Performer Biographies

The Glenn Gould School’s Royal Conservatory Orchestra (RCO) is widely regarded as one of the best training orchestras in North America, and livestreaming of RCO concerts, sponsored by TELUS, makes RCO performances accessible to international audiences. Part of the Temerty Orchestral Program, the RCO consists of instrumental students in the undergraduate and graduate programs of The Glenn Gould School. Alumni of the RCO continue to join the ranks of the greatest orchestras in the world. Through the RBC Guest Conductor Program, four renowned conductors work with the RCO each season, allowing GGS students to gain experience through professional rehearsal and performance conditions under the batons of such distinguished guest conductors as Tania Miller, Earl Lee, Andrei Feher, Johannes Debus, and Gábor Takács-Nagy. Additionally, members of the RCO accompany the GGS Spring Opera, featuring voice students of the GGS Price Opera Program, and presented in Koerner Hall

Violin I
Marie Berard+, Concertmaster
Isabella Perron
Erika Raum+
Grace Lau
Sean Wang+
Daniel Yao
Barry Shiffman+
Adriel Sloss~
Jennifer Armor

Violin II
Atis Bankas+, Principal
Abigail Macy
Yohali MonteroRoman Nykorovych
Anna Stube
Solchan Kim
Nickolas Warwick

Viola
Shyler Macaggi, Principal
Lucy Gelber
Mary Deck
Tristan Macaggi
Caleb Georges*
Tilman Sandvoss

Cello
Paul Widner+, Principal
Lexie Krakowski
David Liam Roberts
Sabina Sandvoss

Double Bass
Carlos Restrepo^, Principal
Dean Chen^

Flute
Susan Hoeppner+, Principal (Bizet)
Kebin Lee, Principal (Massenet)
Hannah Silverberg, Principal (Giordano)

Piccolo
Kebin Lee, Principal

Oboe
Chieh-Ying Lu^, Principal
Melissa Scott+

English Horn
Melissa Scott, Principal

Clarinet
Joaquin Valdepeñas+, Principal
Juliette Moreno
Santiago Oviedo-Reina
Craig Swink

Bass Clarinet
Santiago Oviedo-Reina, Principal

Bassoon
Glenn Einschlag+, Principal
Spencer Mendez
Reese Hunsaker
Jason Stephens
Wolfgang Scheitinger

Contrabassoon
Reese Hunsaker, Principal

Horn
Chris Gongos+, Principal
Aaron Sieve
Katrina Dunkle
Sarah Bell
Ayse Colak

Trumpet
Laura Kuri, Principal
Bradley-Cairns-Digel

Trombone
Ken Kagawa, Principal (Bizet)
Ben Storm, Principal (Giordano)

Bass Trombone
Collins Saunders^, Principal

Harp
Charlotte Chong, Principal

Timpani
Jacob Valcheff, Principal (Bizet)
Parker Olson, Principal (Massenet)
Yu-Cheng Chang, Principal (Giordano)

Percussion
Yu-Cheng Chang
Parker Olson

+Faculty member
^Guest Artist
~Taylor Academy Alumnus
*Rebanks Fellow

For the last 25 years, Art of Time Ensemble has been on the cutting edge of the performing arts in Canada, fusing music with theatre, dance, film and literature in unique and unprecedented ways. The list of illustrious artists who have collaborated with Art of Time includes Margaret Atwood, Peggy Baker, Brent Carver, Barbara Hannigan, Branford Marsalis, Michael Ondaatje, Steven Page, Madeleine Péyroux, Jackie Richardson and many others. Founded by Andrew Burashko in 1998, the Toronto-based ensemble has included some of Canada’s top classical and jazz soloists as well as concertmasters and principal players from some of the world’s greatest orchestras. With Burashko at its helm as artistic director, conductor, pianist and director, Art of Time has produced over 80 unique productions and recordings and has toured extensively throughout North America and Europe.

Members:
Andrew Burashko, piano and music director
Rob Piltch, guitar
Stephen Sitarski, violin
Amahl Arulanandam, cello
Joseph Phillips, double bass
Robert Carli, saxophone

As one of Canada’s most innovative broadcasters and respected corporate leaders, Denise Donlon is renowned for incorporating music, journalism, social issues, and human rights advocacy in her work. Named Broadcast Executive of the Year three times at the Canadian Music Week Industry Awards, Denise was inducted into the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame and received the Walt Grealis SpecialAchievement Award at the 2018 Juno Awards in recognition of her contributions to the Canadian music industry. In 2000, she became the first female president of Sony Music Canada where she continued to promote emerging Canadian talent as well as maintain her commitment to human rights by producing the gold-certified benefit album Peace Songs (2003) in support of War Child Canada. Denise is a Fellow of both The Royal Conservatory of Music and the Canadian Geographical Society, and was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2004.

Winner of the 2022 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, Earl Lee is a renowned Korean-Canadian conductor who has captivated audiences worldwide. Earl is in his second season as Music Director of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra and in his third season as Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which he has led in subscription concerts both at Symphony Hall and Tanglewood. In addition, Earl’s 23/24 season includes guest conducting engagements with the Vancouver Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Winnipeg Symphony, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, The Florida Orchestra, and our very own Royal Conservatory Orchestra in October of 2023. Previous seasons have seen subscription debuts with the San Francisco Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, Hawaii Symphony, and Edmonton Symphony; leading the Lunar New Year galas of both the New York Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony; and concerts with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and with Sejong Soloists in both New York and Seoul.

Winner of the Grand Prize at the 2016 Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Manulife Competition, Blake Pouliot’s 2023/24 symphonic highlights include Shostakovich 1, Bruch 1, Tchaikovsky, Korngold and Sibelius concerti across the US and Canada with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal with Roderick Cox, Artis-Naples and NAC Ottawa with Alexander Shelley, Quebec City Symphony and Clemens Schuldt amongst others. This season includes his Spanish debut with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Spain at the Teatro Monumental in Madrid, performing the Tchaikovsky concerto with Rossen Milanov alongside which Pouliot will also play-direct Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons in a separate chamber programme. During his time as Soloist-in-Residence of Orchestre Métropolitain in 2020/21, Blake and Yannick Nézet-Séguin performed Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 and Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons, which led to Pouliot’s 2022 debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Kimmel Centre, performing John Corigliano’s The Red Violin (Chaconne for Violin and Orchestra) with Nézet-Séguin. Raised in Toronto, Canada, Blake studied with Marie Berard and Erika Raum as a graduate of the RCM’s Taylor Academy, and was then admitted into the studio of the renowned pedagogue Robert Lipsett, with whom he studied at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles.

A  winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions—the same year she graduated from the University of Toronto cum laude with a Biomedical Engineering Degree—Dr. Bayrakdarian thereafter found her career taking rapid wing. She scored a notable success in the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s world premiere production of William Bolcom’s A View from the Bridge; the following year, she walked away from Plácido Domingo’s prestigious Operalia competition with first prize. More debuts followed, including her San Francisco Opera debut, as Valencienne in The Merry Widow, and her Metropolitan Opera debut, in the New York premiere of Bolcom’s opera; a season later, she won plaudits as Teresa in the Met premiere of Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini. Her roles at Toronto’s Canadian Opera Company range from Gluck’s Euridice to Debussy’s Mélisande to Poulenc’s Blanche in Dialogues des Carmélites. She holds an Honorary Doctorate from Canada’s Wilfrid Laurier University, and an Honorary Fellowship from The Royal Conservatory of Music.

Robi Botos is an internationally acclaimed Hungarian-Canadian multi-instrumentalist, film score composer, producer, Koerner Hall performer and the inaugural Jazz Artistin-Residence for The Royal Conservatory. Heis an accomplished jazz pianist and a prominent member of the Toronto jazz scene. Robi was first introduced to the piano when he was 7 years old. He continued to perform throughout Hungary and at 20 decided to move his wife and children to Canada to further pursue the career he was born for. Since he emigrated from Budapest in 1998, he has recorded several albums and won the TD Grand Jazz Award at the 2012 Montreal International Jazz Festival. In 2016, Botos won the JUNO Award for Best Jazz Album of the Year (Solo) for his recording of Movin’ Forward, recorded with drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts and bassist Robert Hurst, both alumni of Wynton Marsalis’ band.

Over the last 35 years, Steven Page has established himself as one of the most recognizable and enduring voices in music. The release of his latest album, Excelsior, shows that he has no plans of slowing down anytime soon. Since its release, Steven has toured Canada, the US, and the UK with The Steven Page Trio, and has performances planned well into 2024. As a co-founder, vocalist, and songwriter for Barenaked Ladies, Steven sang and wrote many classics, sold over 15 million albums, and scored multiple Junos, Billboard Music Awards, SOCAN awards, Gemini Awards, and two Grammy nominations. After leaving the band, he embarked on a solo career, produced five solo albums, and recently opened for The Who. Since 2016, he has been playing most often with The Steven Page Trio (with Craig Northey and Kevin Fox). He is also a frequent collaborator with the Art of Time Ensemble and, along with Chris Murphy (Sloan), Moe Berg (The Pursuit 
of Happiness), and Craig Northey (Odds), he makes up a quarter of The TransCanada Highwaymen. As a member of Barenaked Ladies, Steven was made an RCM Honorary Fellow in 2004 and inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2018.

Internationally renowned trumpet soloist and RCM Honorary Fellow Jens Lindemann has achieved a critically acclaimed career as one of the world’s great virtuosos. From the New York Philharmonic and the London Symphony to the Great Wall of China; from the Berlin Philharmonie and the Canadian Brass to Tokyo’s Suntory Hall; from a Grammy nomination, and an honorary doctorate; to being heralded as ‘the official trumpeter for the NHL Stanley Cup finals’, Jens Lindemann has performed every style of music and entertained every audience imaginable. He has won first prizes in the most important classical trumpet competitions in the world, made numerous television and film appearances and performed at London’s ‘Last Night of the Proms’ for over 40,000 people! Jens’ proven ability to perform as a diverse artist places him at the front of a new generation of musicians. Classically trained at The Juilliard School, he has also performed and recorded pop and jazz styles extensively.