2011-2012 NBYO Faculty Biographies
Biography—David Adams (Violin)
David Adams, a native of Winnipeg Manitoba, completed his Bachelor of Music in Performance at the University of Toronto and went on to pursue his career as a professional violinist. With many scholarships and first prizes to his credit, Adams has gained critical acclaim as a soloist, conductor, chamber and orchestral musician. His current activities include artist in residence at the University of New Brunswick Saint John, playing principal violin with the Saint John String Quartet and concertmaster for Symphony New Brunswick and Atlantic Sinfonia. Mr. Adams is also music director for the Fredericton Chamber Orchestra. Adams is often heard on regional and national CBC radio programs as a chamber musician and has released three compact discs with the Saint John String Quartet the second of which won “Best Classical Album of the Year” at the 1996 East Coast Music Awards. The Saint John String Quartet has toured Canada, the United States, Japan, Hong Kong and China. Along with his active performing schedule Adams teaches privately, performs in school concerts, and coaches youth orchestras. David has received the New Brunswick Merit Award and in 2003 he received the Golden Jubilee Medal for his contribution to Music in New Brunswick.
Biography—Sonja Adams (Cello)
After earning a performance degree from University of Toronto, cellist Sonja Adams established herself in Saint John where she has become an active member of the New Brunswick cultural community. Sonja performs with the awarding winning Saint John String Quartet, Symphony New Brunswick, and Atlantic Sinfonia and is artist in residence at the University of New Brunswick Saint John. She is often heard on regional and national CBC radio programs as a chamber musician and has released three compact discs with the Saint John String Quartet. As a member of the Saint John String Quartet she has toured Canada, the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, China and Belgium. Sonja is a passionate educator, coaching and teaching young people throughout the province.
Biography—Karin Aurell (Flute)
KARIN AURELL studied flute with among others Robert Aitken and William Bennett. After finishing her M.Mus. In music performance at the University of Goteborg, she spent many years playing principal flute in the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra on Sweden's Baltic coast before relocating to Canada in 2001. Since then she has become one of Eastern Canada’s most heard flutists. She performs regularly with all the orchestras in the Maritime Provinces, as well as performing in solo and chamber recitals across the region.
Karin played in the Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra (SON), in Southern Sweden, from 1988 until she moved to Canada. With this orchestra, she performed all across Europe, and recorded extensively on the BIS and CPO labels. She has worked with such distinguished conductors as Franz Welser-Most, Daniel Harding, Leif Segerstam, Okko Kamu and Herbert Blomstedt.
Karin’s first solo recording, Nightingales for Katy, was released in 2005. Her second CD, with Trio Arkaede (with Isabelle Fournier, violin and Julien LeBlanc, piano) was released to critical acclaim in summer 2008. She is at this moment working on a new recording project together with composer Martin Kutnowski.
Karin is a founding member of Trio Arkaede, and performs with New Brunswick-based new music group Motion Ensemble, as well as participating in various other chamber and solo projects in the region. She is an advocate for new Canadian music and especially for music written by composers in the Atlantic Provinces. In November 2009, she was chosen by the Canadian Music Centre as one of 50 ambassadors to Canadian music.
Karin coaches the flute section of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra and she teaches flute at the music department of Université de Moncton.
She spends her summers in PEI, where she performs with the Charlottetown Festival Orchestra.
Biography—Jean-Guy Boisvert (Clarinet)
Particularly interested by the music of his contemporaries, Jean-Guy Boisvert has often premiered Canadian works. His enthusiastic approach to new music had led to numerous commissions to famed Canadian composers. Among those, the concerto 2000 et des poussières by Alain Perron; quintets by Tim Brady, Richard Gibson, Bengt Hambraeus, Bruce Mather and Piotr Grella Mozejko; solo works with electronics by Alexandre Burton, David Eagle, Sean Ferguson, Keith Hamel, Christos Hatzis, Alcides Lanza, Jean Piché, Bruce Pennycook, Laurie Radford, D. Andrew Stewart and Scott Wilson. He has also premiered or recorded numerous solo and chamber music works. Whenever he can, he enjoys working on new music with the composers themselves or their preferred interpreters.
In 1993, he recorded a first CD Zodiac (works by Stockhausen, Boucourechliev, Donald Steven and Bruce Pennycook). With support from Canada Council he made a second solo CD in 2004, Amours, (premiere recordings of Canadian works by Denis Gougeon, Christos Hatzis, Jacques Hétu, Alcides Lanza, and the 1970’s eponyme work by Stockhausen), and in 2008 Le livre des mélancolies (premiere recordings of Canadian works by Tim Brady, Piotr Grella-Mozejko and Jean Lesage with the Bozzini Quartet). This last recording, which was received with great critical acclaim, was nominated at the Gala Opus in Montreal in 2009 in the category of Best recording of Twentieth Century music.
Jean-Guy Boisvert has performed with Alcan, Bozzini, Colorado, Laval, Arthur Leblanc, Penderecki and St-John string quartets; pianists Valentin Bogolubov, David Despringres, Marc Durand, Suzanne Goyette, Jean Marchand, John Newmark and Lorraine Prieur among others. More recently, he has developed a serious interest in performance on period instruments.
A graduate of the Conservatoire de musique de Trois-Rivières and London's Guildhall School of Music, Jean-Guy Boisvert holds a Doctorate in contemporary music performance from the Université de Montréal. He has studied with Robert Crowley, Rafaël Masella, Yona Ettlinger, Robert Marcellus and Suzan Stephens with whom he especially worked on the choreographic works of Stockhausen, including Harlekin.
Biography—Christopher Buckley (Viola)
Christopher Buckley grew up in Quispamsis and has been a member of Saint John String Quartet (SJSQ), Symphony New Brunswick and a Musician-in-Residence UNB Saint John for over twenty years.
Chris is also a member of Atlantic Sinfonia and a coach with New Brunswick Youth Orchestra. SJSQ has recorded three CD’s, with two nominations and one East Coast Music Association Award win.
SJSQ has toured in Japan and China.
Chris lives in Saint John with Elizabeth and their son, Seth.
Biography—Michel Deschênes (Percussion)
MICHEL DESCHÊNES Percussionist M. Ed., B. Mus. in Performance. Teacher at Université de Moncton and at Mount Allison University He is the founding member of the percussion quartet Amerythme formed in 1989. Born in Caraquet New Brunswick, has done numerous recordings and tours across Canada, France, Belgium and Morocco. He has been heard and seen frequently on television for CBC (East Coast Music Awards television show), Radio-Canada and TV5. He has played on all the major scenes across the country like the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, the Canada Day in Ottawa and the Festival d’Été de Québec just to name a few. Michel is the leader of “ The Escola de Samba Acadia ” A group of percussionnists who plays Brasilian style Street Samba available for parades, demonstration or special events. One of Michel’s latest projects is a quartet called Avahang with master Iranian percussionist Dariush Zarbafian and 4th year performance students Joey Roy and Kevin Johnson. Michel is available for studio work and composes music for film, documentary and special events.
Biography—Yvonne Kershaw (Bassoon)
Yvonne Kershaw, bassoonist, was raised in rural Indiana. She was fortunate to have a very good music program in her school district and started playing the flute in grade 5 at school. She began playing the bassoon in high school. Throughout school she participated in band, orchestra and marching band. She was a member of the Indiana All-State Orchestra and Band. She also played in the Indianapolis Youth Symphony, Butler University Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band and Symphony Orchestra as a high school student. She has a Bachelor Degree from Butler University and a M.M. in Bassoon Performance from Indiana University School of Music.
Yvonne freelanced and taught in Seattle, Washington before moving to Fredericton. Yvonne performs with Symphony New Brunswick, the New Brunswick Chamber Music Festival, Atlantic Sinfonia and other groups. She teaches course at UNB. She teaches flute, oboe and bassoon at the UNB Conservatory. She enjoys coaching chamber music with her students. She also enjoys listening to vocal music. Yvonne enthusiastically attends the Glickman-Popkin Bassoon Camp in North Carolina every May. She lives in Fredericton with her husband John, daughter Hannah, son Jacob and two Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers Misty and Maggie.
Biography—Richard Kidd (Trombone & Tuba)
Richard Kidd was born in 1954, in Stockport, England. He emigrated to Canada as in 1967, and grew up in Montreal. At McGill University, where he studied composition with Alcides lanza and Brian Cherney, trombone with Richard Lawton, and counterpoint with Kelsey Jones. He also studied organ with Gerald Wheeler in Montreal, Gerald Bales in Ottawa and Frederick Carter in Vancouver, and later pursued further composition studies with British composer, Alan Ridout.
He has composed extensively for choir, voice, chamber groups and orchestra. His choral piece, “Windsong,” published by Boosey & Hawkes, has received international recognition, and was selected in Japan in 2000 as one of the greatest 100 choral works of the Millennium. He started writing choral music in Vancouver, where he sang under the direction of Canadian choral directors Patrick Wedd, Jon Washburn, James Fankhauser and Corland Hultberg. The award winning Phoenix Chamber Choir, under the direction of Hultberg, premiered many of his early choral works.
Many of his works have been composed for local groups in New Brunswick, including Symphony New Brunswick, Brunswick Brass, the Saint John String Quartet, the Saint John Rotary Boys Choir, Motion Ensemble, Symphonia Atlantica, le Chorale de l’Université de Moncton, and for musicians at the University of New Brunswick Performing Arts Centre, as well as for individual local musicians and ensembles. He has also written for jazz band and musical theatre. A Compact Disk of his vocal and chamber music, “Changing Illusions” was produced in the 1990’s.
Recently, his orchestral work “Fundy Tides,” a 25 minute tone poem was premiered by Symphony New Brunswick in May 2010, and his musical “Marco Polo,” written in collaboration with playwright Mark Blagrave, was presented by the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra and the Saint John Theatre Company at Harbour Station in Saint John in October 2010. Two new choral works were also published in 2010 published by Boosey & Hawkes in New York, “Ubi Caritas” and “After the Sleet Storm.” In 2010 Richard Kidd was the inaugural winner for classical music in the “Originals” awards, which celebrate the arts in Saint John.
Biography--Aaron McFarlane (2nd Violin)
AARON MCFARLANE, violin, blends performance, education, and outreach to share his passion for music with a children and adults alike. He is currently the Director of Sistema New Brunswick's Saint John Centre.
Aaron is an experienced teacher, having taught students ages 3 to adult. Most recently he was the director of the strings department at Mount Kenya Academy in the Central Highlands of Kenya - the largest program of its type in East Africa.
An active orchestral musician, Aaron has performed as part of numerous orchestras including the Montréal Symphony Orchestra, Nairobi Orchestra, New World Symphony, and Symphony New Brunswick. In 2002, Aaron acted as Concertmaster for the National Youth Orchestra of Canada's highly acclaimed tour of Canada, Japan, and Hong Kong.
Second Violin and founding member of the Ethnos String Quartet, Aaron has worked closely with coaches James Dunham and Norman Fischer. Aaron is also a founding member of the Red River String Quartet, the 2010 string quartet in residence for the Grand Teton National Park. His previous chamber coaches have included Eugene Becker, Marcel-Saint- Cyr, Steven Rochen, Bruce Uchimura, and members of the Miami and Prazak String Quartet.
Aaron received his Bachelor of Music from McGill University and completed his Master of Music degree at Rice University where he studied with Kathleen Winkler. He has spent his summers both in Canada and abroad, performing with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra USA, National Academy Orchestra of Canada, and the Meadowmount School of Music. He has studied with numerous teachers including Richard Roberts, William Preucil, Victor Danchenko, Régis Pasquier, Roland and Altima Vamos, and Oleh Krysa.
Biography—Andrew Miller (Bass)
Andrew R. Miller is a bass player and composer from Fredericton NB who studied at University of Ottawa, the Royal Conservatory (Toronto) and continues his education at Harvestworks in New York.
Andrew is founder and curator of Motion Ensemble, a post-classical group that presents concerts in NB, has toured much of Canada and has recorded on New York label Mode Records.
Mr. Miller is principal bass of Symphony NB, Opera NB, and Atlantic Sinfonia and in years past he has played with The Canadian Opera Company, the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.
He has taught at Université de Moncton, U.P.E.I and currently teaches audio courses at the Centre for Arts and Technology in Fredericton.
Andrew has been heard on numerous CBC broadcasts and has been invited as guest artist by the NB Summer Music Festival, the Scotia Festival of Music, Ensemble Kore (Montreal) and Earshot concerts (Toronto).
Miller has written music for orchestra, dance, chamber music, film, television, theatre and makes sound and installation art.
Biography—David Parker (Horn)
Symphony Nova Scotia Principal Hornist David Parker has been a member of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, L’Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec, the Israel Sinfonietta, and the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the Boston Lyric Opera, the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Mexico City Philharmonic, the Charlottetown Festival Orchestra, the Stratford Festival Orchestra, and musical theatre productions in Toronto.
Mr. Parker received a Master of Music degree in Brass Performance from Boston University, an Artist Diploma in Performance from the University of Toronto, and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Acadia University. Further studies have included residencies at the Royal Conservatory, Tanglewood, the National Repertory Orchestra (USA), the Pacific Music Festival (Japan), the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute, the Music Festival of Florida, and Orford. His influential teachers have included Daniel Katzen, Hermann Baumann and Eugene Rittich.
He was a finalist at the American International Solo Horn Competition, and silver medallist at the CIBC National Music Competition. He is a regularly featured soloist with Symphony Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra. He appears regularly as a featured soloist and chamber musician throughout the Maritimes in festivals and concert series including Scotia Festival of Music, the New Brunswick Summer Music Festival, the Acadia University Garden Room series, the Music Room Chamber Music Society, the St. Cecelia Society, and the Mahone Bay "Music at the Three Churches" Summer Series. He has been a member of the Essex Winds woodwind quintet, the Super Nova Brass Quintet, and the Barcelona Brass Quintet.
Mr. Parker has been Principal Hornist of Symphony Nova Scotia since 2000. He currently teaches horn at Dalhousie University and L’Université de Moncton.