2023 Guest Artists and Faculty

Pacifica Quartet

With a career spanning nearly three decades, the multiple Grammy Award-winning PACIFICA QUARTET has achieved international recognition as one of the finest chamber ensembles performing today. The Quartet is known for its virtuosity, exuberant performance style, and often-daring repertory choices.

Marc-André Hamelin

“A performer of near-superhuman technical prowess” (The New York Times), pianist Marc-André Hamelin is known worldwide for his unrivaled blend of consummate musicianship and brilliant technique in the great works of the established repertoire, as well as for his intrepid exploration of the rarities of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. He regularly performs around the globe with the leading orchestras and conductors of our time, and gives recitals at major concert venues and festivals worldwide.

Duo Concertante

Duo Concertante (Nancy Dahn, violin and Timothy Steeves, piano) are Canada’s premiere violin and piano ensemble. Known for the passion and brilliance of their performances, their extraordinarily unified voice has become one of the most striking features of their work.

Erika Raum

Known for her "lively temperament, energetic individuality and warm and communicative tone" (Muzsika, Budapest), violinist Erika Raum has a distinct musicality and tone. Playing professionally since the age of twelve, Ms. Raum quickly rose through the ranks by taking first place at the 1992 Joseph Szigeti International Violin Competition in Budapest as well as the award for best interpretation of a Mozart concerto.

Amadi Azikiwe

Amadi Azikiwe, violist, violinist and conductor, has been heard in recital in major cities throughout the United States, such as New York, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Houston, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., including an appearance at the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Azikiwe has also been a guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at the Alice Tully Hall and the Kennedy Center. Abroad, he has performed throughout Israel, Canada, South America, Central America, Nigeria, India, Japan, and Hong Kong.

Overlook Quartet

The “breathtaking,” “paradigm-shifting” (New York Music Daily) string quartet, THE OVERLOOK is a unifying, community-building force, whose dedication to a more representative musical tradition reverberates throughout their industry.

SHHH!! Ensemble

“Truly virtuosic and intense” describes Zac Pulak and Edana Higham’s SHHH!! Ensemble. Exploring sonic worlds through a myriad of percussion instruments and piano, they love to share the wonder of strange and beautiful new sounds.

Bekah Simms

JUNO and Gaudeamus Award-nominated composer Bekah Simms is a St. John's-born, Glasgow-based musician and lecturer whose lauded works revel in musical extremes, described variously as "enthralling and unique... a melange of intricacies, colorful, yet frightening, grotesque, yet intriguing" (A Closer Listen) and "visceral contemporary music that enfolds external inspirations with dazzling rigor and logic" (Bandcamp Daily.)

Randolph Peters

For composer Randolph Peters, music is a passport, a way to explore the world. His work includes commissions from the Canadian Opera Company, and the Winnipeg, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton Symphony Orchestras, Kronos Quartet, Hannaford Street Silver Band, Elmer Iseler Singers, and Orchestre Symphonique du Québec among others. Although he has composed in a number of different genres, Peters especially enjoys telling stories through his work in opera and film music.

Vernon Regehr

Cellist Vernon Regehr is an active recitalist, chamber and orchestral musician, conductor and teacher. He is a member of the Spectrolite and Arkora Ensembles, and currently on faculty at Memorial University’s School of Music.