Learn more about this season’s artists:
Elizabeth Ganiatsos
Harpsichord
Harpsichordist Elizabeth Ganiatsos, Consortium‟s Artistic Director since its founding in 1979, is a native of Toronto, holds an Honour B.A. in Music History from U of Toronto, and an A.M. from Harvard, where she also completed Ph.D. coursework in Musicology. She received numerous awards and cholarships throughout her academic career, and was named a Woodrow Wilson Fellow in 1970. She has performed in early music groups, chamber ensembles, and orchestras in Toronto, Boston, Thunder Bay, and Waterloo (24 years as violist in the TBSO), concentrating on harpsichord, as well as performing on organ, viola, and various mediaeval and Renaissance instruments. For 22 years she taught strings for the Thunder Bay Catholic School Board. Elizabeth lectured on Mediaeval, Renaissance and Baroque music history at Lakehead University for many years (1976-1988). She studied viola with Eugene Hudson, John Moskalyk, and David Mankowitz, and later studied harpsichord with Eric Lussier, who was her great inspiration in the area of the French keyboard repertoire by Couperin, Forqueray and others. A highlight was giving several duo performances with Lussier, including of Bach double harpsichord concertos.
Elizabeth delights in researching and assembling historically-themed concert programmes, often delving into lesser-known repertoire, is interested in interdisciplinary connections between the arts, and is passionate about chamber music as well as early music. She frequently collaborates in concert with virtuoso violinist Jeremy Bell. Her passion is exploring the history, art, architecture, organs, and music of Venice, Italy, the city of her dreams, where she has performed early Venetian music on several historic 18th-century organs. She has worked under the guidance of the organist of the Basilica of San Marco, Roberto Micconi, whose 2003 month-long Canadian concert tour she organized. More recently, she has developed a keen interest in encountering and trying out British cathedral organs.
Elizabeth was the recipient of a City of Thunder Bay Cultural Achievement Award. In 2012 she was elected to receive the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in her home riding in Toronto, in recognition of her contribution to the cultural life of Thunder Bay. Although she owns a superb French two-manual harpsichord built by David Jensen, as well as a small Herman Dost pipe organ in her Toronto guest room, she is thrilled to be performing in concert on Consortium’s own magnificent French double harpsichord!
Krista Hansen
Soprano
Born and raised in Thunder Bay, Krista Hansen is a soprano with a life-long love of singing. Krista studied voice with her grandmother, Eva Walter, and grew up singing in family concerts and competing in many Lakehead Music Festivals. She also studied piano for a time, ultimately spending a year under Heather Morrison in the Lakehead University Music Department before shifting her focus to graphic design. Krista has cultivated a fulfilling career as a graphic designer with nearly 30 years in the industry. For the past 15 years, she and her husband, Daniel, have co-owned the studio 11-17, collaborating with many of Thunder Bay’s community-minded businesses and organizations, as well as clients across Canada.
Alongside her design work, she has kept music at the heart of her life, singing with Dulcisono Women’s Choir for many years and more recently with the Symphony Chorus. In 2018, she began performing with Opera Northwest, taking the roles of Sorella Infermiera and Sorella Zelatrice in Puccini’s Suor Angelica, and the role of Giannetta in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore. She loves the strength and richness of operatic voice and the challenge of learning its formidable repertoire.
Beyond music and design, Krista is a proud mom to two wonderful adults. She enjoys a deep, long-standing meditation practice, reads tarot, and finds joy in exploring life’s mysteries. She’s passionate about supporting decolonial efforts and justice for marginalized communities, and loves spending time hiking and connecting with nature. This is her first concert with Consortium Aurora Borealis, where she’s delighted in exploring the lyrical beauty of Elizabethan melodies.
Madonna Lee
Violin
Violinist Madonna Lee grew up in a musical family of nine in Seaforth, Ontario. Each member of the family, parents included, played the fiddle, piano, drums, guitar or step danced. A family band, which featured Irish fiddle music, was formed and Madonna and her two sisters spent every summer doing the Fiddle and Step Dancing competition circuit in Southern Ontario.
Madonna holds a B.Mus. in Performance from Wilfrid Laurier University/ University of Toronto, a Licentiate Performance Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and a Bachelor of Education from Lakehead University. She proudly accepted a position as section violin with the TBSO in 1993. To celebrate her 28 years with the symphony, she performed the lyrical violin concerto by Irish composer Ina Boyle.
Madonna recently retired to pursue a teaching career with the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board. Her interest lies in Special Education, but has been a substitute teacher in classrooms ranging from Kindergarten to senior elementary. Madonna loves hiking, biking, camping, kayaking and skiing with her husband and four lovely daughters, puttering in her garden, and playing with her band Accordion With Strings Attached. Madonna last played with Consortium over two decades ago and is happy to be back and playing in costume.
Rob Van Wyck
Recorders
Rob Van Wyck was born in Hamilton, Ontario and began his music studies on piano and recorder. He received a B.Mus. (History and Theory) from McMaster University in 1975 and a Licentiate in Flute Performance from McGill University in 1981. He extended his studies on modern flute with Robert Aitken and Marcel Moyse, and on Baroque flute and recorder with Hans-Olav Grosset, Stephen Preston and Bart Kuijken. He has performed in orchestras and chamber music groups in Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton and Thunder Bay. He taught for five years at CAMMAC Lac McDonald in Quebec.
Rob first met Elizabeth Ganiatsos in 1988 at a Wilfrid Laurier Baroque Music Workshop where they performed together. When he moved to Thunder Bay in 1993 they were both happy to join again in music. He has appeared with Consortium for the past 30 years playing recorder, Baroque and modern flute.
Since retiring from school teaching where he taught both music and French, he develops young flutists through the Suzuki Flute Program. He also sings in and serves on the executive of the Thunder Bay Symphony Chorus and performs in chamber music concerts. Rob was Lay Chaplain for the Lakehead Unitarian Fellowship for six years, and for the past eight years has volunteered with Spiritual Care at the TBRHSC Cancer Ward. When not involved in music, he and Bettina can be found sailing on Superior, or enjoying camp on a remote lake near Atikokan.
Gregory Lewis
Violin
Praised for his “brilliant technique” (Chronicle Journal) and “wonderful musical personality” (Winnipeg Free Press), Canadian violinist Gregory Lewis enjoys an international career as a soloist and chamber musician. Since making his debut with Consortium Aurora Borealis at the age of fifteen, Lewis has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Winnipeg, Kitchener-Waterloo, Strathcona, and Thunder Bay symphony orchestras, among many others. Named one of CBC’s “30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30”, Lewis received First Prize at the 2017 Canadian National Music Festival and was selected as a winner of the 2023 Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank Competition.
In 2022, Lewis had the great privilege of joining the Callisto Quartet. In recent seasons, the Callisto Quartet has received Grand Prize at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, Second Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition, and top prizes in the Bordeaux, Melbourne, and Wigmore Hall competitions. The Callisto Quartet maintains a busy international touring schedule, appearing at notable venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kauffman Center, the Kennedy Center, and the Ravinia Festival. Lewis’s passion for chamber music has led to performances at the Four Seasons, Norfolk, Olympic, Ravinia, and Yellow Barn festivals, as well the Agassiz, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto chamber music festivals.
Lewis grew up in Thunder Bay, Ontario, where he studied with Olga Medvedeva for eleven years. He holds degrees from the University of Manitoba, Yale University, and the Colburn School, where he studied with Oleg Pokhanovski, Chris Anstey, Ani Kavafian, Martin Beaver, and the Brentano Quartet. Lewis performs on the 1768 “Miller” Gennaro Gagliano, on generous loan by the Council for the Arts’Musical Instrument Bank.
Paul Williamson
Piano
Included in CBC Music’s 2017 edition of “30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians under 30,” Paul Williamson has established himself as one of Canada’s promising young pianists. He received first prize at both the 2014 Canadian National Music Festival and the 2017 Canadian Federation of Music Teachers’ Association National Piano Competition in addition to three semifinal awards. He is also a prizewinner of the 2020 WMC McLellan Competition and received 3rd prize at the 2022 Shean Piano Competition and the 2023 Bader and Overton Canadian Piano Competition.
Williamson completed his bachelor’s degree from the University of Manitoba, studying under David Moroz. In the first year of his studies, he won both of the school’s competitions: the annual concerto competition and the Lawrence Genser Music Scholarship competition (given to the most outstanding undergraduate performer). Williamson went on to study at the Colburn School under Fabio Bidini, earning a master’s degree and an Artist Diploma. While at Colburn, Williamson also received artistic guidance from Jean-Yves Thibaudet. Williamson is currently a doctoral candidate at Northwestern University in the studio of James Giles.
Williamson has participated in the following workshops and festivals: Morningside Music Bridge, Aspen, Orford, Music Academy of the West, Scotia, Creative Dialogue XIII, Saline Royale Academy, and held residency at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute. In the spring of 2023, Williamson recorded his debut solo album featuring the music of Franz Liszt for Naxos Records. He has also recorded an album of the music of Canadian composer Tristan Zaba alongside Canadian soprano Mckenzie Warriner for the Centrediscs label. Williamson is grateful to have his career supported by the Amron-Sutherland Grant for Young Pianists from the Colburn School.
Martin Blanchet
Bass
Born in Québec City, Martin Blanchet began his musical training on the violin and the piano before pursuing the double bass as his main instrument. During his studies at Conservatoire de Musique de Québec, he completed the Technique en Jazz et Pop degree, a Master’s degree in Classical Interpretation, and a second Master’s degree in Chamber Music. Martin joined the TBSO as Section Bass in 2007 before winning the Principal Bass position in 2009. Martin previously held the chair of Assistant Principal Bass in Orquestra do Algarve in Portugal. He also served as Principal Bass with the World Orchestra of the Jeunesses Musicales. He toured Europe three times, playing in amazing concert venues such as the Berliner Philharmonie, Royal Concertgebouw, and Saalbau Essen.
Martin has performed with notable ensembles such as La Orquesta de Extremadura de Badajoz in Spain, L’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, l’Opéra de Québec, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra. In summer 2009, he was invited to perform the Dittersdorf Double Bass Concerto in Pommersfelden, Germany. Martin has taught double bass at the Campus Notre-Dame-de-Foy in Québec City and is presently Contract Lecturer at Lakehead University. Jazz music has also been a big part of Martin’s career, leading him to form the Martin Blanchet Jazz Quintet.
Martin Blanchet is the vocalist, bassist, and musical arranger for the quintet, creating and performing various shows, including Café Paris, Sharp Ninth, Manouche, and Mini-Café. Most recently, Martin has begun conducting and arranging music for an all-French choir with the association of Le Club Culturel Francophone de Thunder Bay.
Penelope Clarke
Flute
Penelope Clarke became Principal Flute of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra and a faculty member at Lakehead University in 1978, after spending two years touring North America with the Canadian Opera Company. She studied with Louis Moyse and Robert Aitken in Canada, Europe and the United States. She has performed recitals and taught master classes at Illinois Benedictine College, for Alberta Department of Culture, the University of Manitoba, the Manitoba Conservatory and the University of Winnipeg.
In 1994-95 she was on faculty at the University of Western Ontario and performed with the Hamilton Philharmonic and Opera Hamilton. In May, 2012 Ms. Clarke was invited as a guest to the Flute Masterclass of Janos Balint , at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest. In 2014 she began an association with Julia Bogorad, Principal Flute of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in Minnesota, U.S.A.
Being a part of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra presented many opportunities to perform as a soloist and Ms. Clarke performed all the major flute concertos in the repertoire. She also performed many recitals at Lakehead University and has appeared in the Consortium Aurora Borealis concert series, the first, in 1982, as Frederick the Great (!)
Ms. Clarke retired from the Thunder Bay Symphony in 2022 but continues to teach flute privately, as well as currently being the Executive Assistant of the Thunder Bay Musicians Association, Local 591.
It is a delight to have this opportunity with Doris Dungan and Peter Cosbey to present some of the many flute duets and sonatas in the repertoire for Consortium Aurora Borealis.
Peter Cosbey
Cello
Acclaimed for his versatility in a wide variety of genres, cellist Peter Cosbey enjoys a career as a highly sought-after chamber musician, orchestral musician, composer, and educator. “His virtuosity is apparent with every stroke of his bow” (Echo Germanica). He is a founding member of The Annex Quartet, one of Canada’s most dynamic groups, which has appeared in hundreds of concerts, including at Carnegie Hall, Toronto’s Luminato Festival, and the Stratford Summer Music Festival. The Annex Quartet collaborated with Jane Bunnett to win the 2015 JUNO Award for Jazz Record of the Year.
Peter has been a guest cellist with the Afiara Quartet, Hausmann Quartet, the ARC Ensemble, and has been heard on CBC radio. He served as Assistant Principal of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and performs regularly with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Opera Company, the National Ballet of Canada, and the Esprit Orchestra.
He is presently cellist with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, of which his brother Thomas is Concertmaster. Peter is an enthusiastic and dedicated teacher and chamber music coach and has taught and performed at many summer music festivals and programs. He is a member of the dynamic Cosbey Quintet. A graduate of the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Glenn Gould School, he began his cello study in Regina.
Peter Cosbey has become a regular, valued performer with Consortium Aurora Borealis, where he continues to enthrall audiences with his virtuosity, rich tone, and expressive style. In December 2019 he and his wife, pianist Mariko Kamachi-Cosbey, performed as guests in Toronto’s Canzona Chamber series, repeating their highly successful “Mellifluous Cello”, which had been crafted for Consortium and performed by them in Thunder Bay in September of that year. Peter will be featured in several programmes in Consortium’s 2021-2022 concert season.
Doris Dungan
Flute
Flutist Doris Dungan has been active in the Thunder Bay classical music scene for over four decades. Originally from Pennsylvania, she earned her B.Mus. (with High Distinction) and M.Mus. degrees from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. As Assistant Professor of flute at the University of Southern Mississippi, she was honoured with the Excellence in Teaching Award. While based in the southern U.S., Doris performed extensively as principal flutist of orchestras in Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama and appeared as soloist with the New Orleans Pops Orchestra and the Mississippi Gulf Coast Symphony. She also toured the region giving solo recitals and as a member of the Southern Arts Baroque Trio. Ms. Dungan has performed at two National Flute Association Conventions, and has furthered her studies by participating in master classes with Marcel Moyse, William Bennett, Julius Baker and others. While a core member of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra from 1980 to 2021, Doris Dungan was featured as flute or piccolo soloist on each of the TBSO’s subscription series. She has been heard nationally in recital on CBC radio, and regularly performs with Consortium Aurora Borealis, Southampton (Pennsylvania) Chamber Music Society, and Tamarack Wind Quintet. She is also one half of Duo Adelphi, along with her harpist sister Cheryl Dungan Cunningham. Doris teaches flute at Lakehead University, and maintains a private teaching studio.
Patrick Horn
Viola
Patrick Horn, violist with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra since 2001, hails from California, and is a violist, violinist, teacher, composer, and arranger.
He holds a Bachelor of Music from Rice University, where he studied violin, viola and composition, and a Master of Music in Viola Performance and Pedagogy from Northwestern University.
Patrick’s compositions have been performed by the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, California’s Gold Coast Chamber Players, Chicago’s Orion Ensemble, Tango Classico, the Metro String Quartet at The Banff Centre for the Arts, the Metropolitan String Quartet, Mélange in Kitchener, and most recently, his Tango for Strings was performed by the San Francisco Symphony at their New Year’s Eve Concert. He played his viola solo composition “Blue Soul” at Consortium’s January 2019 concert. Patrick has taught violin and viola in Chicago, Oregon, and maintains a private studio in Thunder Bay. He plays with the Britt Festival Orchestra in Jacksonville, Oregon, and has appeared regularly with Consortium since 2001, later joining its Board of Directors and serving on its Marketing Committee.
Patrick Horn has received numerous commissions, including one from Consortium Aurora Borealis for a special Baroque-inspired “La Folia” work for strings, organ, and synthesizer, composed in 2017 for Consortium’s milestone year, and being premiered at its 40th Anniversary Concert on March 2, 2019. Horn describes this work as “a journey through place, time and of course style, using both the older and newer versions of the la Folia theme. The two themes battle each other a bit toward the beginning but are unified and played simultaneously in variation form towards the end. The minimalist, celestial opening and ending are bookends striving for a timeless context to all the specific folia versions in between.” Patrick includes a Spanish subsection because of La Folia’s possible origin in Spain, and uses an Arabic scale because of the Moorish influence in Spain. He reinterprets La Folia “to mean revelry in general with a bit of madness thrown in.” Argentinian tango and modern pop music also make brief appearances. Consortium is thrilled to have commissioned this exciting new work and to feature it in its anniversary concert!
E-Chen Hsu
Clarinet
E-Chen Hsu joined the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra in 1999 as a clarinetist and bass clarinetist, and is one of the founding members of the Tamarack Wind Quintet. She studied at the University of Western Ontario, receiving an Honours Bachelor of Music degree in Clarinet Performance. She earned a Master of Music degree at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. One of her favourite things since joining the TBSO has been collaborating with Principal Clarinetist Peter Shackleton, and performing together in recital on occasion. In 2013, E-Chen had the honour of appearing as a soloist with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra on the Classical Plus series. She also plays with the Winnipeg Symphony and the Britt Festival Orchestra in Jacksonville, Oregon. An active chamber musician, E-Chen has performed in chamber ensembles for the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber, and with Consortium Aurora Borealis and New Music North in Thunder Bay. In 2006, she joined the Des Moines Metro Opera Orchestra in Iowa, where she enjoys playing opera every summer. E-Chen teaches clarinet at Lakehead University.
Marc Palmquist
Cello
Marc Palmquist is a native of Minnesota, with one foot in the USA and one in Canada.
Directly on the heels of study in NYC where he earned a Masters Degree in Cello Performance at the Manhattan and Juilliard Schools of Music in New York City, Marc performed as solo cellist in the Broadway musical ‘Gigi’. During that touring year, the NYC Broadway production of ‘Gigi’ toured every major city of North America performing in every major venue! Fellow cast members included major stars: Louis Jourdan, Tiana Elg, Betsy Palmer, Lisa Howard, and many more.
Marc joined the TBSO as Principal Cellist in 1985. He has performed extensively with the renowned Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, (St Paul, MN) and the MN Orchestra, (Minneapolis, MN). During the TBSO’s off-season, he has also performed seasonally with the: Colorado Festival Orchestra (Boulder, CO); NYC Met Opera & La Scala Orchestra’s joint European Tour, (Milan, IT); the Florida Festival Orchestra (Fort Lauderdale, FL) both within Florida and touring in
Central America.
As a featured TBSO soloist, Marc has appeared over twenty times during his tenure performing major concerti and important solos in the repertoire. He has been broadcast on the CBC, NPR, and MPR radio networks.
Since 1985, Marc has appeared annually in Consortium Aurora Borealis’ concert series, which has offered him many opportunities to expand his musical repertoire in areas rarely explored by orchestras.
Throughout his TBSO tenure, Marc has shared his varied administrative skills within the TBSO organization: Personnel Manager (1995-2005), Production Manager (1987-1989), Union Steward (1991-1994), Player’s Committee Member, Artistic Advisory Committee Member, Music Director Search Committee Member.
Marc enjoys working with his hands: building, creating, fixing, and boating! In 2005, Marc built his own Solar house with his own two-hands! This state-of-the-art home is energy net-zero, and part of Ontario’s Micro-FIT green electricity production, which helps offset carbon emitting electricity production. He is also involved in the field of electrified vehicle and boat propulsion and hopes to accept a new ‘Aptera’ fully-self-charging electric vehicle in 2024.
Marc and partner, Deb (Clarinetist), maintain their USA and Canadian residences, and together have raised four successful dual-citizens.
Michael Quigley
Bassoon
Michael Quigley is a passionate, Toronto-based bassoonist currently performing as acting principal bassoon with the Thunder Bay Symphony. He began learning the bassoon in high school, and was eventually inspired by his band director to continue with the instrument after graduation. He started his undergraduate degree in 2016 at Sir Wilfrid Laurier University, studying with Eric Hall, principal bassoon of the Canadian Opera Company; he transferred to the University of Toronto in 2018 to continue his studies with the same teacher. In 2023, Michael completed his Master’s degree at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, where he studied with the principal bassoon of the Metropolitan Opera, William Short.
Michael has freelanced with a number of orchestras in the Greater Toronto Area and in Manhattan, and has as well performed chamber music in a variety of Manhattan halls, including Mary Flagler Cary Hall at the Dimenna center, and Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Music Center. Beyond the concert hall, Michael enjoys busking and performing chamber music with small groups of musicians outside, as well as organizing small get-togethers for friends to perform their music just for each other.
This March, Michael will be performing with Consortium Aurora Borealis for the first time, where he will be playing two of Vivaldi’s roughly 40 Bassoon Concertos: the E Minor (RV 484), a work which is well known to bassoonists, and the A Minor (RV 498), a work that is performed much less often, possibly due to the challenging wide intervals that the bassoon must jump in the opening movement.
Katie Stevens
Violin
Violinist Katie Stevens, Assistant Concertmaster with the TBSO, holds a B. Mus. from the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music, a Performance Diploma from the Mount Royal Conservatory, and a M.Mus from the University of Ottawa). Her teachers have included Lorand Fenyves, Erica Raum, William van der Sloot and David Stewart. Katie has received top awards and bursaries from several organizations and foundations, and worked as a freelance musician and teacher in Ottawa after graduating. Katie has performed with such orchestras as the Canadian Opera Company, the National Arts Centre and the Winnipeg Symphony, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra as well as with Ottawa’s premier chamber orchestra, the Thirteen Strings. She maintains an active teaching studio in Thunder Bay, has a deep love of chamber music, and enjoys dabbling in different musical genres. She studied Baroque performance practice at Glenn Gould with Tafelmusik’s Jeanne Lamon, and has a keen interest in this area. She has collaborated with virtuoso violinist Jeremy Bell on several occasions, and performs regularly as lead violinist with Consortium Aurora Borealis.
William Sirois
Violin
William Sirois was born in Mont Saint-Aignan in France, and joined the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra violin section in 2022, and is Acting Principal Second Violinist of the TBSO. He has also played in an assistant concertmaster role. He currently performs with the Quebec Symphony, Quebec Contemporary Society, the ensemble Volte, the Estuaire and the Saguenay Orchestra. He received his Master’s degree from the Conservatoire de Montréal and his musical diploma from the Boulogne-Billancourt and Rouen Conservatoire.
William participated in the Vatelot Rampal Competition in Paris and won the first place at the age of ten and twelve. His mentors includeJohanne Arel, Jean-Sébastien Roy, Raymond Dessaints, Marcelle Mallette, Anne Robert, Marianne Dugal, Claire Bernard, Christophe Poiget, Paul Zafer, Rollo Kovac,and David Stewart.
In his spare time, William loves hiking, reading, Kickboxing, and Muay Thaï, playing chess, and riding his motorcycle. He is looking forward to performing with Consortium Aurora Borealis, both in this season and in the future.
Gryphon Trio
Piano Trio: Violin, Cello, Piano
With a third JUNO win this year, the Gryphon Trio has firmly established itself as one of the world’s preeminent piano trios, garnering acclaim and impressing international audiences with its highly refined, dynamic and memorable performances. With a repertoire that ranges from traditional to contemporary and from European classicism to modern-day multimedia, the Gryphons are committed to redefining chamber music for the 21st century.
Creative innovators with an appetite for discovery and new ideas, Gryphon Trio has commissioned over 85 new works and frequently collaborates on projects that push the boundaries of Classical music. Christos Hatzis’ multimedia work Constantinople – produced by the Gryphon Trio in partnership with Banff Centre, Tapestry New Opera, Ex Machina, and Music Toronto – continues to enrapture audiences in venues such the Royal Opera House, Linbury Studio.
The Trio tours regularly throughout North America and Europe and enjoys longstanding relationships with organizations such as Music Toronto, Chamber Music Society of Detroit, and Festival of the Sound. Triple concertos have allowed performances with major orchestras including NACO Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, and San Francisco symphonies and tours with smaller orchestras such as the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra.
The Gryphon’s prolific recording catalogue includes over 23 releases on the Analekta, Naxos, and other labels, and is an encyclopedia of works for the genre. Honours include thirteen nominations, three Juno Awards for Classical Album of the Year, Opus Magazine Album of the Year, and the prestigious 2013 Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts from the Canada Council for the Arts.
Deeply committed to community engagement, education and the development of next generation audiences and performers alike, the Gryphons conduct masterclasses and workshops at universities and conservatories, and are Artists-in-Residence at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music and Trinity College. Since 2010, The Trio’s ground-breaking outreach program, Listen Up!, has inspired and engaged 16 Canadian communities to collaborate on large-scale multi-faceted arts creation projects. The Trio has lead Orford Music’s Piano Trio Workshop since 2013. In 2020, The Trio will direct the classical music summer program at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
Gryphon cellist Roman Borys is Artistic and Executive Director of the Ottawa Chamber Music Society. Annalee Patipatanakoon and Jamie Parker serve as OCMS’ Artistic Advisors in addition to their responsibilities at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, where Mr. Parker is the Rupert E. Edwards Chair in Piano Performance and Ms. Patipatanakoon is Associate Professor of Violin and Head of Strings.