ARC Ensemble Members

Known for her "lively temperament, energetic individuality and warm and communicative tone" (Muzsika, Budapest), violinist Erika Raum continues developing a following here in her native country and internationally. Playing professionally since the age of twelve, Ms. Raum quickly rose through the ranks by taking first place at the 1992 Joseph Szigeti International Violin Competition in Budapest as well as the award for best interpretation of a Mozart concerto. She has returned on many occasions to perform in Hungary, Portugal, Sweden, Austria, Germany, England, Italy and France. She has appeared as guest artist with orchestras including the Budapest Radio Orchestra, the Szombathely Symphony Orchestra, the Austro-Hungarian Orchestra, and the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra.

A distinguished musician abroad, Erika also performs frequently throughout her homeland with orchestral appearances in cities such as Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Ottawa, Victoria, Halifax, Laval and Edmonton. This season, Erika will return to her hometown, Regina SK, to perform a recital with pianist Lydia Wong. This program will also be featured in Toronto. Both a recitalist and chamber musician, some of her recent international highlights include the Beethoven Festival in Warsaw, the BargeMusic Festival in New York, and the Seattle Chamber Music Festival and most recently, the Festival Pablo Casals de Prades, France and the Clandeboye Festival, Ireland. Past invitations include the Budapest Spring Festival, Szombathely Festival in Hungary, Carnegie Hall as well as the Caramoor and Prussia Cove festivals. Her performances are often heard on an array of radio networks like CBC across Canada and the NPR in the USA.

ARC Ensemble is a chamber group specializing in the rediscovery of great 20th century composers and their music, with an emphasis on those whose lives were interrupted or even lost during the Holocaust. So far, they have released four CDs on the RCA Red Seal label, two of which were nominated for Grammy Awards. The Strad Magazine even gave Erika special mention for her performance noting that she had them “hanging on to her every note”. Erika's other recordings include a partnership with internationally renowned pianist Anton Kuerti for a world premiere recording of Carl Czerny's piano and violin works on the CBC Musica Viva label. She also recorded the Brahms Horn Trio and premiered Pantheon, a piece by esteemed composer (and mother), Elizabeth Raum, on the Arktos label.

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Best known as the concertmaster of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra (COC), Marie Bérard is also a sought-after chamber musician, soloist, recording artist and teacher. She is a former member of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and has performed with a variety of smaller ensembles such as Amici, Array Music and New Music Concerts and is also a member of Trio Arkel as well as the ARC Ensemble which has toured in Europe, China and the United States and was twice nominated for a Grammy Award for their Sony recordings.

Highly regarded as an interpreter of contemporary music, Ms. Bérard has released a recording of a concerto by Henry Kucharzyk for violin and brass ensemble on the Opening Day label and can be heard on numerous  CBC Records including the Meditation from Thais on with the COC orchestra.
Ms. Bérard is a regular performer at numerous chamber music festivals, notably the Domaine Forget International Festival, the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, The Blair Atholl Festival in Scotland, and holds the position of Associate Concertmaster of the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego.

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Steven Dann was born on Canada’s West Coast in Burnaby, B.C. His foremost teacher and mentor was the late Lorand Fenyves. Other significant influences along the way have included William Primrose, Robert Pikler, and Bruno Giuranna.

Upon graduation from university he was named Principal Viola of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, a position he subsequently held with the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, the Vancouver Symphony and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He has served as guest principal of the Luzern Festival Orchestra under Horst Stein and Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle and, in both performance and recordings, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Paavo Berglund, Ivan Fischer and Pierre Boulez. He also led the viola section of the Canadian Opera Company for the opening of Toronto’s Four Seasons opera house in performances of Wagner's Ring Cycle under Richard Bradshaw.

Steven Dann has collaborated as a soloist with such Maestri as Sir Andrew Davis, Rudolph Barshai, Jiri Belohlavek, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Oliver Knussen.

Since 1990 Mr. Dann has been a member of the Smithsonian Chamber Players in Washington D.C. and was a founding member of the Axelrod String Quartet. He is also violist of both the wonderfully eclectic Zebra Trio (with violinist Ernst Kovacic and cellist Anssi Karttunen) and Toronto's multi-Grammy-nominated ARC Ensemble. In solo and chamber music, Mr. Dann has recorded for Sony, Naxos, CBC Records, Marquis Classics, Centrediscs, RCA Red Seal, Ondine, Kairos, Chandos, ATMA Classique and Toccata Classics. The Stereo Record Review described his recording of the viola works of Brahms (ATMA Classique) as "without doubt, one of the most beautiful viola recordings I have ever heard". A second CD of rare French repertoire is also available on ATMA.

Mr Dann has a diverse solo and chamber music repertoire born of both the researcher’s joy in uncovering forgotten treasures, and a love of  taking part in new creations. To name a few, important solo works with large ensembles by Mark-Anthony Turnage, Christos Hatzis, Morton Feldman, Giya Kancheli, Alexina Louie, and Jonathan Harvey.  Unearthed gems from the past, some recorded for the first time, by Rebecca Clarke, Julius Röntgen, Jerzy Fitelberg, Pierre de Breville, Pierre Tournemire, Paul Ben-Haim and Alberto Hemsi. And commissions including works from Peter Lieberson, R. Murray Schafer, Kaija Saariaho, Alexina Louie, Magnus Lindberg, Friedrich Cerha and Hans Abrahamsen. 

As both a performer and teacher, Mr. Dann is a regular guest at many international festivals and arts schools. He teaches viola and chamber music at the Glenn Gould School in Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music, and is the coordinator of chamber music programs at the Domaine Forget in Québec and the Music by the Sea Festival in British Columbia. With his colleagues in the Zebra Trio, a contemporary music seminar entitled Creative Dialogue France, involving young and established composers and performers, happens each August in the Loire Valley, France.

Mr Dann alternates between two instruments. An early 19th century viola from the Gagliano family, his companion since the 70s, and a wonderful viola commissioned from Joseph Curtin.

Joaquin Valdepeñas a prolific recording artist has recently won a second Juno Award for his recording "Levant" with his Amici Chamber Ensemble and his latest CD with the ARC Ensemble on the Chandos Label was released in June and features the Clarinet Quintet of Paul Ben-Haim. Mr. Valdepeñas was a Grammy Award nominee two years in a row in the chamber music category—both on the on Sony BMG label as part of his collaboration with the ARC Ensemble. He has also won a Juno award for best classical recording (for the Jacques Hetu Concerto). Mr. Valdepeñas was appointed principal clarinetist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra upon graduation from Yale University and makes international appearances as a soloist, chamber musician, and conductor and is considered one of the most distinguished clarinetists of his generation. Mr. Valdepeñas has made over three dozen recordings including a recording of the Mozart clarinet concerto with the English Chamber Orchestra.

He has performed with many distinguished artists such as Leif Ove Andsnes, Kathleen Battle, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Barbara Bonney, Joshua Bell, Vladimir Feltsman, Steven Isserlis, Cho Liang Lin, Yo Yo Ma, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, John O'Connor and Pinchas Zuckerman as well as collaborating with some of the world's finest string quartets such as the American, Calder, Emerson, Muir, Orion, Takacs, St. Lawrence, Ying and Zemlinsky, as well he has collaborated with the Kalichstein, Laredo Robinson Trio at the Y in New York City, The international Sejong Soloists in korea and The Chamber Society of Lincoln Center. Commissioning many works by Canadian composers, Mr. Valdepeñas gave the American première of Arias for Clarinet and Orchestra by Michael Colgrass with the Buffalo Philharmonic. His European début, a performance with the BBC Welsh Symphony, was broadcast on BBC Television conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.

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Cellist Thomas Wiebe is an Associate Professor of Violoncello at the Don Wright Faculty of Music at Western University in London, Ontario. He is also on the faculty of the Domaine Forget Summer Music Academy in Quebec. He has appeared with the ARC Ensemble at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, in Ferraro, Italy, Schoenberg Hall in Los Angeles, the Rockport Festival in Massachusetts, as well as in Toronto and Calgary. He also performed with Toronto’s Art of Time Ensemble, and the Domaine Forget International Festival in Quebec.
 
Thomas studied cello in his native Winnipeg with the Julie Banton. He later studied at the Eastman School of Music with Robert Sylvester and Steven Doane, and at Yale University and the Juilliard School with the late Aldo Parisot. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale.
 
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Canadian pianist Kevin Ahfat was named one of CBC Music’s 30 hot Canadian classical musicians under 30 in 2018 and subsequently released a live recording of Brahms from CBC’s Studio 211.
 
Highlights of recent seasons include engagements throughout North America and abroad, including at the Maison symphonique in Montreal, at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, Merkin Hall in New York, and with the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra in Los Angeles. He continues performances and recordings with the ARC Ensemble, one of Canada’s foremost cultural forces.

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