SINFONIA TORONTO MUSICIANS

Mary-Elizabeth Brown, Concertmaster

In addition to her position as concertmaster of Sinfonia Toronto, Mary-Elizabeth is currently Associate Concertmaster of Orchestra London Canada as well as Concertmaster of the Youth Orchestra of the Americas. In June 2007 she assumed a new position as Principal Second Violinist of the Britten-Pears orchestra in Aldeburgh, England. She has played under distinguished conductors such as Kryszstof Penderecki, Lorin Maazel, Benjamin Zander, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Isaac Karabtchevsky and Placido Domingo.

Ms. Brown holds an Hons. B.Mus, cum laude, from the University of Toronto, and a M.Mus (Performance) from the Université de Montréal.  She has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants from the University of Toronto, the City of London, DePaul University, the Hazel Crydermann-Wees Foundation, the Université de Montréal, Fonds des Amis de l'Art and the American Suzuki Foundation. She has soloed in masterclasses with Regis Pasqier, Pierre Amoyal, Sylvia Rosenberg, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Pamela Frank, Pinchas Zukerman and the late Lorand Fenyves, among others. She has appeared with the London Youth Symphony, Orchestra London Canada and the Banff Festival Chamber Orchestra. 

As a chamber musician, she has been heard on CBC Radio and at major festivals across Canada including the Scotia Festival, Le Festival Internationale du Domaine Forget and the Banff Summer Arts Festival. She has worked with members of the St. Lawrence, Orford, Artur Leblanc and Brentano Quartets as well as the Gryphon Trio, William Aide and Laurence Lesser. A two-time laureate of the Canadian Music Competition National Finals, she plays on a 1737 Guidantus violin and an F.N. Voirin bow on loan from the Banff Centre for the Arts.   
 

Phoebe Tsang, Principal Second Violinist    http://www.phoebetsang.com

Violinist Phoebe Tsang is an active soloist, chamber musician and Principal Second Violinist of the Sinfonia Toronto chamber orchestra. She is currently the co-Artistic Director and co-Founder of the Alicier Arts Chamber Music series. In recent years she has been soloist with the Toronto Philharmonia, the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra, the Chinese Overseas Philharmonic, and for Esprit Orchestra New Wave and Hot Wave Festivals. In the 2006-07 season she will appear twice as soloist with Sinfonia Toronto. The student and teaching assistant of the late Professor Lorand Fenyves, Ms. Tsang continues to take lessons from the example of her lovely students aged 4 and upwards!
A native of Hong Kong, Phoebe Tsang was raised in England and currently resides in Toronto. Her passion for poetry was first nurtured by her mother's love of English literature, followed by a number of teachers to whom she owes her informal education, including most recently Robert Priest and Allan Briesmaster. Her experience as journalist for a UK architectural magazine is another influence - Phoebe also holds a degree in Architecture from the University of London, England.  

Martin Bazarian, Violinist                            

A graduate of the Yerevan Gomidas Conservatory Martin Bazarian has served for 13 years as the Concertmaster of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. He has also performed with the Canadian Opera Company and the National Ballet orchestras as well as the Toronto Philharmonia.

 

Sarah Boyer, Violinist

Ms. Boyer holds a Bachelor's degree from the Eastman School of Music and has studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto and at the Banff Centre for the Arts.

Her experience includes a tour of European Music Academy under Luciano Berio, concerto appearances with York Symphony and Concertmaster with the Royal Conservatory Orchestra.

 

Xiaohan Guo, Violinist

Born in Shenyang, China, Xiaohan Guo began her violin studies at the age of six, winning many awards in numerous youth competitions. Continuing her musical education, she enrolled at the Shenyang Conservatory at the age of 13. In 1998, she pursued her Bachelor’s Degree, majoring in violin, at the Shanghai Conservatory subsequently receiving first prize in the 2001 Mozart Violin Concerto Competition, whereby receiving an invitation to perform the Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 with the Shanghai Youth Symphony Orchestra. Upon graduation she joined the Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, having the honor of performing with outstanding musicians such as Itzhak Perlman, Seiji Ozawa and Mstislav Rostropovich. She has been a student of Mrs. Eleonora Turovsky at University of Montreal since her arrival in Canada in 2004, completing her Master’s Degree and is now undertaking her Doctorate program. During her studies she was a winner of several bursaries. Xiaohan has given many solo and chamber music recitals at Chapel de Bon-Pasteur and University of Montreal, as well as being a guest soloist with I Musici de Montreal Chamber Orchestra with Waxman ’s Carmen Fantasy.

Emily Hau, Violinist

Violinist Emily Hau is a recent Master’s graduate of the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music.  She studied under the guidance of the renowned artist, Fredell Lack, and the concertmaster of Dallas Symphony, Emanuel Borok.  While in Houston, Emily served as concertmaster of the Moore’s Chamber and Opera Orchestras, and was a recipient of the Fredell Lack Scholarship Endowment and the Starling Scholarship Endowment.  She also performed in selective master classes that included Ruggiero Ricci, James Buswell, Kyung Sun Lee, Charles Castleman and Rachel Podger.

A vibrant young violinist, Emily spent several summers at music festivals that include Texas Music Festival, Schlern and Banff.  While at Banff, she served as concertmaster under the baton of Alain Trudel.  This summer, she will be participating in the internationally prominent Pacific Music Festival, in Sapporo, Japan.  Aside from her orchestral experiences at school and music festivals, she was assistant concertmaster of Orchestra X and a member of the Symphony of Southeast Texas, among others.  Furthermore, Emily has performed in numerous solo and chamber music performances in the Greater Houston area, the dolomite region of the Italian Alps and across Canada. 
 
Currently, she is studying with Paul Kantor, a distinguished pedagogue at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and has previously studied with Zhang Yun Zhang, Lorand Fenyves, Almita Vamos and Dmitri Berlinsky.

Praise Lam, Violinist    http://www.praiselam.com

A recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, violinist Praise Lam is emerging as a highly active soloist, chamber musician and orchestral musician both in Canada and abroad. In 2002, Praise was invited to play for the Canadian Ambassador to China and the Director of the Canada Arts Council in Beijing. Since capturing the 2003 Emerging Performing Arts Award at the Mississauga Arts Awards, Praise’s solo performances has taken her from her hometown orchestral stage with the Mississauga Philharmonic Orchestra to television appearances with Rogers Cable & CBC to Hollywood’s 20th Century Fox Newman Scoring Stage in Los Angeles, California. Praise holds an ARCT Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music, a Bachelor of Music Performance degree and a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Toronto and has also spent two years of applied violin studies with Professor Lin Yaoji at the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music. Praise also had the opportunity to play for such esteemed musicians as Jose Luis Garcia, Mauricio Fuks, and members of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, the Orford String Quartet, and the Prazak String Quaret.

Praise held the position as conductor of the Mississauga Youth Orchestra’s Junior Concert Strings in 2000-2001 and continues to maintain an active role in music education. In her early years, Praise had been active as an accomplished pianist as well as a composer. A consistent award winner in both fields, Praise began her piano studies at age 4 and composition at age 9. A student of Canadian composer Larysa Kuzmenko at the Royal Conservatory, Praise Lam won the Ettore Mazzoleni Memorial Composition Scholarship and the Dr. Igor Kuchivnsky Memorial Composition Scholarship for three years. She was 15 when she first held the position of student composer-in-residence and 16 when her Shadows of a Journey was premiered by the Royal Conservatory Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Simon Streatfield. Her commission at age 18 by the Mississauga Symphony to compose an orchestral work was her last official work before she decided to pursue a full-time career as a violinist.

Albina Molodozhan, Violinist  http://www.albinamolodozhan.com

Albina Molodozhan was born in Moscow, Russia. She began violin lessons with Alexander Shirinsky at the age of six and at age ten she played solo on Moldavian broadcast.

Albina graduated from the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music with a Master's degree in violin performance in 2004 where she studied with former Borodin Quartet member and student of Abram Yampolsky, Vladimir Rabei. In July 2001 she participated in master classes in Germany - International Summer Academy for Young Artists. Bayerische Musikakademie Marktoberdorf. Her teachers included Dr.Helmut Zehetmair and Professor Vladimir Ivanov. In Toronto she has taken master classes with Jacques Israelievitch and Mark Skazinetsky.

Albina has played numerous concerts through Russia, Germany, Holland, Switzerland and Canada with piano Trio-Continuum and as a soloist in major music halls. Albina received an award on Russian National Festival “Festos” for talented students as a best chamber music performer.

She recorded a CD in 2004 as a soloist with Gnesin Russian Academy of Music chamber orchestra in Moscow: Bach - Concertos in D Minor for two violins and A Minor for violin.

Anthony Rapoport, Principal Violist

Anthony Rapoport is principal violist of Sinfonia Toronto and a founding member of the Windermere String Quartet and the Aradia Ensemble, with whom he has recorded over a dozen internationally released CDs. On tour as soloist with Aradia, he was acclaimed as “a splendid violist” by the New Zealand Herald. Anthony received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Juilliard School in New York.

Julian Knight, Violist

 

Julian graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from the Juilliard School in New York City in 1979. He gained professional experience working for the Hamilton Philharmonic and the Canadian Opera Company before moving to Paris in 1982. The recipient of a Canada Council grant he continued his studies while also furthering his professional experience in various French orchestras. On his return to Canada, he began freelance activities that have seen him engaged by every major orchestral ensemble of the Toronto Region. More recent interests have included live radio improvisation and improvisational work within the theatre and dance communities. Julian has appeared as a soloist with among others the Northern Music Festival Orchestra, the Oakville Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia Mississauga, the Canadian Electronic Ensemble and the contemporary music trio, Resonance. He is also active teaching and coaching private students and various ensembles around Toronto.

 

 

Rachel Mercer, Co-Principal Cellist   http://ca.geocities.com/rachel.mercer 

The Grand Prize winner of the 2001 Vriendenkrans Competition in Amsterdam, Ms. Mercer made her European recital debut in the Concertgebouw Kleine Zaal.  She has performed as a soloist across Canada, in the United States, Europe, the Balkans, South Africa and Israel, including appearances with the Toronto Symphony, National Arts Centre, Durban Symphony and Banff Festival orchestras. Rachel was a member of the Metro String Quartet from 1994 to 2000, and joined the internationally renowned Aviv Quartet in 2002. She received degrees from the University of Toronto where she studied with Shauna Rolston, from the New England Conservatory after studies with Laurence Lesser, and a solo diploma from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam where she was a pupil of Dmitri Ferschtman.
 

She has been supported by the Ontario Arts Council and plays the 1824 "McConnell" Nicolaus Gagliano cello on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts.  

Andras Weber, Co-Principal Cellist

András Weber received his musical training in Budapest, Hungary. His mentor, Janos Starker, has been a major influence in his work. He has been principal cellist with orchestras in Hungary, Mexico City and Canada, and has given concerts in North America, Europe and Korea. He was the winner of DEBUT in Montreal where The Gazette called him a "generously gifted" musician who plays with a "nicely coloured and singing tone."

Mr. Weber has recorded in Hungary and Canada and plans to release three CD's: solo cello pieces, music for cello and organ with his wife Ran Kim and works for harp and cello with the acclaimed Mexican harpist Mercedes Gómez.

Mr. Weber is the founding director of the Toronto series 'Music Alive!' and teaches at the Royal Conservatory of Music. He is the founding member of Toronto Piano Trio and was member of the famed Arthur LeBlanc quartet. He has played concertos with many orchestras around the world.


Jonathan Cegys, Principal Bass

Bassist Jonathan Cegys completed his studies at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Joel Quarrington and Paul Rogers. For the last three summers Mr. Cegys has toured throughout Europe and Japan as a member of Germany's renowned Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra. As a member of this ensemble he has performed under such conductors as Kurt Masur, Christoph Eschenbach and Heinrich Schiff.

In his spare time Mr. Cegys likes to paint and pay all his attention to his beautiful wife, Ni, a violinist who occasionally allows him to play duets with her.



 

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