Beckettfest 2024

Amelia Yates, D.M.A., is a pianist, adjudicator, and instructor from Hamilton Ontario. She is passionate about researching and performing the music of contemporary Canadian composers, and specializes in the music of Ann Southam. She is currently the pianist for Myriad Ensemble. In addition to performing, Dr. Yates teaches lessons from her home studio, AGYPiano. Her goal is to help students perform, understand, and enjoy music thoughtfully, healthily, and artfully. Dr. Yates is also a member of the Royal Conservatory College of Examiners, and enjoys volunteering on the Hamilton/Halton ORMTA Branch and Hamilton Music Festival Boards.
When she is not performing or teaching, Amelia enjoys spending time with her husband Daniel, a musician and lawyer, as well as practicing yoga, playing with her bichon frisé named Theodore Albert, and watching her favourite show: Downton Abbey.

Dr. Yates holds positions on the board of the Hamilton/Halton Branch of the Ontario Registered Music Teachers’ Association and the Hamilton Music Festival. Dr. Yates is also a member of the Royal Conservatory of Music’s College of Examiners.

Toronto-based pianist Cheryl Duvall has established herself as one of Canada's foremost contemporary music interpreters, immersing herself in a wide variety of compositional aesthetics and collaborative endeavors.

In 2012, she co-founded the "adventurous and smartly programmed" (Musicworks Magazine) chamber group Thin Edge New Music Collective. Their tours and residencies across Europe, and in Japan and Argentina have positioned them as ambassadors for Canadian music abroad. TENMC was awarded the 2020 Friends of Canadian Music Award from the Canadian League of Composers and the Canadian Music Centre for being ‘an important musical innovator, working creatively across disciplines with an unwavering commitment to diverse and equitable programming.’ Their most recent album, ‘Dark Flower’ featuring the chamber works of Linda Catlin Smith was chosen amongst the top 10 best Modern Recordings of 2023 by ‘The Wire Magazine’ and Bandcamp’s Classical Recordings Year End list.

In 2016 her formidable skill was recognized with a nomination for the KM Hunter Award. She was appointed the Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Mississauga in February 2022. She operates a full private teaching studio, is a member of the College of Examiners with the Royal Conservatory of Music, and adjudicates piano competitions across Canada.

Daniel Warren has held the title of music director, conductor, occasional arranger and soloist with the Kitchener Waterloo Community Orchestra since 1998.

Through his tenure, the orchestra has undergone a significant rise in artistic excellence, size, and viability in the community.

On a personal level Daniel and his wife Rosanne have instilled the love of music and arts in their 2 adult children, one pursuing Theatre, the other Violin performance. He thrives as a music director & mentor to the Orchestra@UWaterloo Alumni and students since 2017.

Daniel served as Resident Conductor of the KWS for fourteen years and more recently, as Creative Advisor and conductor for Orchestra London, Canada. Guest conducting appearances include orchestras and chamber orchestras throughout Canada and the US and at the Westben Arts Festival Theatre. His opera experience includes the standard repertoire as well as the world premiere of “the pencil salesman” by Canadian com-poser Brian Finley. His most recent engagement was “Cendrillon” by Massenet with the WLU opera department.

As a conductor and trumpet soloist Dan has recorded both on CD and live television broadcast. He has toured extensively throughout Canada, the US, England, parts of Europe and Central and South America.

Also active as an arranger, Daniel’s work was recently played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, England. His symphonic arrangements span Classical, Jazz, Broadway and Rock styles and have been performed by orchestras and artists in Canada, the USA, England and Asia.

Elizabeth Lepock, soprano, holds a BMus in Voice Performance and Music history from Wilfrid Laurier University, and an MMus and DMA in Voice Performance from the University of Western Ontario. Over the course of her doctoral studies, in addition to honing her performance and pedagogy skills, Dr. Lepock also pursued ground-breaking interdisciplinary research into muscle tension voice disorders. Her passion for music includes a voracious desire to learn, a love for performing, and a nurturing attitude towards her students – while always attempting to challenge both them and herself.

Elizabeth enjoys performing in opera, oratorio, and recital, particularly when she has the opportunity to work on innovative and interdisciplinary productions. Opera role highlights include The Governess in Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, Nella in Giacomo Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, and Armida in GF Handel’s Rinaldo. Recent oratorio appearances include Messiah with Guelph Chamber Choir, Symphony in the Barn, Saugeen Academy Bach Choir, and Spiritus Ensemble, a wide variety of Bach cantatas with Spiritus Ensemble, and Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem with Saugeen Bach Choir. Elizabeth’s first love as a solo singer was and is art song, as she has a real passion for poetry, foreign language study, and curating and collaborating to create original programs. Recent and upcoming recitals include a program of selections from Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch with her husband, baritone Michael Lepock, and pianist Heidi Gallas, and a program of selections about food with clarinetist, Peter Shackleton, and pianist Anna Ronai.

In fall 2022, Dr. Lepock was thrilled to return to her alma mater, Wilfrid Laurier University, as a faculty member. At Laurier she instructs students in vocal pedagogy and vocal health, foundational vocal techniques, and musicianship. Elizabeth also welcomes students from beginner to professional-level to her private studio, and centres lessons around student-goals – anything from pursuing music as a career and learning sustainability in professional singing practice, to singing or playing the piano for the very first time and learning how to sing in-tune. Her voice teaching practice is primarily made up of young professional crossover vocal artists (classical/CCM/choral) and professional singers retraining after experiencing temporary vocal dysfunction. Her mantra as a voice teacher is “Anyone can sing!”

Dr. Daniel Ramjattan has become an ambassador for the classical guitar in Canada, having premiered dozens of chamber and solo works for guitar. He has given recitals in Vienna, Austria, Italy, and various locations across Canada, the United States, Trinidad and Tobago, and Japan, and has received an array of top prizes in provincial and national solo guitar competitions.

He has performed in festivals such as Koerner's 21C Festival, Open Ears, Waterloo, Guitar Alla Grande, INNERChamber, Ottawa Chamberfest, the Livorno Music Festival, Italy, the Alte Schmiede Kunstverein, Vienna’s Contemporary music series, Toronto Guitar Society’s Guitar Weekend, and many more. He also gave his concerto debut with Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez in 2023 with the Stratford Symphony.

His debut studio album, "Inspirations: New Works for Solo Guitar," features his interpretation of six brilliant works by Canadian composers, including three world premiere recordings, available for streaming on all major platforms. CBC Radio’s Paolo Pietropaolo featured the album as the Record of the Week in March 2022, and WholeNote Magazine described his playing as "beautifully clean."

Violinist Elspeth Durward was a member of the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony for 17 years,performing as Assistant Principal Second since 2016. She holds a B.Mus. in Performance from the University of Toronto and a M.Mus. in Performance (with an emphasis in Suzuki Pedagogy) from the Hartt School of Music.

Prior to joining the KW Symphony, Elspeth spent three years performing with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. Highlights of her time with the NWS include residencies with MTT at Rome’s National Academy of Saint Cecilia and New York’s Carnegie Hall. As an orchestral performer, Elspeth has appeared with the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, Spoleto Festival USA, the Britt Festival Orchestra, the Elora Festival Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Toronto Symphony. She has been featured in concert with the Emerson String Quartet and participated in masterclasses and chamber music at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France, and attended the Pinchas Zukerman Young Artists Program in Ottawa.

Since 2005, Elspeth has been a Faculty member of the Suzuki String School of Guelph where she teaches private lessons and group classes to students of all ages and abilities.

 

Daniel Armstrong is a retired member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s bass section. A native of Canada, Armstrong has an unusual bond to Chicago. His first bass was a plywood instrument that his father bought from a hardware store in his hometown of Kitimat, British Columbia. That bass was manufactured in Chicago.

By June 1995, when Music Director Daniel Barenboim appointed Armstrong to the CSO bass section, he was playing a classic 18th-century Italian instrument. Before joining the CSO, Armstrong was assistant principal bass of the Milwaukee Symphony for 12 seasons. He also spent four seasons as a bass in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.

During his CSO tenure, Armstrong has performed in concerts across Chicago and the world, including many CSO tours and the 2017 and 2018 Concerts for Peace organized by the CSO’s Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant Yo-Yo Ma and the Negaunee Music Institute.
After starting piano studies at age 4, Armstrong taught himself ukulele, guitar and bass; he took his first formal bass lesson during his third year at the University of British Columbia. He switched from engineering to the music department, and he went on to earn music degrees at the University of British Columbia and the Juilliard School.

 

Brett Kingsbury is a multi-faceted performer, active in both solo and collaborative music. He has worked with many ensembles and performers including the Madawaska String Quartet, Magisterra Soloists, London Symphonia, the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra, and members of the Hamilton Philharmonic and Toronto Symphony Orchestras. He is very active as an adjudicator and masterclass clinician, working frequently with pianists across the province.

His doctoral dissertation was written on Busoni’s Fantasia Contrappuntistica, a rarely heard work he has performed on numerous occasions. He has also been involved in the world of opera as a repetiteur for Vancouver Opera, TripTych concert and opera, Opera York, and other companies in Ontario.

Brett is an assistant professor at the Don Wright Faculty of Music at Western University, where he teaches studio piano, Performance Research, and undergraduate and graduate level Piano Literature. Brett is also a former sessional lecturer at the University of Toronto Scarborough and at Brock University. He is in demand as an adjudicator for music festivals across the province. While a student at the University of British Columbia, he was named R. Howard Webster Fellow at Green College.

 

Amber Morphy is the owner of Morphy Music; a music school established in Cambridge, ON and providing virtual lessons across North America. Amber is a recognized pedagogue throughout Canada, having taught all levels of piano and voice. She is a vocalist, pianist, a versatile performer, accompanist, teacher, examiner and adjudicator.