POSTPONED (from the original February 13, 2022 date)
A date in 2023 will be confirmed when possible.
Ensemble Made In Canada won the 2021 JUNO for their Mosaïque project, which the RMC presented in January of 2019. EMIC is rapidly gaining recognition as Canada’s premier piano quartet. The members of the group have been forging outstanding individual careers and bring together a wealth of experience. In June 2020, newest member cellist Trey Lee joined pianist Angela Park, violist Sharon Wei and violinist Elissa Lee to continue building their international career. The quartet is known for its rich, homogeneous sound, and the confidence and conviction of its impressive, elegant interpretations.
Programme
Beethoven | Piano Quartet in E-Flat, Op. 16 |
Stewart Goodyear | Piano Quartet |
– – – | |
Saint-Saens | Piano Quartet |
Ensemble Made In Canada is rapidly gaining recognition as Canada’s premier piano quartet. Awarded the 2006 CBC Galaxie Stars Award from the Banff Centre for the Arts, EMIC was featured in 2008 Chatelaine Magazine’s 80th anniversary issue as “Women to Watch” and an ensemble that is leading the next generation of classical musicians. The members of the group have been forging outstanding individual careers and bring together a wealth of experience having already appeared at prestigious festivals such as Marlboro, Ravinia, Orford, Verbier, Prussia Cove, Pablo Casals and Evian. EMIC has performed for Winnipeg Virtuosi, Montreal Pro Musica, SUNY New Paltz, Stratford Music Festival, Ottawa Chamberfest, Parry Sound Festival of the Sound, Jeffery Chamber Music Series, Lindsay Concert Productions, Almonte in Concert, Women’s Musical Club of Toronto, Kawartha Concerts, including multiple work cycles for the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society. EMIC has provided master classes, chamber music coachings, and lectures at universities across Canada and in the United States and have also participated in outreach programs for public schools in Ontario. The group is grateful for support from FACTOR, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. EMIC has been Ensemble-in-Residence at Western University since 2014.
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 continued success in performances across Canada, as well as in the United States, Europe, Japan and Mexico. Angela has performed for such noted series as Montreal’s Pro Musica, Ottawa Chamberfest, Parry Sound’s Festival of the Sound, Winnipeg Virtuosi, Debut Atlantic and Prairie Debut Tours, CBC Onstage, Orchestra London Canada, Sinfonia Toronto, Stratford Symphony, and the Northern Lights Music Festival in Mexico. Angela has recorded with oboist Linda Strommen, cellist Rachel Mercer, and with Ensemble Made In Canada, in addition to recording various projects for the Enharmonic label in Bloomington, Indiana. Angela has won numerous awards and prizes in major competitions both at home and abroad, including the International Grace Welsh Prize for Piano in Chicago, World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, Canadian National Music Festival, Honens International Piano Competition, and the Maria Canals International Piano Competition in Barcelona. She earned her MMus at the University of Toronto, and her DMA in Piano Performance from the Université de Montréal. From 2011-2014, Angela was Visiting Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano-Woodwinds at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. She has given masterclasses and educational outreach sessions for universities and communities across Canada, as well as at SUNY New Paltz, Stanford, and Indiana University in the United States. Angela currently resides in Toronto, Canada.
Visit Angela Park’s website
ELISSA LEE, violin
Winner of the 23rd Eckhardt-Gramatté Strings Competition, Elissa Lee has appeared as a soloist with top orchestras across Canada. She has held positions as second concertmaster in both the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestraand the WDR Sinfonie Orchester. Now enjoying a busy freelance career, Elissa tours frequently the greatest concerts halls and festivals in Europe. She has performed as Concertmaster with the Rundfunk Orchester München, the Swedish Radio Orchestra, the KlangVerwaltung Orchestra in Munich, and Festival Strings Luzern, and in leading positions with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Luxembourg Philhamonic and the Canadian Opera Company. She has also been a guest of world renowned Chamber of Orchestra of Europe, and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and has worked under the baton of Claudio Abaddo, Simon Rattle, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Bernard Haitink and Daniel Harding. As a chamber musician she has performed with Louie Lortie, Augustin Dumay, Anton Kuerti, Pascal Devoyon, Kevin Fitzgerald, Lawrence Lesser, and Shauna Rolston and has been a frequent participant of Open Chamber Music in Prussia Cove, England. Elissa Lee joined Ensemble Made In Canada in 2010, which performs concerts and tours throughout Canada and the United States.
Visit Elissa Lee’s website
SHARON WEI, viola
Sharon Wei is a dynamic and varied musician, establishing herself as one of the most respected violists on the scene today. She has appeared as soloist, chamber musician, and guest principal violist throughout North America and Europe. She has collaborated with conductors such as James Levine, Kent Nagano, Paavo Järvi, Zubin Mehta, and Yuri Termirkanov; Sharon has also shared the stage with Lynn Harrell, Gary Hoffman, Lawrence Lesser, Peter Frankl, Joseph Silverstein, Jonathan Crow, Mark Fewer, Joel Quarrington, James Campbell, James Sommerville and the St. Lawrence String Quartet. In 2006, Sharon and pianist Angela Park co-founded Ensemble Made in Canada, which includes violinist Elissa Lee and cellist Rachel Mercer. Ensemble Made in Canada performs in various configurations: sonatas, duos, and quartet repertoire. The group has commissioned and premiered works by American composer John B. Hedges and Canadian composers John Burge and Christopher Mayo. Upcoming commissions include works by Canadian composers David Myska and Omar Daniel. EMIC begins as Ensemble-in-Residence at Western University in London, Ontario, starting September 2014. Independently of EMIC, Sharon’s other commissions include a work by American composer Harold Meltzer, who wrote a double concerto for Sharon and violinist Scott St. John. Sharon has given masterclasses throughout China, the US, and Canada. She was on the faculty at Yale University and Stanford University and began her appointment as Assistant Professor of Viola at Western University in 2014. Sharon created a course for performance majors in which students learn important off-stage initiatives such as networking, grant writing, website design, and managing finances. Rare time away from the viola is spent on Bikram yoga (done in 12 cities and counting), hiking, playing Settlers of Catan, and seeking out macaron shops.
Visit Sharon Wei’s website
TREY LEE, cello
Hailed a “Miracle” by Gramophone, Trey Lee enthralls audiences with his virtuosity that combines intellectual sophistication with profound depth of emotions. His concerto debut at Carnegie Hall won him a standing ovation, with The New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini declaring him “the excellent cellist…with enveloping richness and lyrical sensitivity.” The late Lorin Maazel praised him as “a marvelous protagonist…a superb cellist” after conducting Trey as soloist with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London. In his performance with the Netherlands Philharmonic at the Royal Concertgebouw Hall, Trey was acclaimed by the critics as a “Star Musician.”
As a soloist, Trey has also collaborated in the last few seasons with Mikko Franck and the Philharmonic Orchestra Radio France, Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) in their inaugural tour of China, Vladimir Ashkenasy and the Mantova Chamber Orchestra, and Umberto Benedetti Michelangeli at the Teatro del Verme in Milan. Other notable musicians with whom Trey works include: conductors Vassily Sinaisky, Juanjo Mena, Yuri Bashmet, Hannu Lintu, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, and Dima Slobodeniouk; and ensembles Moscow Soloists, BBC Philharmonic, Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, Trondheim Soloists; and chamber orchestras of London UK, Stuttgart, Munich and Romanian Radio.
Trey is often invited as a featured artist at major events around the world, such as the launch of The IMAGINE Project with Yoko Ono, Hugh Jackman and ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child at the UN General Assembly Hall. As artistic director, he has spearheaded several music festivals, including the Musicus Fest, the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival, and, most recently, the Reimagine Music Festival of Malaysia.
He is a regular guest at festivals around the world, including Kuhmo, Banff, Marlboro, Seoul Spring, and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music. On stage, Trey partners with many of today’s most sought-after stars such as Julia Fischer, Vilde Frang, Pekka Kuusisto, Bruno Canino, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Alexander Sitkovetsky and the Borodin Quartet. Trey has also given the world premiere of Bright Sheng’s latest cello concerto dedicated to him, The Blazing Mirage, inspired by UNESCO World Heritage site of Dunhuang.
Trey is a laureate of major international competitions, including First Prize at the International Antonio Janigro Cello Competition, and major prizes at New York’s Naumburg and Helsinki’s Paulo International Competitions. Several albums in collaboration with EMI have been released, and have topped the classical charts. In addition, he can be heard as the featured soloist on the original EMI-released soundtrack recording for the Sundance Festival featured film “The Drummer.” His other albums include Bright Sheng’s The Blazing Mirage under Naxos and The Dream of Red Chamber Suite with the National Chinese Orchestra Taiwan. Trey has been featured by the Financial Times, CNN, China’s CCTV, and Italy’s Il Corriere Della Sera.
Trey attended Juilliard’s Pre-College Division, Harvard University (where he received his Bachelors in Economics), the New England Conservatory, Madrid’s Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia, the Cologne Musikhochschule, and studied with Frans Helmerson, Laurence Lesser, Bernard Greenhouse, and Ardyth Alton.
Trey’s cello is the 1703 “Comte de Gabriac” by Matteo Goffriller previously played by the Canadian cellist Kristine Bogyo, and is currently based in Berlin, Germany.
Visit Trey Lee’s website