Israeli pianist Itamar Prag began his piano studies at the Givatayim Conservatory of Music under the guidance of Hannah Shalgi and later attended the Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts. He served as an “outstanding musician” in the Israel Defense Forces and continued his training at the Buchmann–Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University in the class of Prof. Arie Vardi. Prag is currently pursuing a Doctor of Music degree in piano performance at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University, studying with Kyoko Hashimoto and André Laplante. Past teachers also include Ilya Poletaev, Asaf Zohar, Vadim Monastyrski, and Daria Monastyrski.

Prag maintains a vibrant career as a recitalist, soloist, and chamber musician. He made his solo debut at age eleven with the Tel Aviv Soloists Ensemble and has since performed with orchestras in Israel and abroad under conductors such as Yoel Levi, Lahav Shani, Frederic Chaslin, Omer Wellber, Vag Papian, and Alexis Hauser.

He is a member of Trio Timia, winners of the third prize at the 2025 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Prag has appeared in recitals across Europe, North America, and Israel, and is a recipient of scholarships from the America–Israel Cultural Foundation and the Ronen Foundation.

Itamar Prag was generously supported by the Sir Jack Lyons Scholarship for the Arts.

I grew up in an environment where women’s singing voices were restricted, yet I always dreamed of sharing my voice freely with the world. This desire became the foundation of my artistic journey. Rooted in the folk traditions of Azerbaijani music, I was surrounded by melodies that carried the history, emotions, and resilience of my culture. These songs, often marginalized and forgotten, became my strongest source of inspiration. Singing them allowed me to both preserve cultural memory and express my deepest emotions. Over the years, I have released an album that reinterprets Azeri folk songs with contemporary arrangements, blending piano and clarinet with my voice. My goal is to revive these traditions while creating a bridge to global audiences. For me, music is more than performance—it is a universal language of freedom and connection.

Ooldouz Pouri was generously supported by the Banff Centre Endowment.

Jordan Nobles is a JUNO Award-winning Canadian composer celebrated for music of “unearthly beauty” (Mondomagazine) that invites listeners to “close (their) eyes and transcend into a cloud of music” (Discorder Magazine). His works—spanning over 100 compositions for orchestra, ensemble, and choir—have been performed around the world, admired for their immersive soundscapes and evocative use of space.

Over the course of his career, Jordan has received numerous accolades including the prestigious Azrieli Music Prize (2024), a JUNO Award (2017), and a Western Canadian Music Award (2018). He has also been awarded first prizes in several international composition competitions: Unbound Flute Festival (Brisbane, 2016), Sacra/Profana (San Diego, 2013), Vancouver Bach Choir (2008), and Polyphonos (Seattle, 2011).

He is a past recipient of the Jan V. Matejcek Award from SOCAN for outstanding achievement in New Classical Music (2017), and was honoured with the Barbara Pentland Award of Excellence for his “extraordinary contribution to Canadian music.” In 2009, he was recognized as the Emerging Artist in Music by the City of Vancouver’s Mayor’s Arts Awards.

He lives in Deep Cove, BC, with his wife Kelly and their daughter Julian.

Jordan Nobles was generously supported by the Leo Brouwer Endowment.

Garrett Myers is a saxophonist and educator who believes in music’s power to tell stories and create community. Originally from central Minnesota, he began playing saxophone at age 11 and quickly discovered its ability to convey a wide spectrum of emotions. Over the years, he has developed a deep appreciation for the instrument’s versatility in expressing the human spirit. Garrett recently graduated from the Lawrence Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education and now performs throughout the Midwest as both a soloist and ensemble musician. His recent appearances include a solo performance with the Manitowoc Wind Ensemble, and he is a recipient of a DownBeat Student Music Award.

Equally devoted to teaching and performing, Garrett strives to create musical experiences that feel communal. He plans to continue his studies through master’s and doctoral degrees in music, deepening his artistry while inspiring and supporting future generations of musicians. Outside of music, Garrett is an avid outdoors enthusiast who enjoys climbing, hiking, biking, and skiing. Whether on stage or in the classroom, he hopes to share moments of honesty, joy, and connection through his music.

Garrett Myers was generously supported by the Banff Centre Endowment.

Rachel Lewindon is an award-winning, interdisciplinary composer and sound designer working in the diverse array of mediums of theatre, dance and live performance. After gaining her Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) at the VCA in Interactive Composition, she has firmly established her voice in the Australian live performing arts scene, her passion for the immersive experience of sound within a live performance setting, particularly the electro-acoustic boundaries of composition and sound design using voice, piano and synthesis garnering her much critical acclaim.

She has been hailed “one of Melbourne theatre’s best composers working to date..” by the Australian Book Review and was awarded a 2022 Green Room Award for Best Composition/Sound Design for her work on ‘The Gospel According to Jesus Queen of Heaven’. Her own work Orlando: A New Musical premiered to critical acclaim in 2023, being described as ‘(a) beautifully wrought chamber opera’, ‘Profoundly formative in a risk-averse industry… Stephen Sondheim meets Brian Eno’. She has had work developed and premiered internationally with So Percussion (USA), BRAZZA Artists Residency Program (France), CPH Hit Copenhagen (Denmark), Wuzhen Theatre Festival (China), BIRCA Climate Residency (Denmark) and nationally with Speak Percussion, Melbourne Theatre Company, FortyFive Downstairs, Darwin Festival, Adelaide Fringe Festival and other local music venues.

Rachel Lewindon was generously supported by the Banff Centre Endowment.

Formed in Montréal, Trio Timia unites three musicians whose artistry is driven by curiosity, sincerity, and imagination. The ensemble takes its name from the Greek word timia—meaning “truth” and “honesty”—and the Korean phrase “we are a team.”

As winners of the bronze medal at the 2025 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, Trio Timia have established themselves amongst the rising stars of this generation. The trio will continue to develop their creative output as ensemble-in-residence at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, featuring the premiere of a new work by Canadian composer Yejin Kwon as part of their project “Second Attempts: Music of Persistence in Exile, Recovery, and Transformation.”

Trio Timia is currently mentored by violinist Violaine Melançon and also works regularly with André Laplante, Jinjoo Cho, Jean Marchand, Guillaume Sutre, and Elizabeth Dolin. Trio Timia has also studied at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance with Steven Isserlis and at the Flaine Music Academy in France, supported by Jeunesses Musicales du Canada (Aida Fund).

Marked by raw intensity, wholehearted expression, and boundless creative potential, Trio Timia brings performances that captivate through their vitality and humanity.

June Lee was generously supported by the David and Peggy Leighton Endowment.

François Lamontagne began his cello studies with David Ellis at the Conservatoire de Musique de Saguenay and then at McGill University under the tutelage of Elizabeth Dolin, where he has received the “Student Excellence Award” scholarship and the Frank Mills Prize. In 2022, he earned his bachelor’s degree with the distinction of “outstanding achievement in cello performance” and his master’s degree, in 2025.

Since 2025, François is principal cellist in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean Symphony Orchestra and assistant-principal the Orchestre symphonique de l’Estuaire. He also plays with the Orchestre de l’Agora and the Orchestre symphonique de Québec.

François has distinguished himself in various competitions, such as the Festival du Royaume and the Canadian Music Competition. He won the “Jeunes solistes” competition of the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean Youth Orchestra. In 2018, he was awarded the Lieutenant Governor’s Medal and the Governor General’s Medal as part of his collegial diploma at the conservatory.

Passioned about chamber music, he studied string quartet under the guidance of renowned ensembles such as the Alban Berg string quartet, Quatuor Ébène, and Quatuor Danel at the McGill International Sring Quartet academy. François has also played internationally in the Fischoff Competition (USA), the Schiermonnikoog Festival (Netherlands), and the Trondheim Chamber Music Academy in Norway.

François Lamontagne was generously supported by the Banff Centre Endowment.

KALAISAN KALAICHELVAN is a composer and musician based in New York. His compositional practice spans multiple disciplines, drawing from film, dance, theatre, installation and deals with themes of translation and transference.

Named by Ludwig Van as one of “six emerging Canadian composers to keep an eye on” and Playback’s 10 to Watch, his music has been performed and premiered by celebrated ensembles such as Glenn Gould New Music Ensemble, the Dior Quartet, NMC Ensemble and Extended Music Collective. He has held residencies at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, NewAm Composers Lab, UCross Foundation, Avaloch Farm Music Institute, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Kalaisan is a 2021 Fellow of the Sundance Composers lab and is one of the awarded grantees of the Sundance Institute’s Art of Practice Fellowship. He was awarded the SOCAN Emerging Composer Award in 2023 and 2024. He was also awarded the esteemed Kathleen McMorrow Award by the Ontario Arts Foundation in 2024 for the composition and presentation of contemporary classical music in Ontario. In 2023, Kalaisan wrote the music for the film In Flames, which was selected as the Pakistani entry for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards. Kalaisan has scored feature films that have premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival. He is currently working on various commissions and scoring a new Netflix series directed by Simon Barry.

Kalaisan has been mentored by esteemed composers and music leaders such as Christopher Cerrone, Huang Ruo, Suzanne Farrin, Brian Current, Paul Wiancko and David Harrington of Kronos Quartet. Having worked across various disciplines and communities of thought, Kalaisan seeks to bring together incongruous institutions to build novel structures that reflect his artistic upbringing.

Kalaisan Kalaichelvan was generously supported by the Banff Centre Endowment.

Robyn Jacob is a composer, pianist, vocalist and educator living and working from the unceded territories of the Sḵwxwú7mesh, Xwməθkwəyəm and Səl’il’wətaʔ Nations, also known as Vancouver. She has written music for ensembles such as Grammy winning Third Coast Percussion (Chicago),Architek Percussion (Montreal), Grammy winning Sō Percussion (Brooklyn), Chor Leoni (Vancouver), and the Victoria Symphony, and has collaborated with visual artists and instrument makers. Her avant-pop project Only a Visitor (Mint Records) has toured internationally and released four albums to date. She has released two albums with her duo project The Giving Shapes in collaboration with harpist Elisa Thorn. Her new solo project Immix explores the emotive narratives of voice and electronics. From 2012 - 2024 she was part of the multi-disciplinary art collective Publik Secrets, whose work included a variety of public space interventions, performances, installations and ephemeral gatherings, including Gamelan Bike Bike, which she co-led with artist and composer George Rahi for over ten years.

Robyn Jacob was generously supported by the Banff Centre Endowment.

Canadian clarinetist Dr. Liam Hockley is a versatile performer and passionate advocate for new and experimental music. Described as “a musician for whom alternative or avant-garde approaches to his instrument are only part of the everyday tool kit” (Georgia Straight), he is equally fluent in classical and contemporary idioms, with a repertoire spanning the eighteenth to twenty-first centuries. His appearances across three continents include prize-winning performances at the Stockhausen-Konzert und Kurse Kürten.

Liam’s debut solo album Pulse-Tide was named one of The Wire’s 10 best Modern Classical releases of 2024, which praised it as “at once vigorous and forensic, grappling with this music’s overall physicality, while also paying microscopic attention to its fine details, its agitated particles and molecular trails.” Forthcoming releases include a collaborative project with composer Ray Evanoff and an EP of solo improvisations with electronics.

Liam holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of British Columbia, where his SSHRC-supported research explored performer agency in complexist music. His writing has appeared in The Clarinet and FOCI Arts/Words, and he maintains an active performing career across British Columbia, including as clarinetist with the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra.

Liam Hockley was generously supported by the Lucy and Stephen Maxym Endowment.