Catarina Teican, piano

Élise Desjardins, piano

 

Elise Desjardins started her training at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montreal where she received the highest distinction of « Premier Prix
» for piano and for chamber music. Shortly thereafter, she became the recipient of many grants to help pursue graduate studies at the Indiana
School of Music.
At the Conservatoire, Ms Desjardins developed a passion for chamber music while studying with Yuly Turowsky( member of the Borodine Trio)
and at indiana with Rotislav Dubinsky( member of the Borodine Trio) Upon returning from her studies, she joined other musicians involved in
the Montreal chamber music scene such as Jutta Puchhammer, Richard Roberts, Lise Beauchamp, Michel Bettez, Ali Yazdanfar.Ms
Desjardins is frequently sought after as an accompanist for her unique playing abilities, demonstrating great intensity and warm sensibility.
She currently holds a teaching-coach position at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montreal. Every summer since 1998 she is part of the
faculty of International Domaine Forget Academy and Summer institute in Galway Ireland where she shared the stage with great musicians
such as Roberto Diaz, Bruno Giurana, Steeve Dann, David Stewart, Thomas Wiebe, Hansjorg Shellenberger.
Her association with Jutta Puchhammer brought her since twenty years over Europe, Canada and the united States. She recorded also two
programs on CD « Phantasiestuke » and « German romantic works » that were well received by critics from Fanfares, Strad and Scena
Musicale magazines.

Russell Braun, baritone

 

Renowned for his exquisite and precise tone, and the expressiveness of his characterisations, baritone Russell Braun rightfully claims his place on the leading concert, opera and recital stages around the world. His intelligent and thoughtful portrayals of Chou En-lai, Billy Budd, Prince Andrei, Figaro, Papageno, Count Almaviva, Don Giovanni, Pelléas, Eugene Onegin, and The Traveller have captivated audiences and critics alike. Highlights of the 2023/24 season include GuglielmoCosì fan tutte for Théâtre du Châtelet and a return to Festival d'Aix-en-Provence to sing the role of Agamemnon Iphigénie en Aulide.

Recent highlights include making his role debut as Mandryka in a new production of Arabella for Deutsche Oper Berlin, directed by Tobias Kratzer, and Guglielmo Così fan tutte in a new production for Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov, Mendelssohn Elijah with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, and Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.


Further operatic highlights include  Sam A Quiet Place for Opéra national de Paris, Speaker Die Zauberflöte, Peter Hänsel und Gretel and Don Alfonso Così fan tutte at the Canadian Opera Company, Peter Hänsel und Gretel with Michigan Opera Theatre, a new collaboration with director Tim Albery on Hanns Eisler Hell’s Fury, The HollywoodSongbook,  Luminato Festival, Pentheus The Bassarids, Salzburg Festival, Alfred Ill Der Besuch der alten Dame at Theater an der Wien, Figaro Il barbiere di Siviglia at Calgary Opera and the title role of the Canadian Opera Company’s new production of Louis Riel in Toronto at the Four Seasons Centre and in Ottawa with the National Arts Centre Orchestra presented as part of the celebrations surrounding Canada’s 150th Anniversary. Previous seasons have included Count Almaviva Le nozze di Figaro, Ford Falstaff, Duke of Nottingham Roberto Devereux and Conte di Luna Il trovatore, all with the Canadian Opera Company, Chou En-lai Nixon in China, Lescaut Manon Lescaut and as Olivier alongside Renée Fleming in Capriccio, all at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.


On the concert platform, Braun sings regularly with the world’s major conductors and orchestras, including the Atlanta Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Danish National Symphony, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and Houston Symphony. With a great affinity for contemporary repertoire, he has performed Peter Eötvös Senza Sangue in Rome, London, Norway and Sweden, Brett Dean Knocking at the Hell Gate with the BBC Symphony in London, and Saariaho Cinque reflets de l’amour de loin with the Radio-Sinfonieorchester in both Stuttgart and Freiburg. Recent highlights include Brahms Vier ernste Gesänge arranged by Detlev Glanert and Fauré Requiem with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Vaughan Williams A Sea Symphony with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.


His discography features the GRAMMY-nominated Das Lied von der Erde (Dorian), JUNO winners Mozart Arie e duetti (CBC) and Apollo e Daphne, and JUNO nominee Winterreise (CBC). His most recent release is Dietch Le vaisseau fantôme with Les Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble on the Naïve label. DVDs include the Salzburg Festival’s Roméo et Juliette and the Mark Morris dance adaptation of Dido and Aeneas, his much-lauded portrayal of Chou En-lai in Adams Nixon in China (Nonesuch) and Capriccio(Decca) at the Metropolitan Opera (released on DVD as part of the company’s Live-in-HD series) and Alexina Louie’s comic opera Burnt Toast.

Martin Karlíček, piano 

 

Mr. Karlíček’s piano playing has been described as “inspiring, rich, sensitive, stylistically taut and arresting, precise, crisp, brilliantly controlled, wonderfully colorful and always imaginative.” He performs and lectures regularly in the Czech Republic, Germany, Canada, U.S.A. and Japan. Recent United States tour consisted of fifteen concerts in fourteen days and included performances in Stanford University, New York University and Carnegie Hall. Antonín Dvořák’s piano concerto Op. 33 is scheduled for a tour in the Czech Republic in 2013.
Aside from establishing his reputation as a dynamic promoter of Czech music, Mr. Karlíček’s large solo and chamber music repertoire includes standard and contemporary works: one of his last projects was a CD of complete piano & cello and piano works by a young Canadian composer Andrew Yin Svoboda (1977-2004). Mr. Karlíček introduced world premiere of Félix Frédéric Baril’s piano concerto Déviations, Martin Matalon’s Las siete Vidas de un Gato as a North-American premiere and a world premiere of Tekeni-Ahsen by Denys Bouliane. In 2008 he and a Japanese violinist Mana Shiraishi established Duo Ventapane that instantly embarked on tours of Europe and Japan receiving praise and admiration: “Duo Ventapane is an event to experience…”Mr. Karlíček is also a founder of Creo Trio that enjoys and promotes repertoire written for flute, violin and piano.
Mr. Karlíček gathered awards and prizes from several competitions such as The Best Interpretation of the Czech Contemporary Music Piece Prize from the International Piano Competition in Karlovy Vary, 2nd Prize and Bedřich Smetana Prize from theBedřich Smetana International Piano Competition, 1st Prize, the title of an Absolute Winner and Ferenc Liszt Prize from the South Bohemian International Piano Competition, 1st Prize, Leoš Janáček Prize, Béla Bartók Prize and Bohuslav Martinů Prize from the Prague-Vienna-Budapest International Summer Academy Competition and Bedřich Smetana Award and Béla Bartók Award from the IBLA Grand Prize International Music Competition.
Martin Karlíček studied at the Academy of Music in Prague (B.Mus, M.Mus), Utrecht Academy of the Arts in Holland and at McGill University in Montreal in Canada (M.Mus, D.Mus). Among his teachers were K. Hashimoto, A. Kuerti, K. Bilinská, M. Langer and I. Moravec. Presently, he teaches piano at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University.