Meet Our 2024 Young Artist Composers!
Angela Geleynse
Angela Geleynse is an Ottawa-based composer beginning her independent career after her academic studies at the University of Ottawa, where she received her BMus with Frédéric Lacroix in piano performance and went on to complete her MMus in composition with Robert Rival. She enjoys composing in a style that merges post-tonal aesthetics with simplicity and accessibility for a wide audiences. Her compositional influences, to name just a few, include Ola Gjeilo, Arvo Pärt, Dmitri Shostakovich, Pēteris Vasks, John Williams, Antonín Dvořák, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. When not composing, Angela likes to spend time with her family, playing board games and talking books or movies with a good cup of coffee.
Jessica Ozon
Jessica Ozon is an emerging composer from St. John’s, Newfoundland. She recently completed a Bachelor of Music (Hons) at Memorial University of Newfoundland with a major in composition, studying under Dr. Andrew Staniland and Dr. Clark Ross. Jessica also studies piano with Professor Timothy Steeves of Duo Concertante. Her compositions range from larger orchestral and choral works to contemporary chamber pieces, and she seeks to find intersections between a variety of compositional languages in her work. Some of her musical influences include Olivier Messiaen, Charles Ives, and Kaija Saariaho. Recently, Jessica presented a graduating recital in which six of her original chamber compositions were performed by MUN music students.
Throughout her time at Memorial University, Jessica held a position as an Organ Scholar at the Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Baptist and was a Research Assistant for Memorial’s laptop ensemble Tabula Rasa. Jessica also works as a freelance audio engineer and teaches piano at Intervals Music Studio. She hopes to keep contributing to the music community of her home province in the various positions she holds.
Leo Purich
Leo Purich is a Montreal-based composer and a performer on viola, violin, and piano. His work is driven by curiosity about connections between people, sounds, and ideas, and is informed by his love of various styles of classical, jazz, and folk music.
Highlights of Leo’s recent years include commissions from NYO Canada, Chœur Saint-Laurent, and the West Island Youth Symphony Orchestra. Among the accolades he has received are three Young Composer Awards from the SOCAN Foundation. In 2020, Leo organized a collaborative remote orchestral performance of his work “Destination Domicile” with other members of the NYO online program. As a violist, he also took part in the 2022 NYO Borealis Tour, which included performances of his commissioned work, “Canopies | Canopées.” Other recent projects include a work for baroque violin and electronics, music for a puppet opera, two saxophone quartets, and a piece for the Montreal Suzuki String Orchestra’s 2023 European tour. Leo is currently majoring in both Music Theory and Composition at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music.
Past Alumni
Participants of the Tuckamore Festival’s Young Composers Program have gone on to win national prizes, receive commissions and secure spots in top graduate programs across Canada and the USA! Check out our complete list of alumni and their accomplishments here:
2023
Schubert Hernando, Gustav Knudson, Kelly Yixuan Wang
2022
Chung Ki Peter Min, Zihan Zhao
2021
Kirsten Stewart, Athena Loredo, Hsiu-Ping (Patrick) Wu
2020
Michael Spiroff, Holly Winter, Taylor MacGillivray
2019
Leslie Opatril, Daniel Gardner, Robert Humber
2018
Leslie Opatril, Michael Maevsky and James Lowrie
2017
Stephanie Orlando, André McEvenue and Gavin Fraser
“My experience at Tuckamore was both fun and challenging. It was a very valuable week which pushed me in new directions as a composer.”
— Stephanie Orlando
“The Tuckamore Young Composers Program was exactly the kind of experience that is most useful to an early career composer. The daily masterclasses challenged and engaged me in new ways, and I greatly benefitted from the close rehearsal with the young artists—who produced an excellent recording of my piece. In addition, being able to workshop new material with Duo Concertante was just incredible.”
— Andre McEvenue
2016
Angelese Pepper, Gavin Fraser and Aiden Hartery
“This year’s Young Composers Program at the Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival was invaluable to me as a young composer. As a participant, I had the opportunity to work with the Festival’s very talented Young Artists, bringing my new piece to life while composing another a new work throughout the week.”
— Gavin Fraser
2015
August Murphy-King, Sarah Beth Cormier and Alexander Simon
2014
Jessica Blenis, Andrew Noseworthy and Jacquie Walker
2013
Brad Bonnell and Bekah Simms
2012
Bekah Simms and Colin Taylor
“This one week program has had a significant impact on my writing. I would recommend this program to any young composer interested in writing chamber music: at the end of the week, you will have better chops, better knowledge of string/piano chamber music, and a stellar recording of your piece.”
— Bekah Simms