Marie Bérard, Violin

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.

Ms. Bérard joined the faculty of the Glenn Gould School in the fall of 2000 and plays a 1767 Pietro Landolfi violin. http://marieberard.ca/

Chloé Chabanole, Violin

Chloé Chabanole began playing violin at a young age in her hometown of Regina, Saskatchewan. She is currently based in Montreal, where she serves as concertmaster of the Orchestre de l’Agora under conductor Nicolas Ellis and is a member of chamber music groups collectif9 and Warhol Dervish. She is regularly invited to play with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Métropolitain and I Musici de Montréal, and she has also served as guest concertmaster of the Violons du Roy and Ensemble Caprice. Chloé studied with Johannes Leertouwer at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, Laurence Kayaleh at the University of Montreal, and Marianne Dugal at the Montreal Conservatory of Music. During these formative years, she participated in numerous chamber and orchestral festivals including the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, the St. Lawrence String Quartet Seminar, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Colorado College Summer Music Festival and the Gustav Mahler Academy. Her playing is featured on several Juno-recognized albums and she can often be heard at the Rendez-vous musical de Laterrière, Ottawa Chamberfest, Festival de Lanaudière, POP Montreal and Music at Port Milford.

Dorothy Ro, Violin

Dorothy Ro is a violinist in the Verona Quartet. Acclaimed as an “outstanding ensemble…cohesive yet full of temperament” (The New York Times), the Verona Quartet has firmly established itself amongst the most distinguished ensembles on the chamber music scene today. The group’s singular sense of purpose earned them Chamber Music America’s coveted 2020 Cleveland Quartet Award, and a reputation for its “bold interpretive strength, robust characterization and commanding resonance” (Calgary Herald). The Quartet serves on the faculty of the Oberlin College and Conservatory as the Quartet-in-Residence.

Continuing in the lineage of their esteemed mentors the Cleveland, Juilliard and Pacifica Quartets, the Verona Quartet’s rapid rise to international prominence was fueled by top prize wins at the Wigmore Hall, Melbourne, M-Prize and Osaka International Chamber Music Competitions, as well as the 2015 Concert Artists Guild Competition.

Amanda Goodburn, Violin

South African–born violinist Amanda Goodburn is a founding member of the Tokai String Quartet and a member of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. She has collaborated as a chamber musician with the Art of Time Ensemble, ArrayMusic, and the ARC Ensemble; and has performed at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, Toronto Summer Music Festival, and the Ahuntsic en Fugue and Concerts aux Îles du Bic festivals in Québec. She has also performed as soloist with the Toronto Symphony, Cape Town Philharmonic, and KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic orchestras.

Amanda completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Stellenbosch, and holds a master’s degree from the University of Toronto and diplomas from the Royal Northern College of Music in England, where she was an Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) scholar.

Rohan Gregory, Violin

Rohan Gregory has cultivated a wide-ranging expertise in chamber music, new music, and world music. His travels have taken him to Europe and Brazil with the Klezmatics, to Panama with flamenco guitarist Juanito Pascual, to Thailand with multi-ethnic flute player Abbie Rabinowitz, to India with Natraj, to Russia and the Netherlands with the Arden String Quartet, and across the United States with his Greek folk band Revma. Gregory is a member of the Boston Lyric Opera Company and the Worcester Chamber Music Society. He has performed with Joni Mitchell, Led Zeppelin, Itzhak Perlman, the Boston Pops, the Boston Ballet, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the New England String Ensemble, the Portland Symphony, the Springfield Symphony, and has spent decades playing in in the Arden, QX, and Pedroia String Quartets. Gregory has coached chamber music and taught at the Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts, the College of the Holy Cross, the Putney School, the St. Paul’s School, and for the Neighborhood Strings Program. He has an extensive private studio, and spends his summers coaching at Music at Port Milford in Ontario, Canada, at the WCMS Chamberfest, and at the High School Composer’s Intensive at Boston Conservatory/Berklee.

Csaba Koczó, Violin

Hungarian-born violinist Csaba Koczó enjoys a prolific career as a chamber musician and soloist both in Canada and abroad. He has shared the stage with such illustrious musicians as Mayumi Seiler, Steven Isserlis, Scott St.John, Douglas McNabney, Yehonatan Berick and the St. Lawrence String Quartet. As a founding member of the Banff Competition prizewinning and Dora award nominated Tokai String Quartet, Mr. Koczó has toured across Canada and the US and some of his performances have been broadcast on the CBC and the Hungarian National Radio. He has performed at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, and the Toronto Summer Music Festival where he has worked with Ian Swensen and the Leipzig String Quartet. Mr. Koczó has taught at the Universities of Stanford, Toronto, Kingston, Halifax and Acadia in Wolfville NS, and spends every summer as a faculty member of Music at Port Milford. In addition, Mr. Koczó was one of the founding members of the Via Salzburg Chamber Orchestra, and is currently Assistant Principal Second Violin of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, and holds a position with the Canadian National Ballet Orchestra.

Kelly Parkins-Lindstrom, Violin and Viola

Kelly Parkins-Lindstrom actively pursues her passion for stringed instruments as a teacher and adjudicator exploring the link between pedagogy and performance. Currently at the Oscar Peterson School of Music, she conducts the orchestras, coaches chamber music, group classes and private lessons. Her duties at The Glenn Gould School include coordinating the Junior Strings Program of the Phil and Eli Taylor Academy. Most recently, she compiled the Violin Series, 2021 Edition: a comprehensive collection of nine Repertoire books, two Orchestral Excerpts books, three Technique, Etudes and Musicianship books and corresponding Syllabus.

Ms. Parkins-Lindstrom played an integral role in the creation of a new curriculum for The RCM Associate Diploma (ARCT) in Violin, Pedagogy, which comprises three levels: Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced. Presently she is a subject-matter expert in the new creation of the Royal Conservatory Online Strings Teacher Course.

Ms. Parkins-Lindstrom is a member of the Ontario Suzuki Association, the Suzuki Association of the Americas, the American Federation of Musicians, and American String Teacher’s Association.

Amadi Azikiwe, Viola

Amadi Azikiwe is Music Director of the Harlem Symphony Orchestra, Community Engagement Director of the Harlem Chamber Players, and a member of the Pressenda Chamber Players. He is on faculty at New York University and Mannes School of Music.

As a soloist, Mr. Azikiwe has appeared with the Prince George’s Philharmonic, Delaware Symphony, Virginia Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Fort Collins Symphony, Virginia Beach Symphony, Roanoke Symphony, Winston-Salem Symphony, Western Piedmont Symphony, Salisbury Symphony, the Gateways Music Festival Orchestra, the City Island Baroque Ensemble of New York, the National Symphony of Ecuador, and at the Costa Rica International Music Festival. As an orchestral musician, he has appeared with the New York Philharmonic and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and as guest principal violist of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra.

A native of New York City, Mr. Azikiwe first studied music with his mother, after which he began training at the North Carolina School of the Arts as a student of Sally Peck. His studies continued at the New England Conservatory with Marcus Thompson and at Indiana University as a student of Atar Arad.

Carolyn Blackwell, Viola

Originally from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Carolyn Blackwell has shared the stage with esteemed artists such as  Geoff Nuttall, Daniel Phillips and Mayumi Seiler.  Carolyn is a member of the Canadian Opera Company, the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra and regularly performs with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the National Ballet of Canada.  She has also performed with The English National Opera.  As a busy freelancer in Toronto, she is guest violist with the Artists of The Royal Conservatory and the Art of Time Ensemble. She completed her studies with Steven Dann and Nick Pulos. 

Carolyn is violist of the Tokai String Quartet as well as an avid chamber musician who performs annually at Cervo Chamber Music Festival (Italy), Open Chamber Music at IMS Prussia Cove (UK)  and is a member of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra (Switzerland).  She can be heard on CBC and BBC Radio.

Eric Wong, Viola

Celebrated for a “tone like toasted caramel. Amazing.” (Musical Toronto), is the violist of the Blair String Quartet and assistant professor of viola at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music. He was also a member of the Cavani String Quartet, the JUNO-nominated Afiara Quartet, and the Linden String Quartet, first prize winners of the Fischoff, Coleman, and Concert Artist Guild competitions. In addition to his work as a performer, Mr. Wong is an accomplished educator and has been artist-in-residence at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and Yale University.

Mr. Wong has played in numerous venues around the United States and worldwide including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Taipei’s National Theater, Kings Place in London, Koerner Hall in Toronto, and Montreal’s Place des Arts. He has collaborated and toured with musical greats such as Itzhak Perlman, Kim Kashkashian, Jaime Laredo, Richard Stoltzman, and with Donald Weilerstein, Peter Salaff, James Dunham, and Paul Katz of the Cleveland Quartet.

Thomas Beard, Cello

Proudly hailing from Wingham, Ontario, Thomas Beard is currently based in Montreal, Quebec, where he is principal cellist of l’Orchestre de l’Agora and assistant principal cellist of l’Orchestre symphonique de Sherbrooke. Thomas’ orchestral experience also includes performances with FILMharmonique, L’Orchestre Philharmonique et Choeur des Mélomanes, l’Orchestre du Festival Bach Montréal, l’Orchestre classique de Montréal, and l’Orchestre symphonique du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean.

Thomas is the project manager for Agora’s outreach concerts, partnering with various organizations to bring monthly concerts to retirement homes, a mental health institution, an after-school music program, and a provincial prison. 

Outside the classical realm, Thomas has enjoyed collaborations with Juno-award winners Shari Ulrich and Mike Rud, Canadian rock band BRAIDS, experimental ambient sound artist Tim Hecker, and other celebrated artists.

Emmanuelle Beaulieu Bergeron, Cello

Emmanuelle, the Associate Principal cellist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, enjoys a diverse career as a recitalist, chamber and orchestral musician, and teacher.

An accomplished chamber musician, Emmanuelle is a member of the Tokai String Quartet, and is regularly invited to perform in festivals and series across Canada. She has also performed as guest principal cellist with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and Les Violons du Roy in Quebec City. As a teacher, Emmanuelle has collaborated with students at the Yellow Barn Young Artists Program in Vermont, Music at Port Milford, and at the Toronto Summer Music Festival.

Emmanuelle is a graduate of the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal, the Juilliard School and Rice University. She is a prizewinner of the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, Prix d’Europe Competition, and Radio-Canada’s Young Artist Competition. She is a twice-awarded laureate of the Canada Council Bank of Instruments competition.

Emmanuelle was born in rural Quebec, grew up in Montreal, and currently lives in Toronto, where she listens to French radio every day often while eating cheese and baguette.

Susan Gagnon, Cello

Susan Gagnon is a registered teacher trainer with the Suzuki Association of the Americas, giving courses in Canada and the USA. She is on faculty of The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists at The Royal Conservatory, teaching cellists and coaching chamber music. Several of the quartets that Susan has coached have won Provincial Finals, CMC finals and been awarded the SOCMI scholarship to participate in events at the Banff International String Quartet Competition. Susan has been a regular faculty member at Music at Port Milford since 1995.

Susan is a member of the Canadian Music Festival Adjudicators' Association and has adjudicated festivals across Canada. She has been an examiner for the RCM since 1995, compiled the 1995, 2007 and 2013 Cello Syllabi as well as the 2013 repertoire books for the Royal Conservatory Music Development Program. Ms. Gagnon is also a Certified Teacher with the RCM Teacher Certification program. She has been on the faculty at Suzuki Institutes across Canada and throughout the US, teaching both teachers and students. She was formerly the Chair of the Suzuki Association of Ontario. Susan is also one of the coordinators of the RCM Suzuki program.

Paul Widner, Cello

An active cellist in Toronto, Paul Widner is resident cellist of several contemporary music ensembles, including Continuum Contemporary Music and Arraymusic. He is also principal cellist of the Esprit Orchestra and performs regularly with New Music Concerts. He has toured throughout Canada and Europe with these groups and appears on several recordings of contemporary Canadian music.

Paul is also the assistant principal cellist of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra and performs with the Amadeus Ensemble and the National Ballet Orchestra.

A celebrated teacher, Paul is on faculty at The Glenn Gould School and The Phil and Eli Taylor Academy.

Charlotte Hill, Piano

Charlotte Hill, Assistant Director of MPM, is a chamber musician, songwriter, and educator. Holding degrees in Piano Performance, Politics, and Environmental Studies from Oberlin College & Conservatory, Charlotte completed her Masters in Piano Performance at Stony Brook University. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Musical Arts with pianist Gilbert Kalish. Her other major mentors include Haewon Song, Angela Park, Rie Matsumoto, David Oei, and James Howsmon.

Charlotte is the Head Piano Teaching Assistant at Stony Brook, where she teaches undergraduate piano and chamber music. She enjoys working with students of all ages and passing along her love of musical collaboration.

Charlotte is a proud alumna of Music at Port Milford.

Angela Park, Piano

Pianist Angela Park has established herself as one of Canada’s most sought-after pianists. Praised for her “stunningly beautiful pianism” (Grace Welsh Prize, Chicago), “beautiful tone and sensitivity” (American Record Guide), and for performing “with such brilliant clarity it took your breath away” (Chapala, Mexico), Angela’s versatility as both soloist and chamber musician has led to performances across Canada, as well as in the United States, Europe, Korea, Japan, and Mexico. Angela is a founding member of the JUNO award-winning Ensemble Made In Canada, the Mercer-Park Duo with cellist Rachel Mercer, and the Seiler Trio with violinist Mayumi Seiler and cellist Rachel Mercer. Angela also collaborates frequently with such artists as clarinetist James Campbell, soprano Leslie Fagan, violist Rivka Golani, violinist Bénédicte Lauzière, pianist Stéphan Sylvestre, and violist Sharon Wei. From 2011-2014, Angela was Visiting Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano-Woodwinds at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. Angela is currently Assistant Professor of Piano and Collaborative Piano at Western University.

Mikael Darmanie, Piano & Orchestra Director

Mikael Darmanie has performed throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, Russia, and the Caribbean in appearances at The Weill Institute at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Rachmaninov Hall at The Moscow Conservatory, The Bang on a Can Marathon, Close Encounters With Music in the Berkshires, The Cape Cod Symphony, Portland Bach Virtuosi, Mainly Mozart Festival, The Rising Star Piano Series in Southampton, Royal Northern College of Music, and The Emerald City Music Festival. Mikael is the keyboardist and DJ for the band Warp Trio as, described as “A talented group that exemplifies the genre-obliterating direction of contemporary classical music” (Columbia Free Times). The Trio has performed throughout the world in genres ranging from jazz to hip-hop, rock, contemporary classical, bluegrass, fusion, and electronic dance music, most recently in Spain at the International Experimental Music Meeting, and at the Marché des Arts du Spectacle d'Abidjan in the Ivory Coast.

Mikael is a strong advocate for the music being created today and is a frequent performer in New York City's new music scene in places such as Times Square, National Sawdust, Roulette, Le Poisson Rouge, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Natural History Museum, Trinity Wall Street, Joe's Pub, and The Cell Theatre. Mikael also has recently conducted new music groups such as Contemporaneous and Stony Brook University's Contemporary Chamber Players.

Michael Newnham, Orchestra Director

Michael Newnham is best known for his intense and inspiring conducting style, based on a deep knowledge of the score and informed by a strong interest in languages, cultures and history. A born communicator, his open and direct contact with musicians and audiences creates performances full of expression and energy.

Currently he is Music Director of Orchestra Toronto and the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra. During his tenure as Music Director of Symphony New Brunswick (2009-2018), Newnham brought that orchestra to new artistic heights, raising its profile on the national level.

In addition to his performances in Canada, Newnham has also appeared at the helm of many orchestras and opera companies throughout Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, Italy and South Korea.

Endowed with a special passion and gift for working with young musicians, Michael was the founding conductor of the Kawartha Youth Orchestra, and has been a faculty member at Music at Port Milford for several years. He also spent two years as a guest professor and orchestra conductor at Taegu-Hyosung University in South Korea.

Trevor Wilson, Orchestra Director

Trevor Wilson, an alumnus of Music at Port Milford, is a conductor and composer who since 2022 has held the position of RBC Resident Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He was recently named Music Director of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra. Trevor has also appeared as a guest conductor with orchestras across Canada, including the NAC Orchestra and Symphony Nova Scotia in spring 2024.

Under the mentorship of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Trevor was among the inaugural cohort of the Orchestre Métropolitain’s Orchestral Conducting Academy, a program in which he covered rehearsals, participated masterclasses and community outreach programs, and assisted in concerts during the 2021–2023 seasons. Also active in the musical community of his native Ottawa, Trevor has conducted performances with the University of Ottawa Orchestra and in 2017 co-founded the Ottawa Pops Orchestra, serving as its Music Director until 2019. Trevor has had the opportunity to study under internationally renowned conductors and pedagogues such as Alexander Shelley, David Zinman, Gerard Schwarz, Neil Varon, and also served as assistant conductor of the National Academy Orchestra of Canada under the late Boris Brott in summer 2019. Trevor completed his graduate studies in orchestral conducting under Marin Alsop at the Peabody Conservatory.

Oliver Hill, Choir Director and Arranger

Oliver Hill is a songwriter, producer, string arranger, multi-instrumentalist, and film composer based in Los Angeles. He has written string arrangements for artists such as Dirty Projectors, Helado Negro, Kevin Morby, Wet, Broken Bells, Cassandra Jenkins, Benjamin Booker, Sam Evian, and Vagabon, along with touring regularly as a violist, pianist, and guitarist.

His former band Pavo Pavo released two records to critical acclaim: 2016's Young Narrator in the Breakers ("a real gem ... undoubtedly hip yet simultaneously geeky," AllMusic) and 2019's Mystery Hour (“a quietly poetic record that explores the stuff of life, love, and loss with a clear head,” Pitchfork).

Oliver is currently one-third of the songwriting collective Coco, whose 2021 debut amassed millions of Spotify streams and was described as "bold, striking pop that seems to be filtered in from another dimension" (CLASH). He also releases songs and instrumental music under the name Dustrider.

Oliver studied music at Yale University and is a proud alumnus of Music at Port Milford.

Rebecca Kenneally, Choir Director

Rebecca Kenneally has been building choirs and directing theater for over 20 years in the Boston area, and internationally in Canada and Sweden. As the Chair of the Performing Arts Department and Choral/Musical Theater Director at Endicott College in Beverly, MA, she led the chorus to victory in the television contest Sing That Thing! in 2017. In 2024 Kenneally was selected to conduct the Massachusetts Treble All State Choir. In 2019 and 2021 she was a finalist for the American Prize in Musical Theater Conducting, and for Musical Theater composition. Kenneally was a chosen International Conducting Fellow to Sweden for the American Choral Directors, an honor which launched years of exchanges with students and conductors in Stockholm in theater and choral music. She is a frequent soloist, clinician, guest conductor, adjudicator, and coach in the US and Canada. Theater directing credits include shows and scenes at Boston Lyric Opera, New England Conservatory of Music, Endicott College, Boston University, and the Boston Early Music Festival. Kenneally holds degrees in voice and conducting from Northwestern University and The New England Conservatory of Music.