Described by one critic as “a phenomenal harp player who can make her instrument ring with unparalleled purity”, Maeve Gilchrist has taken the Celtic (lever) harp to new levels of performance and visibility. 

Born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, and currently based in New York, Maeve‘s innovative approach to her instrument stretches its harmonic limits and improvisational possibilities. She is as at home as a soloist with an internationally renowned orchestra as she is playing with a traditional Irish folk group or 
using electronic augmentation in a more contemporary, improvisatory setting. 

She tours internationally as a band leader, soloist and composer as well as belonging to a number of innovative collaborations including the prestigious Grammy award-winning Silkroad Ensemble (as a performer/composer and Arooj Aftab’s Vulture Prince and Night Rein Ensemble (as a performer/arranger). She has appeared at such major music events as Newport Folk Festival, Tanglewood Jazz Festival, Big Ears Festival, the World Harp Congress in Amsterdam and the historic opening of the Scottish Parliament. She has played with such luminaries as Yo-Yo Ma, Esperanza Spalding, Frankie Gavin, Ambrose Akinmusire, Darol Anger, The Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Paul Simon. 

Maeve has released five albums to date, including her most recent recording, The Harpweaver which was hailed by the Irish times in its five-star review as “Buoyant, sprightly and utterly beguiling….a snapshot of a musician at the top of her game.” Other albums include three recordings for the Adventure Music label including her 2017 release with bassist Viktor Krauss, Vignette and a self-released solo album, the Ostinato Project is a beguiling exploration of the possibilities of her instrument. In 2018 Maeve was a featured soloist on the Dreamworks blockbuster movie soundtrack, How to tame your dragon: The hidden world. Maeve was the first lever harpist to be employed as an instructor by her alma mater, Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she taught for five years before switching to being a visiting artist in 2018. She has written several instructional books published by Hal Leonard Music and 80 Days Publishing. She is also an in-demand composer and arranger, with past commissions including two ground-breaking concertos for Lever harp and Symphony Orchestra and several works for harp and string quartet including her three-movement piece Pastures Red premiered at the Edinburgh International Harp festival in 2018. 

Maeve is the Artistic Director of the Rockport Celtic Festival and the Founder of the Hudson Valley Creative Harping Retreat. She resides in Kingston NY with her husband, Logan and one year-old daughter, Ishka.

(Maeve Gilchrist and Aizuri Quartet) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2koKs3qIqA&t=5

Hailed by Opus Magazine as "a stunning musician," violinist Livia Sohn has performed on the international stage as concerto soloist, recitalist, and festival artist across five continents. The Strad Magazine writes that she "possesses a remarkably lithe and transparent tone of exceptional purity — virtually blemishless accounts are nothing short of remarkable. Even when under the most fearsome technical pressure at high velocity, every note rings true with pinpoint accuracy."

Sohn has appeared as guest soloist with major orchestras across North America, including the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Seattle, Milwaukee, Austin, Phoenix, and Boston Pops, and internationally with the Budapest Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony, Cologne Philharmonic, Iceland Symphony, Czech National Symphony, City of London Sinfonia, and orchestras throughout China, Mexico, South Africa, and New Zealand. A devoted chamber musician and longtime favorite at Spoleto Festival USA, she has also appeared at the Newport Music Festival, Bay Chamber Concerts, Caramoor, Maverick Concerts, and the Cartagena International Music Festival. Recent highlights include the world premiere of a new violin and piano work by composer Jonathan Berger, performed at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., as well as appearances in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas. This summer, she returns to Spoleto for one of her most significant engagements to date: the world premiere of a new violin concerto written expressly for her by cellist-composer Paul Wiancko, co-commissioned by Spoleto Festival USA and performed with the Festival Orchestra. Other commissioners for this concerto are the Rogue Valley Symphony, Palaver Strings, and Orchestra Wellington.

Sohn is a founding member of MoVE (Modern Violin Ensemble), an innovative quartet of four violinists dedicated to expanding the repertoire for violin quartet through new commissions and multidisciplinary collaborations that address social issues and reach audiences in both traditional and alternative venues. This June sees the release of their monumental debut album, featuring thirteen world premieres of newly commissioned works.

She is currently on the violin and chamber music faculty at Stanford University. Sohn gave her first public performance at age eight and won First Prize — and the Audience Prize — at the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition at age thirteen. She trained at the Juilliard Pre-College Division from age eight under Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang, continuing under their guidance at The Juilliard School, where she also studied chamber music with the legendary Felix Galamir. She plays on a J.B. Guadagnini violin crafted in 1770 and a Samuel Zygmuntowicz made in 2006.

Sohn is the founder and artistic director of Coast Live Music, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating community through exceptional live chamber music.

Yolanda Bruno is an Ottawa-born violinist. She’s won Grand Prizes at the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition, the Isabel Overton Bader Violin Competition, and the Canada Council for the Arts’ Virginia Parker Prize—the nation’s highest honour for young musicians. As a soloist, she’s performed with the Montreal Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Orchestra of the Americas, and London Mozart Players.

In 2021, Yolanda founded Music for Your Blues—a performance project offering free-of-charge, personalized, online concerts combining music and poetry. Yolanda has now offered over 70 free performances.

The Wild Swans—Yolanda’s first CD, with pianist Isabelle David—was released in 2019. It features music by 11 women composers, spanning ten centuries, including several world premieres. Yolanda released her second album in 2025—dedicated to the late Jeanne Lamon.

Yolanda’s violin is an exquisite Venetian instrument made by Domenico Montagnana in 1737, on loan from Groupe Canimex. She lives in Toronto with her partner, accordionist Michael Bridge.

www.YolandaBruno.com

Trinity Fan was generously supported by the Helen Graham Artist Award.

Trinity Fan, 24, is a pianist and composer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She has been a top prizewinner of several competitions including YoungArts, Music Teachers National Association, Camerata Artists International Competition, and more. Recently, Trinity performed Gershwin’s Concerto in F with the Dexter Community Orchestra where she improvised throughout the work, was awarded Honorable Mention in the 2026 Musicians Club of Women Instrumental Competition, First Prize in the 2025 Rosamund P. Haeberle Piano Competition, as well as Honorable Mention in the 2025 Michigan MTNA Young Artist Piano Competition.

As a composer, Trinity received Second Prize in the 2024 MTNA National Composition Competition for her piece, “Reminiscence.” She previously studied with Shuyu Lin, Corey Chang, and Wong Chun Wai. Aside from performing, Trinity has a love for teaching. She is a former faculty member of IU's Young Pianists Program and is now a Graduate Student Instructor at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance and teaches at SMTD's Piano Pedagogy Laboratory Program.

Trinity completed her bachelor’s and master’s in Indiana University and the University of Michigan. She has attended festivals including the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival, the Amalfi Coast Festival, Tanglewood, and the Edward Auer Piano Winter and Summer Workshops, where she also assisted as a coordinator for 3 years. Her teachers include Christopher Harding, Edward Auer, and Tomoko Harada. Trinity is currently pursuing her doctorate studies at the University of Michigan in Piano Pedagogy and Performance under Christopher Harding and jazz improvisation with Andy Milne.

“collectif9 takes the future of classical music by the hand, giving it a serious rejuvenation.”

ICI MUSIQUE

  Laureate at the 2025 JUNOS and Performer of the Year at the 2025 Prix Opus, Montreal-based string ensemble collectif9 is known for their innovative programming and approach to chamber music. The group aims to present classical music from a singular perspective, where new voices and interpretations are welcomed and encouraged, performing “with an infectious energy and vigour that grabs an audience’s attention” (The WholeNote). Since their 2011 debut, collectif9 has performed numerous concerts across North America, Europe, and Asia. Highlights include concerts in the Festival de Música de Morelia (Mexico), La Folle journée de Nantes (France), Festival de Lanaudière (Québec), Shenzhen Concert Hall (China), and Sound Unbound (Barbican Centre, London). Inspired by the processes of other artistic movements, collectif9 cultivates artistic partnerships with composers, video artists, poets, lighting designers, and other collaborators to bring their distinctive projects to life.

Rituæls (Analekta, 2024), their most recent album, received a Juno Award and an Opus Award and was a finalist at the Gala ADISQ. Released with European label Alpha Classics, the ensemble’s two previous albums (Vagues et ombres, No Time for Chamber Music) were nominated at the Juno Awards in 2022 and 2023. In addition to their albums, the group has released a series of three film-concerts, live performances filmed with a cinematographic approach, as well as a docu-concert (Ce qui nous lie, 2025) which reveals the group's creative process. In 2025, Thibault Bertin-Maghit was named Artistic Director of the Year at the Prix Opus for his work with the ensemble.

Direction
Thibault Bertin-Maghit, general and artistic direction
Andrea Stewart, associate general and artistic direction

Musicians on faculty
Chloé Chabanole, violin
TJ Skinner, violin
Cynthia Blanchon, viola
Andrea Stewart, cello
Thibault Bertin-Maghit, double bass

Terry Clark joined The Conservatory at Mount Royal University in 2022. Clark has deep ties to the Calgary community and is excited to return to the Conservatory after spending a number of years abroad. Like his grandfather, he studied at The Conservatory as a youth before going on to the University of Calgary where he earned a Bachelor of Music in flute performance.

Clark joins MRU from the Royal College of Music in London, England where he obtained his PhD. Since then he has been researching and teaching at the College, in addition to managing its Performance Simulators. Clark brings a unique expertise to MRU having dedicated much of his time to performance development and psychology, and he is looking forward to exploring the potential of The Conservatory.

“The Conservatory has always had a very illustrious place in my mind and I am overjoyed to be returning as director,” he says. “The Conservatory is home to some of Calgary’s most talented musicians and I am looking forward to further developing their skills, while also bringing in some of my knowledge around performance psychology.”

Simon Thibault is the Non-Fiction Acquisitions Editor at Goose Lane Editions, Canada’s oldest independent book publisher. While there he has acquired travelogues, memoirs of survival and resilience, and biographies of long-lost family legacies. Based in Kjipuktuk/Halifax, Simon is also an editor, having worked as a developmental and substantive editor on culinary memoirs, queer histories, and cultural legacies. His own work has been featured in The Globe and Mail, The Huffington Post, CBC Radio and Radio-Canada. His first book, Pantry and Palate: Remembering and Rediscovering Acadian Food, was shortlisted for the Taste Canada prize.