Members

Emily Shaw is a classical guitarist, teacher, and luthier currently living in Ottawa, Ontario. She studied guitar with her father, Mike Shaw, until university, at which point she moved to London, Ontario to study with Wilma van Berkel at the University of Western Ontario. Emily completed a master’s degree (MMus) in guitar performance in 2016 under the tutelage of Patrick Roux at the University of Ottawa. As a full-time musician, Emily now divides her time between performing, recording, teaching and guitar building.

There is something vividly distinct about Mehdizadeh's music. This Canadian composer is revered for his intricate, unpredictable and haunting works. The sound and gesture of his pieces bury themselves deep in complex imagination—participating you in an exploration of uncertain visceral implications. His unique musical language is perceived as complex yet engaging, bringing together a hybrid of musical expression including the Mehdizadeh Modes.

Jack Hui Litster is a graduate student in the Music and Culture program at Carleton University, where he studies composition with Dr. James K. Wright, and is a research assistant to Jesse Stewart. Jack's new baroque/Celtic chamber opera titled 'The Day You Were Born' will be premiered in May 2021 by OperOttawa.

H. P. (Hayden) McGowan is a SSHRC-funded composer and academic from Ottawa. Graduating with High Distinction, he earned his Honours Music degree from Carleton University in 2019 studying under Jesse Stewart, Roddy Ellias, and James K. Wright.

Using atonal language, Sanchez’s music testifies to his cultural roots, without borrowing from folklore, however. One example of this is his work Tatei Ja Urima (goddess of water) for flute, oboe, clarinet, piano, violin and cello. This piece, which subjectively explores the Huichols’ ceremonial rites and their vision of the cosmos, features a personal approach to modern composition techniques. Tlahtolli, for clarinet, percussion and voice (commissioned), is another example.

Mackenzie Carroll is a Canadian contemporary composer and classical/contemporary double bassist currently based in Ottawa. She is presently studying towards a master’s in music composition at the University of Ottawa with John Armstrong.

Matthew-John is a composer and pianist who lives and works in Ottawa, Ontario. He graduated from the University of Ottawa in 2017 with a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance, in which he studied with Andrew Tunis. Multiple injuries pushed Matthew-John to find other avenues of music to explore, and luckily, composition became the perfect fit. He spent a year away from school to re-orient his academic goals and begin building a portfolio by studying with with Dr. Kelly- Marie Murphy. Currently, he is finishing his Master of Music in Composition at the University of Ottawa with Kelly-Marie Murphy. Now he is looking at doctoral studies with the intention of eventually working as a freelance composer and a professor at a Canadian university.

Anita Pari is a composer, pianist, and cellist from Ottawa. Over the past several years, Anita has begun to establish herself as a dedicated and creative Canadian musician, both through her compositional work and through her performances at the piano or cello. Although composing is her focus, Anita is also an accomplished performer who holds ARCT diplomas in both instruments. She has given solo recitals and appeared as soloist with orchestras in Canada and the United States, including l’Orchestre classique de Montréal, the National Academy Orchestra, and the Lancaster Symphony.

Julian Bertino was born in a small town in Ontario, Canada. He has studied guitar with Patrick Roux, Philip Candelaria, Denis Donegani, Dr. Matthew Gould (of Duo46), Louis Trepanier, and composition with Dr. John Gordon Armstrong and Dr. Frederic Lacroix. He has premiered compositions and performed in masterclasses and festivals, including performances for Johannes Möller, Sergio Assad, Marcin Dylla, Bruce Holzman, Adam Holzman, Nicholas Goluses, Lorenzo Micheli and Matteo Mela (SoloDuo), and others.

Joanna Estelle (Storoschuk) is a Canadian composer, lyricist, and arranger whose music has won critical acclaim from Parliament Hill, Ottawa to London (UK), Barcelona (Spain), and elsewhere around the world.

Maria Atallah is a Canadian composer, pianist and teacher from Ottawa. In 2015, she received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Ottawa under the guidance of John Armstrong and Frédéric Lacroix in composition as well as Andrew tunis in piano.

Born in Vancouver, BC, Jason Fung spent his early years in Hong Kong, taking piano lessons from age seven. Upon his subsequent return to Canada, he began formal studies with Dina Namer of Queen’s University, graduating with a Bachelor’s of Music with Distinction in 2016. He is now studying at the University of Ottawa for a Master's in Music under David Jalbert.

Eleanore Altman studied voice with Beverly McGuire and Colette Boky, and composition with Alan Belkin and Lisa Heffter. She studied at the Atelier d’Opéra de l’UQÀM in Montreal, as well as at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Benjamin Sajo is an Ottawa-based composer and educator. His love of comparative mythology, multiculturalism, folklore, social justice, literature and visual art inspires a writing imbued with a post-modern aesthetic: mixing the tools and tricks of the past into decidedly modern, fiery, magic.

Guitarist, composer, performer, improviser — Roddy Ellias draws from so many musical influences his work defies labels. As each piece unfolds it tells its own unique story — eclectic, intense, rhythmic, powerful, and ultimately human.

Colin Frank is a Canadian percussionist, composer, and electronic musician born in Ottawa. Trained orchestrally, but influenced by a variety of genres, Colin specializes in performing and creating contemporary music.

Viktoria Grynenko is a young emerging performer born in Kyiv, Ukraine. She studied at the Kyiv Children's Academy of Arts and later at the Kyiv Glier Music College with well known Leonid Schuhman. Viktoria is a winner of two international competitions of Ignacy Paderewski (3rd prize, 2011) and "The Art of the XXI Century" (3rd prize, 2011).

Derek is a singer, songwriter, and composer based in the Ottawa area. He is primarily a composer, having not studied any instrument at a post-secondary level, but is a capable singer as well as a passable guitarist. His interests involve experimental art music, and his specific influences include a wide range of artists, from the classical modernists of Charles Ives, Claude Debussy, and Igor Stravinsky, to the mid-20th century experimentalists John Cage and Earle Brown, all the way into modern and ongoing artists such as Nirvana, Bright Eyes, and The Tragically Hip.

Daniel Ramjattan started performing on the guitar at ten years old in Stratford, Ontario. Since then, he has become increasingly distinguished in Canada. He received first prize in the Open Level of the Ontario Music Festivals Association Provincial Guitar competition in 2014, and placed third in the National Music Competition in 2014.

Originally from South Africa, Steven Webb (b.1989) is a Toronto based performer,
composer, and audio engineer, currently completing his Masters in Composition at
the University of Toronto under the direction of Dr. Christos Hatzis.

Dr. Maya Badian is acknowledged as the only Canadian composer of Romanian origin to have her life and accomplishments reflected in an international biography book: The Life and The Music of Maya Badian – A Privilege to Soar, Biography by Fred Popovici, published 2010, by Pro ARS Publications, Ottawa, Canada, and launched at the University of Ottawa (2010).

Steven Gellman is a Canadian composer and pianist. He has been commissioned to write works for the Besançon International Music Festival, the CBC Symphony Orchestra, the Hamilton Philharmonic, McGill University, Musica Camerata, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, Opera Lyra, the Pierrot Ensemble, the Stratford Festival, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra among others. Since 1976 he has taught music composition and theory at the University of Ottawa.

James Wright is a professor of music theory and composition at Carleton University in the School for Studies in Art & Culture. Author of two award-winning books on the life and works of Arnold Schoenberg, he is also known as a composer of vocal music whose works have been commissioned, performed and recorded by choirs and soloists throughout North America and Europe.

Greggory Clark is an award-winning trombonist and bassist, writer and producer. His research and thesis re: music education and third-culture kids is mostly informed (or, biased) by his own experiences as a child of Canadian parents, raised in countries and cultures foreign to either.

Evelyn Stroobach is a professional musician and an award winning, published composer with a Master of Music degree from Indiana University. She has won regional, national and international awards for her works. Her compositions have been performed in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia.

Christine Donkin is an award-winning composer whose music appeals to a broad range of listeners and performers. Described by critics as “stunning”, “poignant”, and “astonishingly beautiful”, her work is promoted by several publishers and is performed all over the continent and beyond. 

Born in Canada, Robert Morin began studying music in Edmonton, Alberta at the Alberta College Conservatory of Music. At Alberta College, Morin studied classical and jazz guitar, as well as composition and theory.

Performing on both the viola and the viola d'amore, Jennifer Thiessen cultivates a particular interest in classical and contemporary chamber music, creating new composed and improvised music, and historically inspired performance practice.

Sarah Albu is a dynamic and versatile vocalist specializing in the creation, development and performance of contemporary work at the intersection of music and theatre. Active on the Montreal scene, Sarah is a frequent collaborator with composers, musicians and multidisciplinary artists across genres.

Elaine Keillor, Distinguished Research Professor Emerita, Carleton University, received her Associate (ARCT) in piano performance with all theoretical requirements completed at the age of ten. Previously from the Royal Conservatory of Music she earned four silver medals in piano and violin.