2026 Guest Artists and Faculty · Page 2
Lori Gemmell
Lori Gemmell started as a street-corner busker in Montreal and wound up playing regularly with the Toronto Symphony, The National Ballet of Canada Orchestra and, until there wasn’t one, anymore, she was Principal Harpist with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. Lori teaches at Wilfred Laurier University and has a passion for new music.
She recently (with violinist Sheila Jaffé) premiered the Partita for Violin and Harp by Caroline Lizotte. The late composer R. Murray Schafer, honoured her with the gift of his Four Songs for Mezzo-Soprano and Harp, which she also premiered. Lori has made four solo recordings as well as recording with songwriters Kevin Fox and Feist.
Melissa Hui
MELISSA HUI was born in Hong Kong and raised in Vancouver, Canada. She received her D.M.A. from Yale University and M.F.A. from the California Institute of the Arts. Her mentors include Jacob Druckman, Earl Kim and Mel Powell. Initially inspired by the haunting music of the African pygmies and Japanese gagaku court orchestra, she strives to create a personal music of ethereal beauty, intimate lyricism, and raucous violence. Her commissions include works for the Oregon Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Kronos Quartet, St. Lawrence String Quartet, New Millennium Ensemble and Essential Music (NYC), Ensemble Antipodes (Switzerland), Dogs of Desire (of Albany Symphony), Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, New Music Concerts (Toronto), the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne and the Société de Musique Contemporaine du Québec (Montréal), Melody of China/Citywinds (San Francisco), Tapestry New Opera Works, and a soundtrack for the Oscar-nominated documentary, Sunrise Over Tiananmen Square. Her works have been performed throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia, including performances by the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, California EAR Unit, Esprit Orchestra (Toronto), Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, and at International Gaudeamus Music Week (Amsterdam), ISCM festivals in Switzerland and Croatia, Théatre de la Ville (Paris), Festival Sons d'Hiver (France), Merkin Hall, Focus Festival, and Music at the Anthology in New York City, Festival Internacional Cervantino (Mexico), Pacific Music Festival (Japan), Spoleto Festival, and L.A. Philharmonic's Green Umbrella series, among others. She is a founding member of the Common Sense Composers Collective. Her compositions have been released on CRI, UMMUS, Santa Fe New Music, Nisapa and Centredisc, including a CD of her solo and chamber works in 2006. Current projects include commissioned works for Ensemble Sospeso (NYC) and an oratorio based on a Cree myth with librettist Tomson Highway for Soundstreams Canada. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship (1997) and a Fromm Foundation commission (2000) as well as numerous grants and awards that include the Grand Prize of both the CBC and du Maurier/WSO Young Composers Competitions in Canada and finalist at the International Gaudeamus competition in Amsterdam. Now living in Montreal, she was a member of the composition faculty at Stanford University from 1994-2004.
Duncan Major
Duncan Major is a St. John's-based graphic designer, animator, artist, and founder of letterpress studio Walpurgis Press. In 2024 he collaborated with Duo Concertante and Alice Ping Yee Ho on Dark Tales, adapted from the book An Old Man's Winter Night. Last year he created projection design for Kittiwake Ballet's Winnie the Pooh and the North Pole Expotition and contributed live improvised visuals for concerts with pianist James Hurley and tenor Dean Power. His animated short Imprint traveled to festivals such as Vienna Shorts and the London International Animation Festival in 2025 and is now streaming on nfb.ca.
Kate Read
St. John's based violist, Kate Read, is violist of the award winning Atlantic String Quartet and Principal Viola in the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra. She is also violist for Dark by Five, resident ensemble at Gros Morne Summer Music, and Principal viola with Opera on the Avalon.
Patrick Cashin
Pianist Patrick Cashin is becoming known as a distinctive presence on the Canadian music scene. He designs unique recitals centred around the best of the piano repertoire and speaks warmly to audiences about what makes the music great. Patrick particularly enjoys playing Mozart piano concertos, in which he improvises and composes cadenzas in the style of Mozart.
Matthew Byrne
Since releasing his debut album Ballads in 2010, Matthew Byrne has established himself as one of Canada’s foremost traditional singers. His rich and powerful vocals, refined guitar style, and compelling interpretations of unique traditional songs have made him a favourite of folk audiences at home in Newfoundland and abroad. After a long hiatus from the studio and the road, Byrne released his 4th studio album, Stealing Time. This project brought Byrne to Yellow Arch Studios in Sheffield, UK, where he teamed up with folk legend Martin Simpson as producer. The album features instrumentation from some of the finest musicians on the English folk scene, including Nancy Kerr, Andy Cutting, and Liz Hanks. Stealing Time won two 2026 Canadian Folk Music Awards - Traditional Album of the Year and Traditional Singer of the Year.
Dave Paddon
Dave Paddon is a retired airline pilot originally from Northwest River, Labrador. He grew up listening to the songs and stories of the trappers and attending many a late night “session” around many a kitchen table. In 1986 he married a Gander girl and subsequently became immersed in Island culture. As a result he accumulated a store of material which suddenly bubbled to the surface when he and Kim returned to Newfoundland and Labrador in 2005 after 20 years upalong. He wrote his first recitation in 2007 and has now written 55. Five of these have been published in handmade chapbooks and his work is available on 2 CDs or through electronic download. His recitations “Ralph:Flying Hound” and “Kimmy and Mike” were released as illustrated children's books and his latest work is "Half the lies you tell are not true", a collection of 13 of his funniest recitations.
Dave lives in St.John's and is a regular at festivals and fundraisers throughout the province.
Duo Perpetuo
Described as “a natural performer who infuses his interpretations with energy, excitement, and a broad expressive range”, Canadian guitarist Ben Diamond is a well rounded musician whose passion knows no limits. He is active as an educator, improviser, performer, and collaborator pursuing a wide variety of projects that contribute to the evolution of the 21st century guitar. A recent graduate from the M. Mus in performance program at Schulich School of Music (McGill University), Ben’s primary focus is the collaboration with composers to create new works for the guitar. It is his success in premiering contemporary music and love for community building that has earned him many accolades such as the “CBC 30 under 30 hot classical musicians” in 2021, the 2021 ArtsNL Emerging Artist of the year award, and a nomination for the 2025 East Coast Music Award for Electronic Release of the Year. Ben has also placed in competitions such as the 2019 FCMF National Music Festival (SK), 2022 Twisted Spruce International Competition (Virtual), 2023 Domaine Forget International Guitar Competition (QC), Festival-concours de musique Sherbrooke (2024), and the Classival - concours de musique classique (QC, 2025).
Bill Brennan
BILL BRENNAN’s expertise as a pianist, percussionist, composer and producer can be heard on some 130 albums to date. His newest album “Kaleidoscope – Music for Mallet Instruments” has received numerous award nominations. Tom Allen of CRC Radio’s “It’s About Time writes “Bill Brennan’s Kaleidoscope is perfectly named - a constantly shifting, twirling, entrancing and enchanting swirl of beauty and fascination.” His newest CD with Andrea Koziol was released in 2019, entitled “I’ll Be Seeing You”. It garnered the MusicNL Jazz and Blues Award. Bill’s album of 2006 “Solo Piano” received nominations for MusicNL and ECMA Instrumental Album of the Year. His album “Solo Piano 2” won the MusicNL Instrumental album of the year in 2008.
Heather Kao
From St. John’s, Heather Kao is the concertmaster of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra and first violinist of the Atlantic String Quartet since 2015. She studied at Memorial University with Dr. Nancy Dahn. She has played in masterclasses for Martin Beaver, Lorand Fenyves, Mark Fewer and Pinchas Zukerman to name a few.