously supported by the Sir Jack Lyons Scholarship for the Arts

Ido Akov (b. 1993) received his B.Mus in piano performance from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, where he studied piano with Ron Regev and Allan Sternfeld, and composition with Amnon Wolman. He has won prizes in competitions including Bay Area Chopin, Fremont Symphony, “Piano Forever,” “Haim Kalmi,” and “Young Artist,” and has performed with orchestras such as the Fremont Symphony, Ashdod Symphony, Israeli Chamber Orchestra, and members of the Israeli Philharmonic.
Akov is a four-year recipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship (in both piano and double bass) and participated in the Jerusalem Music Center’s program for piano excellence. Active in contemporary music, he performs with the Israel Contemporary Players and has taken part in Ensemble Meitar’s Tedarim project and CEME masterclasses, studying composition with Philippe Leroux and Fabian Panisello.
His works have been performed by ensembles including Meitar, Musica Nova, and Modalius. His debut album, The Triangle Becomes a Line (2020), was released through Kame’a Music, followed by a live album of Renaissance keyboard works. In 2023–2024, he studied composition at the Sibelius Academy.

Lorena Navarro was generously supported by the David and Peggy Leighton Endowment

Lorena Navarro is a percussionist, educator, and composer. She has had the honor of sharing the stage with members from Sō Percussion, Sandbox Percussion, Bang on a Can All-Stars, and Akropolis Reed Quintet. She has performed internationally as an Artist in Residence at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Canada. As an educator, Lorena serves as the Assistant Instructor of Percussion at University of Central Missouri, where she teaches private lessons, coaches percussion ensemble, and teaches the UCM Marching section. As a composer, she explores writing for percussion and mixed chamber ensembles. She premiered her first solo written for marimba at the 2024 Gather Listen Hear Festival at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Her arrangement, My Neighbor Totoro: 3 Movements for Percussion Ensemble, was premiered by the Michigan State University Percussion Ensemble. She currently arranges for the UCM Marching percussion section and has previously written for the MSU Spartan Drumline. Lorena is currently pursuing her D.M.A. in Music Performance at Michigan State University. She earned her M.M. in Percussion Performance from Michigan State University and her B.S. in Music Education from Utah Valley University.

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.

Sarah Song was generously supported by the Sylvia and Jack Chetner Endowment

Korean-American cellist Sarah Song has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in venues across North America, Europe, and Iceland. As a soloist she has appeared with the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Space and the Aaron Copland School of Music Orchestra. She has collaborated with artists like Kronos Quartet, Sæunn Thorsteinsdottir, the Metropolitan Opera, Itamar Zorman, Emannuel Ceysson, and Martha Graham Dance Company. Song is a founding member of the all-female Ondine Quartet, which received the Ensemble Forward Grant working with Todd Philips and Ayane Kozasa. She performs regularly in venues like Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, The LGBTQ Center, and Flushing Town Hall. Sarah holds degrees from Indiana University, The Eastman School of Music, and CUNY Queens College. She is pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts at The CUNY Graduate Center with Marcy Rosen. Her research concerns musical hybridity in cello music by diasporic Korean composers. Song lives in Brooklyn where she heads her adult cello studio and teaches at Long Island University BK.

Enzo Kok was generously supported by the Maria Francisca Josepha Brouwer Fund for Dutch Artists

Enzo Kok (14th of August, 2002) born and raised in Kerkrade, The Netherlands, got his first violin lesson at the age of 6. With guidance of his teachers Ilya Grubert and Eliot Lawson he finished his bachelor studies in 2023 at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with the highest score. From October 2023-2025, Enzo continued his studies at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin with Professor Ulf Wallin. Since October 2025 he’s studying at the Hochschule für Musik in Hannover with Liza Ferschtman.

In 2018 he was one of the three finalists of the Dutch Violin Competition ‘Davina van Wely’. In 2019 he received the 1st prize during the national finals of the Prinses Christina Concours. In 2024 Enzo won the 3rd prize as well as the audience prize at the Dutch Violin Competition “Oskar Back Prijs” during the finals. Enzo performed on multiple occasions in concert halls such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Tivoli Vredenburg Utrecht. He gave concerts all across Europe as a soloist and chamber musician. As a soloist he appeared with orchestra’s such as the Residente Orchestra and the Hamburger Kamerata. Enzo performed with musicians as: Daniel Rowland, Lisa Jacobs, Iris Hond, Anna Federova and members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.

Enzo plays a violin built by J.B. Vuillaume generously in loan from André Rieu.

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.

Yueyu Liu was generously supported by the Isobel and Tom Rolston Fellowships in Music Endowment

Yueyi Liu is a North America–based percussionist and educator currently pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of British Columbia. As Founder and Artistic Director of the Vancouver Youth Percussion Ensemble, she is dedicated to fostering music education and community engagement through percussion.

As a versatile percussionist, Liu’s performance career spans solo, chamber, and contemporary works. She has collaborated with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Turning Point Ensemble, Vancouver Brass Ensemble, and the Canadian Music Centre, and has participated in interdisciplinary projects at the Vancouver Contemporary Art Gallery. Her international performance experience includes performances at Lincoln Center and New York City Center in collaboration with the Martha Graham Dance Company, as well as numerous orchestral performances in China.

As an educator with over a decade of teaching experience, she has mentored students who have earned top prizes in international percussion competitions and gained admission to prestigious ensembles, guiding young musicians toward both artistic excellence and professional development.